Meyer-Optik 2.8/100mm Trioplan lens review

I was out testing my new to me "1959 Meyer-Optik" Gorlitz f2.8 /100 mm Trioplan Lens that is the lens with the red V and the 16 blade aperture .

Meyers-Optik made a few different visions of this lens, the only other Meyer 2.8/100mm that has good boken is the 15 blade lens all others will work fine but considering outstanding Bokeh is the only purpose for using this lens with it's Creamy Bokeh. If you go looking for a Meyer Optik 2.8/100mm trioplan you should make sure that its a M-42 mount which can be converted to most new digital camera mounts (manual operation only). The Praktina mount is very tough to convert but can be converted to a Nikon f mount with a little lens bashing. I would show how to do it later, but for now seem to have miss-placed the images that I took of the process.

You better do your homework or you might find that the lens your buying is not worth what you are paying for it, because some old mount types are very hard to convert if not imposible to convert . In which case you will have a nice but costly paperweight. Look for M-42 and M-39 mount lens or a lens that has an adapter for your make of camera, otherwise stay away, they are just not worth it. In fact some are impossible to convert without the services of a machinist with a lath and even then if he can do it you could end up doubling the price of the lens. Exakta mount lens are what i'm talking about here, they can be converted but if your not clever, creative and handy with tools I have to say you're not going to be happy.

The first image from todays test is just to give you an idea of how smooth the background bokeh

is from this lens. Note that the Bokeh is very smooth (creamy in fact) which is the big deal about the Meyer Optik 2.8/100mm Trioplan lens.

Next I have to say that I was very pleased and in fact surprised at how sharp this lens is. I did not have my hopes set very high in that department and was quite surprised with the sharpness edge to edge and in the corners. I count that as a bonus!!

In the end it comes down to how much money you are willing to spend on a tool that can help you create better images. I am glad to have this lens in my tool bag but I know that you can get the same results with other equipment, but for me, who always shoots manually this lens has some very useful qualities that I look forward to using in my quest to create different looking images.

Note: old lenses have a unique feeling.and image quality because for the most part they were hand assembled and that results in differences from lens to lens. About the images used in this post are all raw files converted to jpegs and cropped no photoshop processing. For those wondering what the flower is, it's Dutchman's Breeches a spring wildflower.

Hope you found this information helpful........................Peter

Copyright 2012 Peter Manship all rights reserved

Maple sugarhouse photography

Spring is just around the corner here in Vermont, the mud is starting to get troublesome and Maple sugaring is beginning. You see people out checking their tap lines in the woods (sugarbush) , those still using buckets are tapping and hanging buckets out hopeful that the sap will start running soon. There are not many of the old sugarhouses left, replaced by modern structures which for me are just to straight and new looking. I hunt for the remains of the old sugar houses. There pretty hard to find anymore especially working ones.The photos in today's post are of a non-working one I found.  I was worked in post processing to create a old timey looking image of the sugarhouse. One's that has a vintage look. I using the same image in each example of this post.  This first image is nice but doesn't have the old timey look that I'm looking for.

For this second image I added a sepia tone to it and it's starting to look better But!! 

To me this last image really has a Old Time look to it as if printed from a old historic glass plate. Nailed it in my mind with this image and the truth is I created all these image last night March 12-12. It is amazing what can be created in Photoshop, a great tool for artist and photographers. 

This last image is me favorite of the group not that the others are bad , it's just that this one has the look I was trying to create.  The creative process is always open the change as my influences change along with my mood, vision and skills. If nothing else I have learn that as you improve your skills you get better at image capturing, editing your image and your vision may have changed along the way, so nothing is written in stone. There is personal growth in change.  Enjoy!!!

