🔴 OK, Now I wish I'd kept my Leica M8! (Zeiss Biotar 40mm f1.4)
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- Опубликовано: 19 мар 2024
- Testing a super rare 1920s Zeiss Biotar 40mm f1.4 converted to Leica M mount. Budapest
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Special thanks to Chris at Skyllaney in the UK for sending my the converted Zeiss Biotar 40mm f1.4 lens. Contact them at - omnarlenses.com
If you go to Budapest check out - cafeanalog.hu
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📷 FAVOURITE CAMERA BAG - bit.ly/3Uiva6w
📷 SEE MY KIT: mrleica.com/kitlist/
Special thanks to Chris at Skyllaney in the UK for sending my the converted Zeiss Biotar 40mm f1.4 lens. Contact them at - omnarlenses.com
If you go to Budapest check out - cafeanalog.hu
🚀 FREE MODEL PHOTOGRAPHY GUIDE EBOOK: mrleica.com/ebooks/
🚀 MAKE MONEY WITH PHOTOGRAPHY EBOOK - bit.ly/3PIYtwD
✅ CHECK PRICES: (US) ebay.to/2F0HoxY (UK) ebay.to/3ijzle2 (DE) ebay.to/3iqDNYs (FR) ebay.to/2ZJ3E75 (HK) ebay.to/32A8xBu
📞 ZOOM: Not sure what camera or lens to buy? Arrange a call today - bit.ly/3lBkdgq
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🎞 NEED FILM?: mrleica.com/do-you-need-film/
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⛔ INSURANCE: Aaduki UK Photography Insurance - with since 2014 - www.aaduki.com
Almost 100 years old 😮 and still in proper shape. If it could only talk what, where and with whom it has been.
Amazing .
Good video Matt, thanks for sharing.🎉
Thanks Rob! yes beautiful condition. I was lucky they reached out. (They wanted to see what it could do before it went to the final owner!)
Cafe Analog, a wonderful oasis of film in a beautiful city. A brilliant shop, very reliable and fast with film development too. The last time I was there I left some slide film with them, they developed it and posted back to Dublin for me as I was leaving Budapest later that day, prices were good too.
Thanks Jim, yes a great find. I'll be sure to visit again next time i'm in town!
Hi Matt
Yes, the Biotar series is quite something. I was going to say it's normally from Carl Zeiss Jena and was also offered with the Robot. I have the Biotar 2/5.8cm from 1948, soft at f2 but already relatively good at 2.8. I like taking photos with it. And I won't give it away again. Great video and thanks for showing it.
Lg Anderl
Thanks and thanks for sharing.. I saw a Robot half frame camera in Budapest
I really wanted to have the Robot because of the Biotar, but it's been a long time.😁😁@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom
Thank you for this very interesting video. Your photos look excellent as usual. As others have commented, the 5.8 cm f2 biotar is also a very nice lens -- and it fully covers the standard 24x36mm full format image area --- and the 17 blade version has very nice bokeh. (I'd bet the 8 blade versions also produce wonderful images.) This 4cm f1.4 though sounds especially appealing! I love the build quality on these older Zeiss lenses.
Thank you. Yes i reviewed the 5cm and 7.5cm so far. Both are great fun especially the 75mm.
This lens has quite a history, was made in Debrie Mount. It was missing the mount when I got it, in exchange for doing some lens conversion work. Sat in a box, used it on my U43 just to get some sample shots. I gave it to Chris, knowing he had the skill to make it into a one-of-a-kind lens to capture 1920s rendering in the modern world. Lots of work went into it. I am sure Chris will correct the decentering issue. This lens is 95 years old, and as far as I know- is the first F1.4 lens ever made.
If you have not shot with a pre-war, uncoated Sonnar- ask Chris to let you borrow the next 1607xxx 5cm F1.5 Sonnar that he converts, one of the first to use 40.5mm filters and the second optical formulation of the F1.5 Sonnar. Of all the Sonnars I have (>50), it is my favorite. And... I KEPT my M8!
