L0n3Gr3yW0lf
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Somerset, UK
- Name
- Ovi
I won this little gem on evilBay for 15 £ (with shipping): E. Ludwig Meritar 50mm f 2.9 in Exakta mount. It's not the most common and easy to adapt mount, built from 1949 in East Germany it was made by an independent optic company with a reputation for budget option with this one being one of the most common.
I've only spent a few moments with it today but I am intrigued because it doesn't have the best of technology in it so the output seems to be quite flawed and very much with personality. It's a very small lens and it can be difficult at times to access the aperture or focus ring without bumping in the other one. The aperture ring is declicked and very smooth and the minimum focus distance is, a not very useful 80 cm, the M42 mount variant can focus 10 cm closer.
This thread is not intended to be a review because I will need a lot more time to experiment with the lens to make a more definitive opinion. So here are some samples:
It is sharp in the centre but quickly the sharpness falls off dramatically and is downright blurry on the edges.
At 80 cm you won't get the most dreamy backgrounds but the lens can swirl like the Helios 44-2 but not so intensely.
Even at f 5.6 anything off dead centre is not sharp. I think this lens will do amazing for portraits but is useless for landscapes.
With medium distance from the subjects and the background, the lens renders quite average, with the typical corner falloff of sharpness.
At minimum focus distance, it does create the swirly bokeh though not as intense as Helios 44-2 and any subject around the edge of the frame can look busy because of the sharpness falloff. It may still be good for flower close-ups (but nowhere near macro) if you have only one strand in the frame.
There are some chromatic aberrations but not as much as I expected and it's the orange and cyan type. The blurry tree branches are not from the wind, there was no wind or breze.
Trying panorama stitching out of curiosity but this is another thing that this lens would not handle very well, all the edges between the stitching have strong sharpness falloff with intense distortions of textures and subjects.
At f 4 the sharpest part of the image in the middle of the church tower, it has a Lensbaby look to the images.
Testing out the rendition of point light sources in the frame.
The lens seems to handle some night lights quite well.
For nighttime photography, this lens is a lot better than my Yashica Yashidon-DX 50mm f 1.4 (M42 mount), strange because this lens is a lot older.
Another panorama stitch, this one is not that bad, the vignetting is more noticeable though.
The one image where I managed to get the lens to flare and it flare very dramatically, not sure if it's the light colour or the light type the issue. This lens does not have a red V sign (the model which has a better coating on it).
I've only spent a few moments with it today but I am intrigued because it doesn't have the best of technology in it so the output seems to be quite flawed and very much with personality. It's a very small lens and it can be difficult at times to access the aperture or focus ring without bumping in the other one. The aperture ring is declicked and very smooth and the minimum focus distance is, a not very useful 80 cm, the M42 mount variant can focus 10 cm closer.
This thread is not intended to be a review because I will need a lot more time to experiment with the lens to make a more definitive opinion. So here are some samples:
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
It is sharp in the centre but quickly the sharpness falls off dramatically and is downright blurry on the edges.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
At 80 cm you won't get the most dreamy backgrounds but the lens can swirl like the Helios 44-2 but not so intensely.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Even at f 5.6 anything off dead centre is not sharp. I think this lens will do amazing for portraits but is useless for landscapes.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
With medium distance from the subjects and the background, the lens renders quite average, with the typical corner falloff of sharpness.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
At minimum focus distance, it does create the swirly bokeh though not as intense as Helios 44-2 and any subject around the edge of the frame can look busy because of the sharpness falloff. It may still be good for flower close-ups (but nowhere near macro) if you have only one strand in the frame.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
There are some chromatic aberrations but not as much as I expected and it's the orange and cyan type. The blurry tree branches are not from the wind, there was no wind or breze.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Trying panorama stitching out of curiosity but this is another thing that this lens would not handle very well, all the edges between the stitching have strong sharpness falloff with intense distortions of textures and subjects.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
At f 4 the sharpest part of the image in the middle of the church tower, it has a Lensbaby look to the images.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Testing out the rendition of point light sources in the frame.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The lens seems to handle some night lights quite well.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
For nighttime photography, this lens is a lot better than my Yashica Yashidon-DX 50mm f 1.4 (M42 mount), strange because this lens is a lot older.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Another panorama stitch, this one is not that bad, the vignetting is more noticeable though.
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
The one image where I managed to get the lens to flare and it flare very dramatically, not sure if it's the light colour or the light type the issue. This lens does not have a red V sign (the model which has a better coating on it).
