GH2 Vintage Lens Thread: Testing rare and obscure lenses

L1N3ARX

Well-known member
Instead of starting a new thread each time I test some lens, I'm just gonna put my samples here. Over the next little while, I'll be uploading tests from some vintage lenses I've recently come across by accident in an old dirty box. The brands consist of Rokunar, JCPenny, Albinar, Jupiter and more. Most of these lenses are only worth $10-30... if that. They're old, worn down and dirty. But as I clean them I'll be doing some tests here and there in case anyone is interested!

First up is the Rokunar 35mm 2.8 Nikon mount.

 
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I like the look of that one. Any color correction? Also, what was the hack and camera settings (smooth, etc). Thanks!

Also, nice clean camera moves, they worked well.
 
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I like the look of that one. Any color correction? Also, what was the hack and camera settings (smooth, etc). Thanks!

Aslo, nice clean camera moves, they worked well.

Thanks, in-camera settings were Standard -2-2-2-2, 1/40. I also used an ND Fader. Did a bit of correction using curves, but nothing else.
 
Matches a lot of my experience with other "generic" vintage lenses... decent color, very flat contrast, lots of flare, and a little blooming and coma
 
You seem to have the luxury of residing in rather cinematic location. Excellent stuff. How do you get those smooth pans? I have a Vinten 5, and I can not get as smooth pans and tilts.
 
You seem to have the luxury of residing in rather cinematic location. Excellent stuff. How do you get those smooth pans? I have a Vinten 5, and I can not get as smooth pans and tilts.

I live in Utah, where there's practically a lifetime of scenic vistas all around you haha. I usually throw away half my footage on the tripod because the pans don't end up smooth. Vimeo tends to exaggerate the jerks and bumps, viewing the original is MUCH more lucid / smooth. BUT in the case of this video where the downward pans were smooth, I cheated, I loosened up the tripod head and used the weight of the camera to drive it down ha.
 
Okay, here is my first test with a more common lens, the Nikkor 50mm 1.4 Non-Ai. It's a little long by test video standards, so if you're just going watch some of it, skip to the last half for more detail filled shots.


Color graded to be more saturated:

 
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