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25mm E-mount lens for $15 (it's a Holga!)

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Okay. My lens arrived today and I just had time to play around with it. It's late, and so the only light I have is in my house, and I just took this snap in the TV room. And as you can see, I can happily say my lens is not like yours :D. It's not sharp, it does not have that massive vignette, and it renders a lot like I hoped it would!

This shot is handheld at 1/8th, ISO 6400. There's more to the story that will come tomorrow after I've had time to shoot it in daylight, but I wanted to get this up tonight so all you that rise so much earlier than I do on the West coast can have time to noodle over it a bit. Here is a biggish tidbit for you:

This image is FULL FRAME from the A7r, as shot except for converting it to monochrome since color was all squarked by artificial light:



And here is another FULL FRAME A7r shot into a mirror. I am about 2 feet from the mirror, so net of me 4 feet from the camera. It is about a 25 or maybe a tad wider... This is an in-cam A7r jpeg, only downsized to 1200 px for web:



Yes, it's got a wee bit of pincushion. And I love that too! Heck, I may enjoy this lens more than the Mitakon! :ROTFL:

Okay, one more tidbit for you -- I did do a teensy-weensy modification to the lens :D
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Just for giggles, here are the above images cropped square -- which is how I planned to use it, emulating the 120 square Holga look. Well okay, 24MP of Holga-esque look ;) I might need to actually add a bit of vignette for the final effect I'm after, but it is surprisingly close as is! I need to shoot it more in real light and situations, but I am pretty stoked on the possibilities it's showing here. More tomorrow!




 

Godfrey

Well-known member
It's a grand little plastic, fantastic picture machine.
Did you excise the diffusion plate?

I got a new el cheapo lens today too: an Olympus 9mm f/8 Fish-eye Body Cap Lens for the E-PL1 and E-PL7. But it's a wee, five-element lens with real optical glass... :)

G
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
You guys nailed it.

Carefully remove the little plastic aperture plate over the rear element. It is thin plastic and glued in. I used a small spring hook threaded carefully into the main aperture hole and pulled it out. A hook made from a paper-clip should do it.

Presto, now all of the lens aberrations can get through to the sensor, as well as the full image circle. And we perhaps also gain another stop in the process.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Just checked the tracking on mine, looks like it could be here sometime within the next 4-days. Then I'll have to confess to the boss I bought another lens. Wish me luck.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Jack, so you're saying to remove the plastic plate on the rear? Again, what does that do to improve the quality (I'm dense this morning). Also I guess it voids the $15.00 warranty...:loco:
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Jack, so you're saying to remove the plastic plate on the rear? Again, what does that do to improve the quality (I'm dense this morning). Also I guess it voids the $15.00 warranty...:loco:
Don,

If you look at Mike's pics above, you'll see a very heavy vignette and relatively sharp performance, and he posted those from APS-C format crop in his A7r. If you look at mine, they are FULL frame 35 from the A7r, show less vignette than APS-C and then a sharpness and falloff performance are visible, more gradual, and what we generally associate more with Holga/Lomo optics. The lens comes with a plastic rear aperture plate with "sink strainer" soft holes around the center aperture. The only difference in Mike's shots and mine are I removed that aperture plate to get the full image circle (and all optical aberrations) to the full frame sensor. And yes, I'm certain it voided the warranty, but OTOH I saved the aperture disc and could glue it back in at any time -- though my guess is I won't be doing that ever ;)

Hope that clarifies,
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Okay, a few more to show the lens traits. All are in-cam jpegs shot with AWB, auto ISO and full frame A7r, downsized for web. First is a shot of gray pavement showing both falloff and color shifts, no other processing:



Next is a common subject that shows distortion and color shift as well as fall-off. I did add a touch of local contrast to the in-cam jpeg, but net color is out of cam:



Final is one I worked a bit. Cropped square, converted to mono, added some more vignette, added noise and a bit of halation glow for effect:



I am liking this lens a lot, having some fun with it for sure -- thanks Mike!!!
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Jack, There is a DSLR version of this (in various colors) in 50mm FL. Might make a good match on the D810 as well?

I may buy one if I get the Nikon Df. :)

Your samples are convincing. :)
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Vivek,

I've seen the SLR model with color filter wheel attached, and it looks interesting. However, I wanted a wider look from a square format, hence my attraction to this particular version. Ideally it would be a tad longer, maybe a 30 or so, but I think this one will end up working pretty well, and actually I find it compelling enough at full frame rectangle as well ;)
 

mazor

New member
nice thread, I have owned one of these holgas for a while, but rarely used it. After reading this thread I may be inspired to mount the holga lens onto my nex once more.

Holga on Emount
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
You guys are making me dig really deep into my closet. I know I have some Russian lenses somewhere. Lol
 

iiiNelson

Well-known member
Jack, There is a DSLR version of this (in various colors) in 50mm FL. Might make a good match on the D810 as well?

I may buy one if I get the Nikon Df. :)

Your samples are convincing. :)
Can't you just get a D750? Too soon!?!
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Tre, After all the banter that went on, I figured out how to convert a DSLR to do what the digital Holga (D750) does. It is too easy (probably will take 5mins and not worth the bother for me).

I have a bit more challenging project (A TC for E mount) at hand. So, that (digital Holga from a D300) is on hold. :)
 
I replicated Jack's modification to convert the 25mm Holga lens to full-frame. The results are quite pleasing.

Here's an uncropped frame from the A7R.


Larger version here.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Just got the lens a couple minutes ago and did a Jack removal procedure. Little too busy at the moment but hope to mount the lens shortly...
 
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