Vintage look with lenses

[BNF]

Chasing the vintage look is half the reason I came back to film. (I called it "old timey" in another thread.) I've been buying far too much stuff lately, and I don't feel yet like I'm close to finishing.

I know the early '50s Summitat 2/50mm LTM/SM gives me that look. And, I hope the soon to be arriving Elmar 4/90mm M (late '50s) will do it too.

But, I'd like to round out the vintage kit with something wider and maybe longer too.

Will a mid '50s Hektor 4.5/135mm (M or LTM/SM mount equal) give me enough of a different fingerprint than a TeleElmar 4/135mm M?

What is a good way to go on the wider end?

What are you using?

(A friend said that I was a romantic, chasing something from days gone by, and seeing things there that they probably wanted to correct in the first place...)

 

[Don Parsons]

I'm looking for the same look. I'm shooting pictures of barnstormers this summer and I need to recreate the look.

 

[projectbluebird]

uncoated lenses are always interesting.

when I really want the old look (and experience) I pull out the venerable Argus "Brick" C3. Cheap too.

 

[furcafe]

I agree w/projectbluebird: anything uncoated under slightly challenging light conditions (e.g., some strong light sources in or just out of the frame) will help provide the vintage look. I don't have any uncoated Leitz lenses, but do have plenty of them in Contax RF mount, mostly Tessars & Sonnars.

Also more traditional film emulsions (no T-grain), especially ortho film (or a blue filter).

 

[bmattock]

Chasing the vintage look is half the reason I came back to film. (I called it "old timey" in another thread.) I've been buying far too much stuff lately, and I don't feel yet like I'm close to finishing.

I know the early '50s Summitat 2/50mm LTM/SM gives me that look. And, I hope the soon to be arriving Elmar 4/90mm M (late '50s) will do it too.

But, I'd like to round out the vintage kit with something wider and maybe longer too.

Will a mid '50s Hektor 4.5/135mm (M or LTM/SM mount equal) give me enough of a different fingerprint than a TeleElmar 4/135mm M?

What is a good way to go on the wider end?

What are you using?

(A friend said that I was a romantic, chasing something from days gone by, and seeing things there that they probably wanted to correct in the first place...)

My Hektor does not give an 'old timey look' as much as gives a lot of flare (not flair) which does me no good. I can lower contrast just fine in The GIMP if that's what I want.

Much of what people now think of as the 'old timey' look was due to large format cameras and lenses that exhibited a lack of correction in the corners, etc. This is hard to recreate on a smaller format camera.

I am told the Summar is a good one for the extreme 'Leica glow' if that is what you are after, but I'm no Leica expert, this is just what I hear.

Failing that, you can get into lens hacking, which I find to be a fun and uber-geeky hobby. I like to make cine lenses work on 35mm and shoot them wide-open for maximum distortion. Old 'magic lantern' lenses can also be adapted to work on 35mm cameras (although to get max effect, you really should shoot them on 4x5) but it is not that easy to get one to stick on a 35mm camera.

Then there are the 'toy' cameras, which often give an old-timey look by which I mean a crappy look; but I'm not complaining, some of those are quite evocative of days gone by.

After that, Photoshop, I guess.

Just some ideas.

 

[FPjohn]

Summaron?

Summaron?

Hello:

A good example of a f3.5 Summaron might see you well.

yours
FPJ

 

[x-ray]

If you're looking for the"look" then you have to use vintage glass, film and developer. I shoot a very early 50 Elmar, 28 Hektor and 90 Elmar. My film of choice depends on what I'm going for but frequently use Bergger 200 or Efke 100. My developer of chjoice is either DK-50 or Rodinal. The Foma 200 film also is good. Both Bergger and Foma 200 are basically remakes of Super-XX. Printing on fiber base warm tone paper is the route i go. Shooting modern film, glass and using modern developers, paper or scanning won't do it.

For the best vintage look I've started using my 3-1/4x4-1/4 graflex SLR's and Efke 100 processed in Rodinal. The lenses that i use are the 20's-30's Tessars on my Tele and Auto cameras and a coated 40's auto aperture 152 Ektar on my Super D. The Tessars are particularly attractive with a slight flare and noticable edge softness. This combo is the best yet for the vintage look.

 

[bmattock]

For those of you have might not have seen his website, Jim Galli in Nevada is the person I think of when I think of 'old timey' look photos:

http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/

 

[onespeed]

howzabout a sc 40 mm ultron?

howzabout a sc 40 mm ultron?

what about a sc 40mm ultron? my coated summitar has a definite signature
R,

 

[LeicaTom]

Here`s a list of the RF LTM 50mm lenses that work well for me for all my Vintage Retro PinUp looks......all are shot mostly WIDE OPEN

Leitz Summitar (pre 1945) uncoated
Leitz Summarit
Canon f1.5 "Japanese Sonnar"
Canon f1.8 *Chrome* (perfect for blk n wht)
Nikkor f2.0 HC

Tom

PS: I currently don`t have a Leitz f2.0 Summar but that`s also a classic lens with the "Leica Glow"

 

[sirius]

I think the summicron rigid and DR have a lovely vintage look, the best of the old glass, except for some of the contax sonnars, IMHO.