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When I was young I lived in Levi's 501 STF. Found a box filled with once dark indigo jeans that now are super faded but awesome imho. Feels like I just got 6 new pairs of jeans for free. They still fit like a glove
When I was young I lived in Levi's 501 STF. Found a box filled with once dark indigo jeans that now are super faded but awesome imho. Feels like I just got 6 new pairs of jeans for free. They still fit like a glove
When I was young I lived in Levi's 501 STF. Found a box filled with once dark indigo jeans that now are super faded but awesome imho. Feels like I just got 6 new pairs of jeans for free. They still fit like a glove
Konica Hexanon AR 40mm f/1.8 with apodisation filter for smooth bokeh.
I always loved the results Oliver1978 gets with his Sony 135mm STF lens. Oliver certainly has an eye for photogenic detail and composition. However, it seems that this lens contributes its share to the good results he gets when using it.
Driven by the admiration of the wonderful bokeh the STF creates and inspired by the DIY recipe for Apodization Filters by Markus Keinath I tried to create my own poor man's STF.
The natural choice of lens for me was the Konica Hexanon 40mm f/1.8. For one, because I have two of those, allowing me easy comparison shots after doing the modification. On top of that, I know the inside of this lens quite well, after successfully modifying both of them slightly, adding an additional half stop at around F2.2.
So I created a couple of different images with different smooth transitions from white to black, slightly smaller than the 17mm iris diameter of the Hexanon and had them exposed on slide film. A circular cutter helped in getting round 22mm pieces with the clear part centered as good as possible.
The Hexanon turned out to be the perfect mechanical design for that type of modification. The iris is quite easy to access afer removing the front lens group as a whole, and there is a nice inset at the iris, in which I could easily place the "filter", adjust its position and lock it there by tightening the srews of the front lens group.
So far I'm quite happy with the results. With the experience I gained trying different transitions and diameter I have an idea what my ideal filter would look like - it goes without saying that I didn't think of exactly that variation when ordering the slide film exposure...
One significant downside apart from the loss of light is the lower contrast and greater tendency to flare with strong light sources - both due to the additional layer of slide film.