Vintage color splash edit!



Tamron 180mm F2.5 SP IF LD (63B) 1988 - 1992


That's done using a black and white layer mask in photoshop. Then you brush your original color (wherever you want it, using the brush) hiding under the black and white photo you forced it to be. Pretty neat. Once back in lightroom, I brought the saturation way up on the colors to help the flowers really pop. Oops. in my guest to try something new, I forgot some basic edits, to make my whites whiter and blacks a bit darker. Fixed and updated. Got rid of the slight grayed out look it had. I don't process black and whites too often.

This is a pretty cool lens. Though I took a winter photo with it a while back, this was my first real outing with it. She diffracts hard and fast after F11. Great wide open (so long as you remove chromatic aberration in post) although I haven't taken a real photo outside of test shots wide open with it yet. I'll try and get an isolated subject with it today and push her limits. This is where she's supposed to really shine. I'm really liking some of these Tamron adaptall lenses. If anyone here is into vintage glass, the best of these I've discovered so far is this one, Tamron 135mm F2.5 SP BBAR MC (03B) & Tamron 200mm F3.5 BBAR Multi C (04B). All three I believe will be keepers. Some really stunning old glass. Well, put it this way, that 135 smokes the Nikkor 135 2.8 and although I hate to admit it, that 200 smokes the 200 f4 Nikkor also (although in this case, the 200 f4 has it's own film era charm, so it retains its place in my bag. i got rid of a copy once after getting my 180 2.8 af nikkor, and regretted and had to get another copy. i wont make that mistake again) That's how good these three are. I suspect Tamron 105mm F2.5 BBAR (CT-105) is equally as good also though I haven't tried one yet. I do already have the Nikkor 105mm 2.5 "afghan girl lens", so. I guess that one is supposed to give it a run for it's money. I'll probably try one out one day.

My secret is simple to maximizing these old lenses; always use a tripod, always use a lens hood, slow down with your manual focus, and really nail it, and if you use a DSLR like me, always use the MUP feature, and an ir remote. First click, let the mirror shake settle for a couple seconds, then take the shot with the mirror up......... Then just try and wipe that smile off your face as you see that vintage old school perfection show on the camera screen.
Always, always, always shoot in RAW and process your photos yourself in lightroom. No matter your camera and no matter your lens. No camera can compete with lightroom processing. Heck, even if you just use the "auto" process, it's a far better start than the camera can do but the sooner you play with it, the sooner you can master it and really max out your photos.
Oh, I always shoot in aperture priority mode (I test shoot all my glass, so I always know the sweet spot of the lens) , Iso 100 (since I always shoot stationary subjects/scenes, so long as there is enough light, or if I'm ok with long exposure) unless I have a very specific reason, to go full manual (like my Milky Way shots, or when I use a very dark ND filter etc.)

There's been a lot to learn along the way, but dang, what a fun hobby! Slowing down with vintage glass has made it so, so much more enjoyable. It forces you to slow down, get setup and connect with your subject, rather than point, shoot and go. Everyone should have at least one vintage lens. Generally, the old zooms are not very good, there's only a few exceptions, get a prime lens; a set focal length lens; this has it's own benefits of forcing you to find a subject/scene in that focal length too which is also good for leaning. Just make sure you find a compatible lens for your camera's mount.

 

 

 

1961 FLH police special

 

Seems everybody has forgotten June 6, 1944

 

That's a shame for sure.