Sunday 9 October 2011

Jupiter

One of the advantages of the micro four thirds cameras is the lack of a mirror box, this allows a shallow body from sensor to lens throat. As a result, adaptors can be made to mount, and give infinity focus on, a wide range of lenses of all ages and types.
Today I tried a Russian Jupiter 135mm f4, 39mm thread screw mount lens on my EPL1. This was probably made in the early to mid 1960s for the Fed and Zorki rangefinder cameras. The angle of view is equivalent to about 270mm on a full frame.
The problem was holding it steady at slow shutter speeds, but the in-body anti-shake mechanism helped at down to about an eighth of a second. The results were quite good, although the contrast was a little low. It was good to be able to open up the aperture enough to get a shallow depth of field.
The pictures are from Oliver's Castle and Roundway Down, near Devizes. This was the site of the victory of the Royalists over the Parliamentarians on the 13th July 1643.