Studio Dog was sporting a new sweater today. She picked it out at Tomlison's Pet Store. It's an Eddie Bauer brand.

Studio Dog likes her sweaters a little bit large. Better than too tight. 

She's happier to be in the studio when warmly dressed, 

not too thrilled to be here if the heater is off. 

A grudging pose for my Lumix S1 and the Sigma 85mm.

Need to take event photographs with flash? The Pentax K-1 and the Godox V-1 for Pentax is a pretty good combination.

The basic, naked Pentax K-1 with a 50mm attached. 

There are two things that make the photo business fun for me; one is actually doing the work (which is like technical problem solving at a full run while keeping up your end of the conversation socially) and the other is playing with the right gear. But most photographers don't necessarily match gear to jobs so much as just shoe-horning one system into making do on any sort of photo project. I get that some folks shoot one style and one subject matter all the time and that using the same camera is comforting to them. It sounds great to be that specialized. As my brother, a Latin and Greek professor for 30+ years is fond of saying, "Find your rut and stay in it."  I tried specializing in a photographic niche and got bored. So I still accept and do projects that differ greatly from each other  a lot. My client base is all over the map.

While we'd like to think that there's one "golden" camera out in the wild that can do everything better than any other system of cameras I've found, over the years, that it's just not true. 

I currently own and use three different camera systems so when a client called and asked me to shoot a charity gala event this week, with 400 well to do guests, I walked out to the studio and pulled together the best from all three systems and began the process of narrowing down to the best gear solution. 

Most of the images we'll be taking will be classic "grip-and-grins." Images of couples, foursomes, and small groups pulled together during a bustling pre-dinner reception in one of the banquet spaces at the local Four Seasons Hotel. The ceilings in the reception space (mercifully) have been painted white and that's great because I intend to use a lot of bounce flash during this part of the assignment. 

I am not unfamiliar with the space as I've done this same event, in the same space, during the same week in November, for the last 19 years. During that time I've gone from shooting with Leica M series rangefinder cameras and "automatic" Vivitar flashes to every permutation of digital camera with their attendant, dedicated flashes. I learn something new every time I work this job.

The same camera outfitted for some quick field work. 

The lens is just the right range for close quarters couples/groups photos.

The flash is fun and accurate and uses one of those proprietary 

Li-on batteries that lasts forever.

And the whole system seems to nail exposures like few 

systems I've used in the past.

I'm photographing tomorrow evening and I hate surprises so I started testing cameras with their flashes yesterday and I'm continuing to do so today. I could use manual, Godox speedlights with any of the three camera systems (Panasonic S1, Fuji X-H1, Pentax K-1) and fire up some brain cells to continually figure out guide numbers and apertures based on distance (and a bit of on-the-job experimentation) but I'd actually like to find a combination that's consistent and good in its TTL performance so I can concentrate more on getting people grouped together for my shots and less on operating levers and gears on the cameras. 

I have a dedicated flash for the Fuji cameras but I find that this is one kind of photography that mirrorless cameras in general don't handle that well. For some reason my TTL bounce flashes with any of the Fuji cameras tend to give me exposures that are all over the map. The last time I shot this event I did it with the mirrorless Panasonic G9s and they weren't any better or worse with flash than the Fujis. In fact, the most recent time I had a more or less carefree evening using flash in this kind of environment I was shooting with a couple of Nikon D800es and Nikon dedicated flashes. I spent some time walking around the house yesterday with a Fuji X-H1+16-55mm+Godox TT685F taking photographs of random stuff and bothering my family with test shots of them. The results were mostly okay but I spent more time than I wanted to dialing in flash compensation. And the "always on" nature of endless shooting at events is a killer for Fuji batteries. 

