M42 Lenses

Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens with Minolta Close-Up Supplementary lens no.1.

I looked this wine up on the internet and read the following evaluation: "Gorgeous nose exhibiting an array of aromas such as peppery mulberry, sour and black cherry, violet and a subtle touch of wild strawberry jam. The palate is full, complex, with a fantastic energy and bursting with ripe dark plums; tannins are impressively silky and freshness is amazing." I did not drink any of this wine and cannot therefore offer any personal opinion beyond the usefulness of the empty bottle as a subject for photography. I nevertheless wonder how fermented grapes can smell like other fruits. I once heard Jilly Goolden compare some wine or other to petrol. I have tasted petrol when draining a rusted out tank on a Morris Marina and if some so-called wine expert thinks any wine tastes like petrol, they have never had a mouthful of unleaded. Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 + Minolta Close-Up supplementary lens no.1. All bought on eBay (except the wine).

Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 + Minolta close-up lens no.1.

Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D 28mm f/2.8 lens + Minolta Close-Up supplementary lens no.1.

Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D 28mm f/2.8 + Minolta supplementary close-up lens no.1. The field of view of a 28mm wide-angle lens on a Canon crop sensor camera is 45mm. You get a standard lens experience but with the depth-of-field advantages a wide-angle lens provides. This is a black and white edit of a photograph originally made in colour and which is elsewhere in my stream.

Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens + Minolta Close-Up lens no.1.

Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 on extension tube.

Photographed with a Canon EOS 40D and a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens rescued from a Chinon CX camera.

Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 on extension tube.

She hears it hiss
 She sees it glow 
Like a burning kiss 
It won't let her go
 She's been captured by hot neon
 And it's got her so bad
 She's a prisoner of hot neon
 And it's driving her mad

In available light with a Canon EOS 40D and a vintage Meyer-Optik Gorlitz Orestegor 200mm f/4 lens. 1/350th; 640 ISO. I bought this lens for £28 but the price also included a set of three M42 extension tubes, a Zenit-E camera, and an early example of the Helios-44 58mm f/2 lens. This remarkable lens was manufactured by Meyer Optik, Gorlitz, between 1963 and 1970 and has 15 aperture blades. It is a preset manual M42 lens, with continuous aperture - the aperture ring has no detents in it, and so it is stepless with a seemingly infinite number of aperture positions.

Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D 28mm Wide-Auto f/2.8 lens. The field of view of a 28mm wide-angle lens on a Canon crop sensor camera is 45mm. You get a standard lens experience but with the depth-of-field advantages a wide-angle lens provides.

Soligor 28mm C/D Wide-Auto f/2.8 lens on a Canon EOS 40D.

Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D 28mm Wide-Auto f/2.8 lens. The field of view of a 28mm wide-angle lens on a Canon crop sensor camera is 45mm. You get a standard lens experience but with the depth-of-field advantages a wide-angle lens provides.

Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D 28mm Wide-Auto f/2.8 lens. The field of view of a 28mm wide-angle lens on a Canon crop sensor camera is 45mm. You get a standard lens experience but with the depth-of-field advantages a wide-angle lens provides.

Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D 28mm Wide-Auto f/2.8 lens. The field of view of a 28mm wide-angle lens on a Canon crop sensor camera is 45mm. You get a standard lens experience but with the depth-of-field advantages a wide-angle lens provides.

Photographed with a Canon EOS 40D and an Auto Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens mounted via an M42 - EOS adapter. Shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom. The Japanese Tomioka company made this lens to a Planar design by Johannes Berger of Zeiss, which Zeiss never themselves used, having something similar which they considered superior. I bought this lens still attached to a Chinon CX from an eBay seller. It is engraved ‘Auto Chinon’ but in all other respects is identical to 55mm f/1.4 lenses badged ‘Tomioka’ which Chinon were supplying before 1974 when there was a change of ownership at Tomioka. The company was taken over by Carl Zeiss in 1974 and the name Tomioka was removed from the front of lenses being supplied to camera manufacturers. Tomioka was at one time the largest lens producer in Japan. It was more economical for Chinon, Mamiya Sekors, Ricoh, and others to buy from Tomioka than to manufacture their own lenses. In this they were not alone. Vivitar and Soligor, for example, never made lenses. They specified what they wanted, and various Japanese optical companies bid for the contracts. When sold new in the UK by Dixons the f/1.4 lens was available as an option to the normal f/1.7 for an extra £10 over the £69.95 usual price (I quote from a 1976 advertisement in ‘Amateur Photographer’). That was quite a premium and as a result the f/1.4 version is relatively scarce. However, the more normal f/1.7 offering is also a very good performer and both plentiful and cheap. It is rumoured that Tomioka made it as well, and whilst the appearance is strikingly similar (for example, the focussing ring is covered with a rippled leatherette material in both cases), there was never a Tomioka-badged f/1.7 on a Chinon SLR. Much as I enjoy using these vintage lenses, I would add a footnote that they are not in the Nikon league for contrast and sharpness. You won’t beat a 50mm Nikkor from this period, either optically or on quality of construction. Of course, they cost appreciably more, and were beyond the reach of all but the professionals and the well-heeled. Heigh-ho.

Photographed with a Canon EOS 40D and an Auto Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens mounted via an M42 - EOS adapter. Shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom.