Vintage Camera Lens

11/09/2021

WHAT WOULD A VACCINE PASSPORT LOOK LIKE?
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Link below 👇

01/09/2021

How to Clean Your Lens and Filters
Let's start with some facts:

Dirty optics can and will affect your image quality.
There are correct methods and tools to clean lens and filter optics.
There are incorrect methods and tools to clean lens and filter optics.
There's a great deal of information available on the topic of lens cleaning—some of it conflicting.
So, let's try to keep things simple, and find the best and safest way to get your lenses clean, so that you can spend more time making photographs, and less time on cleaning chores.

"When you use your gear, it's going to get dirty..."

Rule #1: Avoid unnecessary cleaning of your lens
Glass is relatively hard and durable. However, when advanced coatings and other chemicals are added to the lens, it becomes a surface that's more vulnerable to scratches and damage from chemicals and contact. Because of this, we want to try to keep our lenses and filters free of fingerprints and dirt, and avoid repeated physical interaction—this includes touching the lenses and—yes—cleaning.

When stored in your camera bag or on your shelf, judicious use of front and rear lens caps will help keep your optics clean. But, when you use your gear, it's going to get dirty. This cannot be avoided. Your lenses will benefit from an occasional cleaning of your camera bag innards, as dust and dirt will likely find a home inside your bag and attach itself to the lens.

Rule #2: Dust happens
Dust is everywhere and everywhere is dust. It will get on and inside your lens. Lenses are manufactured in extremely clean factories, where manufacturers go to great lengths to try to eliminate dust from the environment. Even then, brand-new lenses may have dust between the lens elements.

Dust, however, is not the main enemy. A lens that sits on a shelf in your home for years and collects a thick layer of dust will, obviously, produce image-quality issues. But, a few specs of dust here and there on or inside the lens will have no effect on image quality. A few specs of dust on or inside the lens will have no effect on image quality. That statement was intentionally repeated.

"Dust is everywhere and everywhere is dust... Dust, however, is not the main enemy..."

Trying to keep your lenses dust free through continual cleaning may serve to shorten the life of your lens, as you run the risk of scratching the lens surfaces every time you clean the glass.

Rule #3: Beware of rear smudges
Oily fingerprints and smudges on the rear element will have the most dramatic impact on image quality, because of the way that the light is focused narrowly through the back of the lens.

The good news is that the rear element of the lens is less susceptible to dirt and oil because, when mounted on the camera, it isn't subject to kids' sticky fingers, your sticky fingers, or other environmental dangers.

Cleaning your optics is easy to do, even in the field
Here is a simple, three-step process for effective lens and filter cleaning:

Remove as much dust and dirt as possible from the lens with a blower or soft-bristled brush.
Apply a few drops of lens cleaning solution to a lens tissue or cleaning cloth.
Using a circular motion, gently remove oil, fingerprints, and grime from the lens surface, working from the center outward.
Analysis
Remember, you can perform those three easy steps in the field when needed but, unless there are greasy fingerprints or oily smudges on your lens, avoid unnecessary cleaning. You don't need to be in a dust-free "clean room," and don a vinyl suit and rubber gloves to clean your lens.

The parts of the lens that are most exposed to the environment are the front element and the barrel of the lens. The best way to protect the front element is to attach a high-quality filter. The filter, generally much less expensive than the lens itself, will serve as a sentry that absorbs the gunk headed for your expensive lens optics. The filter will be cleaned in the same manner as any other lens.

A dirty lens barrel will not degrade image quality, but keeping the lens barrel clean may help avoid potential issues with the mechanics of the focus and zoom mechanisms. Use a lens cloth or tissue and lens-cleaning solution to keep your lens barrel clean.

Brushes and Blowers
When it comes to dust removal by air, the best method is to use a blower, and to avoid using compressed air. Without a blower, you can always blow on the lens with your own lung power, but beware of spraying your lens with saliva or your lunch. A blower should be mandatory equipment in your DSLR camera bag for sensor and lens cleaning.

There is a multitude of lens-cleaning brushes on the market. A high-quality one is recommended. Camel hair works very well. Also, do not touch the brush bristles with your oily fingers, unless you want to transfer grime to the lens while cleaning.

