Reflections on choosing and using alt-lenses.
Frequently, confusion. As if we didn’t have enough trouble cataloguing lenses with names like Bender, Nooky and Veginar, (thanks Lumaplak, Leica and Boots), Delta-world is far from the semantic ideal of one name for one thing. Major changes to a lens design sometimes go unflagged, while other, outwardly dissimilar lenses are optically identical. In many …
Delta lists many lenses, at many focal lengths – ranging from 7-700mm. But not all focal lengths are viable for all applications. First, there’s a broad correlation between focal length and image circle: the 43mm diameter light-puddle needed to illuminate a full-frame sensor at infinity focus is usually not created by enlarger lenses – and …
Here are a few soundbites in response to FAQs unasked: • What’s the best enlarger lens for general taking at sub-1m distance?Of the growing number of lenses thus far tested outstanding results have (unsurprisingly) been recorded by the most expensive lenses. However, several lenses with market values of around £100 have achieved an elite 90%+ …
Some oddballs get a buzz deploying stuff intended for Job A on ‘Mission X’. To them, the common man’s planetary gear is a can-opener, coat-hook or toast-slice-holder. In their homes lamps are recycled teapots, whisky jars and welded-together-cutlery. Their toilet-roll holders are made of copper plumbing. The concept of shooting with a Sony-mount lens on …
Delta grew out the Digital Enlarger Lens Test Archive (DELTA) previously located at 16:9 – my twenty year-old scratchpad for off-piste lens evaluations. Enlarger lenses have always been on the menu there, for professional shooting and casual experimentation, but never in their native habitat: joining industrial, pinhole and various vintage taking lenses in the digital …