I finished re-reading a favorite novel this afternoon (Ada. By Vladimir Nabokov) and decided to get out of the house and get some fresh air. I grabbed the Leica SL2 and the Sigma 65mm lens and headed over to the UT campus. I wanted to see Laura Wilson's show of Writers' Portraits one more time before the holidays kick in and schedules get crowded. Once again I was the only guest in a large gallery space on the first floor of the UT Humanities Research Center. I took a quick glance at their copy of the Gutenberg Bible, took a gander once again at the "first" photograph by Niepce and then headed in to really examine my favorite portraits from Wilson's show.
I'm drawn to classic portraits like the one of Carlos Fuentes just below. I wanted to look at about a dozen that I really like and since no one else was there I could get close enough even to examine the grain structure of the prints and make some observations about where we are in the state of art of large, exhibition printing. The images from digital were interspersed with images from traditional film and the printing technique was so polished that all of the prints fit together. Unless you looked to the grain --- and you'd have to have your nose nearly on the print to see it clearly, you couldn't tell which came from what medium.
There is a freedom in seeing a show by one's self. You can criss cross the gallery from favorite to favorite, circle back again and never have to wait for someone to get out from in front of a print. You also don't have to listen to any inane mobile phone conversations.
Again, I strongly suggest that photographers in Austin make an effort to see the Laura Wilson show at the HRC before it comes down in January 2023.
After I soaked up what I came to look for I headed across Guadalupe street to Medici Coffee which is just opposite the UT campus on what used to be the main drag. I guess it's still considered the main drag but it has none of the foot traffic and vibrance that it did when I attended UT as a student or when I taught there shortly after. Many of the older building on the street have been shuttered and are awaiting demolition so they can be replaced by much bigger buildings with much less character.
I walked into the coffee shop and immediately felt my chronological age. Every person in the shop was so much younger. The young woman at the ordering station was soooo patient with me. I got the sense that she felt I might have never ordered (non-drip) coffee before. She was walking me through the process like someone explaining a concept to a person with a limited vocabulary or hampered cognition. She seemed amazed that I knew how to tap my credit card on the sensor to pay for my drink. Or that I could sign for the charge on an iPad screen with my finger.
I also ordered a scone. In a kind and quiet way she let me know that since it was after 3 pm and since I was also buying a coffee the scone would be half price. She looked at my unshaven face and my clunky, ancient camera with sympathy bordering on pity. I'm presuming she jumped to the conclusion that someone my age, alone on a cold, gray and rainy day, was.... down on my luck. It's okay. I get it. I have white hair. I guess I can't hide my battle with imminent mortality from the youth of today. But, on the other hand, it was nice to see a display of kindness and compassion. Even if I don't necessarily deserve it.
Moving on.
I used to change camera systems more quickly than many in our audience might change their underwear. But I've held onto the Leica SL2 since the Autumn of 2020 so that makes my tenure with this particular camera and the surrounding infrastructure a little over two years and there's no sign yet of me tiring of shooting with it. I do like to add a few lenses from time to time just to keep the credit cards well greased but I've yet to come across a camera or a system I'd prefer to shoot with now. That bodes poorly for my local retailer but it does help me focus on working with the camera more intently.
The L mount system in general has been a lovely platform for shooting with a wide variety of lenses.
Today I pulled the 65mm Sigma out of the drawer and took it out for a spin. It's a solid lens and a bit heavy but it's a good and comfortable match for the SL2. The finder image is really good for two reasons: the first is that the camera's EVF is nearly 6 million dots and uses Leica glass in the viewing path. Secondly, the lens itself is very sharp and contrasty all the way to f2.0 so the performance of the lens enhances the look of the image in the finder compared to lenses that provide less performance.
The lens is built with 12 elements in 9 groups. One element is an SLD (super low dispersion) and two others are ashpericals. The diaphragm has 9 blades and they are rounded to enhance bokeh. The closest focusing distance is 55cm (which, I think, it just over 20 inches). The lens has an extremely nice, external aperture ring which will also click into "A" at one end and the focusing ring is very workable for manual focusing. This is a lens that can be shot wide open with no real optical compromise. It may be the sharpest lens I own in the normal focal length range. For anything really close up the nod would have to go to the Sigma Art Series 70mm Macro.
The color rendering of the lens, even when using Jpeg format, is right on the money. And the AF is quick as a bunny on speed being chased by zombie coyotes. In all it's about as perfect as a "long normal" lens gets and the whipped cream on the top is the very sensible price of $700. Pretty much Leica performance at a very non-Leica price. I should buy an extra in case they stop making this model.....