Also, with mirrorless cameras blessed with EVFs, you have to turn off "constant preview" to see what you are focusing on when you do use flash. It's always better to have an EVF at a high enough brightness to see who is in front of you and whether they are smiling or not. When you need to switch over to available light photography (say...a speaker at a well lit podium) you need to turn "constant preview" back on. This is pretty much the same no matter which brand of mirrorless camera you are using. The one advantage I always liked with the Panasonic G9 was the switch in the hot shoe that sensed the attachment of a flash and switched off "constant preview" for you. If you forget and leave it switched on with other cameras you'll have a darker finder with a blurry, slow motion image with which to compose and assess focus...

I bought one of the same model flashes for the new Lumix cameras (but the Olympus/Panasonic version) and my first problem was just getting the flash on the hotshoe of an S1. The little contacts on the bottom of the flash shoe were a bit too long and a bit too stiff to fit easily. I grabbed a ballpeen hammer out of the tool kit, made some adjustments and finally got it on. I've got a chisel in my camera bag in case I have trouble getting the flash back off...

The flash performance is okay. The Lumix camera tends to be slower in response to all controls when in the flash mode. And the exposures aren't quite what I want. I'm right back to riding the exposure compensation control for the flash. It's probably just a matter of learning curve but I can't really accelerate the learning curve between now and tomorrow evening. I've got other things to do in between. Like swim practice. Taking a nap on the couch under the close supervision of Studio Dog. Packing up gear and remembering how to tie a tie again. I might even need to shine a pair of nice shoes.

And that brings me to the Goldilocks flash camera. Amongst my camera system treasures the Pentax is the simplest and best of my choices for old fashioned, fast moving, on camera flash oriented event/gala photography. 

I got a Godox V-1 flash for the Pentax and so far, it's just right. I like using a white dome on top of the round flash head to get a combination of some direct light mixed mostly (if I point the head the right way) with ceiling bounce light. I've been playing with the combination of the Pentax K-1+28-105mm+Godox V1 for the better part of the afternoon and I've yet to have to hit the menu to adjust flash output. So far every automatic TTL flash photograph with the combo is flawless. And, it's the one user scenario where even I can make a good case for a big, bright, clear OVF. There's no lag and no need to turn on or off items like "constant preview." 

The Pentax K-1 has the best battery life of the three cameras. The focusing speed difference is a toss up between the Lumix and the Pentax. My only disappointment is that I have a limited supply of lenses for the K-1 and I wish I could use the Lumix lenses instead. But compared to the first ten or twelve times I photographed this event the Pentax gear is light years more convenient and better quality than some of the loser cameras I used back then (looking at the Nikon D200 which absolutely sucked, the Olympus E-5 which could never lock focus accurately, the Sony A7R2 which didn't understand even its own dedicated Sony flash, etc. etc.). Looking back, the recent Nikons and the original film Leica M's seemed to have the edge over everything else I've shot with for interior, fast flash work with the flash on camera while in a hotel event space. 

So far the Pentax seems to be dialing it all in very nicely. And the files are big and robust. Hell, if I wanted to shoot the whole event in Raw I could probably ignore the flash settings entirely and just fix everything in post production. I do wish the camera had a "smaller" raw file setting. Something like 18 megapixels instead of 36. The client will likely just make 5x7 inch prints to send to the V.I.P.s and then use a bunch of images on a web gallery. We could probably do with far fewer pixels... But having non-destructive color correction is always welcome, right?

So, what's the final kit look like? What am I going to drag over the Four Seasons and handle for three or four hours?

It's two Pentax K-1s with a couple extra batteries. I'll use one camera with the 28-105mm for all the flash stuff. I've got a tungsten conversion (CTO) filter stuck in under the dome on the flash and it'll go a long way toward matching the subdued and warm light at the venue. (Setting the WB for "lightbulb").

I'll use the second body for speaker shots at the podium in the grand ballroom. I've got a nice 100mm lens that will give me enough stand off distance to the podium, especially if I do some judicious cropping in post production. That makes the second camera and lens more like a combo with a 150mm f2.8 if I set it to APS-C crop.... But then again, maybe I'll go crazy and shoot that rig at a 1:1 ratio for a square frame.

