Auke Hamers
Professional freelance filmmaker and photographer Auke Hamers is somewhat of an expert when it comes to vintage lenses. He has a large collection of old lenses in his kit bag including a Super-Takumar 55mm f/1.8, Super-Takumar 135mm f/2.5, and a Konica 40mm f/1.8 pancake to name only a few.
His images pictured here are from a series called ‘Open Hearts’, which he took using his vintage SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 lens on his full-frame Sony A7 III. The portraits show participants of the Naropa summer retreat offered at Trimurti in the Czech Republic, and the dream-like quality of the SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 reflects the openness, loving characters and energy of the subjects in the images. ‘If you look closely, this open quality is visible in the eyes,’ Auke says. As for his SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 lens Auke loves the character, flaws and the razor-thin f/1.2 depth of field this lens can produce. ‘It captures real depth,’ he says, ‘and has a certain magic. The lens captures a smooth bokeh and film-like quality.’
Auke bought his Pentax 50mm f/1.2 from Marktplaats (the Dutch equivalent to Craigslist or eBay) for about €100. He tells us this is an excellent deal considering it goes for four to six times as much on eBay.
When it comes to the technical flaws Auke reveals the SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.2 suffers from longitudinal chromatic aberration, and can also be on the soft side. ‘I can correct the softness in post production, but the chromatic aberration is more difficult. Luckily in the case of this lens I like the aberration, as it’s blue coloured! I don’t want to see magenta or green fringing, but the blue glow is magical to me. It gives my images depth and it’s only visible in the out-of-focus areas.’
It’s not just personal projects Auke uses his old lenses for; there is also a professional market for vintage lenses. ‘I recently started to use my vintage lenses for specific magazine shoots,’ he says. ‘Given the right topic, for example homeopathy, the vintage lens brings in another unique element.’