The SINGLE SOVIET PRIME LENS challenge

[leslie]

been a bit ill lately, helped my brother the other day which ended up being a bad idea, spent the next day sleeping. I did get up early and shoot some footage of the cat with the russian lens. The 2x crop on the p4k is getting annoying. teasing the cat with the camera set up across the room isn't as much fun as you would think. Not sure i'll buy another lens if i cant get it easily mounted to ef so i can use a speedbooster.

[kye]

So, the competition is now officially meant to be closed, and judging to commence.

My prize winners!

Considering the low participation rate, everyone who posted anything is a winner and receives the I BEAT ALMOST EVERYONE SIMPLY BY ENTERING prize!

and a special mention to @BTM_Pix who wins the I PUT EFFORT INTO EVERYTHING EXCEPT READING THE RULES prize!

What’s next

Anyone else that wants to award any prizes is now free to do so...  the more creative the better.  I’m willing to award a prize for best prize, so have at it.

I’m curious to hear why more people didn’t enter...  I suspect it might be the requirement to have close-ups of people, and I must admit that I had a third lens ready to shoot with and just didn’t find an opportunity to film anyone at such close quarters.

So, all rules are now suspended except the Soviet Prime Lens rule, and let’s keep posting things shot with those lenses.  

I’m keen to see what anyone is filming (or has filmed) with Soviet Primes.  I’ll definitely be filming and posting some stuff I’ve shot with the Soviet primes I have owned for some time and bought for this challenge.

[leslie]

for what its worth, The LOMO TRIPLET T-43 4/40 LOMOGRAPHY LTM L39 LENS *MINT*

I think i paid about Aus $60 delivered. all in all not a bad investment i think. Since i upgraded the p4k to 6.6 this morning i'll have to shoot something this afternoon.

I really lucked out with the m39 to  m4/3 mount that was a mount i accidentally bought some months ago.

[kye]

OK..  My first film was with the Mir 37mm f2.8 - I think it might have been on a speed booster but can't quite recall:

Second film was the Helios 58mm F2, also can't recall if it was on the speed booster or not:

I shot the Helios at F4 where it has sharpened up significantly, but still has some subject isolation.  I was hoping for "wow that's a great modern looking lens look how sharp it is what could it be" type reactions, but you know, everyone is off talking about 6K and completely missing the point of...  well...  everything  

Third film is uploading....

[kye]

And now some test shots I took earlier today with the Industar 50mm F3.5.

Every shot is wide open at F3.5.  This wasn't shot with a speed booster, so is 100mm equivalent.

This lens is US$20 with free world-wide shipping.  You probably can't beat that for value if you're on a budget!

 

[heart0less]

@kye, to my eyes, this Industar looks even better than Helios. It's contrasty, but subtle at the same time.

 

Firstly: hats off to all participants. You did a really great job.
Not only finding a use for many (unfairly) forgotten lenses [I'm a fan of recycling, hahaha] but also showing that in experienced hands they are as good as many of their modern counterparts.

As to why I didn't enter:
It's partly due to me being me - an introvert person who does not feel right pointing a camera at strangers unless:
a) I'm on holiday and try to capture overall ambience (but then, I'm just a simple tourist - not really harmful),
b) they (strangers) take part in an event I wanted to document (usually things connected with street art or photography).

And partly because of our Polish law: we can take photos / videos of people in public places, but if we were to publish them, then all the hell breaks loose and problems start to arise. You can't publish pictures without the consent of the people shown in them, in case they can be easily recognised.

Sure, Germany has almost identical laws (or is it us copying Germany), but what is totally different is people's attitude to it. 

Most Germans I met were self-aware, but trusting and open-minded. They weren't afraid about what you might think of them, of your judgement. They seemed authentic and proud of it.
That's why I think they are more likely to appreciate you photographing them, since they don't feel offended by any means.

Whereas here, in Poland, I feel that a photographer is usually considered as some kind of an intruder. Our nation is kind of insecure and we pay a big attention to how we are perceived.
If you just take snaps of buildings, walls, etc, you may be spared, but God forbid if you point your camera at actual people.