So, two bodies; each can be a back up for the other. A new, Godox V1 as my main flash and then a manual Godox V-850 as a back-up to the primary flash. If everything fails at once I guess I'll just pull out my iPhone and get right back to work. Better charge that one up before I head out to the job...

Well, in situations like this you never rise to the occasion and achieve something you've never done before, you mostly fall back on what you've practiced all the time and hope that muscle memory and good brain wiring take over from your jumbled, conscious adrenaline charged thoughts.  Set the shutter speed for 1/60th (dragging a little to get some ambient light into the frame) set the aperture somewhere between f5.6 and f8.0 to get those groups in focus from side to side, set the ISO to 800 (so you can have a chance at your flash batteries lasting the evening) put the camera in S-AF and pray the existing light is enough for your camera to achieve quick focus with, and you're set. Get your valet parking ticket validated before you head home and you'll do fine.

I love playing around with the small flashes but tomorrow is not the time to get fancy and experiment. Too many people crammed into too small a space and client expectations through the roof. But that's why I get paid the big bucks to put on the suit and tie and show up with a camera in my hands. And I love it. 

A few more dance rehearsal images. Central in each is the theater's choreographer, Jen.

I really hadn't plumbed the low light capabilities of the Fuji 56mm f1.2 APD before I shot rehearsal images for Zach Theatre a week and a half ago. While the 56mm is certainly NOT state-of-the-art when it comes to fast focusing I think it delivers a look that can be perfect for a certain style of 

available light photography. A sharply defined but narrow plane of focus surrounded by a progressively less sharp field. I tried to use the lens either wide open or one stop down.

The look was elevated by using a profile, in camera, called "Classic Chrome" and was

further assisted by the camera getting the WB just about as perfect as I could want 

shooting under really poor florescent lighting. 

I'll keep the 56mm APD. It's flawed but wonderful.

Pulled out of the camera graveyard in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet. (It's a big filing cabinet).

Alpa 9D with 50mm f1.8 Kern Switar.

The construction of this particular camera makes the new 

Leica SL2 look like a Holga by comparison....

Years and years ago I found this Alpa 9D Reflex camera and its partner lens in an ancient camera store in San Antonio. It had its original black leatherette back then but we had to take it off to do a repair and never got around to re-cloaking it. The camera and lens were both built in very small numbers in Switzerland. The top and front of the camera body are all made from a solid, milled, single piece of space age alloy (really, mostly stainless steel) while the removable back and bottom are twice as thick as a Leica M removable back, and the inside workings look as though the camera was made to lounge about in a surgical lab somewhere, looking amazingly precise and well finished. 

This camera was as basic as it gets, but "basic" with over 700 finely made (think: fine automatic watch) mechanical parts. It had a rudimentary, center weighted meter but no hot shoe, and the lens was focused wide open and then stopped down to the shooting aperture as you pushed the front mounted shutter release. Even the wind knob (which still works as smoothly as polished motor oil) is different from any other model or brand of camera I've seen. 

The specs are ordinary for the period of time in which the 9D was current; shutter speeds from 1 second to 1/1,000th of a second. Flash sync at 1/60th of a second. There are sync sockets for both X sync, FP sync, and M series flashbulbs. The single piece of plastic on the camera is a little window that surrounds the shutter speed setting dial and allows the operator to see what shutter speed is set. 

The Kern Switar lens is equally bare-bones. It's non-automatic and has non-linearly spaced f-stops from 1.8 all the way to f22. It focuses down to a little less than 1/8th life size. You need to stop down the lens to meter but the lock allows you to do so without accidentally triggering the shutter while metering....

