Japancamerahunter

Well, it is high time we did a lens test. So here is a good opener
For a while now I have wanted to do lens tests, but have not been able to for a number of reasons. Principally because I have not had access to a digital rangefinder that I could use. Well, now I do. The very kind people at Leica Japan have been nice enough to loan me an M9 for the duration of the workshop that I shall be presenting with Eric Kim.

As a little bonus I have managed to get the camera a few days early, so I have decided to run a little lens test that I have been wanting to do for some time now. As you may know I recently acquired a stunning Summarit 50mm f1.5 Screw mount lens and a Canon 50mm f1.5 screw mount lens, so I thought it might be nice to have a little comparison test to see how they match up against one another.

First up we have the Summarit at wide open 1.5:

As you can see this has a very soft and rich bokeh effect, yet still retains a nice amount of sharpness in the middle. The colour rendition is not so bad but it does fee a little bit washed out. I think this lens would have better tonality in B&W.
Following up we have the Canon 50mm at 1.5

As you can see, the colour rendition is very different, with a lot more blue and red highlights. The Bokeh is not as ‘creamy’ as it were, but the trade off seems to be the colour.
Now the Summarit at 2.8

As you can see the colour is starting to level out on this lens, but there is still a great deal of softness. This would be an excellent portrait lens if used to its full potential.
Canon at 2.8

The canon seems to be smoother at 2.8 and certainly still shows a nice balance of colour. This is a lovely lens to shoot with around the 2.8 mark.
Finally we have the Summarit at f4

The colour is starting to creep in on this lens now and we are seeing sharper background, but it is still a very low contrast lens.
And the Canon at f4

The Canon remains a lot more punchy with regards to colours and does have a smoother graduation from sharpness to background. A very interesting turn of events.

So, there you have it. I didn’t take them all the way to f16 as not only did I not have time, but I didn’t want to have a massive post about a mile long. Perhaps I can make that bit part 2 if people are interested.
I love the smoothness of the Summarit wide open, it has a dream-like effect and such character, but the colour and contrast are sadly lacking. The Canon has wonderful colour and balance. If I were to make a choice it would be the Summarit, as I shoot black and white and I think this lens would shine in mono. But for colour the Canon wins outright.

Let me know your thoughts or experiences with these lenses, and let me know what you would like to see more of. If you would like me to find one of these lenses for you drop me a line and we can do that too.
Cheers
Japancamerahunter

Original Article

In your bag number 35, Robert Eckelmann from Germany/Tokyo
Hello there lovely bag loving people, another bag for you. And it is another bag from a German guy living in Tokyo. This time it is from Rob Eckelmann. Rob is a really nice guy and complete camera geek. I had the pleasure of meeting him recently, as was very impressed at his lovely collection of cameras. So impressed that I asked him to come and show them to you. Over to you Rob:

My name is Rob and this is my bag shot.

Bag is a A&A ACM-7100, love this bag since I got it in July.

This is my basic setup:

Epson R-D1 with Canon LTM 35/2 (the Japanese Summicron) with a 40-40.5mm stepupring and a no-name 40.5mm hood

Leica M4-P with a CV Ultron 28mm /1.9

Canon 50mm/1,4 LTM with CV 50mm LTM-to-M adapter

CV Heliar 15mm/4.5 with 15mm Finder (still have to find the 15mm D finder for the R-D1)

Blue Box with film (Acros 100, Neopan 400, Neopan 1600 and some color-film), batteries and SD-cards for the RD-1

Notebook and fineliner for taking notes, wirting down ideas and marking the films

dry and wet tissues, portable ashtray, wallet

As the Bag has space for three cameras, I often add the Fuji GS645s wide 60, Yashica Mat 124G or my 35mm Pentax KM SLR, depending on my mood. Somtimes I just add a book or my asus eee transformer tablet.

Rob on deviant art
Rob on twitter
Rob on tumblr
Rob on G+

Thanks for sharing you bag and taking the time to lay it out so beautifully. I really appreciate it. I hope that you all enjoy this bag as much as I do.

Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com. Send me a hi resolution image of the bag (please make sure it is horizontal) and its contents, with some details about yourself and what you shoot. Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here Send the bag shots here..

