PhotoVisions Gear Review # 1 - Minolta MC Rokkor-PG f1.4 50mm with Pixco MD-EF adapter
Heeelo Friends!
Welcome to my first gear review. As announced in previous posts I will share my own review and sample photos of the gear I bought recently.
This post can be boring for thse who are looking for stunning shots only - it will be more about techical stuff and photographic usage of the gear, but I was trying to prepare something interesting to everybody. So... let's begin!
1. The lens - first impressions:
As it was said in introduction post - the lens is very solid! It is build with metal and glass, it is heavy so You feel You are holding real equipment! Together with macro rings, adapter and filter it weights more than my Canon 70-300mm lens.
But its good! I like solid gear! First plus!
In my model all the rings working smooth and silen, no visible dust or scratches, clean cover, small size but quite good handling. I like it. The size is very similar to popular Helios.
To use Rokkor with digital Canon camera we have to use special adapter - I am using adapter made by Pixco MD-EF model. It is fully made from metal, with small lens inside.
2. Testing procedure:
In my test I decided to use 4 different aperture settings on similar objects, sharpening to infinity, macro shots and trying to reveal the differences in Bokeh.
In post processing I just operated little with light and shadows, leaving the rest untouched.
I made series of photos with minimal aperture f1.4, with low middle f4.0, with high middle f8.0 and closed aperture f16.
3. Sharpening to infinity.
Here I found first really big problem, or maybe problems with this lens. In opened aperture it is impossible to make a good quality shot. There is no any sharp area on the photo, bloom effect is really big - the same with chromatic aberration and vignietting. Unacceptable result!
On f4.0 things are getting much better. It is quite ok in f8 and f16. Vignette and chromatic aberration is still very big, but almost fully removable in post processing...
On the photo above we can also see some other strange and very unpleasant effect - in the middle of the photo picture is much more exposed than on the edges. It is really unwanted effect and I am not really sure if the lens is generating it or the glass part in adapter...
It looks similar to some flare or ghost effect on the glass but I tried many other positions of the camera, shooting from the shadow, and this effect didn't disapear... Big minus for this :( ...
In all examples, sharpness on the edges of the picture is really poor and chromatic aberration is present as hell...
Photo: Close up on the edge of the photo. f8.0
4. Sharpening to close distant and Bokeh effect.
Here situation is much better. The white spot in the middle is sometimes visible but it doesn't destroy the picture like before. Vignette effect is almost completely gone. Chromatic aberration is present but in quite a good level.
Photo: Aperture f1.4
As it was easy to predict - best Bokeh appearance we get in lover aperture settings. I can say - for me, personally, minimal f1.4 creates something amazing. The background starts to live - the reflections are very dynamic, it create little chaos but in a good way. And this is the best part of this lens - macro shots with f 1.4 ! Loved it!
Photo: Aperture f1.4
Below few shots showing how the Depth of Field and Bokeh are changing in different settings of the lens.
Photo: Tulip flowers made in f1.4, f8.0 and f16
Photo: View on the apple-tree flowers. Above from left - f1.4, f4 and below from the left f8 and f16.
5. Working with macro rings.
In this part I connect macro ring 31mm between the camera and the Minolta set. In effect I got much bigger magnification level from closer distant to the object. The biggest issue and the dilema here was that:
- in the lowest f1.4 where I have best Bokeh appearance - the Depth of Field is so shallow and sharpness soft, that it is almost imposible to take some sharp details...
- we are getting more sharpness and bigger DOF but in a cost of worse Bokeh effect...
That is how it is. Maybe I didn't test it so much yet to find the best solution on this one. Maybe there are some settings which will work much better together, creating sharp image with lowest f value... This I will have to try more and combine some other values as well...
6. Summary
My first "wow" effect on this glass was made too fast! It is indeed interesting piece of gear but I would never change it with my Helios lens...
First of all - sharpening to infinity - totally not working on lower f values. Really soft edges, big chromatic aberration and vignette effect are making this lens totally uselessfor landscape photography in my opinion. Maybe it could work with portrait or some stylish vintage sessions... but it is not my point of interest so I won't say more about it.
In macro photography it is good option. Bokeh - something what we desire the most - is magical in f1.4. It create great reflections and shapes, bluured background sometimes is more interesting than the photographed object ;) - but it is ok, for all artistic purposes, for abstract creative shots, for PhotoVisions - very good!
Used together with macro rings - worse than Helios but still have potential. I just need to discover it first. More shots and experimenting needed!
7. Final word:
Do I recommend the lens for all? - No
Do I recommend for those who like experiments - Yes
Is it the best gear we can find? - Nope
Is it worth buying for the actual market price? - I think Yes.
The lens is quite cheap, was very popular so there is many still in good shape... but why should we buy such thing if there is many other, better lenses available for the same or little higher price? If You will find it for free - take it! If You consider buying yourself something good - try something else. Most popular Helios is in my opinion better choice! Bokeh here on 1.4 is magical, but buying the lens for only one good feature? Decision is Yours!
Thank You all for reading my first review. If You have any further questions just write!
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>
If You like my work, check my portfolio site asphotovisions
More information About Me
Any questions or opinions - write a comment. Great thanks for supporting my work!
Thanks for watching and have a great day!
Upvoting, Resteeming and Following are the best way to show the authors that You like their work, it supports them not only finacially but what more important gives a huuuge amount of positive energy to create more interesting posts and work on future projects!
Very beautiful photographs, composition, framing and all the photos are very well achieved, I congratulate you!