Photo Jottings - Page 17 of 127 - Photography equipment expertise

Photo Jottings

or, for our Western audience, Hi Honey, I’ll be home for Christmas…just not this Christmas.

Today’s Kodachrome slide entry was taken in war torn Korea around Christmas of 1952. The subject is a Korean Radio Tech making a call on a Voice Terminal Bay at a Chonan (later spelled Cheonon) repeater station; I actually don’t know what he’s saying here, but let’s pretend it’s the title.

The Radio equipment looks pretty cool with the tubes and all, and I’ll guess it’s the latest high tech gear in Korea.  Unfortunately, I don’t know how it works, or exactly what it does.  My Dad operated the equipment, and took the picture; he also identified the location and a few incidentals when I asked before I scanned the slide, but I don’t remember anything about the equipment, and dad is no longer with us.

This Kodachrome image was taken with a Canon IVSB (or earlier model) with 50/1.9 lens, and sent to Hawaii for Kodak to develop. Go here for more info about this Korean Repeater Station.

That’s it for this weeks trip down memory lane, thanks for looking.

I thought I’d compare these two lenses just for kicks.  Of course the Sony 24-70mm F/2.8 GM is a zoom, and a very good one at that, however, I wasn’t expecting miracles from it, especially since the 55mm F/1.8 is a great prime lens (reviewed here).  So do you wonder how they might compare directly in a landscape scene?  Well wonder no more, below are some side-by-side crops at 55mm, from F/2.8 through F/11.

Sony A7R used for test images.

Sony 55/1.8 sets are along the top, and Sony 24-70/2.8 GM sets are on the bottom of image.

Here is the whole test scene and where the crops are taken from.

F/2.8

Left side                                                                                   Center                                                                                       Right side

Sony 55mm F/1.8 on the top, Sony 24-70mm F/2.8 GM on the bottom.

The prime is slightly sharper in the middle area, and along the right side, however, the left side is sharper on the zoom; wow!

F/4

The centers are about the same at F/4, but the prime is still a bit soft as compared to the zoom on the left side. The prime shows substantially more resolution on the right side.

F/5.6

Both lenses are about even at F/5.6 on the left side and center; the Sony 55mm is a little sharper on the right.

F/8

At F/8 the Sony 55/1.8 is maxed out. The Sony 24-70/2.8 GM is showing about the same resolution as the prime, except along the extreme right side.

F/11

Both lenses look almost the same here in color contrast and resolution. If you look very closely, you can see the zoom is always just a tiny bit soft  on the extreme right side when compared to the prime. But big deal, this is great performance for a zoom lens!!

I’m very surprised at the outcome, especially at wide apertures, the zoom really holds its own. I thought the prime would blow the zoom away at least until F/5.6 or F/8, but no, the differnces are relatively minor from F/4.

That’s it for this interesting comp!

Here are some test image sets from the Sony FE 24-70mm F/2.8 GM.  There are five full size images at each marked focal length; 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 70mm; from F/2.8 to F/11.  The test scene is similar to what you see in the image above, at each focal length.  Sony A7R used for review.

I’ll make some crops from the centers, mid-sections, and corners and put them side by side as I’ve done in the past, but that will be included in the review.

So far, sharpness and contrast seem first rate, but there’s more to a good lens than resolution, so we’ll check the other features and qualities in the full review.

For right now, click the F/number links below for the full size image, and see what you think.  All sets were taken using the same shutter speed for each aperture setting and each focal length.  Images are Jpegs with no adjustments made, in-camera or otherwise.

24mm  F/2.8, F/4, F/5.6, F/8, F/11
35mm  F/2.8, F/4, F/5.6, F/8, F/11
50mm  F/2.8, F/4, F/5.6, F/8, F/11
70mm  F/2.8, F/4, F/5.6, F/8, F/11

Next up for a comparison, the Sony FE 55mm F/1.8 and this lens at 55mm.  See how this very expensive zoom competes against a superb prime!