Cloth, Tissues, and Cleaners
Lens tissue is relatively inexpensive. One use only, please. Discard the tissue after cleaning your lens.

Microfiber cleaning cloths are popular as well. There are a few precautions to help ensure their beneficial use. Keep them clean, as they will likely be used for multiple cleanings, and you do not want to re-apply dirt and grime or particles that may scratch your lens. If you wash the cloth, avoid using liquid fabric softeners, as they may leave a chemical residue on the cloth and create streaks on your lens.

Use your cotton T-shirt at your own risk. Again, if the lens does not need cleaning, do not clean it, but if you find yourself separated from your lens-cleaning gear and need to remove a smudge, using a clean 100% cotton T-shirt and warm breath is not the end of the world. Again, avoid liquid fabric softeners. You will find better (and safer) results with dedicated lens-cleaning tissues and cloths.

Cotton swabs are a good option for cleaning, and can be especially effective for cleaning the edges of a lens.

Facial tissue is not recommended, as some brands are abrasive and others contain oils and lotions that can streak your lenses.

Many lens manufacturers market specially formulated lens-cleaning solutions designed to accommodate optical coatings. Again, these are relatively inexpensive, but if you want to make your own solution, or store a 50-gallon drum of the stuff, the use of reagent-grade isopropyl alcohol is recommended. De-ionized water is also safe, but is not a dedicated cleaner and, like moisture from warm breath, will only be effective on water-soluble smudges.

Do not use acetone. Acetone is a great cleaner, but, when used on camera lenses, it could have adverse effects on the plastic and paint of the lens barrel, as well as the optical coatings. Again, do not use acetone.

"Oily fingerprints and smudges on the rear element will have the most dramatic impact on image quality, because of the way that the light is focused narrowly through the back of the lens..."

Using household window cleaners is not recommended on coated optics. Stick to the dedicated lens-cleaning solutions, alcohol, or de-ionized water.

Apply the cleaning solution to the tissue or cloth, instead of directly to the lens. There are several reasons to do so. You want to avoid having beads of liquid running to the edge of the lens element and then entering the lens body. Even weatherproofed lenses might not be watertight, and the liquid may enter the lens body due to capillary action. Liquid droplets function as a lens and may focus sunlight to a point on the glass lens surface creating a super-heated area that could damage the lens or coatings. Also, mild liquids and water can have corrosive properties if left in contact with a surface for a length of time.

Cleaning Technique
Wiping in concentric circles will reduce the occurrences of streaking more than working across the lens.

Working from the center to the edge will move debris to the edges of the lens, away from the center of the image circle, in the event the objects do not get removed.

When wiping, apply only enough pressure to remove the offending smudge.

Lens-Cleaning Miscellany
On a DLSR (or SLR), when you look through the viewfinder, many times you will see lots of dust specs throughout the image. This dust is on the camera's mirror, and will not affect the photograph. The mirror can be cleaned, but the silvering is very delicate. Also, using air blowers here may blow dust from your mirror onto your digital sensor, which will definitely affect image quality.

A note to users of sport optics, telescopes, and night photographers: beware of inspecting your lens for cleanliness with a color-filtered flashlight, as some of the dirt and smudges may not appear.

Finally, you may clean your lens mounts (camera and lens) with a cloth and lens-cleaning solution. The digital contacts that allow the lens and camera to communicate may require occasional cleaning. Be sure to use a different cloth from that used for the optics, as wiping a metal lens mount to clean it may impart tiny metal debris on the cloth that should never be introduced to the glass.

Remember the three simple steps, remember that dust happens, and be sure to spend more time making photographs than cleaning your gear.

The three-step cleaning process outlined in the article is one I stand by. But, recently, I acquired a used lens filter that had what looked like stubborn water spots on the surface. I don’t know if they would affect image quality, but the spots were definitely larger than your average dust and reflected light differently than the surrounding coated glass. Lens cleaning and lens tissue was not having any effect on the spots. In my drawer, I had a LensPen Lens Cleaner and I decided to give that a try…

It worked and the spots disappeared.

