Showcase Kodak Cine Ektanon 63mm f/2.7 16mm film lens

ex machina · Jun 4, 2015

A 65 year-old Kodak Cine Ektanon 63mm f/2.7 16mm film lens adapted to my Lumix GX7 via S-Mount to C-Mount to m43 mount. These were my first test shots after receiving the S-Mount to C-Mount adaptor and are straight out of camera, hand-held at ISO 3200 and low shutter speeds, wide-open except for the last that shows vignetting as you stop down.

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Tibetan Bells by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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Tibetan Singling Bowl by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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Kitchen Window Knickknacks by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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Vignette Example by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

Crdome · Jun 4, 2015

Thanks for sharing. Its a nice lens, which by happenstance I just brought out of my cabinet. As memory serves me, I think it shoots macro. Will need to look over the brochure. You are in for a real treat if haven't already unscrewed the front element from the lens assembly... The shutter is a joy to behold. ThinkI'll try to shoot something with it today.

Good luck!

Chrome

ex machina · Jun 4, 2015

Crdome said:
Thanks for sharing. Its a nice lens, which by happenstance I just brought out of my cabinet. As memory serves me, I think it shoots macro. Will need to look over the brochure. You are in for a real treat if haven't already unscrewed the front element from the lens assembly... The shutter is a joy to behold. ThinkI'll try to shoot something with it today.

Good luck!

Chrome

Yes, it does have macro capability! I've neglected the lens after my initial surprise at how well it looked and need to give it a good workout under decent light. Hope to see your shots!

Crdome · Jun 5, 2015

This is a study group of random shots from today that are different generas than yours.

Did you check out the amazing aperture blades? As I remember, there are about 17 blades.

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Chain Smokers, i.e. Disk golfers by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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At the VFW by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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POW flag by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Path onward by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

f/22, ISO 160
View attachment 423753 Flora by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Irises by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Iris by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

ex machina · Jun 5, 2015

Crdome said:
This is a study group of random shots from today that are different generas than yours.

Did you check out the amazing aperture blades? As I remember, there are about 17 blades.

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Chain Smokers, i.e. Disk golfers by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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At the VFW by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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POW flag by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Path onward by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

f/22, ISO 160
View attachment 423762 Flora by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Irises by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Iris by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

Wow, these are awesome, love the warm color and vignettes. I really should have taken this lens down during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Crdome · Jun 5, 2015

ex machina said:
Wow, these are awesome, love the warm color and vignettes. I really should have taken this lens down during the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Thank you. My photos tend to border on the dark side because I prefer to spot meter. I enjoyed shooting today, but I think it's time to pass it on. The focal length doesn't conform to my aesthetics, and in my "maturity" :coffee-30:

manual focus as become quite difficult to use.

Please post more photos as you shoot them.

Chrome

ex machina · Jun 5, 2015

Crdome said:
You are in for a real treat if haven't already unscrewed the front element from the lens assembly... The shutter is a joy to behold.

I hadn't until just now -- wow!

Crdome · Jun 6, 2015

Yes! 15 aperture blades.

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This is in contrasts to my, 20 blades XEROX copier lens. I don't shoot large format anymore. And no, I haven't adapted it to MFT. :biggrin:

Wollensak Velostigmat 9 1/2; f4.5-64, 8x10 format

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ex machina · Jun 6, 2015

Decided to take the lens downtown and shoot touristy things to give it a workout. All pics below straight out of camera (Lumix GX7 Aperture-priority, electronic shutter, ISO 150 and 200) except for the girl standing camera frame right at the Jefferson memorial, which I auto-toned to bring up Jefferson's statue..

The lens has a lot of character, but you have to shoot wide-open or the vignetting becomes a bit extreme, and as a result it's pretty soft and bokeh is real swirly. It's very much like shooting with a built-in filter. Like Crdome, and even with focus-peaking, I found it difficult to get really sharp shots.

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P4520683 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520157 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520193 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520235 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520255 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520265 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520364 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520489 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520500 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520516 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520578 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520609 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

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P4520667 by Lewis Francis, on Flickr

Crdome · Jun 7, 2015

Lewis -I enjoyed viewing these images and reading your impressions. There are certainly ethereal qualities produced by the lens. I continue to play with it as best I can, given that manual focus has become reasonably difficult for me over the past few years.

A decade ago, what got me back into shooting with "glass", after a lengthy period of pinhole photography was the discovery of a circa 1950s roll of exposed film in an eBay purchased camera. I loved that softness (similar to these wide open) vs the crispness I was experiencing with pinhole. As I gradually from film into digital my aesthetics also shifted back to things sharp. When I began shooting RAW I occasionally have played with "deClarifying" my images to supper-soft. It is an aesthetic I haven't decided upon yet.

