Legacy Lens - 20mm F 3.8 Vivitar

Vivitar A7 with and adapted Sony A7

I had a few false starts in making some sample images using one of my a film-era legacy lens on my Sony A7. Be assured that no works of art resulted from this effort, although I did shoot one assignment for the paper with this across-the-century lens and camera combination. The three street images in t his post were made with a Vivitar 20mm F 3.8 lens. Trust me, nothing here would win me a Pulitzer. 

Possible Inspiration: It's odd that I've always looked at this particular Vivitar lens and felt as though there was something familiar about its focal length, outsized objective lens, and maximum aperture. After reminiscing a few moments, a word crossed my lips: Flektogon.

I remember reading in a photographic magazine (We subscribed to both Popular Photography and Modern Photography) about the Carl Zeiss Jena 20mm F 4.0 super-wide angle lens. I specifically remember the CZJ "zebra" pattern of the focusing ring, which featured bands of brightly polished metal alternating with bands of black enamel grooves. Carl Zeiss Jena was the label that identified the lens as a product of East Germany. Both the label, and the zebra patterned focusing ring were familiar to me, as the first real 35mm camera I ever used was a Praktica, an East German camera that had a CZJ 50mm F 1.8 lens.

Source Posting: Click here.

In many ways that Praktica camera would influence my passion for photography. I "inherited" the camera from my sister when she upgraded to a Nikkormat FTn. I played with the camera until it stopped working and required a lengthy stay at the camera hospital because the importer was Hanimex, the Australian company that handled the repairs. While waiting for its return, I started using my father's Mamiya Flex, a fully manual camera that used spool-to-spool 120 roll film. This proved to be a major challenge, and after learning how to extrapolate the readings from a Weston hand held light meter, I moved on to mastering flash, initially using flash bulbs and culminating with the mastering of the cumbersome but powerful Glaflex Strobomatic 500 flash I borrowed for the City College of San Francisco Photo Department. I remember keeping meticulous notes about my exposures and flash settings because roll film was expensive. The learning process was a slog, but I felt well worth the struggle. But I digress.

These photos were meant to show an exaggerated perspective of a super wide lens. So far as the performance of the lens-body combination, it seems to work quite well. Frankly, it's more fun to use the lens not knowing its sharpness compares with my more modern Fuji and Nikkor lenses. When ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise, or a pixel-peeper, as the case may be.

More will follow.

Getting To Know My Sony Alpha 7

Vivitar 20mm Adapted To Sony A7

For the moment, the Fates are working against me in their denying me an opportunity to actually use my new A7 in the field. I have acquired adapters to attach lenses with Pentax K, Pentax screw (aka M42) mount, and conventional Nikon bayonet. Since my legacy lenses are mostly M42, nearly all of my needs could be handled by one adapter, but hope springs eternal, so I added to this list adapters for both the Leica threaded and M series bayonet mount lenses, just in case. I reasoned that having a full framed body with compact, film format (24x36mm) lenses would be a real hoot.

Meanwhile, what about the camera itself? While I was originally a Sony shooter, I chose to go with the Nikon DSLR system by using the most practical of methodologies: I simply went to a consumer electronics store, closed my eyes, and handled the Big Three (Canon, Nikon, and Sony). I felt that the Sony's controls misplaced, and the entry-level Canons didn't inspire any level of confidence. At that moment, the Nikon D50 just spoke to me, and over time I would acquire more than a dozen Nikon DSLR bodies before easing into the Fuji universe. This new Sony is simply a way to answer the question of how good are/were my legacy lenses, and to see if they would be useful  long after my analog camera bodies, and the film that fed them, lost their relevance. 

As such, the A7 has some shortcomings, and while newer iterations may well have addressed these issues, I can live with the limitations of this camera that is nearly ten years old. However, it's not a prefect machine.

Shutter Noise: This shocked me. The A7 is about the noisiest camera I own. The shutter is not a "click", but a "kah-CLUNK", and is loud enough to announce my presence when the camera is used indoors. This precludes my using the Sony as a stealthy street camera, a la Cartier-Bresson.

• Film Simulation Presets: Fuji definitely has the advantage here. They created a variety of slide and print film profiles with characteristics that simulate the films they manufacture (Provia Velvia, Astia, etc.). The profiles can be tweaked to taste, both in contrast and color tinting. In addition, Fuji has several monochrome profiles that mimic the effects of red, green, and blue filters, a nod to the needs that landscape photographers. The Sony? It has a Camera Settings/Creative Style Menu/Special Effect (1,4,4) that relies heavily on modes like Landscape, Portrait, and Autumn Leaves, limiting the camera's response to specific shooting environments.

• Great Engineering, So-So Ergonomics: The engineers who designed this Sony included most of the controls and  features I have come to depend upon, but they have a strange way of implementing them. True, the buttons are there, but are often located in difficult to reach places. 

• WYSIWYG: For you youngsters, this once-common acronym stands for "What You See Is  What You Get", a quotation for an old Flip Wilson comedy routine. One of the great advantages of the mirrorless camera is the real-time WYSIWYG viewing. For example, when you choose a monochrome simulation, the EVF / LCD will display a black-and-white rendition of the image, something impossible with conventional Single Lens Reflex cameras. In the Fuji mirrorless world, the display conversion is automatic when a film simulation is chosen. The Preview Exposure In Manual Mode option can be found hiding in the Fuji's Display Menus. When the Sony's Custom Settings/Live View Display (2,2,5). is ON, both an exposure preview and the current Special Effect will be locked together. I prefer that these two display options be controlled separately, but for those who don't use flash and rely on existing light, it probably won't be a bother.

To The Good: I have to remind myself that the Sony was purchased to allow me to experiment with full frame legacy lenses, not as a replacement for my Fujis.

• Full Frame Sensor: The crop sensor APS format increases the effective focal length of my legacy lenses by a factor of 1.5X. This makes my wide angle lenses considerable less wide, and since I've become a wide angle fanatic, the full-framed Sony eliminates this limitation.

• Superior Focus Peaking: When manually focusing those legacy lenses, I appreciate the Sony's superior highlight contrast focusing assistance, which seems to be significantly better than my Fuji's. If only the magnification/focusing assist button were better placed.

All things considered, I believe the Alpha 7 will become a useful addition to my collection. It potentially breathes new life into my legacy lenses with the many inexpensive lens adapters. Its peak focusing is nicer that that on my current Fuji bodies, an apt comparison, since the Sony A7 and my benchmark X-Pro 2 were introduced in 2013 and 2016, respectively. The full-framed sensor clinched the deal, as it gives my legacy lenses a chance to demonstrate their wide-angle chops.