The cleaning element of the LensPen was, apparently, just tacky enough to remove the spots and the filter was saved from the trash can. I recommend adding the LensPen to your cleaning tool kit for situations like this.

27/08/2021

Popular Film Formats

• 116 Film (Introduced in 1899 and discontinued in 1984)
In 1932 Kodak introduced two new negative format, 620 and 616. The 70mm wide 616 film format ( 2½” ×4¼” or 6.5×11 cm) was the same as the existing 116 film format but the negative stock was wound on smaller spools in order to fit smaller cameras.

• 120 Film (Introduced in 1901)
120 film is still a very popular medium format film, especially with the recent popularity of the Holga. The 120 film format was originally introduced by Eastman Kodak for its Brownie No. 2 in 1901.
It was the main format for amateur photographers and beginners’ cameras like the box cameras. With the popularity of 35mm, 120 film became a format for professionals.

• 220 Film (Introduced in 1965)
220 film is the same width as 120, but with double length (144 cm) and thus twice the number of exposures per roll. ISO 732 also specifies the dimensions of 220 film. Unlike 120, there is no backing paper behind the film itself, just a leader and a trailer. This allows a longer film on the same spool, but as a result, there are no printed frame numbers for old cameras that have a red window as a frame indicator. (Moreover, light from the window would fog the film.) Also, since the film alone is thinner than a film with backing paper, a differently positioned pressure plate may be required to achieve optimal focus. Some cameras capable of using both 120 and 220 film will have a two-position adjustment of the pressure plate (as well as a switch elsewhere to adjust winding), while others will require different film backs.

• 620 Film (Introduced in 1932 and discontinued in 1995)
620 roll film is basically the same as 120 roll film; it has the same width and length. The only difference is the 620 spool that holds the film is smaller than that of the 120 rolls.

• 127 Film
The 127 film is a paper-backed roll film, 4.6cm wide, originally designed to store eight pictures in 4×6.5cm format. It was created by Kodak for their Vest Pocket model – hence 127 was often called Vest Pocket film. Many of the first generations of 127 film cameras were similar folders, and frequently inherited Vest Pocket or VP in their names – for example, the Dolly Vest Pocket. See Category: 4×6.5.

• 126 Film (Introduced in 1963)
The Kodak 126 film cartridge is a roll film magazine for the 35mm-wide film with a paper backing.
It was launched in 1963 by Kodak in answer to consumer complaints about the complications involved with loading and unloading roll film cameras. With the cartridge film, you don’t have to attach the film leader to a take-up spool. The cartridge simply drops into the camera. Since the cartridge is asymmetric, it cannot be loaded incorrectly. You close the back, wind, and shoot. 126 cameras have a window to show the back of the cartridge, which is printed with the film details and has a small hole revealing the frame number printed on the backing paper.

• 135 Film (35mm film canister) (Introduced in 1889)
The 35mm film format was developed and produced at an experimental scale in Thomas A. Edison’s laboratory in New Jersey by splitting 70mm roll film. Edison compiled his caveat for the double perforated cine film in the fall of 1889, describing it as a double perforated long band passing from one reel to another, driven by two sprocket wheels. The film was obtained from the Eastman Dry Plate and film Company in Rochester, NY. However, it took several years to become a regular Kodak product.

• 828 Film (Introduced in 1935)
828 film was Kodak’s unperforated 35mm paper-backed roll film, introduced in 1935. 828 was intended to avoid some of the problems of the early perforated 35mm films. The smaller diameter spool and lack of need for a sprocket allowed for much smaller camera designs. Kodak’s Bantam camera series used 828 film.
Other paper-backed 35mm film formats have included Bolta and the film Konishiroku produced for the Konilette.

• APS Film (Introduced in 1996)
As an alternative to 110 formats, The APS film cartridges are optimized for fully automatic film load, enclosing the 24mm wide film completely when not in use. A lightproof door and partially exposed films can, in certain cameras, be removed and used later. The film is even put back into its cartridge and returned to the user after it has been developed.