I used to use my Alpa for "hobby" shooting but it's a slow-to-work camera and, with Tri-X film, I didn't see any improvements over my "much quicker to operate" Leica M and R cameras and lenses. By today's standards it's like working in ultimate slow motion when compared to the latest digi-cams. Earlier SLRs like this one also had dim focusing screens and were notoriously difficult to focus wide open. 

Every once in a while I pull this camera out of its storage space to remind myself that one actually had to know what they were doing in the earlier days of photography to be successful image takers. Just getting an acceptable image took time and real effort. We are so spoiled today. But I did insert a roll of Tri-X into the precision innards of the camera today and took some photographs. I'll keep at it until I finish the roll. Not so much to make my own art but to, in some way, channel an era/knowledge base of our craft that is quickly being lost to the collective consciousness of today's photographers. God the camera feels nice to use!

This was my rain, shine, dust storm, perilous and foolish stunts camera. 

It shows...

A small collection of the photographs of the Berlin Wall as I saw it October 2013. Remembering the fall of the Wall today.

The parts of the remaining Berlin Wall that I got to see were covered with 

commissioned, painted murals depicting fascism and repression around the world.

It's a somber place. 

Out for a walk on Sunday. Critiquing a major corporation. Getting some vitamin D. Going super-wide to clean out the cobwebs...

Let's start with this hideous cup. It's this year's "holiday" cup from

Starbucks. While Starbucks may be putting local coffee shops out of the coffee

business they are certainly not going to make a dent in the businesses of 

any decent graphic designers with this visually cacophonous monstrosity.

Yes. Yes. I can see that the letters spell, "Tuck" right across the middle of 

the cup. But it's not what I had in mind when I suggested they partner with

 a world class photographer....

Do you think this cup design is as visually repulsive as I do?

Other than the "crimes-against-humanity" cup design imbroglio it was a really nice day today. The weather was about as perfect as nature could deliver and the city was brimming with people walking, running, scootering, biking and coffee slurping outside. I saw a larger than usual number of people strolling about with cameras including one very serious looking couple (each around my age) who were both sporting Leica M series digital cameras. Fun to see some Leica love out in the wild instead of just represented as the butt of jokes about camera pricing on internet sites with jealous vloggers. 

At one time I was seriously, intensely into Leica M and R cameras and used them for many years as the primary "small" cameras in my business. That came to a screeching halt with the early ascendence of digital but I may venture back into the fold given all the fun and breathless press the new Leica SL2 is getting. If you use cameras for anything but AF-C oriented work you'd probably love the SL2. It's pricy but beautifully and minimally designed. In the nicest sense of the word, "minimally." 

My attraction is less to the new camera and more focused on the lenses. I've been reading about the new Leica 75mm f1.2 APO (real APO, not advertising APO) lens and every once in a while I have to stop and wipe the drool off my keyboard with a lens cleaning cloth. According to one of the engineers at Leica this might be the highest (best? most best?) consumer lens ever made. 

I say, "consumer" lens because the various professional cinema lenses are much more expensive but might just be a bit better spec'd. At $4,795 I'm hardly running out the door to acquire one of the 75's but from time to time, when I'm feeling maximum hubris, the thought of ownership does cross my mind...

The nice thing about my recent acquisition of two Lumix S1 bodies is that they are part of the whole Leica/Sigma/Panasonic L Mount Alliance and all the lenses are usable on all three of the manufacturers' bodies without caveat. If all one needs is a brilliant 24 megapixel sensor and a very, very well engineered body then the Lumix stuff makes perfect sense. And, with the cost savings over the Leica SL2 camera one might just be able to swing one or two carefully selected Leica primes. Or save for retirement....(an over the shoulder reminder from the in-house accounting department). But I say, "Why not both?!" 

