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dimanche 24 mars 2019

Cinéma et reproduction

Continuons les balades printanières, avec cette fois-ci deux objectifs qui n'ont aucun rapport. Tout d'abord, un OF-184 150mm/9 de reproduction grand format (13x18) pour les photos 1 à 7, et un RO2-2M 75mm/2 de cinéma pour les photos 8 à 12. Le tout sur A7, à pleine ouverture.







 





samedi 23 mars 2019

jeudi 14 mars 2019

Review : TV lenses (KT-27)

Today I'm starting a new serie of reviews. Those reviews will be written in english so more people can understand me (I hope!).


I will now review TV lenses I own for KT-27 TV camera.

What is a KT-27 TV Camera?

A TV camera is also named "Broadcasting" camera. There is a hudge difference between a cine and a TV camera : While a cine camera uses film, a TV camera uses electronical device named "photocathode". So the image is converted to electric signal that can be sent to a satellite to provide broadcast. The surface is not 24x36, but 24x32. Still, it's close enought to 24x36 that most of the lenses won't have problems to cover 24x36.

A TV camera can be a studio camera or an outdoor camera.

The first soviet TV camera was built in 1931 in laboratory TV VEI. The first color TV camera was made in 1954. Those cameras were made for different studios in USSR.

The KT-27 use a Superorticon tube, and was firstly produced in 1957 (for the little studio "Rayon") by the main soviet TV technic maker, the VNIIT (Vsesoyuzniy Nautchno-Issledovatelskiy Institut Televidenia, today NIITV). Then it was enhanced for the Congress hall of the Kremlin Palace in 1961. So I believe there are at least 2 different versions of the camera exist, that could explain why some TV lenses may vary.

Here is a KT-27 that can be seen in the soviet film "Moscow does not believe in tears". We can see on the camera 4 lenses : Jupiter-21T, Helios-65T, Tair-11T and Jupiter-100T.


Another photo from tvcameramuseum.org


The same site provide a brochure about this camera : http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/soviet/kt27/pix/irepage.pdf


This KT-27 camera used a turret of 4 lenses. But more lenses has been designed for this camera. Some of them were derivated from photo lenses, others have been produced only for this camera.
As far as I know, here are the lenses used on KT-27 camera, all made by KMZ.
-Helios-65T 50mm/2
-Helios-40T 85mm/1.5
-Jupiter-100T 100mm/2.5
-Tair-11T 135mm/2.8
-Jupiter-21T 200mm/4
-Tair-3T 300mm/4.5
-OT-500 500mm/5
-OT-750 750mm/5.6
-OT-1000 1000mm/6.3

Most of those lenses were produced in late 50's and early 60's.
In opposite to KT-87 camera lenses (will be reviewed later), thoses KT-27 lenses have pretty simple construction. They usualy do not differe a lot from camera lenses, excepted they don't have any preset ring. Also most of them were fit with a big hood, because it was necessary when broadcasting in studio with a lot of spotlights around.
Please note that all those lenses have to be adapted, it never comes natively in M42 or M39. But it's not rare to find a T lens adapted during soviet era.

So it's time to shortly review each of theses lenses (excepted the 2 last OT that I do not own).


HELIOS-65T 50mm/2


This tiny lens has a beautifull 13 blades diaphragm (whereas the Kiev-10 version of this lens has a 6 blades diaphragm). I particulary appreciate this lens because it has a strong helios caracter, like an Helios-44, but I find the rendering a bit smoother.

It's also way smaller than Helios 44





HELIOS-40T 85mm/1.5




The Helios-40 is already an interesting lens for those who like strong caracter. I own 2 normal Helios-40 silver, and my T is sharper than both of them. Also it come with a very convenient long and solid hood. That's the lens I take when I want to make a serious job with strong swirly bokeh (if we can consider doing serious job with such bokeh!).
The coating is a bit different from a normal Helios-40 (blue/purple) and red P Helios-40 (stronger blue). Here is a comparaison :

Also note that it exist a black version, based on the Helios-40-2.


So here are some photos I took with my silver Helios-40T







JUPITER-100T 100mm/2.5



Here is one of those TV lenses that was never produced for photo camera. And it's interesting why, as it's a good lens! Soviet especialy didn't have a good 100mm for long time. The Industar-24M of the silver era was a fail, and the excellent Kaleinar-5N arrived only in the very late 70's.
My particular exemplar has a fun history. I contacted a guy who had only the body, with only one element inside. It was proposed for a very small amount of money. I bought it, but then the guy found the rear element... and then the front element, but the price did not change! Sadly the diaphragm is missing, but it's not a big deal as I mostly use those lenses wide open. And thanksfully, this lens is good wide open, so...








TAIR-11T 135mm/2.8



I had two such Tair-11T, one with big hood, one without hood. But both gave me the same feeling like Helios-40T : sharper than the photo version (Tair-11 silver or Tair-11A).
The coating is different from a silver Tair-11.
I really like to use this lens, its hood provide very good protection against the sunflares (you can remove it with the right tool), and the shape of the lens is somewhy more simple and it make it more pleasant to use.






JUPITER-21T 200mm/4



I own 2 different versions of the Jupiter-21T. The older one looks to be for another version of the KT-27, or for another camera, whereas the one on the right is the one that was used on the KT-87 for sure.

The  older one has a diaphragm ring that might have been used automaticly by a camera, whereas the classical one has a focus ring like every other KT-27 lenses.

I have mainly uses the older one, and I have to say that it is as good as any Jupiter-21M, if not more.






TAIR-3T 300mm/4.5






This is the first T lens I acquired, long time ago while I was living in Ukraine. I didn't see another one for sale since. This lens has a mount that looks like an OST-18 (but not exactly) so it might be for another KT camera, or even was used for cine camera!
The body is a bit different from the classical M39 Tair-3, and naturely it has a giant hood that make the normal Tair-3 looking like a little lens. I used this lens for 14th of July parade in Paris, without any problem with security. But harder was to not hit people with the hood while handling it!








OT-500 500mm/5





This is the lens that reminds you that those TV lenses were not designed to be hold in hand, but fixed on a very heavy camera. This OT-500 is by far the biggest lens I own. It is very long, especialy with its giant hood. Comparaison with a Tair-3 looks ridiculous :



And yes, I used this lens on my A7... but guess what... it does not cover 24x36! But as expected, the IQ is pretty good.







That's all for the KT-27 lenses!