Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5~4.5, Minimalist

Vintage Lens Test: Image making with a Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5~4.5, on what are minimalist images.

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Another batch of shots with the Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5~4.5 has turned out to be a real surprise. This highly underrated lens, largely overshadowed by much more applauded MD 35-70mm, is a well-built 13-elements in 10-groups two-touch zoom construction, with an optical design that includes aspherical and floating elements. On its own, this zoom provides coverage of popular focal length distances. The lens also comes with a macro mode.

Olympus Pen E-P5, Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5~4.5

Though comparatively bulky when adapted to the smallish Pen E-P5, it is still a nice fit, and comfortable to hold. Images on the 2x crop sensor are full-frame equivalents of 56, 70, 100, 140, and 165mm. Holding the camera steady at the long end of the zoom could be quite a situation as you will need very steady hands or have the camera well supported.

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HMD Nokia 3.1, A Night Watch

Nokia 3.1

Mobile Photography: Image making with an HMD Nokia 3.1, at the wait...

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Not my normal five-frame feature, but rather a shortened three-frame shot while waiting to pick up a passenger at one of our local transport terminals. I am still toying with the idea of using the mobile as a replacement for my defunct Nokia Asha 300 which I really enjoyed using while it was going good.

The camera now comes with an app that is very much improved over the time when the phone was first introduced. Select functions now include Panorama, Manual, Photo, Video, Slow Motion, and Time Lapse. Images too, were pretty much sharper and more delineated than before, as shown in these night shots.

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Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5, Getting Close

Vintage Lens Test: Image making with a Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5, on getting up close and in macro mode.

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My test of the Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5 continues, both in the park and in my garden, with shots far and near, from the long end of the telephoto zoom to the macro mode that the lens is capable of executing. I find all these rather exciting which has brought up the lens from being a rather obscure element in my collection to getting close and very likable.

Olympus Pen E-P5, Minolta MD 28-85mm 1:3.5-4.5

This well-built 13-elements in 10-groups two-touch varifocal zoom, with an optical design that includes aspherical and floating elements, has a very versatile and popular zoom range that covers from 28mm to 85mm. On the 2x crop-sensor Micro FourThirds, this equates to a full-frame equivalent of 56mm to 170mm, a range that will cover the standard normal to medium telephoto. The images were sharp and the color rendition was fantastic.

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HMD Nokia 3.1, Down By The Lake

HMD Nokia 3.1

Mobile Photography: Image making with an HMD Nokia 3.1, finding a reason to continue, and getting a new lease of interest.

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The pandemic is still with us, the second wave is hitting hard with up to more than a thousand new cases in the past couple of days, with the highest so far at more than a thousand and seven hundred, and the prediction that this surge will continue with infections at this rate or higher for a couple of more weeks before it will begin to flatten out again.

I also did the inevitable today, went looking up the Net to see how other fellow bloggers are doing, and what I found was not too good a sight. Many have been left unattended, some have been so for more than a couple of months, and one with a prominent announcement that it was 'Taking a break for a while...'

With photo walks down to an absolute zero and the image stock scrapping the bottom of the barrel, it could have been the reason for me to do the same. Resilience pays off, however, as I picked up the last gasp of courage to venture out to the nearby park with a lens to test and came back to realize that the least specked mobile that I was using, has an auto-updated camera app, which includes a panorama feature, that seems to be far better than when the camera was first introduced.

As with the first batch of images with the mobile which was posted earlier, and now with this batch of trial images, I might have found a reason to continue, with a new lease of interest.

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Olympus Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2, Early Morning Shots

Vintage Lens Test: Image making with an Olympus Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2, on a quest for a 35mm prime lens worth the keep.

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An early morning pastel outlook of my neighborhood right off my front gate, captured with the Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2 adapted to the 2x crop-sensor ILC body, part of my 'Keeping The Options Open' series, where I am going through a selection of 35mm primes, and a zoom, to pick out the one which I would rather keep.

Olympus E-P5, Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2

While the first post of the series was shot with the Nikkor 35mm 1:2, this was done with the Zuiko OM 35mm 1:2. I have used both of the lenses before, but not on a comparative basis like I am doing now.

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