My $10 Summer Pocket Lens

[madmaxmedia]

I bought a Wollensak 25mm f/3.5 16mm cinema lens by mistake, I was actually looking for the f/2.5 but this one turned out to be a very pleasant mistake! Both of these lenses are fixed focus, to focus on the NEX you actually just unscrew the lens as needed. Both cover the entire NEX sensor, but the 3.5 version has greater sharp image circle and higher contrast. Heavy vignetting which can be mostly remedied (but I like vignetting for many photos), but again full coverage of the APS-C sensor.

This lens protrudes just barely past the handgrip, and is smaller than a ping pong ball. The front element has a diameter of 7mm!

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I love the images straight out of cam. Kind of a nostalgic summery look, but much larger area of sharpness than the Fujian/Fotasy 35mm f/1.7.

Almost summer! - a set on Flickr

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[Poki]

How does focus peaking work on this one? On the Fujian 35mm 1.7 wide open, it often doesn't find any sharp edges, so focusing is pretty much impossible unless you have really sharp edges in the frame.

 

[madmaxmedia]

I find the Fujian can be tough for focus peaking too. This one is somewhat better since it has a larger central focus area. But I use a combination of zone focusing, focus peaking, and magnification.

I discovered a good rough way of zone focusing aligning the aperture indicators (there are 2 on this lens, 180 from each other.) Far, medium, near are all one )half-turn of the lens from each other (not too dissimilar from old zone focusing mechanisms of some old film cameras. After that I can either just click away if I've stopped down a bit, use focus peaking, or use magnification if I really want to nail focus. Sounds like a weird system but after only a couple of days I'm finding it works well. I am going to add some spacers so when the lens is fully screwed in, it is at the 'far' position (right now it goes a little past infinity.)

 

[Illusionist]

Very cool shots and a really neat lens. I'm haven't purchased my NEX yet (gonna get a 7 this weekend), and this lens looks super fun and ultra cheap. I was wondering if you had any knowledge on any differences when using an 8mm cine lens instead of a 16mm? I was looking at this:

VINTAGE WOLLENSAK AMPRO 13mm f/1.9 CINE RAPTOR 8mm MOVIE LENS | eBay

or this, in 16mm format:
Amazon.com: RainbowImaging 25MM F1.4 TV Movie Lens + Lens Adapter for MFT M4/3 camera, fits Panasonic G1 G2 G10 GF1 GF2 GH2 GH1 GH2, Olympus E-P1 E-P2 E-PL1 E-PL2: Camera & Photo

How well do you think those would work?

Thanks!

 

[madmaxmedia]

Sorry I missed your reply! The 8mm lens are not a good choice, as they cover far less of the NEX sensor and you will get large vignetting- you will probably have a circle image in the center surrounded by black.

The 25mm f/1.4 is a good choice for Micro 4/3 but not so much for the NEX. A better choice would be the 35mm f/1.7. Here is a thread with a lot of great shots from that lens on NEX (I posted a couple in that thread as I have that lens):
Bang for the Buck: Sony NEX-3 and Fotasy 35mm f/1.7

The thing about the 35mm f/1.7 is that only a relatively small portion of the central image is sharp, the rest is blurry. It can be used to good effect, but it limits the versatility of the lens. The Wollensak 25mm f/3.5 has a larger sharp image circle, even though it vignettes in the corners.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Sorry I missed your reply! The 8mm lens are not a good choice, as they cover far less of the NEX sensor and you will get large vignetting- you will probably have a circle image in the center surrounded by black.

The 25mm f/1.4 is a good choice for Micro 4/3 but not so much for the NEX. A better choice would be the 35mm f/1.7. Here is a thread with a lot of great shots from that lens on NEX (I posted a couple in that thread as I have that lens):
Bang for the Buck: Sony NEX-3 and Fotasy 35mm f/1.7

The thing about the 35mm f/1.7 is that only a relatively small portion of the central image is sharp, the rest is blurry. It can be used to good effect, but it limits the versatility of the lens. The Wollensak 25mm f/3.5 has a larger sharp image circle, even though it vignettes in the corners.

 

[Ray Vardy]

Hi there

Just about to order that lens but then saw this comment (unanswered) on that post:

I recently got a Fotasy 35/1.7 for my NEX-5N direct from Rainbow Imaging (under $30), and like the images it can produce, but with some caveats. Unlike Chad's, with the one I got the barrel markings for distance and aperture line up on the underside of the lens, rendering them useless. Also the focus ring turns about a quarter turn beyond infinity, which is also a nuisance. Focusing is pretty tricky, because unlike a regular MF lens, with this one once you turn past the optimal focus point, it's not a matter of simply turning back that same amount to re-find it. Instead you have to turn further in search of that point once again. Hard to explain, but it's as if there's a fluid relationship between focus ring and actual focal distance, so it makes finding focus a lot more challenging than with other lenses--at least on the one I got (defective?).

Being 4 weeks into photography I really need a lens that does not require an awful amount of work to use, as it is I just have the kit lens pack that came with the C3 and am finding those challenging enough

R.

 

[madmaxmedia]

Hi Ray, I would say that for the price and unique look of the lens (if you liked the posted samples)- go ahead and buy it! That post makes it seem more complicated than it really is. Just twist the focusing ring to focus, and forget about the distance marks, etc. on the lens and use the magnified view or focus peaking as focusing aids.

 

[Ray Vardy]

Hi Ray, I would say that for the price and unique look of the lens (if you liked the posted samples)- go ahead and buy it! That post makes it seem more complicated than it really is. Just twist the focusing ring to focus, and forget about the distance marks, etc. on the lens and use the magnified view or focus peaking as focusing aids.

I just had a www. Hunt for the Wollensak 25mm f/3.5 you mentioned, but cannot find one for sale.

Choices choices choices... Hehe my eyes are larger than my wallet!