You would think after all the nonsense I just typed above that I was out today with one of the S1 bodies and whichever Lumix lens I considered to be most luxe but, no. When I stirred today, finished my frittata and my coffee, gobbled down my blueberry waffle, brushed my teeth, my one thought was on getting out today and going with a wide angle prime lens to recalibrate away my compulsion to shoot everything with a 50mm equivalent. I chose the Fuji X-T3 (who needs image stabilization on a bright, sunny day when using a very wide angle lens?) and the 14mm f2.8 Fuji lens. I was less averse to it than I thought I would be. It's a wonderful little lens. It's got very low distortion but acres of vignetting which are discreetly handled by the in-camera software correction. And the combo of body and lens make a nice, small, unobtrusive package to carry around on a two hour walk. Plus, the files out of the X-T3 are hardly lacking...

The look of the shoreline after storms have blown out all the micro-trash from the sky. 

Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.

A millennial/hipster urbanist dentist office. Way to cling to the highlights!

I think they've finally put the finishing touches on the "Jenga" building.

Yes. Fake grass. So fake that everyone knows it's Astro Turf but the dogs. 

Odd to me that people bring their dogs here and the dogs do their "business" 

on the turf. But other people bring their kids here and play on the same turf. 

Modern life in downtown. Hope someone is power washing the landscape every night.

endless dynamic range. 

Uh oh. Is everyone sharing the sidewalk?

Bike rentals should include helmets and etiquette instructions....

I seem to be recovering my work equilibrium and am actually getting excited again about various projects coming into the company. I've also been casting around for some young people to work with. Met one today who asked to shadow me on some projects. We'll see, potentially, how this mentoring thing might work out. 

Much work coming up in the next few weeks. Marketing photos and possible video projects for three theater productions, a gala this Thursday at the Four Seasons Hotel and a fair number of private portrait commissions (seems like I acquired that 85mm f1.4 lens just in time). 

Hope your pre-holidays are going well. Keep up the high quality blog reading. Knowing you are out there reading always serves to give me the desire to write.

Keep swimming or running or whatever active thing you do all the way through the holidays. Don't let anyone disturb your schedule for work or ancillary family stuff. There's always time to help out after workout!!!

Angel-Man. Photographing for the upcoming Holiday Season.

Jaston. ©2019 Kirk Tuck.

Jaston Williams first hit my radar when he co-created and co-starred in Tuna Texas, the long running, two person play about Tuna, Texas. It was hilarious, irreverent, spirited, and it was inspired enough to play nationally (coast to coast) even though it emerged from little ole Austin, Texas. 

But Jaston never stands still. He's written, produced and starred in theater productions everywhere. 

I was thrilled to get to photograph him once again for his new holiday play this year called, Broken Wing. I don't know a lot about the play yet, other than that Jaston will produce and star in it but I'm already planning to attend performances here in Austin and in San Antonio. It's a privilege to get to see a master at work!

We shot this in my studio a few weeks ago. There were 400+ shots to choose from and while I am certain Jaston and his crew picked something a bit different for their general marketing use this is one I love because it's a bit over the top. The original is shot on smooth gray seamless paper but I added a white vignette just for the hell of it. 

Shot with the Panasonic Lumix S1 and the 24-105mm f4.0 at f6.3. It's way sharp and I love the tonality. But most of that was the lighting. Happy Holidays, Part One. 

Here's the original frame after cropping to the square: 

"I'm sorry. I missed your last post with all the fancy bokeh from that 85mm Sigma ART lens (wide open). Can you post another one?"

This is Illiana (left). She's also in the Zach production of Christmas Carol. She'll steal the show because she's so incredibly talented. I photographed her at a rehearsal last weekend. Here's the file. It started life as a Jpeg in the Lumix S1. Do I love the camera? Yeah, it's pretty neato. 

"Hey! Dude! What does the bokeh look like with that 85mm f1.4 Sigma ART lens? Can you show us something?"

Sure. This is Taylor. She's in the Zach Theatre "Christmas Carol" production.

She sings like an angel. She's also the main focus of the image above, shot at f1.4 with the 

Sigma 85mm f1.4 on the Lumix S1 camera. It was taken at one of the 

early rehearsals....

