Shooting profile pictures for a friend

Hey guys, 

the other day my friend Vincent and I had some fun shooting his LinkedIn profile and resume pictures.  I am not much of a portrait photographer, my style is more landscapes and sports but who can say no to a good friend.

I used my brand new (old) Vivitar 135mm f2.8 M42 mount in full manual on these shots, and I really like the results.   We were shooting in the back of an alley with only natural light available, no fancy flashgun or reflector here.

Tell me what you think of our handsome model's pictures here, can't wait for your feedback!

Jeremy

Going manual

Hello guys, 

today I wanted to share a story about the best 30$ I've ever spent on photography gear.

As you might know I have a Sony NEX-6 as my primary camera, it's a small APS-C sized mirorless camera. I might be talking chinese to some of you right now but don't worry, this just means that regular DSLRs have a mirror... my camera doesn't.. 

so what's the big deal?

Mirrorless camera have this advantage of having a short distance between the lens and the sensor, Sony's system is actually among the shortest to date.  This means that with the right adapter (usually a small ring made of metal) you can pretty much use any lens on this camera. Of course everything becomes manual (focusing and aperture control) but you can get some very interesting results with this technique.

This brings us to a couple of weeks ago, I was scouting on eBay when I found this lens: 

 

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It's a Vivitar 135mm f2.8 for the old Pentax m42 mount. 

I got it for about 30$, including shipping! Add a 10$ adapter for this lense and you got yourself a very good portrait lens for almost nothing!

and I was not disappointed, these are my first tests with it:

My dog made a perfect test subject for the glass. The image is sharp and has a good contrast, and the background is beautifully blurred I love it! 

Let me know what you think about it, and if you have good old lenses to recommend I am definitely interested!