Category: lenses

Chinon 135/2.8 Test

ruminator

Spiny Flower

My friend Jimmy loaned me this Chinon 135mm f2.8 lens in Konica AR mount. It’s a beautiful build with a really unique shape. It’s a little broad at the aperture ring and tapers a bit at both ends. It’s a beautiful lens and worth having just for those characteristics.

I’ve been carrying it on walkies the last couple of days. Yesterday morning the light was right on this small flower. The lens doesn’t focus particularly close (about five feet), but with a 200mm equivalent focal length on the Sony’s APS-C sensor it’s still close enough for a decent image. The bokeh of this lens is very smooth and it’s plenty sharp wide open.

I think it’s a keeper, even if I already have four or five (or more) 135mm lenses.

Pentacor 135/2.8 Test Shot

ruminator

Pentacor 135/2.8

My glass-pushing friend Jimmy loaned me a Pentacor 135mm f2.8 compact lens a while back. It’s in the Practika B mount, which is a bayonet. I didn’t have an adapter for my NEX, so I had to wait for one to be shipped from China.

The adapter arrived late last week, so I put the lens on my NEX the other morning for walkies. The image quality is quite good. The colors seem a little cool (probably the Zeiss heritage), but the lens is adequately sharp wide open and has a very well behaved bokeh. The out of focus background is smooth and not busy. I rather like the lens.

If I didn’t already have so many 135mm lenses, I’d probably keep it. If the price is right, I’ll probably keep it anyway. 🙂