Having become used to the operation of the Samsung NX1000, I began to look at options for customisation. I am never content to just leave something pristine and straight out of the box, so in order to make it my own personal camera, I looked online to see what other accessories might be around.
Aside from the usual lens options and a GPS module, there was nothing really exciting, so I looked at analogue lens options and found a universal adaptor with an NX mount on Amazon. Essentially a ring with a set of repositionable screws and a removable inner thread, the metal adaptor has the look of a ships steering wheel. It’s a ‘dumb’ adaptor, so autofocus or any powered elements won’t work, but it will accept almost any standard mount, by virtue of the screws, which grip the mount of the lens and hold it fast.
As long as the flange distance is within a set range - i.e the focal distance for the lens meets the sensor cleanly - most lenses can happily work with the camera. On rare occasions an extension tube or a focussing helicoid is needed in front of the adaptor, to extend the flange distance, but most M42 screw thread lenses I have tried work without a hitch. M42 is the older screw thread fitting, rather than the various proprietary bayonets which companies began to adopt in the late sixties. The benefit in using M42 thread is that old lenses were deemed less valuable and useable and available for a few pounds.
As I wrote in an earlier post ‘S
hot from the Hip’,the first analogue lens I came across arrived in a camera bag of accessories, on an old Pentax body. This was the turning point for me, as having full manual control of exposure, aperture and depth of field, gave me back that element of creativity I had been missing. The Pentacon 1.8/50 is still the fastest lens I own and has clearly seen a lot of action. It’s a rugged metal body with rubber focussing ring and is extremely useful for close work and also landscapes. For quite a while it was my go to lens for model work.
Flushed with the success of the analogue lens, my next step was a look on eBay, to see what I could find to fit the adaptor and after buying blind a couple of lenses, I had my first introduction to the world of Soviet lenses.
I won a couple of cheaply listed lenses, sold as working, but with the caveat of the M42 mount, which digital photographers had not really begun to adopt. One was a Helios 44-2, again a metal body and quite abused, but which gave excellent results to rival the Pentacon. Some years later, the Helios range would emerge as the analogue lenses of choice and prices would soar accordingly.
The Helios has quite a few lens elements and is renowned for its chromatic effects and stylistic bubble-like bokeh. Again, it’s a robust and solid lens and ideal for just throwing in a bag on a whim.
As I came to appreciate the Soviet era lenses, I sought out some well recommended models and found a nice pancake lens by Industar quite cheaply. The Industar 50 3.5 is a lovely little lens, with a slightly smaller M39 thread. I took it on a run to Scotland and found it was perfect for landscapes, with a good wide field, but also suitable for closer work and it’s tiny profile, meant it was quite unobtrusive and easy to handle. The only negative is the small inner aperture ring is hard to adjust in the field.
Another cheap lens and something of a novelty item, the Dollond 135mm zoom is only about 4” long, but has an excellent telephoto capacity. Again, all metal solid body and clear optics. It’s not a lens I use often, but a great option if space is limited in the camera bag.
My fascination with Russian glass continued and as it became more popular and acceptable to use analogue lenses, certain brands began to acquire a cult following. Besides Helios, the other major Soviet maker was Jupiter and many of the early lenses became very sought after. The Jupiter 11 ‘rocket’ lens is one such model, so named due to its slick silver barrel shape and glorious aesthetic.
Once more it is a 135mm zoom and has a considerable amount of glass inside, making its output very distinct and special. I was lucky enough to find this example recently, tucked away on the back of a shelf in a vintage store for just £9.
The Jupiter 11 was later made in a more standard configuration, in a long black barrel body, with detachable hood. The Jupiter 11A also has a distinctive feel to its output, with a greenish cast to the shot. Again, a heavy lens and quite obtrusive, especially with the hood in place, at around 8” long.
Another ‘blind’ purchase on eBay was a bit of a white elephant in terms of design. The Sun H-Tele F4.8 came with a pistol grip to operate the shutter and a 210mm zoom. Advertised as having dust or fungus inside, it was was bought for a few pounds, but after a bit of disassembly and some cleaning, turned out to be a good quality lens. Not especially sharp and without the peculiar chromatic qualities of the Russian models, it is quite a fun lens and the pistol grip makes focussing handheld a lot more precise. Once more, not one of my premium lenses, but stil a keeper.
The problem with the Sun lens is it’s unfortunate profile looks a little too much like a gun, making it unsuitable for any work in public!
My chief interest in telephoto and zoom lenses, was for astrophotography, or more specifically, the Moon. I had invested in a 10 inch reflector telescope some years before, but had been unable to get a satisfactory image from it, with any camera. While searching for interesting Soviet lenses online, I spotted a catadioptric mirror lens, which functioned like a compact telescope. The MTO-500 is a 500 mm F8 mirror lens, which is literally built like a tank.
The lens barrel takes a 77mm filter, but the adaptor is the usual M42. The lens weighs an impressive 1300g, even more with one of the three supplied filters attached. A sliding lens hood extends from the front and the minimum focussing distance is about 12 ‘. There is no aperture control available a a fixed F8 setting.
Due to its immense weight and solid construction, handheld shooting is practically impossible, as the slightest movement will shift everything out of position. Mounted on a solid tripod, it still takes a lot of effort to focus, as the mechanism is heavy and sluggish and requires really precise increments to get pin sharp focus. However, after wrestling with it for a few days, I began to achieve some of the best moon shots I had ever made.
But, looking further into the Maksutov MTO range, I discovered there was a bigger brother again available, in the MTO-1000!
So when one appeared on eBay, in its original wooden case, with all parts and clear optics, I snapped it up for a princely £75. A lot more than I would normally pay for a second hand ens, but having seen the 500, I knew what to expect with the 1000 in terms of quality.
It did not disappoint, but if I thought the 500 was heavy, this was like hauling a cannon around and absolutely dwarfed my camera.
Once more, it was a fixed aperture, at F10, and again, needs a really strong tripod. I have seen other users attach a focussing gear mount to the lens, to facilitate ease of use and avoid shake and this really should be the way to go, as it can take both hands to keep it steady and attempt to focus!
Still, with a clear moon to shoot and a filter mounted, the results can be spectacular, even with imprecise focus.
The problem with the Sun lens is it’s unfortunate profile looks a little too much like a gun, making it unsuitable for any work in public!
My chief interest in telephoto and zoom lenses, was for astrophotography, or more specifically, the Moon. I had invested in a 10 inch reflector telescope some years before, but had been unable to get a satisfactory image from it, with any camera. While searching for interesting Soviet lenses online, I spotted a catadioptric mirror lens, which functioned like a compact telescope. The MTO-500 is a 500 mm F8 mirror lens, which is literally built like a tank.
