As to the criticisms of Topaz - that it looks robotic, overprocessed, artificial and so on, it all depends on how far you go with it. You can just use one module or combine the whole lot of them, you can double or triple (etc) a given process and, in short, make a dog's dinner of any image. Or you can use it intelligently - 'cos it certainly doesn't have any in and of itself !!
This black background image (of most people's favourite plant) was taken with a Trioplan 105mm and deliberately backlit with harsh full midday sunshine. It has been both denoised and sharpened with Topaz. It looks perfectly ok to me.

The B+W is quite remarkable. Super result.

Sorry for taking so long to set the next contest. The broadband went out !
The theme is now posted - Something about money..

One would normally curse extraneous light at an astro shoot but you have bent this to your purpose beautifully.

Looks good and it's producing nice pictures too. Don't forget you have further focusing options by twisting the front cell in addition to the helicoid.

I have one. It's quite nice but not a patch on the similar F 35 - 105. It's competent but the 35-105 has got sparkle.

Second one is a stunner.
What do you do all day?

I've just been looking for a photographic series I put on here about it but forum submissions only go back so far on one's portfolio. Basically, I use a plastic body cap that is threaded to go onto an M42 body. (E bay). Drill a suitably sized hole through it (I use a lathe) and then secure the shutter to it using the original ring. You need a lens spanner to tighten it up sufficiently. It will flop about if you rely on finger and thumb! Then simply screw it onto an extension tube. You will have to do a few trial and error positionings to get it at the correct orientation once it's screwed to the camera. Once you are satisfied tighten it up as hard as you dare and that's it. They can flare badly so you will need to shade the front element with your left hand (or even a kitchen chopping board!!) Otherwise, you can find vintage hoods of varying diameters under the Black Cross branding (E bay).

Why not spend another £20 and buy a Chinese focusing helicoid via E bay? Makes it much handier to use. I notice it doesn't have a T setting so, to keep the shutter open, you will need to gently jam something into the cocking lever slot to intercept it on release. I pulled the brush bit out of a TePe interdental brush, cut the head off a 1inch panel pin and shoved it into the TePe handle - makes an excellent lever stopper.

That must have been wonderful to actually see. Fantastic capture.