Portraits of Camera gear.

[Jan Anne]

The Nikkor 6mm f/2.8 fisheye in action, what an impressive piece of glass.


Canon 85/1.2 FD SSC on a7S


Canon 100-400 IS MkII on a7rII

[John Geerts]

These are really nice, JA.

Here is the Df with one of the strangest (and perhaps ugliest) lenses around:  The Lensbaby 3 G.

It's a 50mm 2.0 basic lens, and aperture can be adapted by inserting slices before the lens.

[John Geerts]

An example of the center sharpness and the  bokeh of the Lensbaby 3G

[the solitaire]

Lensbaby makes some pretty nice and affordable special effect lenses. One thing I always wanted to try however is one of the fast C mount lenses. They do not cover the full 24x36mm frame but the center portion should be interesting.

Before I ever will try a C mount lens on a DSLR however I really need to explore the possibilities of using medium format lenses on the F mount with the addition of tilt and shift adapters.

With the help of Chris I managed an early mock-up of a possible setup like that

DSC_8400-Edit by b j, on Flickr

And here is a camera portrait as well

DSC_4485-Edit by b j, on Flickr

[the solitaire]

The old master



And the runner-up

[Bjørn Rørslett]

A snapshot of the living room cupboard - with something for me as unusual as a camera display.

From left to right:

• My first Nikon Df, totally wrecked and later restored as a display item by Erik Lund
• A Nikon 70-150 mm f/3.5 SE lens, cut into half and used as a eye catching item for a store window. I got it compliments a leading downtown photo shop in Oslo when they moved quarters. It is functional, but images have 'a lot' of flare
• A black Nikon S2 rangefinder, here with a W-Nikkor 3.5 cm f/1.8 lens attached. According to my correspondence with leading Nikon S authority Robert Rotolini, this is one out of five special cameras made on order for Associated Press in London, UK, in the early '60s. The camera is fully functional
• Nikon FM2 with MD-12 motor drive. A backup camera from the early '90s before my digital epoch manifested itself and the age of film ended. The camera is in working order if I put batteries into it

This actually was a test shot with the AFS 40 mm f/2.8 DX Micro-Nikkor on the D500. There is a curious lack of momentum for this mini-version of the AFS 60/2.8. The image quality seems to be outstanding, but the working distance is awfully short. Perhaps that is the reason this lens never took off? I got a pristine sample for USD 100 and couldn't resist, that is my excuse.

[Akira]

Sorry to nit-pick, but apparently it is an FE2...

I've had two samples of 40/2.8 micro.  Both suffered from the decentering: the image in the 15-20% of the right part of the frame was smeared.  I brought them to Nikon service with the test shots on the tripod.  They said the lenses were within Nikon's tolerance.

I potentially liked the lens as all-rounder with my beloved D7000.  The bokeh was much nicer than that of 35/1.8G.  Also, the 40 micro showed much less LoCA.  But I was very disappointed by the decentering and have never looked back.  Sad to say.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Oops - you are correct, Akira. I stand corrected. The engraved model designating was hid behind the grip of the motor drive. Now I only have to locate the FM2 that should be somewhere... Probably huddles together with the old F, F2, F3, F4, and F5 in another less accessible cupboard. Or in another location altogether.

[Akira]

Bjørn, as you should know, the shape of the "forehead" of the pentapriism cover and the concentric film rewind knob and ISO dial are the easy points to tell FM2 and FE2 from each other. 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

If you say so .. must be at least 20 odd years since I used any of these cameras ... a lot of memory erosion might have happened over such long time spans ....

A pity your 40/2.8 Micro suffered from manufacturing flaws. My sample is clean as a whistle when it comes to performance issues. However, given the lightweight plastic wrapping the optics are delivered with, perhaps no wonder it can turn out misaligned or decentered.

I'll keep the lens as the DX companion to the trusty beater AFD 60/2.8 Micro-Nikkor that has served me well for a long time in studio settings.

[Akira]

Bjørn, noworries, just a nit-pick.

As for 40/2.8 micro, I really like the design itself.  The most vulnerable part (the moving inner barrel) is protected when the dedicated hood is attached, similar to the way more expensive 24-70/2.8 zoom.   Although the hood makes the working distance close to zero, the lens works really nicely.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

By a *very* strange twist of fate, today I was reunited with a lot of Nikon cameras that I thought no longer existed.

Thus I received the following items,

Nikon S with 5 cm f/2
Nikon S2 with 5 cm f/1.4
Nikon S3 Special Jubilee Edition (reconstructed model 2005? not sure must check2000) with the dedicated 50 mm f/1.4 Nikkor
Nikon SP with 5 cm f/1.4

Nikon F2 DATA with MD-2 motordrive and Fisheye-Nikkor 8 mm f/8

Sundry small items of which the clip-on light meter for the first Nikon F prism finder was most remarkable.

All in good to excellent working order and all for free.

It is a long story to tell and I might narrate it later. Now I'm just stunned and busy unpacking the gear. Will post photos later.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

As a consequence of today's entirely unexpected events, I had to rearrange the living room cupboard.

The black Nikon S3 AP is promoted to the top shelf.

Next level below, from left to right:

Nikon SP, Nikon S3 (2000 Jubilee), Nikon S2, Nikon S.

My possible urge for rangefinders has been amply met with a very wide margin, I'd say. However, as long as they come for free, I'm not the one to complain

Now I have to find place for the other stuff that got relocated.

[Jakov Minić]

Bjørn has a collection of pandas now 

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Pandas are bears too ... and it would be foolish to decline the gear just because the cameras weren't black ?? After all it was for free, remember.