Marco Aries

Many people despise the look of catadioptric lenses, but I find it interesting and in the past I have owned a 500 and a 1000mm. I ended up selling them because they were, well, too much for me, and I was looking for something smaller and shorter and a few months ago I found this Kenlock 300mm, in the original box no less, so I had to give it a try. The lens is made of metal, it weighs 300g, it is 58 to 67mm long and it has an external diameter of 82mm, with a 77mm front thread. Mirror lenses usually have a fixed aperture, but this has a cylinder that goes up and down inside of the lens and apparently between f5 and f11. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 260 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1 meter. The front element turns when focusing. It uses the m42 mount. Get your adapter here: Global: https://amzn.to/4gi9OR7 ITA: https://amzn.to/4f5smST (As an Amazon affiliate I earn a commission from eligible purchases) Mine also has a metal sunhood, but I’m not sure it came ...

Although I am notoriously not much of a fan of soviet lenses, it is undeniable that they can be quite quirky. The tair 3s, for example, was made specifically for the fotosniper, a kit that resembles, as the name suggests, a rifle. I will go into more detail about the fotosniper in a dedicated video, So let's take a closer look at the lens. The lens is made of metal, it weighs a little more than 1 and a half kilos, it is 25 to 29cm long and it has an external diameter of 88mm, with a 72mm front thread and it comes with a rubber sun hood The iris has 16 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f4.5 to f22 without half steps. It uses a preset system that might not be super intuitive, especially when adapting to digital. First you select the aperture, like f8, then you turn the red knob in the direction of the arrow to open up the blades so you can compose and focus more easily and when you pull the trigger on the support, it presses this lever and the aperture closes. It doesn...

In my opinion, the Pentacon 50mm 1.8 is one of the most versatile vintage lenses and one of my favorites. I’ve shot multiple rolls of film on it and used it countless times on digital and because of it I’ve been curious to try more lenses from the brand. Unfortunately, the 29mm didn't hold up to 50 and the 135 kept eluding me; until now. There are three versions of this lens that I know of: the first and most sought after has fifteen blades in the iris and it is a copy of the Meyer-Optik Görlitz Orestor. The second version is the one we're testing today and the third is the Praktica version with a Praktica mount. So let's take a closer look. The lens is made of metal, it weighs around 460g, it is 89 to 101mm long and it has an external diameter of 65mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built-in sunhood. The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f22 with half steps. It has an auto/manual switch near the bottom. The focusing ring is textured, i...

  Some of you might remember that I was putting together a set of Konica Hexanon lenses, but unfortunately I had to sell them to pay the bills. I was sad to let them go, not only because they were all in great shape but also because I really like Konica Hexanon lenses as they have that vintage look without an overpowering character. There are at least three versions of the 135mm: the big and heavy 2.5 I showed you a few years ago, the highly praised 3.2 and today’s subject the 3.5. So let's take a closer look. The lens is made of metal, it weighs 315g, it is 83 to 99mm long and it has an external diameter of 63mm, with a 55mm front thread. It has a built-in sunhood. The iris has 6 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f3.5 to f22 without half steps, plus auto. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 1.5cm. It has a Konica AR mount. The lens itself is well built, compact and balanced. The controls turn smoothly and are ea...

If you have a camera, at some point you have tried to shoot macro, maybe by holding a magnifying glass in front of the lens or maybe with some extension tubes. I know because I’ve done the same. But this time I have a proper 1:1 macro lens to show you. Let’s take a closer look. The lens is made mostly of plastic, it weighs around 420g, it is 74 to 100mm long and it has an external diameter of 72mm, with a 62mm front thread. The iris has 7 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f2.8 to f32 without half steps. The focusing ring is rubberized, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 21.9cm, granting a 1 to 1 reproduction. It uses a screw drive autofocus, it has a manual auto selector and a switch to limit the focus range from 30cm to infinity. It has a Nikon F mount. Get your adapter here: Global: https://amzn.to/4gi9OR7 ITA: https://amzn.to/4f5smST (As an Amazon affiliate I earn a commission from eligible purchases) The lens is well balanced when focused to in...

At a first glance you would think this is a vintage lens but technically it’s not and you can buy it right now from the Zenit store. Specifically, the original Zenitar-1K was released in 1988 but the 1N and 1C were released in 2016 with an updated optical design. The lens is made of metal, it weighs 580g, it is 59 to 70mm long and it has an external diameter of 78mm, with a 72mm front thread. The iris has 8 blades, the aperture is clicked and it goes from f1.4 to f21 with half steps. The focusing ring is textured, it turns 160 degrees and the minimum focusing distance is 85cm. It comes with either Canon Ef or a Nikon F mount. The lens is definitely chunky and well balanced, the controls turn smoothly but the focus ring is a bit stiff. Wide open it can be quite soft even in the center with visible blooming. By f2.8 it gets much sharper, with more detail and only falling off a bit in the corners. By f8 it gets very sharp all over the frame, picking up even more detail. And here’s a sampl...