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Worrying about glass condition


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48 minutes ago, pgk said:

And also FWIW I intend to try to rephotograph this image by Thomas Anna from ~1864, using a similar, contemporary lens: https://www.arranartsheritagetrail.com/placemarkers/10.-lochranza?pgid=kgs2qsmb-d8fafe_b1dde83ad3a2463795167c956a620022mv2 but it will not be easy as vegetation obscures it meaning that I will need my tallest tripod and a stepladder. It is known that Annan used a Grubb Lens.

Paul, at least where you are, you have a sporting chance, but reproducing Mr Grubb’s photos of Dublin in the 1850s and 1860s would be almost impossible. However, today I was preparing slides for a talk to a group who meet in the Royal St George Yacht Club in Dun Laoghaire Harbour and I was wondering about including a slide of Queen Victoria arriving in Dun Laoghaire in 1900, when I realised that the photograph included the same yacht club, which was recognisable even 122 years ago. So it goes in the presentation.

I am planning to try a few more then and now photos. The closest I have come was to photograph No 50 Grafton Street Dublin in 2019 with a Leica II camera which was engraved with that address and which according to the Leica Archives was sold out of the same building in April 1932. 
 
Do cameras do more than just create memories or can they carry memories? I’m not just talking about digital, of course.

William 

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10 minutes ago, jankap said:

I am the person mentioned in the first line of this article. I took that photo of the coelostat machine and the two lenses are part of my collection. I have also done the strange thing of photographing the graves of Thomas and Howard Grubb with the lenses, which they had made, sitting on their graves.

When we were in Wetzlar in 2018 I photographed fellow Leica Forum member George Furst with his Ur Leica replica beside the grave of Oskar Barnack.

It is always nice to remember creative people with their creations.

William 

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12 hours ago, willeica said:

Do cameras do more than just create memories or can they carry memories? I’m not just talking about digital, of course.

William 

An interesting question. I put the shot of Lamlash on FB for people interested in Images of Arran to see and it created a lot of interest and jogged memories too. On balance I would say that a good photograph is like a good book in that it can convey more than the obvious content and this can lead to memories in itself. The definition of good will vary from person to person so its not easy or even useful to define, but yes, I think photographs certainly can create memories. And these memories can be evoked by the same or similar memories - certainly on social media (which I rarey use to be honest and then only to post photos for specifc reasons).

Back to the thread's content though and I'm sure that you will agree with me when I say that lenses with flaws and even damage can be surprisingly effective. Digital editing can help in many ways too.

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19 minutes ago, pgk said:

...I put the shot of Lamlash on FB for people interested in Images of Arran to see and it created a lot of interest and jogged memories too...

Apologies for carrying-on the diversion just a little while longer but the reason I was going to ask about Lamlash (the other possibility was Brodick) in post #17 was because on quite a few occasions back when I was a youngster I went on day-trips with family and other relations 'Doon the Watter'(*) and I remember vividly scanning the various towns and villages we passed during the trip. The church spire on the Isle of Arran in your photograph triggered some deep-rooted distant memory from those trips (some of which were aboard the P.S. Waverley). Once set in motion, as you might imagine, these memories continued to come back piecemeal throughout the day and, having just typed this post, today as well.

Photographs can be powerful articles and in many guises.

Philip.

* For those few amongst us who might not be familiar with the phrase I quote this passage from The Scotsman newspaper;

"Going 'Doon the Watter' referred to the practice of going down the Clyde and also, by extension, to holidays by the coast...As the vogue for these coastal holidays began to spread and the new era of steamboat travel allowed access to the coast for people in greater numbers, existing communities like Helensburgh, Gourock, Largs, Millport, Dunoon and Rothesay (the latter two were perhaps the most popular of all) were expanded and developed as seaside resorts."

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5 hours ago, pgk said:

On balance I would say that a good photograph is like a good book in that it can convey more than the obvious content and this can lead to memories in itself.

Exactly.

The more one thinks of photography as literature (Every picture tells a Story) as well as a graphic art - the better one's photographs will become.

