Shot with an Ihagee Exakta Varex IIb with a slightly absurd combination of lenses:
A 60s Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 2/50mm, which is very nice but also a bit soft around the edges when wide-open (as it was for this). Plus a very cheap Hanimex 2x Teleconverter which makes everything much much worse. Or better, I’d say. But certainly not sharper. There’s decent center sharpness made in Jena, but overall this looks so much older than any of the parts really are. Which I like, sometimes. It’s probably great for portraits, as all slightly shitty lenses are.
Handling-wise it’s so bad it’s fun again. The Pancolar has an automatic aperture thing that normally hits through to the Exakta’s shutter button (which is on the left side on the front, because punk rock). That now dangles around in thin air and does nothing. The tolerances on the teleconverter are so bad, the lens side basically falls off on its own and it’s almost cold-welded to the camera on the other side. It’s hilariously front heavy and looks super stupid – in other words, I love it.
Ilford Delta 400 (IIRC), scanned negatives
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