.................Peter

                                                                                                                      

Legal Notification,
Copyright 2012 - Peter Manship - all rights reserved
Reproduction, printing, or distribution of these images  and copy is protected by US and International Copyright laws and is strictly prohibited.                                        

Road trip down Rt 133 on the western side of Vermont

The other day the weather was nice, so I decided to go for a little ride and explore the Vermont farm country west of Rt 7. I picked up my friend Harrry and off we went with a full tank of gas and our cameras to see what we could find. That didn't last long, heading west on Old Rt4 in West Rutland I decided to turn left on rt133 south wondering what surprise was waiting for us to find. "Did you see that?" I said to Harry as I performed a bat-turn and head back to the garage we had just passed. Sitting out front was a 1954 Mercury convertible straight out of the Fifties. Lowered in the rear, continental kit hanging from the back-end and fended skirts “Wow” was all I could say, what a nice car. The man that owned it did the restoration and turned it into a Fifties cruiser. He said that it was his fouth or fifth car project , Harry was talking to him while I was photographing . Here’s two images of the car that I came up with. Moving on, the road meanders through a valley situated between the Green Mountains and the northern end of the Taconic range. Harry wondered out load “do you know where were going”?

All I knew was we were heading south on what I think is a classic Forties era two lane highway through some very beautiful rural Vermont countryside. We drove past the original Middletown Springs grand hotel/spa , which I'm sure could keep a history nut busy for awhile. At the junction of RT133 and Rt140 is the village of Middletown Springs a classic small Vermont village with a general story, white church and a few colorful Victorian era homes. Knowing that the road ahead was a mystery we decided to get some nourishment and continue on down Rt133 south. This is Hill Farm country, some are snuggled up against the mountains while others sit along the roadside. We stopped plenty to photograph them, eventually we found the remains of a very rundown old hill farm that was post with No Trespassing signs all over the place and this little beauty.

We didn’t stay there long.

After a few more stops downtown Pawlet was the next stop. The general store has everything you could ever need out in the country and if your lucky and time your visit right ( lunch time )you can sit there on the bench with the locals and experience some great local color along with really good homemade food. The village of Pawlet provided some very interesting buildings to photograph or just look at for that matter. You couldn't tell it's Sept 2008 by looking at this image.I was in my own personal heaven, old rundown building are photographically some of my favorites and will show up on this blog from time to time. Hell theyre really what this blog is all about, plus you throw in a good dose of rusty old stuff , cars,trucks and farming equipment and a couple of good old boys to keep things interesting and life is good!

Anyhow, as you can see I was using my black and white Infrared camera because I like the contrasty images I can create with it. If anyone would like to know more about converting a camera to Infrared ckeck out this link: http://www.lifepixel.com/IR.htm this is where I got my kit from.
Back on the road heading east out of Pawlet, on the Danby-Pawlet rd under darkening skies we found a old barn with great clouds in the background. So as we worked our way around this barn to get the optimized angle I walked off into some tall grass only to come up with a nail in my foot.

No great image, a nail hole in the ball of my foot, plenty of pain and tons of blood pouring out. Limping back to the car Harry starts laughing at me thinking that I had steeped into a cow pie, all the blood told a different story. Harry drove the rest of the way and I just sat there amazed, knowing full well that the hole in my foot was going to lay me up for awhile and if I was lucky it wouldn’t get infected.
Thanks for stopping in at Somewhere in Vermont, I’ll let you know how the foot works out later.

Always take time to enjoy the journey

Peter

The start of a new blog

Today I decided that I was going to start blogging again. From time to time I will be posting stories and photos about being lost "Somewhere in Vermont", wondering the back roads of Vermont discovering the old hill farms, the old-timer’s, the people and places that make Vermont so special. This is all coming to an end of an era and is now disappearing at a very fast rate. I am trying to photograph as much of it as I can before it's all gone. Taxes and the high cost of living is forcing many old family farms to be sold because the people can no longer afford to live on the land that there families have care for on behalf of several generations. The quaint old Vermonter and his farm are being replaced, while these new Vermonters are fixing up the old farms and preserving them, gone for ever is that old rundown hill farm and the people who lived and worked them. I only hope I'm not too late to record some of what remains. And I hope you will from time to time check in, relax, an enjoy the photos and stories that I find out there in the hills of Vermont.

Peter Manship