SLR with TTL and DKL - Adapting a Rodenstock for M42

I received the first roll of film exposed with my Rodenstock lens from PixelGrain. The film is a black & white Rollei Retro 400S.

The Rodenstock Retina-Ysarex 50mm f2.8 was originally made for a Kodak SLR. I bought an adapter with DKL to M42 mount to be able to use it on my M42 cameras, primarily the Chinonflex TTL. Most DKL mount lenses have a very good reputation and were sold with consumer level rangefinder and single lens reflex cameras from Voigtländer, Kodak and Braun.

On my specimen - which is the only DKL mount lens I've used - the depth of field indicator is very elaborate. Usually, on lenses, there are markings on the lens body that indicate depth of field according to the chosen aperture. On this one, however, the depth of field indicator moves! You can see the two pegs on the front element in the picture above. In this instance the indicator shows the depth of field at f/16 by "bracketing" the distance indicator from 4 meters to infinity when the lens is focused for infinity.

(The above photograph and the third one are exposed on Fomapan 400Action and developed by me in Caffenol.)

The lens is very easily focused, and has a short focus throw to my delight. You put your preferred finger on the black focus tab and push it in the desired direction. It moves very smoothly. The aperture ring is much firmer. There are distinct click stops. The aperture control ring actually sits on the adapter. If you'd used the original camera body it would be situated on the camera. Though the aperture blades sit in the lens body.

Thanks for reading this post! Don't hesitate to comment or check out my Instagram at #ourbooksmalmo. Visit my Etsy shop getOurBooks where there are camera equipment aplenty to choose from!

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