If you work carefully with the Mitakon 65 mm ƒ 1.4 lens, you can hit a beautiful balance and a lot of poetry. The important aspect is that you learn to know its characters. How those change, as you move from wide open aperture to stopping it down.

In the main photo above, i have chosen ƒ 2 - because i get ever so slightly better overall sharpness, but still the "magic" glow. The extension ring of 11mm give me a closer focus range - because the lens usually only focuses down to 70 cm, which is a bit long for slight "close-ups".

Using a 11 mm extension ring

I don't think that this lens has any "floating lens elements" - and therefore can take an extension ring, without without (or very little) degraded optical performance. The character still remains the same; soft wide open - and then gradually sharper the more you stop down. With a extension ring, there is almost no vignetting visible regardless aperture.

It is an intriguing lens

If you handle it shallow and "cheat" in your work - you will get disappointed results. (Thesame thing happens with the "Mandler" Leica Noctilux-M 50/1)

Both requires better presence from the photographer. As well vision of what it is you want to accomplish in your final images. Naturally, it helps to handle Photoshop - so that you get the results even closer to what you have envisioned. Slight corrections lift the images taken with the Mitakon even further.

I just wish the lens wouldn't be so damn heavy: 1 kilo.

Speaking of lens shade

I use the lens hood from the Canon FD 85/1.2 L lens (with tape) which eliminates flare effectively. While the original lenshood from the Mitakon 65/1.4 - I use on the Canon FD 85L.

Works very well.