Thanks Brian! Yes Chris is a master at this. Yes he kindly sent me an early pre-war Sonnar when I did the Beetle video. Very nice!
its amazing, that those lenses, more than 100 jears old even work.
In Wetzlar, they did a brilliant job.
And they are even capable to produce brillant pics., not only on film, where the focus point is always a theme because of the normal lack of flatness even on sensors with a complete different kind of resolution.
nobody was talking at that time of bokeh , but still they have.
Yes! I guess metal and glass will always work! This is why I prefer lenses without electronics.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom
That's usually true.
But the metal also needs to be looked after.
If you simply leave it lying around, then the optics "suddenly" can no longer cope with the long times (1 sec, 1/2 sec).
The other times are also no longer precise.
And sometimes it also happens that the blades of the shutter cut into each other.
The "Copal Press" closures (self-tightening closures) are very sensitive
The glass must also be protected.
I once photographed with a Nikon 50mm 1.2 while crossing the Sahara in a sandstorm.
It's like rubbing the front lens with sandpaper.
A filter would have been a MUST.
Kind regards
(and always: buenas dias)
Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to your next budapest video!
Thank you! Yes I'm looking forward to that one.. much more showing the making of the photos etc.
Chartered accountancy's loss is our gain. It is great to see another post. The Biotar, yes. Skyllaney knows lenses and how to make them work and does first rate work as I can attest. But what of the Biotar? Like an old Strad, the instrument is dependent upon who plays it regardless of its qualities. You have an uncanny skill to make the mundane pleasing. You do it with your shots all over the places you visit, the non-model shots. And you have a wonderful grace with your model shots that are striking but never hackneyed. Kneel for knighthood.
The Biotar has some charm for sure. I like the old Zeiss lenses, and the "new" ones, too. BTW, have you taken a long look at the Leica M 0.8 lenses? I am not usually a Leica lens fan but the stills from "The Zone of Interest" are quite striking. As are the prices. They have a nice 28, 35 and 50 in M mount for a prince's ransom. But the color is very interesting as is the IQ.
I've hung on to my M8.2. I never seem to sell old cameras. The M8/M8.2 has color I like and works very well with a good lens.
Thanks for another great video. How do you find the time?
Thanks Sandy, you're very kind! How do I find the time? (1) It's my job now (2) Reality is.. go on a 3-4 day trip, shoot morning til night, get back, panic that I now need to upload a video.. rush rush rush for 2 days, post video, then unpack, repeat.
Once I mount my first 7 element version Pentax Takumar 50mm f1,4 on a cheap no-name speedbooster and than that combo onto any of my Fuji X cameras I get similar results if shot wide open or stopped down to f2.
Given that you already have a camera (any aps-c camera will work, yes, Leica CL too), that whole combo will cost you only about $200 or less.
Just saying...
Great yes i'm sure lots of old lenses will give similar imperfect results. I guess that is why it is fun to experiment with them.
Not an easy lens to review I guess, but they found the right guy for the job for sure :). Personally the vignetting on full frame wouldn't bother me by the way, it's a nice guide for a 4x5 crop!
Thanks Thomas! Ah yes it would suit your 4x5 crops :)
Wow, this is interesting!
Thanks Steve!
Biotars are famous for that out of focus effect. I could also tell rightaway that the lens was off centre wnen you showed the covering circle on the LCD. Its worth checking the concentricity of the helicoil to the optical axis and the mount. Some guy is asking just short of £4000.00 for a 75 mm F1.5 Biotar. Madness,I' d say. I rest my case.
Thanks, yes I said that to the guys, they will check it over. It did give for some interesting photos though! (The 75mm Biotar is perhaps the best portrait lens I've ever used. See that video).. Sadly that lens was also slightly off.
