Wednesday, December 21, 2016

"New" Voigtlander 50mm f3.5 Heliar Lens

I was on a mission to find the Stardust bar at Yokohama North Dock. This was also a good opportunity for me to try out my new Voigtlander 50mm f3.5 Heliar Vintage Line lens.

Link to youtube video about the making of the TV show that sparked my interest in visiting the North Dock area.

Link to youtube video on the history of the North Dock.

So, to start my adventure I took the train to Higashi Kanagawa area and started walking toward the North Dock. Not far from the station I started to see waterways everywhere.

This canal was running along side a driving range.

I also noticed a lot of train tracks for cargo trains.

This fence is constructed from old wood railroad ties.

Current railroad ties are made from reinforced cement. This seems like a good use for old ties.

This unused train trestle or maybe I should say train bridge runs parallel to the bridge that leads into the U.S. Army facility at North Dock.

So far I'm quite impressed with this lens.

Gazing through the bridge girders at the U.S. Army facility.

Playing with the depth of field on the lens.

Interesting scenery out here.

This is a great day for this walk-about.

The only traffic on the road out here is big trucks.


I have the Stardust bar in my sights. The bar has a nice patio with tables for outdoor eating/drinking. And, there's also a well maintained boat landing.

There's actually two bars here side-by-side. This area is isolated; seems like an unlikely place for a bar.

Both places were closed but I peeked in the window and it was like being transported back in time.

I think I'll need to come back here on another day when they're open for business.

The view from the bar Polestar.

Moving on with my walk-about and passing by the old warehouse area.

That's a serious looking barge moored in front of the building.

More train tracks. This North Dock area is quite different than the places I normally kick about in. This is fun!

The back side of the driving range.

Instead of returning to the train station I've decided to walk the waterfront back to Yokohama city. As long as I keep the waterfront on my left side I won't get lost.

This is interesting, the Yokohama Market is on the way back to the city.

This ramen shop looks like it's been around a long time.

Coffee and cigars! I'm starting to think I'm visiting another country.
Getting close to Rinko Park in Yokohama. I've got the Sea Bass tour boat in my rear view.

I have arrived in Rinko Park.

Safety is always a key concern.

Still playing with the lens. Shallow depth of field is fun.

The Voigtlander 50mm f3.5 Heliar lens is manual focus. Fast moving objects can be a challenge.

I've been walking all day, it's 2:00 pm, I'm tired and I'm hungry; time for a late lunch.

An underground restaurant near Sakuragicho train station is perfect.

This place was perfect. I had some curry soba; great meal and it was only 650 yen. I think I'll be coming back here in the future.

After lunch it was time to cut through the Noge entertainment district to get to Hinodecho train station.

Last shot of the day: Still in the Noge district.

More images taken with the Voigtlander 50mm f3.5 Heliar lens will be in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by!
Mike

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Hello!

    I write from Germany, having enjoyed your pictures in this blog. Thank you for sharing!
    I shoot also with the Sony A7II. Ich wanna purchase a fine 50mm and seriously consider the Heliar Classic 50mm 3.5.
    As I have seen so far in Flickr groups, the old version (silver, collapsible) renders beautiful on the Leica M9. There is a real 3 dimensional feel and look there. Visible in both film and digital pics.
    And the 3D feel is not only there when isolating a single object in front of a distant background, it appears to be there even in complex compositions.
    You are the only one who uses this lens on the Sony from what I've seen so far.

    Have you eventually even more samples of that cute little lens which could make my decision between the Zeiss Loxia 50mm and the Heliar a bit easier?
    The Loxia renders beautiful, too but seems to lack a bit that magic "depth" which makes the Heliar 50mm 3.5 pictures so appealing and eye-to-the-point-of-the-shot-leading.
    If you know what I mean :-)
    What is your experience with that lens?

    Thank you in advance and greets, Jens

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  4. Sorry for the two removed posts, but via smartphone, the damned auto - correction filled in some german words which made the context a bit weird ;-)

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  5. Hi Jens,

    I'm currently working with my Sigma SD1 Merrill for my next post. When that's done I'll try and do a comparrison of the old and new Voigtlander 50mm f3.5 Heliar lenses (I have both). Also, thank you for taking the time to view and comment on my blog; it means a lot to me.

    All the best,
    Mike

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