zuikologist
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Apologies for posting this at the home of Leicadom.
I picked this up in a pile of other junk. It is a Welmy 28mm f2.5 in Pentax K mount. It is amazing.......how bad it can be. The results at f2.5 are worse than a Lensbaby or a Holga. By f5.6 things have improved a lot. The AF confirm system in my DSLR could not provide focus confirmation due to the lack of sharpness at f2.5. There must be some fault with the lens - it really is unusable wide open except for dream sequences.
I picked this up in a pile of other junk. It is a Welmy 28mm f2.5 in Pentax K mount. It is amazing.......how bad it can be. The results at f2.5 are worse than a Lensbaby or a Holga. By f5.6 things have improved a lot. The AF confirm system in my DSLR could not provide focus confirmation due to the lack of sharpness at f2.5. There must be some fault with the lens - it really is unusable wide open except for dream sequences.
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zuikologist
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iamzip
Ambitious, but rubbish
why don't you post some pics taken with the lens as well.
EDIT: Oh, sorry, you were in the middle of posting. I kind of like the look of that, though - a little dreamy, maybe a nice alternative to the vaseline on the lens thing. Obviously a bad lens though, but it might be nice to have in your bag for that one time you can use something like that...
EDIT: Oh, sorry, you were in the middle of posting. I kind of like the look of that, though - a little dreamy, maybe a nice alternative to the vaseline on the lens thing. Obviously a bad lens though, but it might be nice to have in your bag for that one time you can use something like that...
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zuikologist
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Taken at f5.6...a lot better.
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iamzip
Ambitious, but rubbish
Looks passable at 5.6. Maybe a good lens if you don't want to bring along your good lenses, for some reason.
Anupam
Well-known
Hey, I like that f2.5 shot. Must be the worst wide open performance for an actual SLR lens. Do some wide open portraits to try it out - preferably with a busy background with lots of leaves. Who knows, it might be you own little portable petzval.
zuikologist
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I think that might be the only use for it - impressionist painterly photos!
The lens is so bad I think it must be defective.
The lens is so bad I think it must be defective.
zuikologist
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Not sure I could be seen in public with this lens.
Anupam
Well-known
My suggestion for a test above was a serious one though 
. If it torns out to be sharp in the center with wildly falling off at corners and, who knows, even some swirl in the bokeh - I'd be after this lens. Not many 35mm lenses do that. Crappy can be good at times, and this is certainly the crappiest that I have seen in a while
. If it torns out to be sharp in the center with wildly falling off at corners and, who knows, even some swirl in the bokeh - I'd be after this lens. Not many 35mm lenses do that. Crappy can be good at times, and this is certainly the crappiest that I have seen in a while zuikologist
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I might try Holga type shots. Closed one stop down, it might work.
zuikologist
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My suggestion for a test above was a serious one though
I couldn't agree more. It's dark here now. Swirly bokeh time tomrrow.
retnull
Well-known
Wow. So bad it's good? Some people would kill for a look like that.
zuikologist
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K
Kin Lau
Guest
Perhaps it's been dropped or the lens is out of alignment.
You never know with used lenses. I ended up with a Contaflex 35mm that literally had a floating element ... the one element inside had come loose, and was bouncing around.
You never know with used lenses. I ended up with a Contaflex 35mm that literally had a floating element
... the one element inside had come loose, and was bouncing around.Matthew Allen
Well-known
Interesting. Specialist soft-focus lenses where you vary the softness with the aperture cost serious money and are relatively rare. Seems like you've got a cheap one.
I think you're right in saying that it's faulty but for some purposes this could produce lovely effects. Maybe around f4 you'd get a nice dreamy large format-ish look.
Matthew
I think you're right in saying that it's faulty but for some purposes this could produce lovely effects. Maybe around f4 you'd get a nice dreamy large format-ish look.
Matthew
zuikologist
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Perhaps it's been dropped or the lens is out of alignment.
You never know with used lenses. I ended up with a Contaflex 35mm that literally had a floating element
There does not seem to be any external damage or rattling. The focusing ring is a little loose, so the lens may have been opened up at some time.
zuikologist
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I agree - f4 should be ok with the right subject.
lemalk
Rebel Without Applause
I think it's difficult to gauge the lens with static shots of another lens... I agree with some other posters here - take it out and shoot some portraits and see what you get!
It looks like one of the elements is in backwards. I've bought two lenses that were misassembled. Turning the element around did wonders. They did what yours does now- center sharp wide-open, got better stopped down. Once fixed, they were great wide-open.
Or the Welmy is just a real dog...
Or the Welmy is just a real dog...
dexdog
Veteran
Also, concur with Brian's idea that one of the lens elements might be in bass ackwards. Makes me wonder if someone w/o necessary skills performed a CLA on the lens