Cheers
Japancamerahunter

Original Article

In your bag number 33, Lars Thielen from Germany/Tokyo

Hello Internet,my name is Lars Thielen and I currently live in Tokyo, studying Japanese abroad for a year. Although my major is music education back in Germany I somehow got into black & white analog photography courses at our arts department in 2009 which got me taking photography more seriously. Currently I don’t have the setup for doing the full process analog photography features (developing film, contact sheets, printing) but that doesn’t keep me from shooting film, of course. Shooting in Tokyo is a dream come true not only because I’m heavily influenced by photographers shooting in Japan (no name dropping here, due to my yet spare knowledge on photographers and their photobooks) but also because interacting with people here is so much fun and a total contradiction to my experience in Germany.

My Bag is a leather handbag by Disser, found at a flea market. Fot it size it has 4(!) compartments so that everything is well ordered, has a very nice pattern inside and the feel of the leather surface is just superb. You can already guess that my SLR doesn’t fit inside this bag, which is not a problem because I usually have the camera around my neck for instant use. And if I carry the camera like the bag (around shoulder and neck), it hangs above the bag so they don’t get in each other’s way.

Cameras
- Canon A-1 with Canon New FD 35mm f/2.8 and Rubber Hood
- Canon S95
- iPhone 4S

My A-1 is my main camera, being loaded with Fuji Presto 400 mainly. The lens will soon be replaced by the f/2 version, the rubber hood is perfect for it’s size and function (protecting from flare and absorbing shocks). The Rollei film case shown below can hold up 2 spare films which is enough for my work flow out there (loving the fuji film cases for bigger trips and keeping an order in the fridge, though). The lens cap is not on the lens most of the time, but in the bag. My black taped S95 has the “G2” rubber grip by flip back attached, which eliminates the slippery and bad holding problems I used to have
with it. I use this camera for my current and ongoing project “misty landscapes”, usual snapshots and a yet not released video project. In my opinion it’s the best pocket camera out there so far (next to the Ricoh GRD series, which unfortunately lacks a decent video mode). But I’m not 100% satisfied with it (sensor size, AF speed/problems, no refocus while recording video).

Of course I not only carry camera affiliated things in my bag, so here’s what I usually carry around
- Moleskine Calendar/Notebook
- Passport
- Portemonnaie
- Muji Spiral Notebook (for customised Meishi-cards)
- a small pen (of course)
- Meishi/Suica case
- Map of Tokyo (just in case)

and of course I am entangled in the social media, too:
misty landscapes
flickr
Twitter

Lars

Thanks to Lars for sharing this bag with us, it is really cool to see a passport in there, as I am always fascinated by passports from other countries. Love the old leather bag too. Very cool.
Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com. Send me a hi resolution image of the bag (please make sure it is horizontal) and its contents, with some details about yourself and what you shoot. Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here Send the bag shots here..

Cheers
Japancamerahunter

Original Article

Lenses don’t come much more special than this
There are lenses, and there are lenses. This is one of those lenses that comes around once in a while. Angenieux lenses are a bit different from the norm. The Angenieux lens company was founded in France in the 1930’s. The founder, Pierre Angenieux was not eve out of his thirties when he founded the company! How many people can say that they founded an optics company in their twenties?
Now I am not going to give you a history lesson, but suffice to say the Angenieux name became renowned for extremely high quality optics which found application in the movie industry and various military departments.

During the 1980’s Angenieux made a foray into the film camera lens market, producing lenses for a number of different mounts. As with many decisions made by European camera companies made during the 80’s, this was ill-advised. The lenses were of very high quality, too high in fact and this made the pricing of the manufacture too high to make them competitive. A shame really, as they were outstanding lenses. This particular lens was the last consumer lens to be manufactured by Angenieux before they sold their designs to Tokina (doh!).

This lens in a mammoth beast, and heavy, tipping the scales at over 700g. The build quality is evident from the moment you handle the lens, it is nothing like a regular camera lens.
And just look at that front element, isn’t it pretty? It look like a cine lens, because it basically is a cine lens, except you can put it on your D700 and go wild.
I would add some technical details about this lens, but I cannot find a great deal of information about the make up of this lens. The 2.6 aperture is rather unusual and is said to be prone to vignetting, but I cannot find any info about that either.

This is a rare lens and it is not often you actually see one on the market. This one is available for a discerning collector. If you are interested and would like to know a bit more about this very special piece then you can drop me a line here Angenieux lens.

Cheers
Japancamerahunter

Original Article

tokyo-camera-style:

My friend Ade who got into photography relatively recently has a Pentax 67 and nice blog with portraits of people he meets and photographs on the streets of Tokyo.  I enjoy his commentary about the people he photographs and how he approaches them to request a picture.  Check it all out here:  Street Portraitist

(He’s also on flickr, too)