 

 

There’s fresh snow on the ground, so fire up your snowmobile, grab a film camera, and let’s hit the trails!  Not in Tucson though, darn it.

I thought I’d post another Kodak moment picture; this time it’s an Ektachrome slide from about 1979/80.

The subject is me, and a 1974 Raider Eagle Snowmobile.  The Raider was unique in that it had twin tracks, a rear mounted engine, and padded cockpit seating; more pictures of Raiders here.  Our Raider had a 440 CCW engine, electric start with a tachometer and speedometer. When the engine was tuned up properly, and on hard packed snow, It would do about 70 MPH (113kph).  Some people worried about what would happen if you rolled it over being seating inside the vehicle and not really able to jump out quickly; I did that one time, and it wasn’t actually a bad experience.  A strong neck and the knit cap was good enough as I slid along, upside down and into a snow bank.

The Raider was a fun ride, but it had a lot of problems, mainly due to it being a low production, short run vehicle, and as a result, they never really had the time or resources to get the bugs worked out.  My Grandfather bought this brand new Raider at an auction for almost nothing; they were going out of business; and shortly after that, my Dad talked my grandfather out of it, and we ended up owning it for about 5 years.  I remember my last Raider ride, I think it was early winter in 1981 after a big snow, the first ride of the new season.  I decided to ‘drag race’ my buddy in his 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport on the street in front of our house, and as I hit about 6000 RPM on the tach, the chain came apart and flew through the fiberglas body right beside me. We ended up dragging it home behind his car, and putting it in the garage. Unfortunately, that was the last ride for me; Dad ended up fixing it and sold it shortly after.

Interesting side notes; notice the black padded ‘seat’ on the rear engine cover, you could carry a passenger here, where they would hang on for dear life using the little plastic hand strap just in front of the seat.  Check out my orange Michigan ‘safe snowmobiler’ patch on my right shoulder, and the ‘Coors’ beer knit cap which was a typical ‘helmet’ back then.  There’s nothing like beer and snowmobiling when you’re 15 years old!  Also notice the hardware store ‘photojottings’ stickers on the side, I was thinking about running a photo magazine, but got sidetracked for three decades; or maybe not.

Photo was taken with Kodak Ektachrome film with my Dad’s Aries 35 IIIL 45/1.9 camera.

Our next review lens is the Sony FE ‘G’ Master 24-70mm F/2.8.  I’ll be doing a ‘running’ review; which means I’ll post sections of the review as I get them done, instead of waiting to finish the entire review before posting it.  First up will be full size sample test images, and then comparisons with other lenses that I have, including the Sony FE Zeiss 24-70/4, Sony FE Zeiss 35/2.8, Sony FE Zeiss 16-35/4 and maybe the Sony Zeiss 55/1.8.

The 24-70mm F/2.8 ‘G’ Master lens is supposed to be the sharpest mid-zoom yet from Sony, so It should be interesting to see how it performs against other lenses at the same focal lengths.

I should be able to get out some test samples within a couple of days, so check back often.

 

The most asked question for both of my websites is if the Sony 16-70mm (B&H, Amazon, eBay), is a decent lens.  My conclusion was not two thumbs up, and I thought it was a bit pricey for the performance.

At the time of the review, (December 2013), on my old site, I couldn’t post full size images, but I can here at photojottings, and I was able to find some of the original test shots with a ‘set’ at three different focal lengths, 16mm, 23mm and 70mm.

I’ve also updated the review here on this site.  Remember, all updates to anything originally posted to kurtmunger.com will only show up here. The old site has not been updated for a long time, and it will not be updated anymore.

For what it’s worth, the resolution along the sides are not up to my standards, which are pretty high. However, there’s more to life than resolution, and this lens does have other qualities that some folks may find important.

So judge for yourself the image quality from the full size samples below and see if it meets your needs as far as resolution is concerned.

Full size samples below.

