Gear Porn

That AF 20/2.8 is a great lens, has some weight to it. I used it a lot last Summer on vacation.

I've used the Nikkor-UD 20/3.5 on the M Monochrom with an adapter. Sharp lens.

The 2.1cm F4- I remember someone on RFF trying to use it on an M9- just too far back to work. My J-12 works fine, the Biogon glass extends way back- but the angle for the light path is just not as steep.

I recently picked up two Questar Modified Nikon F bodies with "Mirror-up" releases, would be great for this lens. The un-modified mirror-up mechanism of the Nikon F requires you to set the "up" switch and fire the shutter. This is a feature, not a flaw- made for faster Motor operation. Motor is faster with the mirror-up, and you can see up until firing.
 
Gotta stop looking at ebay. Getting tempted by a 1962 Kiev 4a, a little scruffy and cheap. The scruffy part is good - usually the mint ones that old never worked so they sat in a drawer for decades. Put a Helios 103 on it till I can find a "cheap" CZJ collapsible Tessar? Jupiter 3's for Contax mount aren't too bad either... Always liked my Kievs.

Hmm...
 
Kiev's are cans-of-worms.
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I've had a couple, some worked for 1 roll before the shutter tapes broke. But this one from 1957- built better than most. The Kiev-3 is closer to the Contax III that it is based on. The parts are mostly interchangeable. The light meters still work on these, you can see the Contax III has a new cell in it.

Prices on Contax bodies are way down. Prices on Contax mount lenses- way up as there are good adapters for using them with Leica and mirrorless cameras. I've picked up two Contax bodies with lenses for ~$100. One had a 50/2 Zeiss Opton on it, the other had a Tessar 5cm F2.8 chrome nose with deep cleaning marks on the front. I replaced the front element with one from a Contaflex. The Contax IIIa that came with the 50/2: unjammed it myself, got lucky. The Contax II that came with the Tessar- had done by an enthusiast.

Too add- the Contax II is in a case made for a Leica M3. I moved the retaining screw on the bottom. Perfect fit.
 
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Vintage Line 35/2 dropped today. Almost done, need a couple of hoods and maybe the Fuji M-mount adapter. M kit will be complete, status of Fuji AF lenses TBD based on whether or not the upcoming Pentax APS-C plays well with my eyes and has improved AF & tracking performance. Will be trying all on the Z6 as well. I already know the vignetting on the 28 is more than I want to see and deal with, I'll see how the others are.

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A few of my older cameras. Nikon F (1964), Minolta Hi-matic E, my Grandfather’s Voigtlander Perkeo II, Petri f/1.9 fixed lens rangefinder and still one of my favorite digital cameras, Lumix GF-1. The film cameras all still work, the Nikon is just about perfect.
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The Nikon FTn Photomic is "Semi-Auto" indexing. The widest aperture of the lens comes up when it is indexed correctly using the "F5.6 Shuffle". Set the lens to F5.6, put it on the camera, then rotate the Aperture ring end-to-end. For lenses slower than F5.6, it works just fine. The older Photomic T and Tn meters required manually setting the ASA to the largest aperture of the lens. Forget that step: exposures are off.
 
I had that very setup. Produced some very nice files, unfortunately the focal length was a little too long for me. Now I have the 30mm f1.4. Totally different lens, bigger and heavier, but equally unbeatable value!

I rarely shoot with that length as well. It is a great performer and I think the cost/use ratio will justify its stay in the kit. Lesser than the Sigma 56 and Oly 75 but with a better ratio.
I also have the Sigma 30 F1.4. Love it with the MFT crop.
To unbeatable value!
 
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