The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: USSR

Photographed using a Helios-44 preset lens having M42 screw thread fitted via an adapter to a Canon EOS 30D camera. The lens has a focal length of 58mm and on the Canon it gives a field of view of just over 90mm.

This 55mm f/1.4 Chinon lens came with a Chinon CX camera dating from c1976. I bought them on eBay for £37 in 2015. I only wanted the lens, which was made by the Tomioka company for Chinon, who sub-contracted all their lens needs during that period. I photographed it using a Helios-44 58mm f/2 lens on a Canon EOS 30D camera. The Helios is even older, probably made during the 1960s. It is a preset lens; I had no experience of such technology until acquiring it. I got it on eBay attached to a Zenit-E camera.

Reg Lancaster worked for the Daily Express for over 40 years. Photographed with a Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens.

Histoire: The Zenit-E was launched in 1967. 12 million of this, and later derivatives, were made. It was based on the Zorki rangefinder camera with the addition of a pentaprism and mirror. The Zorki rangefinder was a copy of the Leica II. Mode d’emploi: Zero the film winder. Load the film. Close the back. Set the film speed. Wind on to the first frame. Remove the lens cap. Observe the light reading on the swing needle and select the optimum combination. Set the shutter speed and remember the desired aperture. With the lens wide open, focus on the subject. Then close down the aperture to the one you remembered. You can now depress the shutter. In comparison to the point-and-shoot alternatives of the day there was one important difference: you got far more decent photographs from a Zenit for a little bit more on the purchase price. Photographed with a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens on a Canon EOS 30D camera.

Photographed with a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens on a Canon EOS 30D camera. Eric Tastad reviewed the Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens - erphotoreview.com/wordpress/?p=1264 He concluded “This lens really surprised me. I was expecting junk and it ended up being the biggest surprise of the lenses I tested. In terms of sharpness, the only place this lens is lacking is wide open at the corners, otherwise it is comparable to the best of the best. This would be excellent for video or wide open photography. So many of the old 50mm f/1.4 lenses are terrible wide open, but this lens is an exception”. Tomioka made the lens for Chinon. There were also Rikonen, Yashinon, and Revuenon versions, all to the same specification. As for the Zenit-E: it was launched in 1967 and based on the Zorki rangefinder camera. The Zorki rangefinder was a copy of the Leica II. So I own a Leica (sort of). Pity the shutter is not dependable. Age has caught up with it.

One of the early preset versions with a 49mm filter ring. Photographed with an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens on a Nikon D2Xs. The 42mm screw mount was introduced in 1947 with the Zeiss Ikon Contax S 35mm SLR. Other manufacturers adopted it: Praktica, Pentax, Zenit. But bayonet mounts are better for changing lenses, and M42 was eclipsed. With some makes of digital SLR cameras, it is possible to use the M42 lenses via an adapter ring. Canon and Pentax are probably the most suitable for old M42 lenses.