• 110 Film (Introduced in 1972)
110 film cartridges were launched by Kodak in answer to consumer complaints about the complications involved with loading and unloading roll film cameras. Because loading film was easy and the small size made 110 format popular very quickly.
The small negative size of 110 film is half the size of 135 (35mm) film and because it’s small it’s difficult to enlarge and get high-resolution scans and the film is often associated with prints and scans that are grainy and lacking sharpness.

23/08/2021

Pentacon Carl Zeiss Jena lenses: the Flektogon
A camera cannot perform without quality glass in front of it. For the Pentacon SIX there are a number of dedicated (medium format) lenses, with as well known frontrunner the indisputable high quality Flektogon from Carl Zeiss Jena.

With an aperture of F4 the flektogon cannot be considered as a fast lens. But that is the only downside of this remarkable sharp lens. It has 8 blades and a minimum focus distance of 50 cm. The most noticable is the huge front element that holds a filter treat of 86 mm. It means also that the camera can focus most on the sharpest, center area which is ideal for the large 6×6 negative. Of course, with 480 gram is also not a lightweight lens and adds another pound to the already heavy Pentacon.

Carl Zeiss Jena 4/50 Flektogon
It’s aperture ring is clickable and the focus ring has a very long throw (almost 1,5 around it’s own axe), meaning you have a lot of room to focus extremely sharp. It has the typical Pentacon mount system, meaning a bajonet that is inserted into the camera body and fastened by a large ring. You need to turn it clockwise to attach and secure the lens on the body. It’s aperture will be locked to F4 and you have to preset the desired aperture manually. It will although not change visually when you look in the lens. Only when the shutter is released it will adjust the aperture blades and return to wide open in order to use the waist finder.

The focal distance is quite interesting for a medium format. Because it is 50 mm it means the focal range gets reduced by a factor 0,55 , meaning the Flektogon becomes a real wide angle 27,5 mm lens which makes it suitable for street and landscape photography.

The Flektogon is a sharp lens and I took it out with the Pentacon for a photoshoot of an old shaft building, ued in the mining industry. Here are some examples (edited with Eurora HDR).

Pentacon SIX with Flektogon F4, 50 mm
Shooting with the Carl Zeiss Jena 4/50 Flektogon on the Pentacon SIX feels just right, the results are sharp, colorful and by all means rewarding. It’s a big lens and yes, it can be adapted to modern DSLR camera’s. On ebay it can still be found around Euro 250. But make sure it has no fungus or haze, the (red) MC versions date from 1976-1980

14/08/2021

Instant camera film is remarkable because it has its own built-in developing studio. To understand how this works, you need to understand the basics of traditional photographic film. Film is a plastic base coated with particles of silver compound that are sensitive to light. Black-and-white film has one layer of silver compound, while color film has three layers -- the top layer is sensitive to blue light, the next layer is sensitive to green and the bottom layer is sensitive to red. When you expose the film, the sensitive grains at each layer react to light of that color, forming metallic silver at that layer. This gives you a chemical record of the light and color pattern.

Instant cameras depend on the same process of photographic development as regular film cameras. How does such a small device encompass the developing process?

13/08/2021

DPR was lucky enough to be invited to tour the Hasselblad factory in Sweden to see the H6D and X1D medium format cameras in production.

13/08/2021

People have been using camera and film for more than ­100 years, both for still phot­ography and movies. There is something magical about the process -- humans are visual creatures, and a picture really does paint a thousand words for us!

Despite its long history, film remains the best way to capture still and moving pictures because of its incredible ability to record detail in a very stable form. In this article, you'll learn all about how film works, both inside your camera and when it is developed, so you can understand exactly what is going on!
See more: https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/film.htm

For 50% off your first month of any subscription crate from KiwiCo (available in 40 countries!) head to https://kiwico.com/Smarter50Indie Film Lab : https:/...

13/08/2021

Hasselblad cameras have taken some of the most iconic photos of the 20th century. From the first moon landing, to The Beatles crossing Abbey Road, and portraits of Marilyn Monroe. But the company has gained a reputation for having extremely expensive cameras. Hasselblad’s H6D-100c camera costs over $30,000. But its cameras weren’t always this expensive.

Hasselblad cameras have taken some of the most iconic photos of the 20th century. From the first moon landing, to The Beatless crossing Abbey Road, and portr...