American director/photographer Jason Bognacki combined a lens from 1919 with a Canon 5D Mk II, and the results are remarkable!
American director Jason Bognacki wanted to see if his Piccolette Contessa-Nettel folding camera from 1919 could still take photos, so he attached the back to a Canon 5D Mark II and turned the old camera into a 93 year old lens. The resulting image quality is amazing considering the age of the camera, and the quality of other veteran lenses. This was probably one of the sharpest lenses of its era. Take a look at Jason’s Tumblr for more photos.
100% crop, lens wide open. Insanely sharp for a lens from 1919!
Via The Verge.
Why does this article try to make it out as if its amazing that the 93 year old lens would perform so well? Almost as if it assumes that lenses today are naturally superior to the lenses of back then. I hate it when people assume that whatever is newer is automatically better.
Well, because in the case of anything technology or science related matters, newer usually is better. Especially if it’s 93 years newer. Over the course of 93 years, our understanding of optics has improved exponentially. And one also has to look at the camera being used here – the 5D2 and its 21 mp sensor – famous for pointing out flaws in otherwise perfect L series lenses from the 80s and 90s – which is why all modern lenses are being redesign using increasingly complex computer systems. If a Canon 5D Mark II can necessitate redesigns of high-end lenses from 20 years ago, then it should be exaggerating the flaws of a 93 year old lens quite easily. But the amazing thing is that this lens is still incredibly sharp, even wide open, and that is why we, and many other blogs, were surprised by the results.
It’s an amazing achievement for a lens originally designed using pencil and paper, for a medium that could never resolve its sharpness to begin with.