16mm

F/4 F/5.6 F/8

23mm

F/4 F/5.6 F/8

70mm

F/4 F/5.6 F/8

That’s it for the update, head to the review here.

Ray Fahrner's Eclipse

My Dad took this Kodachrome slide of Ray Farhner’s 1932 Ford Roadster pickup ‘Eclipse’ probably in 1960 or 1961 in Detroit. I’m not sure what the show was called by it could be either ‘NHRA’ 1960, or maybe ‘National Champion Custom Car Show’ in 1961.  Farhner went on to produce more custom cars, including a hotrod 1850s funeral coach called the Boothill Express!

This little pickup won many awards, (Grand Sweepstakes winner in NHRA 1960), and was featured in all the major car magazines of the day, including Hotrod, Car Craft, Custom Rodder and a plethora of others. It’s now a legendary custom Rod that has been restored, more info here.

Notice the mirror positioned on a slant under the car showing the undercarriage; the October 1960 Car Craft magazine, (with the car on the cover); the Cadillac ‘teeth’ on the front grill, and the hood with a body-color spot light just visible at the bottom edge.  I like the pose of the couple on the left, I think it makes the image more interesting.

The photo was taken by my dad with an Aires 35 IIIL rangefinder camera, which I still have, and reviewed here.  The image is a little soft due to using the lens wide open, (focused on the  stromberg 97 carbs), but that’s what you had to do back then as Kodachrome was rated (at the most) ASA 25 starting in 1961; so a light value of around 5-6.

That’s it for this trip down memory lane!

 

I reviewed this ‘a’ mount lens in May of 2008 when there were no newer Sony equivalents available. However, Sony eventually come up with a Carl Zeiss 24mm /2 wide angle lens; it was very expensive at the time, ($1400) and a pretty good lens; unfortunately, I was not able to give it two thumbs up, see the review here.

Now that I’ve re-visited the Minolta AF 24mm F/2.8, I can see that it is actually very sharp stopped down to F/5.6-8 using an APS-C camera, and F/8-11 with full frame.  It does suffer from a soft periphery at F/2.8-4, and soft extreme corners at F/5.6.  Fortunately, If you can live at F/5.6  to F/11, this lens is a very good value. Current eBay prices are around $150 for a good copy.

The Minolta AF 24mm is still a good solid choice for interior work, or landscapes at F/8-11 using a full frame camera. For those using APS-C, the focal length would be about 36mm (in 135 film format).

Unfortunately, as we creep into 2018, Sony still has not produced a 24mm focal length ‘FE’ lens.  Hurray, Sony has now come out with their own brand new 24mm lens, and widely available in 2019.

If you have an APS-C camera and want excellent optical qualities in this focal length, get the superb Sony CZ 24/1.8.  If you’re on a budget, check out the Sony pancake 16mm lens, which has the same coverage as a full frame 24mm lens.

This lens will  auto focus with the all Sony mirrorless cameras using the LA-EA4 adapter, or manual LA-EA3 here.

Check out the full size samples from the APS-C Sony A700 below, or go to the review and scroll to the bottom where I’ve added these samples, and made minor changes to the review; mostly page formatting etc.

F/2.8 F/4 F/5.6 F/8

Click yellow buttons for full size versions.

Check out the full frame samples from the Sony A900 below, or go to the review and scroll to the bottom where I’ve added these samples.  Note: these images were not intended to be viewed in their entirety, I was showing crops at the time, and this set was for the ‘corner’ crops in the full frame section of the review. The patio post and roof are very close, and not within the depth of field for this test set.

F/2.8 F/4 F/5.6 F/8 F/11

Click yellow buttons for full size versions.

That’s it for the update.

Kodak Moment #8, Naneun Keuliseumaseuleul Jibe Galgeoya

Posted in Blog, Film Negative, Kodak Moment Tagged with , ,

or, for our Western audience, Hi Honey, I’ll be home for Christmas…just not this Christmas.

