A quick investigation of bright M42 primes

This post shows the close-up abilities of several screw-mount prime lenses with the help of an extension tube. The main area of interest was full aperture depth of field and sharpness.

The photos show that in general, wide open eperture and extremely de-focussing results in a colour shift of bright lights. Bright sources on the far side of the focal plane appear to have a blue fringe around the edges while less obviously, bright sources on the near side appear to have a red fringe.

The standard and short telephoto give good closeup abilities and extremely shallow depth fields, thus providing the flexibility of varying the depth of field to suit. The telephoto (135mm) has a deeper depth of field due to its longer focal length and smaller aperture.

Test apparatus: lenses handheld over a Nikon D40. Sensor size is approximately APS-C and thus images here are do not give details of the edge behavior of the lenses.

Lenses tested: Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4, Jupiter-9 85mm f/2.0, Super-Takumar 135mm f/3.5

Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4





Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 with extension tube, wide open





Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 with extension tube, stopped down to f/5.6




Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 with extension tube, wide open
Note the lens flare





Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 with extension tube and lens hood, wide open




Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 with extension tube and lens hood, stopped down to f/4.0
Note the hexagonal bokeh.





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Jupiter-9 80mm f/2, wide open





Jupiter-9 80mm f/2 with extension tube, wide open




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Jupiter-9 80mm f/2 with extension tube, stopped down to f/5.6




Super-Takumar 135mm f/3.5, wide open




Super-Takumar 135mm f/3.5 with extension tube, wide open