A Fujian dream.  After reading about how awesome the Fujian 35mm F1.7 lens was, I wanted one.  I decided that I didn't want to pay the exorbitant $30 price on ebay so I decided to go to the source.  Sadly, they don't seem to be that popular in China.  I was met by "mayo" everytime I asked about Fujian.  Avenir is the lens of choice.  I went to photography building after photography building.  They had everything else.  You want a gold plated Leica, it's the place to go.  If your Rollei is acting up, they have rows and rows of every part ever made.  Things I've only heard about, they had.  Everything but the Fujians.  Then on my last day, I was wandering the mean streets of Shanghai and there it was.  Not a 35mm one, but a 50mm.  It's a F1.4.  Its not new but used.  I just had to have it to make the dream come true.  The dude wanted $34 (USD) for it.  I was only able to haggle it down to $30.  He said that was cheap, since even used, they go for $100 on ebay.  I bought it.  I took a series of shots but they all turned out to be overexposed once I looked at them on my computer.  All but one.  That one I thought was underexposed but looks OK.  Here are some shots of the lens and the one OK shot.  I'll take more later.

There's one other interesting thing.  I took off the mount to adjust the loose aperature control.  Once I had it off, I found it was scattered with metal fillings.  I don't think it came from the factory that way.  It looked like someone had drilled extra mount points to change the registration distance.  I had to adjust it a bit to get it to focus at infinity.

The flower is shot at F2.8 at ISO 200.

I can't say that's the best quality photo that I've ever seen, to let my rude side come out, but hey it's not bad!

Here are more shots.  As with most TV lenses, it gets soft at the edges.  I'm surprised by the normal looking bokeh since the aperature is a slot by the time it hits "22".  I just love the huge lens in front.  It's the size of my SLR 1.4's.

ISO 100 F1.4


ISO 100 F2.8


ISO 100 F5.6


ISO 100 F11


ISO 200 F22ish.  I had to crank up the ISO to take a steady shot.  Also, the last marks are 11 and C so I guestimate it at 22.


Big o' lens.


OK.  Time to move on.  I have a 12mm F1.2 and a 50mm M33 in waiting.

I don't think I like the bokeh on this one.

By the way, I think I'm going to move this to the Lens Sample Photo Archive.