Transplantation of Summilux M 50mm/f1.4 from SONY E to GFX

If I carefully observe the chromatic aberration of the Leica Summilux M 50mm/f1,4 2nd generation, I would notice the S curvature line! Fully compensated at f2.0, then returned to zero point at f1.4, with the aperture fully open. I have never encountered such a correction value for standard focal length lenses, including large format lenses. That's why the Summilux M 50mm/f1.4 2nd Generation has a special charm that is difficult to explain in words. As a result, I have kept this lens as my jewel for half a century. Ernst Leitz GMBh has been making this model for 30 years without changing it's basic lens design, and this fact is backed up by the unwavering confidence in this lens.

Judging from the point of view of recent demands, the only drawback of the Summilux M 50mm/f1.4 is its helicoidal structure. The typical value for standard lenses these days is around 45cm, but the shortest distance of Summilux M is 1.0m to match the Leica M model's rangefinder adaptation. To solve this unavoidable problem, I decided to replace the Summilux lens with a standard SLR lens case equipped with a Hexanon 52mm/fl.7, which had mold in void, on the Sony E mount.

This time's work is porting from SONY E to GFX mount. As a lucky tip, Pixco has supplied us with an M65-GFX adapter compatible with the helicoid-equipped Summilux 50 at a reasonable price, bingo!!

Preliminary experiments to adapt it to the 44x33 large format have proven this lens' performance, although if you look closely you can see very slight vignetting in the corners. After that, we made final adjustments to the infinite position setting using the full length of the helicoid, and spent several days rebuilding and rehabilitating it. My gem “Summilux” will soon survive in large format. 

Former foreign settlement in Kobe

I visited Kobe's former foreign settlement for the first time in three years. Due to the recent earthquake and bombing by US B29 while WW2, all of the buildings dating back to the Meiji era, which is a good part of Old foreign Settlement Ward, were destroyed and lost completely, but they have been skillfully rebuilt while retaining the atmosphere of the past. The taste and skill of the designers and builders are noteworthy. Although it has been rebuilt, no one will be disappointed when visiting this place. The sewer pipes of the settlement, infrastructure, some of which are still in use, are now visible on the sidewalk for pedestrian. I was surprised to see it established with blocks 100 years ago on display actually.

It is already September 10th today, but it's still very hot and I fell into dehydrated condition. The people I pass by here Kobe Motomachi are all sophisticated and nice outstandingly, in good mood and atmosphere.

After the photo shoot, I had lunch as usual at "Oboya" on the north side of Motomachi Station. The  meat bowl of Oboya I took was enough to restore my energy.

Minolta New MD 135/2.8 survived

A new MD 135/2.8 appeared as a junk item on Yahoo! 135mm tends to be less popular among photographers as an intermediate focal length. The item I received looks brand new in the sense that it has never been used, but unfortunately lens infections, in my opinion, are prevalent under UV-free conditions. Mold spores spread everywhere around us and are impossible to stop completely. However, sunlight, especially UV light, can prevent its spread, if not completely. As a result, moldy lenses could not be used in the field. UV rays did not pass through the lens material. This is why unused lenses get moldy.The MD 135/2.8 I received had deadly mold on both sides of the rear component, making it unviable.

So, I tried another MD 135/2.8 on Yahoo auction for compatibility in the same war, but the newly acquired rear component was alive and bingo!

As a result, two of his molds attacked by 135/2.8 ended up voiding the other, but he was able to re-establish a capable MD 135/2.8.

The 135 focal length works the same as the 105 with a 33x44 image sensor. This is my favorite choice and I carry this with me for photo shoots. 

Switching from SONY to Fujifilm

Following my son's obligation, I gave up the SONY A9 that I used for 3 years. Then I switched from SONY to Fujifilm GFX 50S2 to increase the pixels of the image sensor from 24M to 50M, increasing the imaging area by 1.7 times. Naturally, changing the concept of focal angle to 0.8x does not impair peripheral resolution.

Finding a suitable 135 lens in the 44X33 format required some effort, and real fitting trials were done for that purpose. All shooting procedures are performed in manual action, no autofocus, auto Ev or shutter speed is used. Recall that shooting in 4X5 inch format does not require advanced automated mechanisms.

The choices were made mainly with Minolta branded MD and MC lenses due to my experience in the silver film era.

MD28/2.0, MD28/3.5, MD35/2.8, MC50/1.7, MC55/1.7, MD Macro 50/3.5, MD100/2.5, MD200/4.0, MD300/4.5.

Leica Macro Elmarit 60/2.8, Sonnar T* 85/2.8 and Leica Tele-Elmar 135/4.0 were invited without any discussion.