I don't know how much further I will take working with the lens given the manual issue, but for the moment I'm not concerned with the complete vignetting stopped down. I'm comfortable making a square crop from the image circle as does 6x6mm medium format photography.

We'll see!

Chrome

Crdome · Jun 8, 2015

Lewis -These are from today.

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Supervisor by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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M&M mopeds by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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lost soul by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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lost soul blue by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Tate & Lyle ii by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Tate & Lyle by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

ex machina · Jun 9, 2015

Crdome said:
Lewis -These are from today.

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Supervisor by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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M&M mopeds by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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lost soul by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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lost soul blue by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Tate & Lyle ii by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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Tate & Lyle by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

Nice job! Did you do any post-processing work to these? I realized after talking about this lens to one of my colleagues that the swirly corner bokeh likely was less prominent on the designed-for platform, as the 16mm film mask would have "squared the circle," truncating much of the edge issues.

Crdome · Jun 9, 2015

All of these are PPed varying from minimal to substantial to but that's because if the way I shoot and work. I spot meter and focus exclusively. Not specific entirely to this grouping, but to all shots of the day applies to the following: Perhaps that didn't suit me well in the harsh afternoon light, that translated into an enormous amount of harsh internal illumination within the photos. Most were shot stopped down because of the light's intensity which pushed beyond the GH2's 1/4000, ISO 160 restraints.

Conversely I was stunned by the quality of your shots, especially in values and saturation using Aperture Priority and focus peaking. Shortly I'll post the out of the camera JPEGs.

Crdome · Jun 9, 2015

NOTE:

This post has been deleting all but this image for comparison. I didn't want the redundancy in Flickr account. -Chrome

Out of camera for comparison above.

View attachment 424259 P1260385 by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

ex machina · Jun 23, 2015

Crdome said:
NOTE:

This post has been deleting all but this image for comparison. I didn't want the redundancy in Flickr account. -Chrome

Out of camera for comparison above.

View attachment 426219 P1260385 by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

Thanks for posting that sample for comparison!

Crdome · Jul 2, 2015

Kodak Cine Ektanon 63mm f/2.7 Part 2: Macro

Recently I've been envious of everyone's macro shots. While exploring G.A.S. opportunities I decided I had best explore this lens' capabilities first. I'm glad I did. This is a study of the macro capabilities. The macro mode is entered by slightly pulling out the small button located at 1/3 the length of the lens from the body.

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Lens photo by Lewis Francis

The extremely smooth bokeh is the result of the amazingly engineered 15 blade aperture. (See 8th posting in this tread).

Standard telephoto mode, f/4 All images are posted on Flickr at in their out-of-the-camera 4608 × 3456 format.

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Hen-and-chicks i (sempervivum soboliferum) by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

All remaining photos are Macro mode f/2.7

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sempervivum soboliferum ii by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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sempervivum soboliferum iii by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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sempervivum soboliferum iv by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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sempervivum soboliferum v by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

ex machina · Jul 2, 2015

Crdome said:
Kodak Cine Ektanon 63mm f/2.7 Part 2: Macro

Recently I've been envious of everyone's macro shots. While exploring G.A.S. opportunities I decided I had best explore this lens' capabilities first. I'm glad I did.

This is a study of the macro capabilities. The macro mode is entered by slightly pulling the small button located at 1/3 the length of the lens from the body.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Lens photo by Lewis Francis

The extremely smooth bokeh is the result of the amazingly engineered 15 blade aperture. (See 8th posting in this tread).

Standard telephoto mode, f/4 All images are posted on Flickr at in their out-of-the-camera 4608 × 3456 format.

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

Hen-and-chicks i (sempervivum soboliferum) by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

All remaining photos are Macro mode f/2.7

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sempervivum soboliferum ii by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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sempervivum soboliferum iii by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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sempervivum soboliferum iv by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

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sempervivum soboliferum v by Chrome Dome, on Flickr

Wow, these are awesome, just amazing!

Crdome · Jul 3, 2015

ex machina said:
Wow, these are awesome, just amazing!

For reference, the larger plants in the last image are smaller than a green pea.

ex machina · Jul 3, 2015

Inspired by Chrome, I tried a few flower macro shots while checking on the availability of tours for a Navy Display Ship that's soon to be sailed out and scrapped. All the flower macro shots are SOC but the rest have minor processing to compensate for the consistent underexposure I get with this lens for some reason (vignetting throwing off the sensor?).