GeneralGear

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February 28, 2023

February 2023 Update

This Post holds a list of every new content that’s been added to JAPB in January 2023, including an article about the Rollei QBM mount and 29 new lens data sheets.

February 22, 2023

An ancient rivalry … and its contemporary effects

If you have not heard photographers complain about how some camera manufacturers’ (typically: the competition’s) control rings turn ‘the wrong way’, you’re either new to photo discussions, or have hung out only with photographers who never manually focus.

February 20, 2023

Too many adapters? The answer might be strategic…

If you’re not new to using legacy lenses on modern digital cameras (especially mirrorless cameras), you might notice that as the lenses keep piling up, so too do the adapters…

January 31, 2023

January 2023 Update

This Post holds a list of every new content that’s been added to JAPB in January 2023, including an article about the Rollei QBM mount and 29 new lens data sheets.

January 17, 2023

One ring to rule them all…

“One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the ring

January 12, 2023

The genius of the Contax/Kiev mount

Introduction The lens mount that today is widely known as the Contax/Kiev1 mount was originally introduced together with Zeiss Ikon’s 1932 interchangeable lens rangefinder…

December 22, 2022

December Update

This Post holds a list of every new content that’s been added to JAPB in December – always one of the (otherwise) busiest months of the year.

December 1, 2022

November Update

This Post holds a list of every new content that’s been added to JAPB in November – a month during which we were quite busy with our day-jobs.

November 3, 2022

The (positive) effect of (positive) change…

To celebrate the occasion of the 100th new article in roughly as many days …

October 6, 2022

Rethreading helicoids the hard way…

However, sometimes you might not have helicoid separation point markings, and it may be due to other things than your forgetfulness…
Then you may need to rethread those helicoids the hard way.

July 17, 2022

Comparisons, Reviews, Walk-arounds, and data sheets

Dear readers, In a few paragraphs, I will describe a slight policy/strategy change for JAPB, but first, let me tell you why… For me,…

June 30, 2022

The illustrious fast fifty

JAPB has recently published its first comparison of legacy fast fifties, and while some lenses were unsurprisingly good, others were surprisingly decent, one was refreshingly different, and one contender managed to produce a real surprise. Read more here.

June 7, 2022

Primagon, Lydith, Orestegon …

If you’re like me, the naming practice of Meyer-Optik Görlitz (MOG) has caught your attention. Maybe your reaction has mostly been annoyance, maybe fascination.
In my case, this fascination developed into an article that traces the main points of the lineage of MOG’s Interchangeable lenses with a special focus on naming practice.

May 27, 2022

Lens mounts

JAPB has had two major updates this spring.
Firstly, JAPB has (finally) matured enough to deserve its own domain.
Secondly, JAPB’s most popular part (the JAPB guide to identifying your lens mount) has received a major upgrade…

March 13, 2021

The real effect of a scratched lens

… I can now offer visual proof of what I said earlier, namely that scratches and dents in a lens’ element do not show up as such, but that they have an effect on the lens’ sharpness, contrast, and flare-proneness.

November 29, 2020

Comparing 9 fast 35 mm legacy lenses

After a number of months of intermittent work, JAPB has finally published its comparison of nine 35 mm focal length legacy lenses. The entire comparison is available through following the link, but bare with us while we say a few things about the comparison.

October 16, 2020

Radioactive lenses

In discussions regarding legacy optics, there are immense misconceptions about radioactive lenses both in the blogosphere and (more frequently) in ‘social’ media.

I think it would not hurt to repeat some of the facts.

October 5, 2020

Controlling a lens’ aperture using the aperture ring (Nikon)

Many users of Nikon dSLR’s might not know that their body and lens could allow controlling the aperture using the aperture ring … read more.

September 30, 2020

A quick lens test

There are situations when you need to make a quick assessment on the general state of a lens or lenses without drawing the sellers attention, because otherwise the seller might get suspicious, raise prices and the deal would no longer be attractive…

August 24, 2020

A stable and unchanging environment…

Note: This is just a short, intermediary update. As promised, I’m working on a couple of major comparisons/reviews, and that (as well as my…

June 1, 2020

A guide to lens defects

…This means that ever so often – whether you buy your legacy lenses in garage sales or online – you encounter lenses which have one or more defects. Being able to identify and judge those defects, while understanding how (if at all) they will limit your ability to use the lenses to great effect is a crucial ability for the aspiring legacy lens photographer.

May 11, 2020

How to identify a lens mount

Pekka Buttler, may 2020 Looking at many online discussions, this is a perennial question. You might have found a nice-looking lens at a garage…

April 28, 2020

Contax G lenses on Sony a7R

(Featured picture: Carl Zeiss Sonnar 90 mm f/2.8 mounted on Sony a7R) My good friend Kari was helpful enough to lend me one of…

April 17, 2020

A short history of the Nikon F -mount (and why should one care).

I’ve always felt that online discussions on gear run a significant risk of degenerating into platform wars. I remember the Amiga vs. Atari wars,…

JAPB is a website centred on photography and photo gear, with a special interest in using old lenses on modern cameras.

We (currently, I) are not trying to push you to buying new, expensive gear. Instead, our approach is the opposite (in all aspects). Instead we want to help you made informed decisions, and if we can be said to ‘push’ anything, that would be relatively cheap, old gear.

JAPB is non-profit, in fact this is a loss generator. Some day that might change, but we’ll make sure that does not happen at the expense of the audience.

You can read more here.