LomoAmigo Wilson Wong Shoots with the Jupiter 3+ Art Lens

Wilson Wong is passionate about quite a few things, and photography is just one of them. He is also a trusted gadget reviewer and lifestyle writer in Singapore and a well-respected key opinion leader. In this interview, he talks extensively about his experience and the photos he shot with the Jupiter 3+ Art Lens.

Please introduce yourself to the community.

I am the founder of the Singapore Photography Interest Network (SPIN) where photography enthusiasts from all walks of life gather to share and learn photography on Facebook. To date we have around 7300+ members from Singapore and around the world.

Professionally, I am involved in social media projects for corporate clients which definitely involves photography too. I conduct corporate product and photography training under my WilzWorkz corporate entity. I also organise photography trips abroad for both work and leisure such as overseas customised wedding photography and travel photography for members of my photography group.

I am also a technology and lifestyle writer, reviewing gadgets, cameras, travel destinations and sometimes food. So to say I am a professional photographer is not exactly true because I am engaged in photography through social media, writing articles, trip organizer and training.

“These shots are taken in a pretty badly lighted pub. The singers are backlit from the ceiling downlights and some had iPads light up their faces. It is great that the Jupiter is a pretty fast lens at f1.4 and I managed to get a good exposure. Match this with XPro2’s Arcos Monochrome filter and the photos are pretty amazing.”

What are your first impressions of the Jupiter 3+ Art Lens?

I do own a Leica-based Canon L1 rangefinder film camera and having played with Leica M system I am not at all surprised that a full-frame lens can be this small. With people being fed that full-frame sensor camera system that comes with big and bulky lenses, having a small full-frame lens is a welcome change. The reason why the lens are so big these days was the consumer expectation to have auto-focus (AF). Having AF in the system means the AF motor has to reside within the lens and the camera body so it contributes to the bulk. The Jupiter 3+ art lens is a full manual lens so the lens body can be compact.

Having full metal body too gives it a sense of luxury and craftsmanship, something you would associate with a well-made product or a Swiss full metal body watch.

“The Jupiter worked well with portraiture. When you want it sharp, it can get plenty sharp when stopped down.”

“If you do want to be more creative, then shooting into the sun at an angle will give you the flare that modern lens would have eradicated through lens coating. The effect gives that ’70s feel.”

“Soft focus used to be the bane of film photography but is all the rage now because of its soft, soothing effect that flatters the subject and girls love this to bits. Some of my old photos of me are taken with the old Canon L39 lens that has the same effect and that adds to the nostalgia.”

How was your experience shooting with it?

The experience with the lens is linked to the camera body that you are using with. If you are using it with a DSLR, using the optical viewfinder itself will be tough. I would use the focus confirmation indicator to ensure I have a good focus. If you are using a mirrorless camera with focus peaking, then life is a bit easier. I personally like the way Fujifilm has implemented a split-image focusing system much like how a rangefinder camera works. The alignment of the two images denotes that focus is achieved. However I would suggest zooming in to ensure that the subject is sharp before activating the shutter.

All this focusing does take time and that forces you to slow down and shoot with intent, which improves your photography.

The thing with using most mirrorless is that the camera has a crop factor. Shooting with a 50mm has become a 75mm lens or 100mm for a Micro Four-Thirds system, focal lengths that we usually associate with portraiture lens. With f1.5 at its widest in terms of aperture, the lens is used for portraiture exclusively because I paired it with an APS-C camera but the result is impressive.

I would wish that more lens are produced for crop sensors.

“Jupiter’s f1.4 aperture is just asking to be bokeh’ed. Its perfectly round aperture means that the point of lights in the bokeh will be round and is very pleasing to the eyes. It also helps that the lens allowed a lot of light and I was able to shoot even with a string of light bulbs lighting the subject.”

“I put the lens to the extreme test with this shot. With the lightbulbs lighting the scene from the back, I was relying on the white tabletop to reflect some light back to the couple. It worked, giving it the romantic vibe of the place without overexposing the couple.”

What did you like the most about the Jupiter 3+ Art Lens?

Its simplicity and directness. In modern lenses, you have to control your aperture via buttons and dials. To use this lens, you have to choose aperture and do manual focusing. The lens forces you to be more involved in the process of image capture and that is part of what photography is all about and not just the images it produces.

Don’t get me wrong, the images that came out of the camera are sublime. It has that quality that exudes warmth that modern lenses can’t produce. It is a characteristic of old lens design that makes photography in the film days so enduring.

Having such lens in silver metal finish is just icing on the cake. I would love to have it in Petzval brass too actually.

“A manual focusing lens is not exactly helpful in times when you are shooting cats in a corner of the car park that is not very well lit. I manage to get this shot and I can say it gives me great satisfaction that it turns out real well.”

Now that you have experienced using the Jupiter, what other subjects do you think would be perfect to shoot with it?

I shoot portraiture with this lens because of the beautiful bokeh it produces. However there are ways to maximise its use in the area of street photography and food photography. I took a shot of a bowl of noodles and it was delicious looking!

“The Jupiter can be a portrait lens but to shoot it from a distance, it does compress the scene making the subject matter pop out that more.”

What advice would you give first-time users of the Jupiter 3+?

Lenses such as the Jupiter 3+ are tools meant to help photographers be more involved in the process of photography. Speed is not what is meant to be. To use the Jupiter 3+, one needs patience, and patience will teach a lot of things that modern systems can’t. You are now more deliberate in selecting an aperture for different subjects; f4 for food, f2.8 for portraiture and f1.5 for that hazy soft-focus look for portraiture. The need to train your eyes to focus also helps you to find a focal point in your composition too.

So take your Jupiter 3+ out to a slow dance, like you would do your lover on the dance floor, and the experience would yield results that no modern camera lens would.

Wilson Wong is the founder of SPIN (Singapore Photography Interest Network) and Wilzworkz.

written by Jill Tan Radovan on 2016-05-02 #people #lifestyle #lomo-amigo #lomoamigo #wilson-wong #jupiter-3-lens

Mentioned Product

New Jupiter 3+ Art Lens

Expect crisp sharpness, smooth, natural colors and lush, dreamy bokeh — reworked and perfected by Lomography’s highly experienced team. The New Jupiter 3+ Art Lens is exquisitely handcrafted by expert technicians at the exact same Zenit factory as its forebearer.