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Of course it can be used as a portrait lens ...  :D

 

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And here is, what my wife was talking about:

 

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And now let me show you some pictures stopped down:

 

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My final test shots, then I can go back to having fun with the lens as Wonzo seems to be doing.

 

These are with flash, all without the centre spot filter. In these portrait scanarios with no light sources or specular highlights in the frame, the spot filter does what I now expect: adds a bit of fog and removes a bit of detail detail compared to without the filter.

 

First, my wife lit by a flashgun bounced of a brolly above to the left, SL on a tripod, focusing on the eyes.

ISO 100, 1/200s, manual adjustment of power on the flashgun to keep a near constant exposure. Simple crop to 5x4 aspect ration.

 

f5.6, no filter

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f2.2, no filter

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And second, lit by bare on-camera flash (SF64 in TTL mode) bounced off the white ceiling - not a very forgiving way of lighting.

I suppose one can call this the quick-and-dirty run-and-gun flash portrait scenario: when you turn up for a shoot and you don't know if you've got the Queen (f2.2) or Meghan Markle (f11)

ISO 100, 1/200s

 

It is noticeable that the moment you get some detail in the background it gets a bit 'busy' - something to watch out for.

 

f5.6, no filter

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f2.2, no filter

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When I bought my Thambar in London, I arranged for the box (which is large) to be delivered by courier, and walked away with just the lens.

I received the box today, with its pretty presentation case and leather lens case.

The user guide, like all Leica user guides, wouldn't have been complete with at least one obvious error: the data table declares that the white aperture markings are to be used with the centre spot filter, and the red markings without. The same statement is made in German. Since the red marks only go up to 6.3, the error is clear, and in fact they get it right in the later text.

Other than that, the user guide more or less confirms what I had already worked out about the effect of aperture and spot filter.

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The real question is..can a Noct f1...or a 75mm f1.4...wide open or close...do pretty much the same thing...for a lot less $$...

If they did, in your shoes I'd ask for my money back!

I'm sure they're not supposed to - the Thambar is.

Edited by LocalHero1953
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The real question is..can a Noct f1...or a 75mm f1.4...wide open or close...do pretty much the same thing...for a lot less $$...

 

The answer is no... but some vintage lenses - including (ducks for cover) Russian ones - can probably come close, at least in the "fuzzy portrait" department.

My impression is that the Thambar, despite being touted as a portrait lens and irrespective of whether one likes it or not, seems to produce a more distinctive/unique 'look' in streetscapes, landscapes and other general photography applications, than it does in straightforward portraits.

I won't buy one, but I understand why this lens is intriguing and fun to explore.

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The real question is..can a Noct f1...or a 75mm f1.4...wide open or close...do pretty much the same thing...for a lot less $$...

 

It`s not a lot less if you buy a Noctilux f/1.0 as an alternative. And you won`t get the same look wide open. The Thambar is much softer and in addition with the filter the effect is different again. In the beginning I had the same erroneous belief, my Canon "Dream Lens" would be able to do the same, but this isn`t true. Sometimes it comes close, because wide open it also has this dreamy look, but the Thambar is still much different and unique.

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