I might be in love. No, I’m not getting a mail-order bride. I am talking about the Jupiter-8 lens that was given to me recently. This is a copy of the venerable Zeiss Sonnar design. This design was patented in the 30’s and is still being produced by most major lens makers today! My copy was probably made in the 60’s, so the coatings are somewhat primitive, leaving it susceptible to flares. It is just something to be conscious of, not really a problem and sometimes flares can be used intentionally to add to a composition. This photo has a very subtle flare in the upper left corner, but I wouldn’t say it adds or detracts from the image (which is kind of boring to begin with). The lens was mounted on a Fed-3 which is also a copy of another German design, the Leica. This camera is built like a tank and just works every time I push the button.
I know the backlit dandelion has been done to death, but I thought I would do a little twist on it by shooting an unopened flower as the main subject and the ‘puffball’ as an out of focus element. The lens was wide open at f/2 and I may have missed focus by a centimeter or so. The film is expired Kodak Ektachrome Slide Duplicating film cross processed in Unicolor C-41 chems. The scan was done on an Epson V600 and dust spotting in PS. No other adjustments were applied.
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