I just can't forget my first attempt to street photography.
I set out quite early (~9 AM on a peaceful November Saturday morning) and after strolling a little I managed to find a quite interesting composition. I leaned against a wall and waited for the perfect moment, for the perfect passerby.
Not more than two minutes passed, when some lady approached me and accused me of taking photos of her home. She demanded I show her all of my photos or she calls the cops. I couldn't show her anything because I didn't even press the shutter once, yet. I tried talking my way out of this situation, but she thought I was a making a fool of her and somehow hid the images in a secret folder.

Very unpleasant experience.

That's why you didn't see any entry coming from me - I just had no proper occasion (well, at least to me) to take the camera out.

I'll definitely post something, but can't really say when.

[leslie]

2 hours ago, kye said:

OK..  My first film was with the Mir 37mm f2.8 - I think it might have been on a speed booster but can't quite recall:

Second film was the Helios 58mm F2, also can't recall if it was on the speed booster or not:

I shot the Helios at F4 where it has sharpened up significantly, but still has some subject isolation.  I was hoping for "wow that's a great modern looking lens look how sharp it is what could it be" type reactions, but you know, everyone is off talking about 6K and completely missing the point of...  well...  everything  

Third film is uploading....

i nearly bought the mir 37mm but i think i went looking for something cheaper and i might have also been hoping the lomo triplet might get some bubble bokeh happening lots of experimenting yet to do with it.

The helios is popular for the swirly bokeh however i'm not much of a fan of swirly so i passed on the helios. The industar i looked at too i think. You got some nice results from the industar might have too add one at some time

 

[kye]

I'll try to do some proper lens tests of all these if I can work out how to film myself with manual focus lens and actually get correct focus.  Let's hope someone has some tips - I've asked in the GH5 thread.

[BTM_Pix]

Something like this would do the trick if you had the right camera 

Have a look at the GMonitor app on the Play store.

It uses the same wifi stream from your GH5 so its the same lowish 640x480 resolution but the advantage is that full screen and has additional peaking tools that make it a bit easier.

 

[xzobinx]

to be honest, as much as I love my soviet collection, I think the requirement of getting a new lens is what put people off. I am for one too lazy to get out and get new lens for a fun challenge.

11 hours ago, kye said:

 

I’m curious to hear why more people didn’t enter...  I suspect it might be the requirement to have close-ups of people, and I must admit that I had a third lens ready to shoot with and just didn’t find an opportunity to film anyone at such close quarters.

So, all rules are now suspended except the Soviet Prime Lens rule, and let’s keep posting things shot with those lenses.  

I’m keen to see what anyone is filming (or has filmed) with Soviet Primes.  I’ll definitely be filming and posting some stuff I’ve shot with the Soviet primes I have owned for some time and bought for this challenge.

The misty song was filmed with MIR 35 f2 and helios 85 f1.4 

this is another one with the same combo 

 

 

[heart0less]

1 hour ago, xzobinx said:

to be honest, as much as I love my soviet collection, I think the requirement of getting a new lens is what put people off. I am for one too lazy to get out and get new lens for a fun challenge.

Maybe you didn't read it carefully enough? 

 

It's clearly stated in the original post:

You can use a Soviet lens you already own, however I'd encourage you to buy a new one for this challenge in a focal length you don't already have, this way you will still learn something from the challenge

[xzobinx]

19 minutes ago, heart0less said:

Maybe you didn't read it carefully enough? 

 

It's clearly stated in the original post:

You can use a Soviet lens you already own, however I'd encourage you to buy a new one for this challenge in a focal length you don't already have, this way you will still learn something from the challenge

thanks I guess I should have phased it better. 

What I meant is not everyone has a soviet lens in their kit so some people would need to go out of their way to buy a new lens and that's what put them off.

[Cinegain]

We're nearing towards the end of the year... many of us are on the sprint towards the finish line, it's a busy period. That and certain constraints... means not everyone is able or willing to participate. Instead of a contest... it should perhaps be... as per the title of the thread a 'challenge'. Like with all social media challenges and memes, there's no real contest with winners and losers (which is btw another reason people might not enter, afraid of the judging, plain bad comments (opposed to constructive criticism) and coming in last (perhaps unfounded fear, but existent nontheless)), it's just... a challenge, meant to challenge oneself. Be it the cinnamon challenge... bottle flipping... or ones to bring awareness to good causes such as the ice bucket challenge. It's about getting out of your comfort zone, experiencing something new, pushing yourself and most of all: to participate... not to be 'init to win it', but just for fun, to have a certain commonality with other individuals that enjoy doing something different and perhaps a bit random. Instead of something being cleverly thought out as a contest... maybe indeed just let people run with it as they please as a challenge, the only rule being 'shot on a Soviet prime', keep it year round for all I'm concerned, until with any challenge it sorta settles itself and a new thing comes along... say the 'FD lens challenge' or what have you. All that said. I do appreciate putting in the time and effort that went into organizing this to strengthen the community around here. ☺️?

