Playing With Lenses: April 2021

Thursday 29 April 2021

Flowerpower: Hanimex Automatic Zoom MC 1:3.5 35-105mm

Cost: $14.99 (market price unknown)

At first, I was not sure what to use this lens for. As a regular zoom lens, it was abnormally heavy for this zoom range, picture quality was mediocre at best. Very soft, all the way up to pictures being unusable.

But, as it had some clear Macro markings on the lens, I thought it might be useful to take my little flash and diffuser and trey to take some macro pictures. And suddenly I understood what this lens was all about.

Amazing sharpness, rich colors... this lens really delivered when being used for Macro. That being said, do not expect extreme Macro as there is nothing to boast about. For sure not good enough for insect photography. But it does really shine for flowers, or product photography.

It's a very heavy lens, with a huge 72mm front lens. The working is interesting as you use the zoom ring to put it in Macro setting, and then use a separate Macro ring to set the enlargement (from a maximum enlargement is 1:5 and minimum macro is 1:10). The glass does not hold any coating, possible explaining the poor performance when not being used for Macro.

I'm tempted to take out the front element, and see if could be mod-ded to become a Macro lens with stronger magnification, but it would be a waste of an almost perfect lens to shoot flowers. I might just keep this one.

Note: I think this lens configuration was also used by Vivitar at a later time, but with some slight modifications. No surprise as Vivitar was bought by Hanimex at some point.

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 35-105mm
Maximum Aperture: 3.5
Minimum Aperture: 16
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: OM
Focusing: Manual
Minimum Focus: ?m
Filter Size: 72mm
Weight: 791g
Length: 116-126mm
Serial Number: 761384
Made in: Japan

More information on Hanimex

Samples:

1/250 sec. f/8 ISO00 Handheld with Flash

Friday 16 April 2021

Cheap birding with a long reach: Soligor 450mm f8

Cost: $24 (market price around $50)

When I found this lens in a thrift store, I was convinced it would be very low quality, made by a cheap Chinese company, but would make for an interesting test for almost no money. But after I came home, I actually found that this was a re-badged Tamron lens.

So we did some testing with now slightly higher expectations, and we were not disappointed. If you dial back a stop or 2, let's say to 11, you find a pretty sharp tele lens. And with todays technology, like the in camera body stabilization, and good software from TOPAZ to remove ISO noise, you can get some really good results. And all this while shooting handheld. Repeat that, handheld for a 450 mm lens. that's because it's a very light lens. I did not mind carrying it on a walk, and with the light weight, it was actually comfortable and stable to shoot with.

But there are also downsides... the minimum focus distance of 7 meters is very limiting. When taking pictures of small birds, you are either to close to focus, or it only fills part of the frame. This is likely better on an APSC camera then on a full frame. But rest assure, you will do some cropping.

Operation was very smooth, with accurate and precise focus, and the preset was easy to get used to. A real pleasure to take with you and take pictures you would otherwise not be able to take, unless you have a few spare thousand dollar. A keeper for sure. Not bad for $24!

Lens Specification:

Focal Length: 450mm
Maximum Aperture: F8
Minimum Aperture: 45
Image Format: 35mm
Lens Mount: FD
Optics: 4 elements, 2 groups
Blades: 12
Focusing: Manual
Minimum Focus: <7m
Filter Size: 67mm
Weight: 613g
Length: 341-364mm
Production: 1963
Serial Number: T401724
Made in: Japan

More information on Soligor

Samples: