You know you’re in Toronto when....

The ubiquitous feature of the Toronto skyline is the CN tower, and the one people always try to get in photos. Without seeing “Toronto” in this sign, you know that this circus is in Toronto, even if ‘international’ was purposely thrown in there for a little extra confusion.   The other shot from Queens Quay also shows how the CN tower still dominates two very tall condo buildings.

I took these shots with the NEX and the Voigtlander 25mm f4.  In truth I am starting to find this lens annoying on the NEX – 0.7m minimum focus distance is too far away and at around 38mm equivalent it is also not wide enough.  Also for Leica film cameras, the lack of a rangefinder helicoids coupling in annoying.  Today I just purchased a Voigtlander 21mm f4 M mount with a viewfinder so I am anxious to try it out!

Puppy Love

Henri Cartier Bresson’s philosophy was “Capture the Moment”.  This is a moment I like – two adorably puppies chewing on each other’s toes!  

I shot this when my wife and I were walking around Harbour Front in downtown Toronto with another couple.  The manual focus Voigtlander and Leica lenses are often too slow when using them on the NEX to quickl capture moments.  I even tried to set a slower aperture to increase depth of field, but it still didn’t completely work.  This one worked out the best, but there were several “Moment” images I missed that I would have nailed if I had Auto Focus.

Snow White focussed

If there’s one thing that annoys me the most about using Leica M lenses on the Sony NEX is that the minimum focus distance is at least 70cm, and more often than not 1 metre.  I know there are a  couple lenses that will get closer, like the Leica 50mm Summicron Dual Range,  but few do.  This is quite unlike SLR lens, where most wide primes focusing down to 30cm or less.  Of course this has to do with rangefinders not being able cope with close focus, and the above mentioned lens was designed with additional ‘goggles’ to aid the close focusing.

This presents a problem when shooting smaller objects or if you need to get close.  When shooting shop windows I will often put the lens up to the window to prevent reflections.  If the object is close to the window, its going to be out of focus.

You can see in this shot of Snow White and some assorted Dwarfs in a shop window in Pembroke exactly what I mean.

Pembroke Street Shootin'

I can’t help myself.  I found a Voigtlander 25mm f4 M mount lens in the local classified and decided this would work well with the NEX.   It works out to 38mm equivalent on a Full Frame camera – not quite as wide as I’d want, but not bad.  Interestingly this lens is not rangefinder coupled, so the patch doesn’t move on rangefinders.  However it has 3 detents in the focus ring between minimum focus distance and infinity, at 1m, 1.5m and 3m.  If you use these as a guide, with a relatively slow speed and wide angle, accurate scale focusing isn’t too much of an issue.  The deal included the original 21mm viewfinder and an older Canon 35mm viewfinder.  The Canon viewfinder is perfect for using with the NEX with this lens, and also useful  to when using the Voigtlander 35mm f1.4 on the M3.

A few days ago I stayed overnight for business in Pembroke, which is located in the Ottawa Valley, North East of Ottawa.  To fill some time I took my camera down the main street to take a look and get some dinner.  There isn’t much happening in Pembroke, apart from some young guys playing loud, obnoxious music  from their cars as they were driving around; and the tattoo parlour was doing a roaring trade.

What surprised me was the large amount of murals painted on the side of the buildings, which made for some great photos.  There was also a large, old advertisement for chewing gum on the side of one abandoned shop which was also fascinating.

So how did the Voigtlander 25mm and NEX go?  Reasonably well.  I found that f4 is a bit dark for evening shooting and a minimum focus distance of 70cm is too far away, but other than that it works well.  I especially liked that it was really small, smaller than the 35mm f1.4, even with the shade fitted; and I also liked the resolution performance.  I think the also tiny 21mm f4 would have been better (equivalent to 32mm on Full Frame) which would have given a bit more scope for street shooting.  For now I’m happy, but I’ll still keep my eye out for a 21mm!