Hey everyone, I decided to have a mid-week post just so I can show you some photographs I shot over the weekend at a local car show. Believe it or not, I’m not really a car buff. All the engines, tires and windshields look the same to me.
For those of us who take pictures on a meager budget, we are always looking for the next trick or hack, to avoid paying the price for a sometimes costly hobby or business. One of those ways is to invest in old glass. No, not an old dirty drinking glass. Old lenses that have gone by the way-side in this digital age.
One of the more popular groups of old lenses are considered M42 mount lenses. They represent a whole slew of glass that was part of a very popular mounting base, sometimes known as a Pentax mount as well. Its a screw-in arrangement since the base is threaded. And for most new dSLR’s you will need an adapter to get it to attach to your particular body.
More lens reviews
Today I’m going to give a brief review of a Hanimex 135mm f.28 lens. Its by far not the “best” glass in old lenses, as it was considered to be one of the many economy or knock-off brands that was popular back in the seventies and eighties. But, surprisingly or maybe not, it produced a unique image that’s worth taking note of.
Hanimex 135mm F2.8 m42
In fact, a lot of old glass is worth taking note of. Because the quality in some of these old knock-offs actually surpass what you get today in a more premium lens. The build is usually more sturdy, the glass sometimes larger, and the image can be very unique. But, enough about the value of owning old glass lets talk about this particular one.
The build on my copy was very sturdy. All metal construction, clean glass – overall no major problems with the lens itself. The focus was responsive, but a little stiff.
I took it out for a test-drive on a sunny evening in a nearby town. And yes, as usual – it was cold (sigh.) Windy, and cold, when will spring ever arrive? For this test I tested in urban areas, alleys, street corners sidewalks etc. And I was also trying to see how the lens would respond to diminishing light since it was around 4:30 pm when I started my walk.
Here are my impressions:
So, overall its a nice lens for the price. You can normally find a lens like this on sites like eBay at a very modest price tag. Which is important for broke people like myself.
The next part of the review will deal mainly with adapting it to your camera. And in this case, since I shoot with Pentax, how you attach to that brand.
You will want an Pentax M42 adapter to make this work properly. Please, don’t even bother with one of the many knock-off copies you will easily find floating around the web and on sites like Amazon or eBay. These cheaper versions just don’t hold up.
The first problem you will find with them is that one, they break. And when they do you will need to pry that lens away from your camera body – a scary thought. And two, they don’t allow you to focus to infinity – kind of ruins the fun doesn’t it? So, do yourself a favor and buy a genuine Pentax adapter, you will be much happier.
Original Pentax m42 adapter.
How the adapter works is you place it into the camera body, much like you would a normal K-mount lens. Turn it, it snaps in place and thats it. Then just screw the lens into the adapter and start taking pictures. You will in most cases loose the ability to get AF to alert when something is in focus, so you will need to do it the old fashioned way, and really pay attention to your view finder.
Next, set your camera and lens to manual and go take some pictures!
Below is a short video of some of the photos taken with the Hanimex.
I just came back from a short trip over to the old bridge and mill spillway in Buford, Georgia. This spot is (I think) part of the Gwinnett Environmental& Heritage Center, or possibly Brogan park. I can’t really be sure.
Anyway, I attempted this spot early on a Saturday morning. Biggest problem, I hate getting up early… and I got there around 8:30 am. Sometimes I can get away with this lazy behavior with a ND filter. But, the biggest problem you will run into doing this at this spot is that the sun points directly in the barrel of the lens.
Buford Mill Spillway - too bright early in the morning
So you end up with something ugly and not very useful. Kind of like the photo to the left. And I was actually hiding behind a tree attempting to get a decent shot (silly me.)
Fortunatly I was able to talk my family into letting me come back later that day and try again. So, we packed up and drove back over around 4:oo pm. Arriving around 4:35 pm. Just so you have an idea if you’re using something like Google Earth to figure out the angle of the sun, this was in late November.
Another tip when getting there is if you’re coming down 85 south is to take the Georgia Mall exit but head to the Lawrenceville off-ramp, not the Mall ramp. When you get to the bottom of this ramp which is a tight cork-screw, you will see a little old gravel road that leads directly down to the old bridge. Jump off right there and park directly above the mill spillway. Now, I can’t endorse this being totally legal, I’ve done it a few times, and I know lots others that do as well. But, I can’t say whether the park frowns on it or not.
Buford Mill later in the day. Much better.
The shot I got later in the day was much better. Which turned out something like the photo to the right. See more natural and landscape photography.
Now, this photo is actually an HDR composite with some post-work to pull off the final image. Some other tips for this location is its really tricky to find a nice shot. Its a wide spillway, and if you don’t want to attempt to cross the water then look for a little island that should center you directly below the entire dam.
Another thing you will have to contend with is the junk. This spillway is below the mall and a major interstate. And as you might have guessed by now, lots of crap. Bottles, cans, tape, string, paper, bags… its a real mess. So, you are going to spend some time in post cleaning this crap out of the image.
| Check out my latest photobook, Parts at blurb.com |
Finally, I played around a little more in post to come up with one more interesting image. The first image is what the orignal unprocessed photo looked like.
Buford Mill Spillway instructional - original
This is the second, tone-mapped image.
Buford Mill Spillway instructional - toned
And finally, the finished photograph with some added texture and depth-meddling.
Buford Mill Spillway instructional - finished composite
I hope this little list of ideas help you come with of your own neat ideas on how to take a very plain and average photo into something much more interesting.
Oh, hey this stuff is some of the first work I processed on my new laptop. Which is a Lenovo Thinkpad SL410 . Its a great little computer for those that can’t swing a macbook pro or, have a lot of dedicated PC software and programs. Its super-fast and has a nice display. Also, very sturdy and so far, very dependable.
