After a long winter, riding season is finally here in PEI and now that there are zero active cases of COVID-19 people are out and about enjoying the island. On May 17, a good friend and I rode our motorcycles to from Murray River to Souris which is a very popular summertime destination. Plenty of bikes were on the road that day and we enjoyed some fast food from Shirley’s Place.
My friend used to frequent the Bluefin Restaurant, which unfortunately burned down on May 6, 2020. As you can see from the photos, the damage is terminal. The good news is the owner intends to rebuild and reopen. We also watched the CTAM ferry leaving port for the Magdalen Islands (Îles de la Madeleine) in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
All these shots were taken with a Sony A7R2 using only vintage film lenses. I really enjoyed using these old school manual lenses and they have a unique look to them. Using old 35mm film lenses slows you down a bit and that’s a good thing. The lenses used were:
- Industar-61 L/D 53mm f2.8 – A very inexpensive Russian lens that was made for FED Ragefinder cameras. Overall a cracker of a small lens with personality. You can buy these on eBay for under $30.
- Vivitar 19mm f3.8 – A wide angle lens given to me by my brother. Not the sharpest lens, but the rendering is really good. In fact, I prefer its colour rendering and micro contrast to many modern lenses.
- SMC Takumar 135mm f2.5 – A coveted vintage lens that is quite sharp and very well built. This lens is not the cheapest used lens, but it is far more affordable than an equivalent autofocus lens for Sony full frame cameras. You can get a good copy of this lens for under $170. Because of the wide aperture, it is an excellent portrait lens and many use it for astrophotography because of its low distortion.
See if you can guess which lens was used for each photo.