That there image below is a magnified portion of the same frame just to show you that

where the focus lands there is much good/happy sharpness. 

Go buy one. It's fun.

Forgot to mention it's ISO 1600....

A quick glimpse at part of an early rehearsal for "Christmas Carol" at Zach Theatre's rehearsal space.

Rehearsals are fun. And necessary. And photographers and videographers should do more rehearsals in their own work rather than just winging it and hoping everything will fall into place. But having written that I realize that I was just hanging out and waiting for everything to fall into place with the actors and dancers....

Photographed with a Fuji X-T3 and the 56mm f1.2 APD. 

Why the X-T3? Why not an X-H1? Hmmm. Honestly, I was re-evaluating the X-T3 to see if I.S. was really that important to me. If it was critical to the work then my intention was to sell the X-T3 and concentrate on just using the three X-H1's I have for all the shoots that call for the special charm of Fuji cameras and lenses. I was also curious to see if the X-T3 really focused faster/better than the X-H1 when the latter camera is in "boost" mode.

My take? I won't be selling the X-T3. Image stabilization in situations like these takes a back, back seat to freezing subject motion with fast shutter speeds. Once you've closed in to around 1/250th of a second with a medium telephoto like the 56mm you're already in a sweet spot for being able to handhold a camera and lens safely. The times when I.S. helps me are when I'm shooting towards the long end of the 50-140mm Fuji lens at dress rehearsals (because I'm in a fixed position and not able to get closer to the stage = hence the longer focal length). The stabilization helps with camera movement but also with stabilizing the image in the EVF which makes composition more accurate.

As far as focusing goes, I'm generally a one point focus guy using S-AF and to be honest I didn't notice a difference vis-a-vis the X-H1's focusing abilities when in "boost" mode.

So why keep the X-T3? It's smaller and lighter for times when that helps. But the real reason is that it's a delightful video camera with a great range of video features. That, and the fact that the higher resolution EVF is more pleasant to work with for long and involved shoots. Plus, the trade in values mean taking an unnecessary bath.

It's all good here.

At the Blanton Museum with a Panasonic 24-105mm f4.0.

I'm not sure what to think of the Lumix 24-105mm f4.0 lens. It's big, that's for sure, but it's not that heavy. I like the look of the lens but at the same time it seems a bit...anonymous. I'd like to think my purchase got me a superb lens but there is a tiny bit of post cognitive dissonance in realizing that it is not a "Pro" series lens; the only one in their small line up of lenses not to have that certification. 

But in the end the only way to judge a lens is to see if it measures up to the kind of photographs you aspire to take. That it doesn't drop the ball somewhere along its range of focal lengths and apertures. 

I've used the lens sparingly in the last few weeks, preferring to take the small and light 45mm out with me on walks (or the adapted Zeiss 50mm f1.7) and pressing the massive Sigma 85mm or the equally big-boned 70-200mm f4.0 into service when shooting for clients. 

I took the day off yesterday (which is becoming habitual) and went to the Blanton Museum instead of toiling in the fields of commercial photography. It was raining and I wanted to make sure my camera and lens combination was weatherproofed enough to take a bit of moisture on the long walk to and from the car so I put the 24-105mm on the S1 camera and brought along my rain jacket. I needn't have worried so much about water intrusion as I discovered (my compulsive nature of trouble shooting in advance) that my rain jacket had, in its pockets, both a large bandana (for wiping off cameras and lenses) as well as an extra large ZipLoc bag, suitable as an emergency camera cover in a downpour. 

While I understand that most lenses are at their best when stopped down a couple of stops from wide open that doesn't seem to be the way I generally use lenses for personal imaging. I spent the entire morning photographing in the museum with the lens set to f4.0, the shutter set to 1/30th and the camera set to auto ISO. I'm decent at handholding cameras and lenses but my abilities are amplified by about 600% by the dual image stabilization provided by the Lumix S1 + the 24/105 lens. 

