Amateur Photographer - UK (2019-12-14)

subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 14 December 2019 53

The top plates of

the Prominent I

(above) and

Prominent II are

very similar

Above: Lenses for

the Prominent.

Rear, left to right:

35mm f/3.5

Skoparon, 150mm

f/4.5 Super-

Dynaron, 100mm

f/4.5 Dynaron.

Front, left to right:

50mm f/2 Ultron,

50mm f/1.5

Nokton, 50mm

f/3.5 Color-Skopar

onto a Synchro-Compur shutter

mounted on the front of the body and

speeded 1–1/500sec. Focusing is by a

knob on the top plate, with a distance

scale around its edge and a depth of

fi eld scale below. As the knob is turned

the shutter plus lens move back and

forth. Coupled with a coincident image

rangefi nder in the viewfi nder, this

measures and sets the distance.

The 35mm and 100m lenses work

differently, fi tting to the body via a

second bayonet, surrounding and

separate from the bayonet on the

shutter. To focus these lenses the

body knob is turned and the

rangefi nder reacts as expected, but

the lenses remain stationery. Instead,

focusing is effected by movement of

the shutter assembly pressing against

collars at the rear of the lenses. As the

collars are pushed in and out, internal

lens elements are shifted in relation to

one another to attain focus. The

150mm lens also uses the second

outer bayonet fi tting, but this time the

focusing is not coupled. So the focusing

knob must be turned until the

rangefi nder images coincide, when the

distance reading is taken from the scale

on the knob and transferred manually

to a ring around the lens barrel.

To make things even more

complicated, the standard lenses fi t to

the body with an anti-clockwise twist

while the other lenses turn clockwise.

Filters and hoods

Every lens in the Prominent arsenal has

the same diameter, so all fi lters and lens

hoods fi t all lenses. Unconventionally,

the thread is on the inside rim of the

fi lter, screwing onto the outside of the

lens, disguised as a knurled band that

looks more ornamental than functional.

Since the same hood can be fi tted to

any lens, the differences in angle of

view are accommodated by fi tting the

hood with masks, according to the focal

length of the lens in use.

Viewfi nders

The Prominent accepts a range of

slightly strange accessory viewfi nders.

First there’s the Kontur. Looking

through this in the normal way all you

see is a black void with a white

rectangle glowing in its centre. Used

with one eye looking through the

eyepiece, but keeping the other eye

open creates an optical illusion which

superimposes a white rectangle over

the subject in front of the camera.

The Turnit-3 viewfi nder features

parallax adjustment from 3ft to infi nity,

and masks combined with internal

optics cover all available focal lengths.

Used straight it gives the view for a

50mm lens. Dropping down a hinged

mask on the front provides a 35mm

wideangle view. Putting that mask up,

Below: The versatile Turnit-3 viewfinder, showing the
drop-down masks used for 35mm, 50mm and 100mm
focal lengths; the mask that adapts the same viewfinder
for the 150mm lens; and a Kontur viewfinder

dropping down one on the rear, rotating

the whole viewfi nder through 180

degrees and then fl ipping up the rear

mask again gives a 100mm view.

Clipping on yet another mask, supplied

with the 150mm telephoto, gives the

correct view for that lens as well.

Close-up accessories

The Prominent offers several close-up

accessories. First there are

straightforward close-up lenses