Fujifilm X-t1, Mir-1b 37mm f2.8 part 3

Today I took some random picture during my break at work. I used The Mir 37mm again. The four colorful pictures are edited more in a stile I like, colorful, punchy and no blue in the sky. I like these results and I don’t think I would be more satisfied if I had taken them with one of my modern lenses. There are of course all kinds of (technical) things wrong with it if you look closer, or even if you don’t but I had fun making them, manual focusing, making sure the aperture ring was set and finely editing them. I will remember the time and place of when I took these pictures when I see them again in the future and relive the moment in a small amount, what more do you want. I would use this lens for a paid assignment, they hire me for my style and not for my technical skills. The other picture of the museum I work for is almost straight out of the camera and it captures perfectly the mood of the day, misty, grey and silent. I had to put some contrast in it because that’s something this lens misses.

On E-bay you will find different version of this lens for around 60,- US Dollars. I bought mine here in Norway where I live now for a similar price. The quality of my particulate lens is not that great, there is some movement in the focus and aperture rings and is used quit a lot. Optically I looks fine but I have no other MIR-1 to compare it with, I don’t see fungus or dust inside the lens.

On the internet you can find more information about this lens, here is some technical and historical.

The Mir-1 is a 37 mm f/2.8 lens made by KMZ and later other Soviet factories for a number of 35 mm SLR cameras. It was designed by D.S. Volosov in 1954 and was in production from the late ’50s. The design was based on Pentacon’s Flektogon 1 of the same length and aperture.

First model

The first model of the lens was produced by KMZ for the early Zenit cameras with an M39 lens mount; it is the widest lens commonly available for those cameras. It is silver-bodied. It has preset aperture control, between f/2.8 and f/16. It focuses to 0.7 m. It has an M49 x 0.5 filter thread. Some examples of this lens, and many of those subsequently made by ZOMZ, are engraved “GRAND PRIX” Brussels 1958; this prize at the Brussels World’s Fair was awarded to a set of lenses, not just the Mir-1.

From: http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Mir-1

The Mir-1 37 mm f/ 2.8 Black(Russian: “Мир”) is an interchangeable wide-angle fast lens. It is equipped with an iris preset aperture. The lenses are coated.

In 1958 it was rewarded the Grand Prix at the Expo-58 in Bruxelles. In 1959 the lens was rewarded the 2nd degree diploma of the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR.

Its optical scheme was designed by D. S. Volosov in 1954 and was based on the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f/2.8, manufactured after the WW II by the Carl Zeiss, Jenna. It has a negative meniscus as the front lens, which considerably reduces vignetting when wide open.