Tulip Blobs

It is interesting how the colour in the tulips change as they fade to out of focus.  It’s not so much a colour shift, but the colours go blobby and blotchy.  I can’t remember film, especially E6, ever going like this, but this does look quite unnatural.  Click on the picture and check out the tulips at the very top. Even though this photo was shot with a nice camera and lens set up (Nikon D700 with Tamron 180 f3.5 Macro), I wonder if this is a fault that affects all digital cameras.  Or indeed, is it a fault?

My weirdest lens – The MIR 37mm f2.8 in Leica Screw Mount

The MIR-1 37mm f2.8 that I have is a really weird lens.  I bought it for $10 at an antique fair when I was going through my M42 lens phase, thinking it was for Pentax screw mount.  When I bought it back home I found it wouldn’t fit, but it DID fit M39 Leica screw mount.  

Later I found  that while it is Leica screw mount, when I went to use it on the NEX with E to M Mount to LTM adapters, it wouldn’t focus at all.  So I did some more research and found that it is for early Russian SLRs which used M39 screw mount in the late 1950’s before going to M42 screw mount in the early 1960’s.  This means that the base length (lens flange to film plane distance) is set up for an SLR, not a rangefinder.  Presuming this has a similar base length to Pentax M42 cameras, which is about the same as Nikon, I decided to try some hand held shots with the D90.  And it worked!  

The MIR can produce some decent images, but certainly isn’t the last word in sharpness by any stretch of the imagination.  Still, it is fun to play around with though.

Interestingly this lens is marked “Grand Prix Brussels 1958”.  Who knows why the Russians were supporting such a capitalist event in Western Europe at the height of the Cold War.

Banister

Even mundane things can make an interesting photo with the right light and perspective.  The other day I was sitting at the top of our stairs, saw the potential with this shot and started shooting away.  The scene I imagined in my head came together on the screen.  I used the NEX with Leica 50mm f1.5 Summarit, shot at f1.5 and close to the 1m minimum focus distance.

This second one I tried to incorporate some compositional elements of the stair banister, the upstairs rail and the front door window

Girl at the door

This shot was a quick snap at a Burrito Bar at University and College as I was walking along.  I saw this little girl run to the door, so I quickly snapped and hoped it worked; no regard to correct focusing or composition.  Largely it did, but I wish the reflection didn’t get in the way.  

Wide ‘n Fast

The other day I was in at Henry’s Outlet Centre and while I was completing the transaction lens for a tele lens I had just purchased, I listened in to the conversation between a customer and a Henry’s salesperson.  The customer wanted a fast wide angle prime at a decent price for his Nikon D80.  As he wasn’t so sure about the fast Sigma primes (order only anyway) he was wondering what else is available.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing.  Sure you can get FX wide angle AF primes, but at f2.8, they’re not that fast.  The Nikon 35mm f1.8 is a standard lens on DX, and none of the fast MF Nikon glass is completely compatible with a D80.  The Nikon 24mm f1.4 is very nice, but it’s ridiculously expensive.

There are two other fast wide manual focus options; the Carl Zeiss 25mm f2 and the Samyang 24mm f1.4.  Sure MF can be a pain in the butt, and both these lenses are relatively large; but they are fully compatible with the D80 and, in the case of the Samyang, quite affordable.

So, the Samyang would be my pick, but I am quite happy with the Sigma 20mm f1.8 I have.

Edward Gardens blossom, Nikon D700 with Sigma 20mm f1.8 @ f1.8

Maples in Fall

Like most great discoveries, great shots sometimes happen by accident.  Let me explain – for a long time I could never quite work out the best way to shoot trees with colourful fall leaves, especially from under the tree.  The huge difference in correct exposure between the leaves and the sky seemed to result in nothing working.

Earlier this week I took out the NEX with the Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar and shot a few frames of the trees on our street.  Accidentally, I left the exposure on manual instead of aperture priority, which totally blew out the sky, but by chance, exposed the tree and leaves correctly.  The combination of dramatic ultra wide angle, strong colours from the leaves and contrast from the tree trunks made for some great shots; and as soon as I saw them on the screen, I was very happy.

Interestingly, deciduous trees lose their top leaves first, so when shooting straight up from near the base of the trunk, a tunnel like effect is created.