[heart0less]

This may be of use to many of us.

( :

 

 

[Cinegain]

On 10/6/2019 at 11:51 PM, Cinegain said:

This counts... right? ?

 

May or may not have one coming my way... should I find time to capture a bit of footage for a challenge... I will make sure to forward it.

[kye]

5 hours ago, Cinegain said:

We're nearing towards the end of the year... many of us are on the sprint towards the finish line, it's a busy period. That and certain constraints... means not everyone is able or willing to participate. Instead of a contest... it should perhaps be... as per the title of the thread a 'challenge'. Like with all social media challenges and memes, there's no real contest with winners and losers (which is btw another reason people might not enter, afraid of the judging, plain bad comments (opposed to constructive criticism) and coming in last (perhaps unfounded fear, but existent nontheless)), it's just... a challenge, meant to challenge oneself. Be it the cinnamon challenge... bottle flipping... or ones to bring awareness to good causes such as the ice bucket challenge. It's about getting out of your comfort zone, experiencing something new, pushing yourself and most of all: to participate... not to be 'init to win it', but just for fun, to have a certain commonality with other individuals that enjoy doing something different and perhaps a bit random. Instead of something being cleverly thought out as a contest... maybe indeed just let people run with it as they please as a challenge, the only rule being 'shot on a Soviet prime', keep it year round for all I'm concerned, until with any challenge it sorta settles itself and a new thing comes along... say the 'FD lens challenge' or what have you. All that said. I do appreciate putting in the time and effort that went into organizing this to strengthen the community around here. ☺️?

Thanks for the feedback, that makes sense..  I'm completely fine with this being a continuous challenge or even just discussion about Soviet Primes as I think they don't get the attention they deserve.  I was thinking that the next 'challenge' might be just purely budget-limited but instead of $200 it be something like $50, or $100 for the entire kit of equipment so that everything would be taken into account, plus it would be great to see what people can do with very little funds.

Anyway, it's all just some fun and hopefully we all learn something in the process.

6 hours ago, xzobinx said:

thanks I guess I should have phased it better. 

What I meant is not everyone has a soviet lens in their kit so some people would need to go out of their way to buy a new lens and that's what put them off.

The Industar 50-2 m42 lens is USD$20 with free worldwide shipping and adapters are also readily available..  I even posted a link to the Industar in the thread.  I would imagine that being part of a challenge would involve at least some degree of...  well...   challenge!

And the people that don't have any Soviet lenses are exactly the people that I would like to have bought one, to widen their horizons a bit.

12 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Something like this would do the trick if you had the right camera 

Have a look at the GMonitor app on the Play store.

It uses the same wifi stream from your GH5 so its the same lowish 640x480 resolution but the advantage is that full screen and has additional peaking tools that make it a bit easier.

If only the right camera for that app had been more like the right camera for me!  

Thanks for the recommendation though, I'll check out that app and see if the peaking helps at all.

[BTM_Pix]

14 minutes ago, kye said:

If only the right camera for that app had been more like the right camera for me!  

Thanks for the recommendation though, I'll check out that app and see if the peaking helps at all.

Had an interesting afternoon of working on a development that means that functionality will be coming to a right camera near you in the near future.

[Cinegain]

??!

[BTM_Pix]

10 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

??!

If that translates as "Oh...hahaha...fucking hell I was expecting it to take much longer than that" then that was more or less my reaction when I got it working

[leslie]

17 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Something like this would do the trick if you had the right camera 

Have a look at the GMonitor app on the Play store.

It uses the same wifi stream from your GH5 so its the same lowish 640x480 resolution but the advantage is that full screen and has additional peaking tools that make it a bit easier.

 

does this  count as spam ? ? which part is russian ??