Back in the very early days of amateur film photography (late 1960s) the three lenses that were made and sold that new photographers could afford were the 35mm, the 50mm, and the 135mm. The 50mm was usually sold with a maximum aperture of f/2 to f/1.8. The other two were f/2.8 (or on occasion f/3.5) maximum aperture. The biggest reason for those "slow" speeds was cost. It was a compromise between being able to afford it and being able to use it. The 135mm was interesting in that it could provide the kind of foreground separation (usually another human being) if you used it at f/2.8 or f/4, or at least that was what I quickly learned. I had a grand old time with all three of those lenses, and even though I've certainly spent more on faster, and they've generally delivered better quality technically, they don't quite give the same magic of discovery that those earliest lenses did.
Ah, the Canon TX. My brother had its predecessor, the TLb. He left it in his backpack outside his tent on a backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains and there was just enough food smell on the pack for a bear to rummage through it in the middle of the night. In the process, the bear chomped down on the TLb, leaving a nice tooth mark on the prism hump. Still worked though.
5 comments:
I love the feet. . .
+1 on "Love the feet"
I owned a TX as backup to my FTb
Back in the very early days of amateur film photography (late 1960s) the three lenses that were made and sold that new photographers could afford were the 35mm, the 50mm, and the 135mm. The 50mm was usually sold with a maximum aperture of f/2 to f/1.8. The other two were f/2.8 (or on occasion f/3.5) maximum aperture. The biggest reason for those "slow" speeds was cost. It was a compromise between being able to afford it and being able to use it. The 135mm was interesting in that it could provide the kind of foreground separation (usually another human being) if you used it at f/2.8 or f/4, or at least that was what I quickly learned. I had a grand old time with all three of those lenses, and even though I've certainly spent more on faster, and they've generally delivered better quality technically, they don't quite give the same magic of discovery that those earliest lenses did.
Proficiency and consistency have increased with experience, but the eye was there from the beginning.
Ah, the Canon TX. My brother had its predecessor, the TLb. He left it in his backpack outside his tent on a backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains and there was just enough food smell on the pack for a bear to rummage through it in the middle of the night. In the process, the bear chomped down on the TLb, leaving a nice tooth mark on the prism hump. Still worked though.
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