Playing around with f1.4 at twilight. Always interested to see what lenses do.

I was feeling glum yesterday. It turned colder and gray after a couple days of warm sunshine. While the weather wasn't nasty, like the week before, it was gray and misty and gusty enough to be...unwelcoming. I spent most of the day tracking down documents to send to a CPA in order to close the books on an estate account and that probably didn't help my mood. And, of course you know how sensitive I am to criticism about what I put on the blog....

At any rate, by 5:30pm I was ready to get my nose out of an Excel spreadsheet and out of my messy and storm trashed office and get some more fresh air. A morning swim and a midday walk with Belinda was good exercise but I needed some alone time to just walk with a camera. 

I've been enjoying the new SL2 and figured that while I am still in the "honeymoon" phase with that camera I should use it as much as I can. It seemed like a good, low light evening to finally pair the camera with the Lumix 50mm f1.4. It's a heavy package but still manageable. Not what I might take if I tried to climb Mt. Everest but certainly portable enough for a couple miles walking through the urban jungle. 

The top photo isn't a "portfolio" candidate but instead is a personal test to see how well the camera and lens work together when the lens is set at f1.4 and the whole system is asked to focus on a small, bright target; the actual light on the streetlamp pole. This test gave me an idea of what I can expect from the lens in terms of point source light flare and the relative ability to soften the background.

I shot the top image in natural color but then decided to try it again in black and white so I switched to the camera's monochrome setting. Of the two photos below the top most is focused on the light itself while the second is focusing on the windows behind it. I am impressed with the overall performance of the lens and camera under these conditions. The lens is entirely usable wide open while the camera's focusing and metering work well in a twilight shooting environment. So far so good.