Plastic Fantastic

On a trip to Italy last autumn, I came by an unusually well equipped camera shop in Siena. Amidst a lot of other stuff, they had several Pentax lenses on their shelves. One of them being the SMC Pentax DA 1:2.4 35mm AL. This is a fairly cheap piece of glass already, but the price … Read more

Color-Ultron

Color-Ultron på min K-5 II

I have been fiddling around with a new lens. Well, not actually quite new, to be honest. It’s a Color-Ultron 1.8/50 from Voigtländer, a company which was founded in Vienna in 1756, making it the oldest optical company in the camera world.

My lens is only around 40 years old, though. It is from the time when Voigtländer was owned by Rollei, but based on a design by the previous owner of the brand, Carl Zeiss. Despite its name and heritage, this particular lens is made in Singapore, not in Germany.

But it has all the characteristics of a classic 50 mm of the film SLR-era: bright, sharp and solid all-metal construction. This particular lens is also featuring an M42 screw-mount. It can be used on a modern DSLR, such as my K-5 II, with the help of an adapter – in this case an M42 to K-mount.

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Sigma 28mm F1.8 Asph. II

I have been looking for at fast “normal” prime for some time. A Pentax 31/1.8 Limited would be nice – but the price is high. Instead, I’ve bought a used Sigma 28/1.8 Aspherical II. This optic – which is not manufactured anymore – has received very favourable reviews. In fact, according to the German Fotomagazin … Read more