43-86mm zoom

[stenrasmussen]

A shot from this morning (far end, f/5.6, ISO 3200).

[richardHaw]

good to see people actually going out and enjoying this lens 

this is from the first version. i hate the 1.2m minimum focus distance. the lens is so-so overall. makes for an OK street lens but lacking in the wide end.
as you can see from the pic of my baby, it is not so bad at f/3.5 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Add an E2-ring to the 43-86. The plunger of the E2 makes for a rapid stop-down action.

Charming kid, by the way

[richardHaw]

Add an E2-ring to the 43-86. The plunger of the E2 makes for a rapid stop-down action.

Charming kid, by the way

Thanks! She is always mobbed by old ladies every time we go out. she is very friendly and would smile at every old lady she comes across 

yes, i think I read that on your post regarding the series E zoom. i will keep one handy just in case. i am heavily reliant on the focus scale for street photography so i may need to recalculate the offset.
speaking of focus scales, i do appreciate lenses with a little bit longer focus throw. but this lens has a VERY long focus throw. so i used a lighter grease for this so that I can focus faster without too much friction.

HAW_7257 by mrBabaero, on Flickr
43mm is not wide enough for street but not so bad either...i usually shoot with a 50 or the GN anyways...

HAW_7312 by mrBabaero, on Flickr
86mm also gives you intimate candid shots...

this lens offers flexibility more than anything i suppose and should be judged as that. however, i will only use this on a sunny day for obvious reasons

[richardHaw]

by the way, my wife just got this from the mail 

going to do a test with the 3 versions and see how and where things were changed

[stenrasmussen]

Looking fwd to your triplet comparison. Meanwhile, here's a shot from my pad just outside Stavanger. Obviously, flare in this situation is unavoidable.

[richardHaw]

Hello, Sten

not sure if this is going to be a fair comparison just by looking at the pic below 

(going to split the posts because I can only attach one pic)

[richardHaw]

now, i have cleaned everything so i ended up with this. but now, the problem is i have some balsam separation and a little bit of condensation in there. overnight with α-Bromocinnamaldehyde and silica might remove the condensation but the balsam separation is something that i cannot fix at the moment 

i did some tests awhile ago and it seems to be not so bad. it has improved a bit as far as I can tell but the vignetting is still there (and still looks horrible). the falloff of the vignetting also seems to be less wide. i do notice that the sharpness starts faster and f/5.6 looks better and f/8 looks a lot better now

[richardHaw]

By the way, even with the iris wide open, some bits of the blade still show. 
do you have this as well if you peep through the lens?

[Bjørn Rørslett]

(going to split the posts because I can only attach one pic)

You can add up to 10 pics to a single post. However, there are size constraints: one for the single image (up to 2 MB), the other for the total (10 MB).

[Bjørn Rørslett]

By the way, even with the iris wide open, some bits of the blade still show. 
do you have this as well if you peep through the lens?

Remember this is a constant f/3.5 aperture design. Thus the aperture blades adjust during zooming to make the aperture f/3.5. At the wide end, the aperture opening is circular, at 86 mm, the blades will show.

[richardHaw]

Remember this is a constant f/3.5 aperture design. Thus the aperture blades adjust during zooming to make the aperture f/3.5. At the wide end, the aperture opening is circular, at 86 mm, the blades will show.

i don't think mine does that...
it's a bit polygonal at every FL wide open 

it is not obvious but it is there. I tried rotating the rotation plate before and after I rebuilt the iris assembly and it's still the same. this is the 2nd time that I encountered this. the first one was on the 5.5cm f/3.5 which was easily fixed by drilling and tapping to make a new hole for the aperture post. this one is a bit difficult since the blades are actually extending

it is not obvious because the rear elements actually hide the extra bit, but you can still see it if you peek carefully. maybe it does not affect the actual f/stop?

HAW_7387 by mrBabaero, on Flickr
this lens is actually a pretty good walk around lens in that it gives you some flexibility. If i was using a 50 something prime just like everyday, this shot would have ended looking a lot different, 86mm gave me the ability to isolate the subject a bit as well as give me some distance so that he is not aware of what i am  doing 

PS: this is the dirtiest lens that i have cleaned so far. looks like you can bake a bread with it!

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Look into the front of the lens. The entrance pupil determines the light collection capability. You should see the edges of the blades towards 86mm setting.

Seen from the rear this isn't obvious.

[Erik Lund]

Also just because you can see the blades wide open doesn't mean that the camera can,,,

How does OOF highlight look with the lens wide open.

Nice clean glass!

Balsam separation; Warm up in a pot of water slowly - the elements will separate at some point - Re-glue with 'glass clear' epoxy.

[richardHaw]

Also just because you can see the blades wide open doesn't mean that the camera can,,,

How does OOF highlight look with the lens wide open.

Nice clean glass!

Balsam separation; Warm up in a pot of water slowly - the elements will separate at some point - Re-glue with 'glass clear' epoxy.

Hi! have not checked the bokeh yet, later tonight i will have the opportunity for that 

Bjorn is right! at 86mm i cannot see the small edges of the blades but at 43mm, it is slightly polygonal. i will cross check with my other 43-86's and see what's up. the C version seem to have the same problem but I fixed it by moving the aperture catch 3mm from where it used to be. i suspect that this is probably how these lenses are designed so my C is probably now a bit faster at the wide end 

thanks for the tip on the epoxy, i was actually contemplating on "astro". a clear glue that we use in watchmaking. if you have a datejust rolex (i am guessing that you know this model), this is what we use for gluing that tiny bubble to magnify the date on the dial. the magnifying lens is simply glued to the main crystal. as for the epoxy, does it yellow over time and how do i get rid of it if i dont want to anymore? canada balsam can be had for cheap here but that takes ages to cure