Seems like a typical “Biotar look”: usably sharp near the center even wide-open, then crazier and crazier the farther off-axis you get. Choose your own adventure! 1920s cinematographers would have known exactly how to make it do what they wanted, and obviously Matt does too. Personally, while I love the bokeh, I'm not crazy about the decentering/tilt, which would be aggravated by the fact that the entire lens rotates while focusing, so the “axis of wackiness” would be constantly changing. Surely Skyllaney could have shimmed it to straighten this out? Personal verdict: too rich for me, but would be lots of fun on my early-2000s Epson R-D1 or 2024 Pixii…
Thanks James, yes the guys will look at it once it goes back. It's a tough choice as I think the "special effect" of the lens was the flaws / decentreing!
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom Obvious candidate, then, for a tilt/shift mount (just to make the engineering even more difficult...)
Oh, that is cool. Maybe Light Lens Lab should make a modern clone of it?
Yes! How cool would that be.. I'll mention it!
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaComYes! I love what they’ve been doing.
great idea re light lens lab!
I wonder of result of this lens on a half-frame camera
Sharp images. Remember APS-C using the image circle less the softer edges. Half frame will only use the small centre portion of any FF lens image circle (where it is most sharp)
I regret my M8 too
Hated the M240 colors after switching
Better now with the M10
The simple M8 sensor shooting B&W would be idea here I think!
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom yes we call M8 the baby monochrom 😜
Did these ever come with LTM/L39 adapters for screw mount Leicas?
I know the 50mm did
The 50mm would also be better for 35mm I suspect
For this specific lens I would say 99.9999% no as it's a cine lens no a lens for photography. (It would have been nice to see it adapted to LTM though and used it on my 1931 Leica)
Yes see my 50mm Biotar video (and 75mm Biotar video!)
😊
Thanks!
I wonder how the lens would work on one of your Leica III’s?
Sadly not at all as it's converted to M mount. If it was LTM it would look so good on my 1931 Barnack!
Where is the link?
Hi, which link are you looking for? Links under the video for all mentioned items but if you can't see something just let me know what.
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaCom the one for the lens you reviewed. The company that did that lens…
Matt were you born in the wrong age? Those 'old' pics were fab!
Thanks! Yes absolutely born in the wrong era! I love old stuff haha.. I can only imagine how cool it was to have proper steam trains to photo haha.
Years ago I had a Leica Summar. It was in the same league. It was pretty soft in every sense. I just couldn't live with all the flare so I sold it.
Thanks George! Ah yes the Summar is quite soft. Thankfully Biotar lenses are at least sharp in the centre even wide open. (I got the Summarit that came after the Summar. That is a nice lens too)
@@MattOsborne-MrLeicaComAs it happens, today I took out my 1934 Summar for a walk. A good Summar is vvvery sharp in the centre (but falls off rapidly towards the edges). It has low contrast, and shooting against the light is a game of hazard. Still, it definitely delivers a high quality pre-war Leica look. Off-axis effects cannot be guaranteed, though ;-) The vast possibilities in digital post-precessing breeze new life into these lenses. They are still cheap and fit M-Leicas with an adapter ring that costs next to nothing. The challenge is to find a good one. Haze can easily be cleaned. But the front lens is very soft. I had to polish out the scratches on mine. (BTW between Summar and Summarit there was the Summitar -- both very nice lenses but in very different ways.)
Plenty of far far cheaper lenses and camera bodies out there that can take equally mediocre photos than this rig.
Yes i'm sure, I was just using my smallest digital camera as my focus was film so most of my bag was dedicated to that.
Well Matt : your out with a 6x9 roll back too ? I have been carting about my 6x9 and 6x12 backs on my Graphlex Crown for days. I have had high leaks on some of my old 4x5 Lasso Regal film holders , so I am going roll film until I shoot out the Graph Matics 4x5 backs with the septum , I have 4 of those.
Hi Chris, yes! See the next video for all the juicy details :). (Sorry to hear about your light leaks)