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Now I started to test this Pentax 6x7 lens, and it works very well. It has a mild softness when used at wide open aperture ƒ2.8 - but as soon you stop down, things get better. However, I do use it at ƒ2.8 - and love the unaffected, round bokeh blur. When you stop down a little, the aperture outlines are slightly less smooth.
Anyway, the older optical formula of the Takumar 150mm f 2.8 is lovely. I prefered it when i bought it back in 2017, because of the more gentle rendering - eg. for portraits. While the more modern Pentax 67 SMC 165/2.8 renders images more neutral in comparison. As does the Pentax 6x7 SMC 200 mm f 4 lens (none of which i bought).
The feeling
I can't shake off the feeling, that I start to find my roots again. Like when I started with the 6x6 and 6x7 medium format with film. Especially the 6x6 Mamiya 330f and Mamiya 330s become during several years my most used camera, inviting to so much experimental photography, but also worked superb as a portrait studio camera.
I can't say that i do such photos (like the main one above), with normal digital cameras. Has that to do with that i don't use them with a tripod most of the time ? Perhaps that is part of the answer. That when you work with a camera on a tripod... things get a little bit different. Slower and with a stronger presence in what ones does...
My photography becomes simplistic again. Grounded. More earthly again. Experimental in a simple way, with few means.
Which i am welcoming like a fresh breeze of warm wind, in a world obsessed with social media, buzz and fuzz and endless low res images, and glossy Barbie self-portraits. |
