This was shot with a “Zodiak-8” 30 mm f/3.5 lens, adapted to a 1930s Reflex-Korelle. Somehow, there is no commercial adapter available for that combination (I got the lens with a Pentax 6×7 mount), so I had to make my own. Capitalism sleeping again.
The adapter is 3D printed and my design is not exactly perfect – it’s a bit loose on the Korelle side of things, and it doesn’t quite focus to infinity because I got some measurements wrong. Not really an issue with an ultra-wide lens, the depth of focus is more than big enough to make up for it. Also, trying out this combination was more important than achieving perfection in the adapter.
I’m enjoying how stupid the camera looks with that lens attached. I’m not quite sure how old the lens is, but probably from the 1980s or something like that. They still make them new I think.
It’s great fun to shoot, though I have to get a brighter ground glass for the Reflex-Korelle at some point. Doesn’t matter much with the ultrawide lens, because one doesn’t really have to focus, everything from 1 meter or so to infinity is sharp anyway. So that makes the combination actually work pretty well. I couldn’t always see what exactly I had in the frame – but at 30 mm in medium format, the default assumption “everything” works pretty well.
From a photography perspective (haha perspective) this thing definitely has a learning curve to it (haha curve). It’s very difficult to make a picture of one specific thing, if the whole rest of the world is in frame, too. So these aren’t exactly the world’s best photos ever made. That comes next time.
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