exhibit fast lenses | muellerworld

Photos taken with fast lenses

Super-wide Aperture lenses...

Inspired by Bjørn Rørslett's "Need For Speed" article, I found and bought four super-wide aperture lenses, with intentions of using them for some close-up and (hopefully) interesting flower photography.

The lenses are all fixed-focus and have all been converted to Nikon F mounts:

Mt. Prospect 90mm f/1.0
Kowa 62mm f/0.75
Rodenstock TV-Heliogon 68mm f/1.0
Rodenstock XR-Heliogon 42mm f/0.75 (Focus: ~2cm)

In an attempt to compare the size and "look" of the lenses, I shot similar photos of orange and white poppies:

Mt. Prospect 90mm f/1.0	Kowa 62mm f/0.75	Rodenstock XR-Heliogon 68mm f/1.0	Rodenstock TV-Heliogon 42mm f/0.75

The hulking Mt. Prospect 90mm lens and the Rodenstock 68mm lens (both are f/1.0) are notably sharper and less "foggy", despite all lenses being crisp and clear through the viewfinder. A focussing rail would make critical focussing much easier, but at f/1.0 (and f/0.75), there was never a problem with getting a high enough shutter speed to hand-hold the lenses (the 90mm lens is about 2 kilograms!).

I liked the Mt. Prospect 90mm lens the best because the working distance was the greatest of all the lenses, followed closely by the 68mm Rodenstock. The Kowa 62mm lens is my favorite of the four as far as looks and feel go, and the 42mm Rodenstock is my least favorite because the fixed-focus is only a few centimeters (and it has a considerable amount of specks in the coating on the front element: see the image).

This was the first chance I hhave had to shoot these lenses, more will follow...

洸2005 matt@muellerworld.com