As you can see if you click on the sample photos (and you could see this with even greater clarity on the original images taken in raw at 24 megapixels) the lens is capable of high detail rendering in spite of being used at its widest aperture. If I stood steady in front of a work of art and worked carefully I could see, in the final images, every tiny crack in a painted surface along with the underlying detail of the canvases themselves. The gold paint on the image just below seems almost three dimensional to me. All with a lens used handheld, wide open. It's very nice performance. 

I didn't dunk the camera and lens under a downspout or spray them with beer so I can't really speak to their impervious nature. I can say that I found the camera and lens to actually disappear or become agile during my process of image making. A compliment to the balance of the system and the competence of the engineering. Finally, I like the 24 megapixel sensor in the S1 and can't see, with the types of projects I like to do, getting the bigger brother (S1R) and losing some of the video capabilities I like in the S1. I just don't find the increased resolution that big of a draw. Now, the minute a paying client starts talking about a project the final output of which is monolithic, gigantic, enormous prints I'll head up to the camera store so fast it will make my own head spin. But for now? S1 and the range of zooms I already have bring a smile to my face every time I shoot with them. 

The 24-105mm range is so nice. I could do with an additional 5 or 10mm on the long end but I'm not complaining; not when everything is working so well. 

Hmmm. I wonder how all these lenses would work on a Leica SL2?????

Banging around with a Sigma 45mm f2.8 lens on a Lumix S1.

The bokeh always seems more incredible and delicious if you just don't focus...

I tend to shoot often with fast lenses and then use them near their fastest apertures. I like some separation between subjects and backgrounds and shooting this way is the more effective way to create the effect. But every once in a while I want to see what normal scenes look like with more front to back detail. I also know that many lenses, and many lens types, are at their peak performance when we stop them down to f4.0, f5.6 or f8.0. Many times I think I'm disappointed with a lens only to remember that I've been shooting it wide open and that not all lenses are designed to excel there. 

When I left the house yesterday with the intention of getting a spirit-lifting walk done in the warm, mid-afternoon, I put together the Sigma 45mm lens (the mechanical design and construction of which I am very impressed with) with one of the S1 bodies (yes, that's right, I bought a second one) to talk along with me. The small lens goes a long way toward reducing the burden of that system's size. 

But, having read in some detail about Sigma's design philosophy for this lens I decided not to shoot it at its maximum aperture of 2.8 but to try out the lens performance while vacillating between f5.6 and f8.0. Why? Well, I used this combination of camera and lens to photograph the image of the Nikon F and the ancient Nikkor 50mm f1.4 which I posted earlier this week. I thought the image was wonderfully detailed and perhaps it was because I ended up shooting it with the 45mm lens set to f16. I thought I'd be let down by the dreaded scourge of diffraction but it never reared its ugly head. What I did get was sharp focus where I wanted it and lots of nice detail. I considered, in passing, that perhaps I'd been a bit single-minded by always choosing "fast" for my lens settings...

I spent a couple of hours walking around making photographs at random with the 45mm f2.8. Here are the things I like about that lens: 1. It's a beautiful piece of physical design. 2. It's small and light. 3. It has a really cool, metal hood. Mine already has a small dent (which saved the rest of the lens) but it's bandaged up with a small piece of concealing gaffer's tape. 3. The front element is anti-intimidating. 4. It's the cheapest lens I could buy for the L-mount system. 5. It's a focal length that feels almost just right for me. And, finally, it has a wonderful, external aperture setting ring. 

Here are the things I find I don't like after using the lens in its sweet spots yesterday: 1. __________

Below I've included an image of some leaves over to the right side of the frame and an out of focus city scape in the background and on the left hand side of the frame. I've also included a magnified section of that same image just below it. I love, love, love the way the leaves are rendered. 

Today I went to the museum and brought along the same camera but with a different lens. I'll write something about that next.