fixcinater

<p>My copy of the 50mm f/1.8 II was just fine (as have all other copies I have seen and borrowed from other photogs) with regards to AF and IQ at f/1.8. Pick single point focus and use the center focus point and make sure it hits your subject.</p>

<p>Practice a whole bunch!</p>

<p>Some folks, like me, didn't build up a large kit and some folks never do. If somebody sees you out with a simple F-1 and 50mm (even if it is a f/1.2L), they might think you only have a small FD kit, in which case it wouldn't take too much to replicate in EF/digital.<br>

<br /> I'd love to have an FD kit, but I'm expected to shoot digital when I'm getting paid, so I need to fill that kit out first. Guess the old adage about using and buying what works best for you applies here, except you guys already have a lot of the stuff bought.</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10216032-md.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Shot with a Canon 40D (Gasp!), with a Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 at f/1.4 earlier today.</p>

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<p>Thanks Jeff and Alan. I'm happy with the pictures I've made thus far just shooting with it held up to my digital SLR, aside from the lack of infinity focus, so I'm going to make this thing work as the glass is extremely clean and I'm not going to find a telephoto for much cheaper. I like the older glass "look" for a lot of my work, so the single coating doesn't bother me.<br>

<br /> I'll shop around for some repair prices and see what I can do about rounding up some appropriate tools to get the elements out. I've disassembled a Takumar 135mm f/3.5, Takumar 55mm f/2.2 and a Takumar 50mm f/1.4 to do various small tasks, so I can't believe this one would be much more difficult to bust into.</p>

First real paid gig, my gf as second shooter.<div></div>

<p>I've already got the model girlfriend who also likes shooting, she's happy with her Spotmatic and Takumar 35mm/50mm/85mm/135mm kit, so I'd upgrade her lenses to faster versions and have it all serviced and get proper hoods and all, and trade in her Rebel XSi for a 5DII so lenses would work the same as the Spotmatic.</p>

<p>For me, I'd grab a gripped 7D (sic: 1D MkIV) with Nikon's 13mm, Canon's 200/2 IS and 400/2.8 IS for sports shooting, a 5DII with 24 1.4 II for street shooting, 17TS for skate vids and 1200/5.6 for uber portraits. I'd also pick up a 1VHS with 20K rolls of Velvia/Sensia/Portra each, and a Spotmatic loaded with Tri-X on an endless loop. Also, a Holga and Holga fisheye, along with a Polaroid and all the 600 film left in the world.</p>

<p>Then, I'd spend the rest on travel.</p>

<p>Of course, Phil, you love your old stuff. You know it well, and you've got nostalgia built up around it versus the current gear. Would you collect the same FD set if you were starting today, or would you go digital for the high-ISO and other capabilities?<br>

If I had a bunch of old fast glass I'd make a much bigger deal out of shooting film than what I do, since I'm starting out fresh. I'll still likely get into a film system (looks like Pentax will be where it is, since the Takumars are so good and usable on most digital systems in stop-down mode). Just food for thought.<br>

That's another thread for another forum, methinks, so I'll end this nonsensical rant with "Great collection, I'm jealous of the opportunities that equipment must afford you when looking to make images." Cheers!</p>

<p>It was $5, and no.<br>

Anyone seen a diagram of the darned thing online somewhere? If I could see an exploded diagram, I could tell whether the aperture is still there or if it was pulled out for some reason.<br>

<br /> Otherwise, I'll disassemble and try to clean it up.</p>

It doesn't respond to the aperture ring at all.

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<p>Just picked up a fairly mint lens as described in the subject, but I'm having a heck of a time getting it to stop down. I've got a TX and I know that the little button near the mount should stop it down, and I can see the linkage in the back of the lens moving when I push the button or use the TX's stop-down mechanism. It just doesn't stop down. In fact, I don't know where the aperture diaphragm is on the darn thing to know if it's even there or not.</p>

<p>I'd really like to be able to use this thing at something other than f/3.5 as the glass is mint and the body is super clean, but I'm at a loss for what else I can try. Can't find any exploded diagrams on the net, ditto for photos or even descriptions. Any help here, fellas? It's the later, II version with built-in sliding hood.</p>

<p>This was taken just a little while after the previous post.</p><div></div>

<p>San Diego had some crazy clouds this past week. Here are a couple of the better shots I got from one night (see next post as well).</p><div></div>

<p>I gave the M42 adapter I have with my girlfriend so she can use her new purchase, a Super Tak 50mm f/1.4, and concentrate on learning the 50mm view rather than having a zoom, so I didn't get much Pentax shooting time this week. I did take the 50mm and an Auto Takumar (made from '59 to '62) 135mm f/3.5 down to the San Diego - Spring Valley Swap Meet on Saturday so I got in a few shots with the fantastic old glass.</p><div></div>

<p>Here's my submission(s) for the week. Pentax Super Takumar 85mm f/1.9 wide-open on my Canon 40D. Some post done in LightRoom.</p><div></div>

<p>I live in Southern California, and I had my camera long with me when I was in Canon's neighborhood. 2 hours later I had a clean viewfinder, focus screen and mirror. I also had them clean the sensor and check the shutter actuations (sensor clean was $30, but it needed it) and now my 40D is a clean and happy camper ready for another 30K clicks.</p>

<p>Joining in for the first time. Picked up an M42-EOS adapter to burn off an Amazon certificate that I had lounging around. A friend got an S-M-C Takumar 35mm f/3.5 with a whole bunch of old Nikon gear, and had nothing but F-mount bodies, so I was the lucky recipient. These aren't all strictly from the past week, but all within the last 2 weeks, so I hope you'll forgive my breaking of that one rule. Body was Canon 40D, processed in Lightroom 2.3.<br>

I live in San Diego, CA and these are local.<br>

<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3649/3622891088_f8d3e87269_o.jpg" alt="" width="518" height="800" /></p>

<p><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3658/3621241434_8bc2da3402_o.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /><br>

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3603403959_41e0fb2176_o.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="533" /></p>

<p>Poor taste, Mr. Pierlot.</p>

<p>The 10-22 is not an L series, but the IQ is quite good. Should be similar (stopped down a bit) to your 17-55. If you need to buy something, that would be my suggestion as well since you are big on landscape. Shoot that and the 40D for a while, then make some massive prints from your best work in a few months time, and make your decision about acquiring/trading up to LF and what it would actually benefit you.<br>

<br /> There's a "forum problem" forum to post to if it indeed keeps doubling up.</p>

<p>Canonet QL17 GIII:</p><div></div>

<p>HSM is arguably a pretty big deal. My "Macro" version is quite buzzy while auto-focusing and it is a pain to go from AF to MF with the 2 switches.<br>

I like the image quality from the Macro version well enough (not super sharp at 2.8, which is livable) but the tactile feedback/user experience is quite poor and I would expect the HSM version to improve on all of those negativities.</p>

<p>40D!</p>

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Copyright Jessy Timko<div></div>