Today’s Kodachrome slide entry was taken in war torn Korea around Christmas of 1952. The subject is a Korean Radio Tech making a call on a Voice Terminal Bay at a Chonan (later spelled Cheonon) repeater station; I actually don’t know what he’s saying here, …

Read more »

Sony FE 24-70/2.8 GM full size test images

Posted in Blog Tagged with

Here are some test image sets from the Sony FE 24-70mm F/2.8 GM.  There are five full size images at each marked focal length; 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 70mm; from F/2.8 to F/11.  The test scene is similar to what you see in the image above, at each focal length.  Sony A7R used for review.

I'll make some crops from the centers, mid-sections, and corners and put them side by side as I've done in the past, but that will be included in the review.

So far, sharpness and contrast seem first rate, but there's more to a good lens than resolution, so we'll check the other features and qualities in the full review.

For right now, click the F/number links below for the full size image, and see what you think.  All sets were taken using the same shutter speed for each aperture setting and each focal length.  Images are Jpegs with no adjustments made, in-camera or otherwise...

Read more »

Kodak Moment #7 The “RAIDER”

Posted in Blog, Film Negative, Kodak Moment Tagged with ,

There's fresh snow, so fire up your snowmobile, grab a film camera, and let's hit the trails!  Not in Tucson though, darn it.

I'm still waiting for good sunny weather so I can shoot some test images with the Sony FE 24-70/2.8 GM lens.  Hopefully I should have something out in a couple of days. In the mean time, I thought I'd post another Kodak moment picture; this time it's an Ektachrome slide from about 1979/80.

The subject is me, and a 1974 Raider Eagle Snowmobile.  The Raider was unique in that it had twin tracks, a rear mounted engine, and padded cockpit seating; more pictures or Raiders here.  Our Raider had a 440 CCW engine, electric start with a tachometer and speedometer. When the engine was tuned up properly, and on hard packed snow, It would do about 70 MPH (113kph).  Some people worried about what would happen if you rolled it over being seating inside the vehicle and not really able to jump out quickly; I did that one time, and it wasn't actually a bad experience.  A strong neck and the knit cap was good enough as I slid along, upside down and into a snow bank.

The Raider was a fun ride, but it had a lot of problems, mainly due to it being a low production, short run vehicle, and as a result, they never really had the time or resources to get the bugs worked out.  My Grandfather bought this brand new Raider at an auction for almost nothing; they were going out of business; and shortly after that, my Dad talked my grandfather out of it, and we ended up owning it for about 5 years.  I remember my last Raider ride, I think it was early winter in 1981 after a big snow, the first ride of the new season.  I decided to 'drag race' my buddy in his 1970 Pontiac LeMans Sport on the street in front of our house, and as I hit about 6000 RPM on the tach, the chain came apart and flew through the fiberglas body right beside me. We ended up dragging it home behind his car, and putting it in the garage. Unfortunately, that was the last ride for me; Dad ended up fixing it and sold it shortly after.

Interesting side notes; notice the black padded 'seat' on the rear engine cover, you could carry a passenger here, where they would hang on for dear life using the little plastic hand strap just in front of the seat.  Check out my orange Michigan 'safe snowmobiler' patch on my right shoulder, and the 'Coors' beer knit cap which was a typical 'helmet' back then.  There's nothing like beer and snowmobiling when you're 15 years old!  Also notice the hardware store 'photojottings' stickers on the side...

Read more »

Next lens up for review, Sony FE 24-70/2.8 GM with comparisons.

Posted in Blog Tagged with

Our next review lens is the Sony FE 'G' Master 24-70mm F/2.8.  I'll be doing a 'running' review; which means I'll post sections of the review as I get them done, instead of waiting to finish the entire review before posting it.  First up will be full size sample test images, and then comparisons with other lenses that I have, including the Sony FE Zeiss 24-70/4, Sony FE Zeiss 35/2.8, Sony FE Zeiss 16-35/4 and maybe the Sony Zeiss 55/1.8.