 

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13 hours ago, pgk said:

Back to the thread's content though and I'm sure that you will agree with me when I say that lenses with flaws and even damage can be surprisingly effective. Digital editing can help in many ways too.

I agree, Paul. I'm all for 'character' over sharpness, but I suspect I'm in a minority on that one one. Its the same with photography.  You can give me an interesting unsharp photo over a boring sharp one any day of the week. 

12 hours ago, pippy said:

Apologies for carrying-on the diversion just a little while longer but the reason I was going to ask about Lamlash (the other possibility was Brodick) in post #17 was because on quite a few occasions back when I was a youngster I went on day-trips with family and other relations 'Doon the Watter'(*) and I remember vividly scanning the various towns and villages we passed during the trip. The church spire on the Isle of Arran in your photograph triggered some deep-rooted distant memory from those trips (some of which were aboard the P.S. Waverley). Once set in motion, as you might imagine, these memories continued to come back piecemeal throughout the day and, having just typed this post, today as well.

Photographs can be powerful articles and in many guises.

Philip.

* For those few amongst us who might not be familiar with the phrase I quote this passage from The Scotsman newspaper;

"Going 'Doon the Watter' referred to the practice of going down the Clyde and also, by extension, to holidays by the coast...As the vogue for these coastal holidays began to spread and the new era of steamboat travel allowed access to the coast for people in greater numbers, existing communities like Helensburgh, Gourock, Largs, Millport, Dunoon and Rothesay (the latter two were perhaps the most popular of all) were expanded and developed as seaside resorts."

Wonderful stuff, Philip. Here in Ireland we are trying to energise the whole field of our visual history. At the Gallery of Photography, Ireland, where I am now the Chairperson, we have this series called 'In Our Own Image' going with a view to achieving that objective. One of our recent introductions is this Timeline of Irish Photography since 1839.

https://timeline.galleryofphotography.ie

I am sure that there is something similar for Scottish photography and I'd love to see it if it exists.

William 

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  • 7 months later...

I saw a canon 50mm LTM F1.8, with 1-2 mm balsam separation. At € 400 a big gamble, it might get serious.

But I bought a M-Rokkor 28 mm which had haze (it was in a shop; the seller hid that fact). But the result can be very nice sort of, church interiors, contre jour get an extra charm. In fact I often use that lens . . .

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  • 1 month later...

Hopefully OK to append to this thread:

I saw a lens with one missing blade. There is no picture of the blades opening at F2 or so, only almost closed like here.

Would this damage  be serious? Such as - after opening and closing a few times it will get stuck?

 It is an early Summarit 50mm and of course I intend to use it only for use at larger aperture than F5.6. And I expect I should not open up-close down too often. A small deviation of the nice round circles - pictorially should not be a problem. 

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1 hour ago, Alberti said:

I saw a lens with one missing blade. There is no picture of the blades opening at F2 or so, only almost closed like here.

Would this damage  be serious? Such as - after opening and closing a few times it will get stuck?

I'm sure that the lens will work as it is although it might occasionally produce slightly odd 'bokeh' under certain conditions. They worry will be whether the missing blade will lead to the others failing and eventually jamming the diaphragm completely which would make the lens unusable. It might be worth asking a good Leica repairere whether they know whether this is likely to happen. Price needs to be low though if there is likely to be a future problem.

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as pgk wrote there should be no problem. This is assuming that all other blades are good, not bent, not broken. Are you sure that one blade is missing? Similar picture is when  blade(s) are damaged, or have missing pin. Photo below shows an example of an Russian Jupiter with all blades in but one blade is missing one pin. This will most probably jam the aperture sooner or later 

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Thanks, great to tap the collective wisdom.

I had seen the Jupiter before too. For a Summarit-LTM where one would never go below F5.6 indeed a bit dangerous, specially if one turns the aperture fast unthinkingly.

- The seller retracted the offer of the lens after some clarification questions from me so the question is now moot. 

This broken 50mm Summarit-LTM lens was half of the price of a good one, so not a good choice anyway . . .

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