Too hot to think straight so I'm typing a blog instead. The how and why of adapting older lenses to the GFX system. From my warped point of view.

 

I used to think I was somewhat bulletproof. At least when it comes to the heat. But now, at 68 years of age, I've heard over and over again that "seniors" don't tolerate heat well and, given that we're under an extreme heat warning today, on account of it being so damn humid while being so damn hot, I thought I'd put into place a new and very weenie-esque rule of thumb: Any afternoon on which the "feels like" temperature, or heat index, exceeds 110° I think I'll just stay in side, clean some stuff up and maybe write a blog post. Feels like surrender to me...

I don't remember ever being this wimpy before. In fact, I used to train with a bunch of crazy triathletes who thought nothing of meeting under the Mopac Expressway bridge by Lady Bird Lake at 5:00 p.m. in late August to get in a nice five mile run in 105°. Maybe it wasn't as humid here when I was back in my 40s. Now? It's a different deal. 

I guess a few extra years adds up. We used to call our runs "fountain to fountain" runs. Around the hike and bike trail there were old style water fountains placed about every mile and a half apart. We'd hit a pace and run till we got to a fountain, slurp up as much water as we could, douse our caps with water for some evaporative cooling and then run on to the next fountain. We always had a plan in place if anyone started to feel ill from the effects of the heat. We all planned to jump into the lake together to cool down. Never needed to execute that plan. But we were all pretty happy when the city of Austin installed some outdoor showers in the spot near the end of our usual course. We'd stand in the cold water until our core temps dropped. It felt so luxurious.

One thing I can pretty much guarantee; if you can run a five mile loop, average eight or ten minutes per mile (not counting water fountain stops), and do it the blazing sun at 105° a couple times a week you will be getting your ten thousand steps. in. The hard way. 

I swim more than I run now and I guess that's a safer choice. In fact, I swam this morning. I worked hard on my underwater streamlines. Push off the wall, glide at speed and when you start to slow down execute five good dolphin kicks underwater before surfacing and starting your swimming stroke. It's a combination of better leveraging the speed off the walls and it also makes you work on breath control... Comes in handy. 

I think a tolerance for running in the heat is hereditary though. My son, who ran cross country in high school and college, thinks nothing about putting on a tattered pair of Air Pegasus Nike running shoes, a white cotton ball cap, a pair of running shorts, and then heading out for a Summer afternoon run. I tell him he's crazy but if his mom is listening she reminds me of my own history. My own risky running antics. And then there was my dad who biked and played tennis in San Antonio's Summers until he was well into his 80s. 

It's a long way of saying that I didn't feel like walking around downtown (where it's usually even five degrees or so hotter) today. Not with a camera. Not even with a phone. At least that's my excuse. 

So, instead I cleaned up my perennially messy studio/office and spent some time setting up lights for a portrait shoot, with a doctor, that's scheduled tomorrow. 

Yesterday I was out joy-riding in the new car and I dropped by our bricks and mortar camera store to see what might be new. I ran into a lens that I had used in the distant past. A film lens. A medium format lens. A really nice portrait lens that was designed for the 645 film format. It's a Pentax-A 150mm f3.5 lens. It was in pristine condition and just sitting all lonely, unloved and depressed in the used case along with some tattered and over-priced Zeiss ZM lenses. 

I had a saleperson pull the Pentax lens out of the case and went through my usual routine of "checking it out in detail." The glass on the front and back elements was clean and clear. I did the "bright sunlight test" to make sure there was not fogging on the inner elements. The focusing ring was smooth and had that perfect, film era, slight resistance when turning. No focus-by-wire here. The aperture ring was smoothly clicky. I remember using that model of lens on a few of my shoots with Renee Zellweger and my friend, Annie. (See below). It was a good lens back in the film days, riding on the front of the first two models (non-AF) of the Pentax 645 film cameras. Sharp enough everywhere and, of course it covers 645. 

I've been looking around for the right lens with which to do tight headshots with my Fuji GFX 50Sii camera. Sure, everyone and their grandmother implores me to rush right out and drop $2200 (or more) on the Fuji G 110 f2.0 lens but I just won't do it. It's overkill and I'd never spend that kind of money on camera gear..................hmmm.

Anyway, the Pentax was on offer for $115 and I thought that was an out and out bargain so I put off buying vital medications, and groceries for my family, and bought the lens instead. And, of course, that $115 lens instantly turns into a $265 lens when you factor in the Pentax 645 to GFX lens adapter that should be wending its way here from our favorite NYC camera store on Wednesday. Oh boy. A 120mm equivalent lens for me to play with. I am overjoyed. I'll give the lens the benefit of the doubt and start out by using it at f4.5 instead of wide open. Just until I get used to it. There's an ad shoot coming up the week after next that will be perfect for this combo --- if everything tests out well. I can hardly wait. 

The "how?" of adapting lenses to modern mirrorless cameras is simple. You buy the correct adapter and go to town. You need to make sure the lens stops down/the aperture is working. Notorious fails are Nikon G lenses used on the cheapest adapters that don't have any control for stop down tech. Unless, of course, you like shooting everything wide open. There's no external aperture ring on them to give you control. The best lenses I find are the Ais Nikons, the Nikon mount versions of Voigtlander lenses, and all of the lenses made for Leica's M mount. I have a 90mm Voigtlander Apo-Skopar lens on the front of the Fuji GFX right now and it works great. Even the Carl Zeiss Milvus 50mm f1.4 made in the Nikon F mount works well when you get to f8.0 and use it without the big lens hood (the hood is a definite vignetting machine!). 

The "why?" of adapting lenses is two or three tiers of rationalization. First, we can buy into the sometimes specious observation that older lenses have more "character" which basically means they have more faults but that we're willing to accept the faults and make them part of the "look" we convince ourselves that we're aiming for. That falls under: learning to love corner blur and lots of dark corners as well. Second, there is a lot to be said for saving a fortune getting into the ballpark  of the focal length and coverage you want (at least for portraits --- which don't have to be astringently sharp). Walking out of the store with a $115 lens is a lot better than waiting in nervous anticipation for the Fedex guy to arrive hours and hours after the promised delivery time to hand you a package that's come from a thousand miles away, lived on hot trucks, the hold of a cargo plane, and haphazardly packed in a fragile box -- after having paid $2200, plus tax, plus shipping. God forbid you find something wrong with the new lens because then the whole process has to go in reverse. Not saying we never shop that way but paying and portage locally is more satisfying. At least to me. 

Finally, you may get stuff with an older, manual focus lens that you won't get with a new AF lens. Like a focusing ring that feels like a focusing ring. Smaller filter sizes. Smaller overall size; even with the lens adapter. And the joy of recycling appropriately. I have every expectation that the used lens I bought will work perfectly and deliver results on digital that are at least as sharp as my results from 25 years ago were on film. Right? And this is what happens when you skip your long walk in the heat and joy-ride to the camera store instead. Endless rationalizations.

But, in the end, adapting lenses is fun and may pay off. If it doesn't work out the way I hope, well...it's a cheap, failed exercise. But if it does then wow! New portraits ... here we go.

From a color negative that started life in a Pentax 67.

645 on film. Annie. Cropped on the sides. 

645 film. Cropped square. 

645 full frame. Renee Z. On film

645. the obligatory close up.