Please, please, please make us a 50mm f2.0 lens with the same cosmetics and eye-watering performance as that of the 65mm. It would fly off the shelf. Well, I could guarantee that at least two of them would fly off the shelves because I'd snap them up fast.
After my geriatric coffee drinker meets benevolent barista I set out to walk the streets somewhat fearful that someone at the coffee shop might be calling in a "silver alert" and put out an A.P.B. for a "lost senior." I'd hate to have been snatched off the street and delivered home before I got a few frames off. But, of course, nothing of the sort happened. I was free to wander unfettered.
And in the process I found some really nice color images in front of my camera. Lots of colors for a gray and chilly day.
Above: A Bob Dylan graphic on the wall of The Hole in the Wall. A night club we used to go to in the 1970's. It's still there, still open and still banging out tons of live music. Right on Guadalupe St. right where it's been since 1974.
Hope your Sunday was eventful in good ways and non-eventful in potentially unpleasant ways.
20 comments:
Fully concur, Kirk. Most of my L mount AF lenses come from Sigma - apart from the general quality and built, in particular for the AF/MF switch on the lens barrel and the f-stop ring (Martin Krolop has a 12min video up on YouTube where he revels in the sound of that ring for minutes). Great User Interface. Sturdy built. Excellent optics. At an enjoyable price point. So yes, when will we have the 50mm please?
Nothing to do with photography but I can't image the drag without foot traffic. Maybe it was Sunday and raining. In the late 50's and early 60's the drag was always full of people. It may be a sad commentary about the students and Austin that they don't find the campus and its surroundings to be the focus of their attention.
Ward
I've held off on the Sigma 65mm for my L-mount kit. But I have the 35mm f/2.0 in addition to all of the smaller Sigma primes. What I'm waiting for is Panasonic's replacement for the S5. It's supposed to have phase-detection autofocus. If it's the camera I'm hoping it will be, I'll be adding plenty of faster L-mount lenses. And selling off my Sony gear.
this dutch girl on the london underground asked me if i wanted her seat a few years ago, probably only just past 40...
I had my hair cut at a new place last week. I'm old enough to have grey hair but genetics is on my side, my father's hair didn't go grey till his early 80s. I'm told I look in my early 50s, I tell people I'm immature for my age. At cash-out the young lady who cut my hair said that she guessed that senior's discount didn't apply to me. I told I was 69 and did that count. She looked at me surprised and I explained about my father. She said "You're so lucky." It still ended being my most expensive haircut ever. She was fast though.
The 65mm has something special compared to most modern lenses. Sadly my use of it is limited - hamstrung by my irrational thoughts about it being a little too tight and hefty for street and not tele enough for portraits. It's also trapped in a no-mans land in my lens line-up, between the 45mm and 85mm f1.4 DG DN. I share your thoughts about a Sigma 50mm f2 - I could see that being glued to my SL - why are Sigma dragging their feet?
You need to expand your advice column on how to blend in as a street person to do more effective street photography. :-)
More seriously, do traditional cameras stiil trigger the pappariza reaction - people link the camera to having their picture and their privacy invaded? Or are traditional cameras on their way, at least with the young, to being vintage items not identified with their original purpose? When I shot on the street with a 4x5 everyone assumed it was a movie/video camera because that was their only association with a big box camera on a tripod.
Perhaps you could add a tinfoil hat and pass the camera off as an alien finder?
Hi Edward, Interesting that you should ask that because I was really pondering it yesterday. Where is the inflection point between old, lonely dude with old fashion camera and insane street person with props?
My take is that there is a pretty hard demarcation between what kids consider photography these days and how we roll. We, as a group, seem to still think the traditional camera is part and parcel of the technique needed to create art. They figure the cellphone is fine. And they may be right and we may just be reticent to walk away from our gear investments. It's the whole "sunk cost" conundrum. But we have investments not just in physical gear and years of "training" but also we cling to our history of what was cool, photographically, when we were coming of age. It's a tough nut to crack.
If I don't shave for a few days and also wear my eyeglasses with the scratched up lenses there seems to be no need for the tinfoil hat. Scary enough as it is....
I tried to shift the equation and get an iPhone 14Pro to shoot with but the soonest Apple can ship one out is December 28. I can get pretty much any camera here by tomorrow. I guess that says it all...
What was cool when we were young
That captures a lot for those of us old enough to have started shooting in the 50s, 60s or 70s. I have been trying to objectively evaluate whether I could do as well or better with a phone for walk-around photography.