The 24-70mm F/2.8 'G' Master lens is supposed to be the sharpest mid-zoom yet from Sony, so It should be interesting to see how it performs against other lenses at the same focal lengths.

I should be able to get out some test samples within a couple of days, so check back often.

Read more »

Sony Zeiss 16-70mm F/4 update

Posted in Blog, Lens Reviews Tagged with

The most asked question for both of my websites is if the Sony 16-70mm (B&H, Amazon, eBay), is a decent lens.  My conclusion was not two thumbs up, and I thought it was a bit pricey for the performance.

At the time of the review, (December 2013), on my old site, I couldn't post full size images, but I can here at photojottings, and I was able to find some of the original test shots with a 'set' at three different focal lengths, 16mm, 23mm and 70mm.

I've also updated the review here on this site.  Remember, all updates to anything originally posted to kurtmunger.com will only show up here. The old site has not been updated for a long time, and it will not be updated anymore.

For what it's worth, the resolution along the sides are not up to my standards, which are pretty high. However, there's more to life than resolution, and this lens does have other qualities that some folks may find important.

So judge for yourself the image quality from the full size samples below...

Read more »

Kodak Moment #6, The Eclipse

Posted in Blog, Film Negative, Kodak Moment Tagged with ,

My Dad took this Kodachrome slide of Ray Farhner's 1932 Ford Roadster pickup 'Eclipse' probably in 1960 or 1961 in Detroit. I'm not sure what the show was called by it could be either 'NHRA' 1960, or maybe 'National Champion Custom Car Show' in 1961.  Farhner went on to produce more custom cars, including a hotrod 1850s funeral coach called the Boothill Express!

This little pickup won many awards, (Grand Sweepstakes winner in NHRA 1960), and was featured in all the major car magazines of the day, including Hotrod, Car Craft, Custom Rodder and a plethora of others. It's now a legendary custom Rod that has been restored, more info here.

Notice the mirror positioned on a slant under the car showing the undercarriage; the October 1960 Car Craft magazine, (with the car on the cover); the Cadillac 'teeth' on the front grill, and the hood with a body-color spot light just visible at the bottom edge.  I like the pose of the couple on the left, I think it makes the image more interesting.

The photo was taken by my dad with an Aires 35 IIIL rangefinder camera (which I still have), 45mm at F/1.9, maybe 1/15s.  The image is...

Read more »

Minolta AF 24mm F/2.8 update

Posted in Blog, Lens Reviews Tagged with

Check out the full size samples for full frame and APS-C inside.

I reviewed this 'a' mount lens almost ten years ago when there were no newer Sony equivalents available. However, Sony eventually come up with a Carl Zeiss 24mm /2 wide angle lens; it was very expensive at the time, ($1400) and a pretty good lens; unfortunately, I was not able to give it two thumbs up, see the review here.

Now that I've re-visited the Minolta AF 24mm F/2.8, I can see that it is actually very sharp stopped down to F/5.6-8 using an APS-C camera, and F/8-11 with full frame.  It does suffer from a soft periphery at F/2.8-4, and soft extreme corners at F/5.6.  Fortunately, If you can live at F/5.6  to F/11, this lens is a very good value. Current eBay prices are around $150 for a good copy.

The Minolta AF 24mm is still a good solid choice for interior work, or landscapes at F/8-11 using a full frame camera. For those using APS-C, the focal length would be about 36mm (in 135 film format).

Unfortunately, as we creep into 2018, Sony still has not produced a 24mm focal length 'FE' lens.

If you have an APS-C camera and want excellent optical qualities in this focal length, get the superb Sony CZ 24/1.8.  If you're on a budget, check out the Sony pancake 16mm lens, which has the same coverage as a full frame 24mm lens.

This lens will auto focus with the all Sony mirrorless cameras using the...

Read more »

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