There is something about this lens which endears me to keep shooting with it. Seagull 4A TLR camera is not among the first ones up there, and we all agree on this. And the Haiou 75/3.5 lens is not exactly a diamond, truth be told, although it is said (by others, much more knowledgeable than I) that this Haiou lens has been nicknamed “The Chinese Biotar”.
I am not skilled enough to know if this is true or not, but I can tell this lens is an interesting one. Its sharpness and image rendering are the two things I really like about it. Many times, the results are like those from a very old restored film negative. I have seen this in another lens, an old collapsible Industar 22 (50/3.5) from a Zorki 1c (1955). Same rendition of tones and the same vintage appearance of the negatives shot with it.
The images are interesting. While the bokeh is rather bland and uninspiring (right or not, I never shoot for the bokeh’s sake, I am interested in the image in front of me, not behind it), the entire feeling of the photographs taken with this lens whisper about old times. It shines at f 5.6 and above, with its best ( I’d say) at f8. Sharpness across the image is not bad, although it may seem at times a tad weak towards the corners.
The images are of Ilford Delta 100 film (6×6) with this camera; I did not expect for this film to look like this, very 30’s, if you know (or see) what I mean. Very interesting, really. I like these a lot.