I have been shooting with my phone (Pixel Pro 6) while traveling when I would normally shoot with my DSLR (Nikon Z7, 24-200). Looking at the images, the only ones I think might have been better with the DSLR are long telephoto shots. That is more than offset by the fantastic nightsight mode, which rapidly takes multiple images at different exposures to tame high-contrast scenes. This includes architecture shots.
This might be influenced by my history of composing on a ground glass. I turn on the grid lines on the camera display and consciously compose and level the shots. I may be able to do this better on my phone than with a handheld DSLR because of the different display and being able to see the image at arm's length.
I really liked your account of the coffee shop encounter. I mean, a lot. I'd like to rewrite and steal it for a Prey novel.
It is possible to buy (or adapt) probably more than a dozen good 50mm lenses for the Z cameras, but no good lenses in 65. Like none. Nikon itself makes three 50s for the Z, and many more for the F, which are easily adaptable to the Z. I wonder what genius lens-marketer pulls at his beard and says, "You know what the world needs? Another Nikon 50mm. Maybe we could be different, and make it in F1.6!" IMHO, every good lens line should have a fast 40 and a fast 65/70.
I once did some book research at Iowa State in Ames, and they already did the tear-down-the-old, build faceless-new. As I reported in that book, the name of which escapes me, it was hard to even look at the new buildings. They actually repelled "ambiance."
Also interested in your report on digital printing. I haven't experienced that kind of digital quality yet. Mike Johnston is having a B&W sale over at TOP which he suggests the same thing, I'm going to have a look at some.
JC. Thanks for making my day as a writer. Steal away.
Re: prints. The ones at the HRC were stunning. Color neutral, finely detailed and no artifacts. I can't imagine how Ctein can match that on an Epson P800 but it should be revelatory to see.
Fly into Austin to see this show and then you'll have a good basis for print comparisons. I'll buy you a hot chocolate and we can baffle the young staff at the coffee house with our ability to move around unaided and converse competently....
Looking forward to the 14 Pro vs SL2 photo walk comparison review at the beginning of 2023!
I might as well weld the 65mm to my fp. I sprung for the evf and I love it. Makes it a whole different camera.
To JC, the P800 with Image Print makes lovely black and white prints. On Epson Exhibition Fiber it sings.
Interesting that both you and MJ commented on your advancing years at the same time. I've got you by a decade and can assure you that younger people's assumptions about your abilities will only get more depressing. I still work part time, my name is Bob, and co-workers refer to me as "that SOB." I figure it stands for "Sweet Old Bob."
Hi Bob, I was one day ahead of MJ with my post 😁 Maybe he's an avid reader of the blog and wanted to express his own story....
\
Either way, the ageism is a bit disheartening so I've decided to go all counter-intuitive and milk it for all it's worth. I will be pre-boarding from now on.... as well as actively asking for the senior discounts.
Many years ago, I was at a restaurant with my mother and she took the cash out of my hand and muttered, "Let me pay for this -- I can get the senior discount." I said, "So can I."
It hasn't gotten better.
When I first approached the age when certain discounts became available, I felt offended when they were offered without any prompting from me. Did I look old?
Now just a few years on, I am relentless in pursuing concessions. It's funny how perspectives change.
But I still feel a bit hurt when someone offers me a seat on the bus or the Underground.
" 'I can get the senior discount.' I said, 'So can I.' ""
That made me laugh.
Re the main drag in Austin, could it be the cheap housing (the shuttered buildings?) is being replaced with fancy condos and the "kids" who would have hung out there have been priced out of near-campus housing? The ones who could afford living nearby probably drive everywhere and don't hang out on the drag? I am just speculating - it's been more than 30 years since I graduated from the state's other big school (the one down in College Station) and probably slightly longer since I set foot in Austin.
Ken
Old retired guy decides to apply for a part-time job for the extra cash. He's interviewed by a 30 something manager. Manager asks, "What do you consider to be your greatest weakness?"
Old guy replies, "My honesty."
Manager says, "Funny, I didn't think that honesty could be a weakness."
Old guy replies, "I don't give a damn what you think."
I'm quite a fan of Nabokov too,just recently reread Pale fire ,which is my favourite. I remembered the mind bending structure,but had forgotten how funny it was.
I've never got around to reading Ada tho, and from Brian Boyd's biography it sounded an incredible work, although dauntingly epic (maybe one to tackle once I've got through the last two volumes of Proust... So many books, so little time.)
That portrait show looks wonderful, I've bunged the book on my Christmas list and am hoping someone will feel generous.
Mark
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