The Good Stuff.

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1.23.2023

I dropped by Barton Springs Pool today to make some photographs to remind me of what the pool has looked like since I saw it first in 1974...




The Leica SL and the Zeiss 50mm f1.4 seemed magnetically attracted to each other from the minute I put them in the same room together. I did menial accounting work this morning and then broke free after lunch to commune with this swimming pool. 

I can't quite put my finger on it, can't quantify what I'm seeing, but I think these shots are quite different from my usual landscape-y work. 

The sensor in the camera is pretty unique. I think it is only shared, in part, in the original Leica Q camera; not the Q2. I love the way it handles colors and contrasts. I tried, mostly, to make images at its native ISO, which is 50. 

The lens has a wonderful hard and soft combination which makes me smile every time I use it. If I zoom  in there's endless detail at any point on which I've focused. And, just inches in front or behind, a mellow falling off. 

Had so much fun photographing with this combo I almost forgot to swim. 

I love that the railings on the ladders that help swimmers exit the pool are so...graceful. I believe these railings to be the originals but I have no proof of that...

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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2023 at 9:14 PM

    The base iso on the Q is not 50, but rather is iso 100

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2023 at 9:46 PM

    Yeah so what? We’re talking about the SL and the base ISO on that camera is……FIFTY.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2023 at 9:47 PM

    Kirk is, once again, correct. I have my SL in hand. It’s 50.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rich CJanuary 24, 2023 at 8:03 AM

    Hi Kirk,

    I like the pictures. Barton Springs looks a great place for a swim.

    They do look different, I’m not sure if it’s the quality of light, the lens or the colour science but to me they seem to have a very faint cyan tint? Not a criticism, I really like the tonality.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kirk, Photographer/WriterJanuary 24, 2023 at 11:39 AM

    Rich, I agree. The files seem to have more cyan. It's not overwhelming or a cast but it does imbue the colors with a different look than my other lenses.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anton Wilhelm StolzingJanuary 24, 2023 at 12:26 PM

    Great, nostalgic pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  7. crsantinJanuary 24, 2023 at 4:30 PM

    It's a beautiful lens on my Canon 5DII, not sharp at 1.4 but somehow just right for people photography and portraits. Wonderful at 2.0. It's easily my favourite lens at the moment and I'll be using it quite a bit in 2023. I'm quite happy because I've made some discoveries about how I want to shoot, what I want to shoot and what cameras and lenses I am going to use this year. I was feeling rather lost for quite some time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2023 at 1:45 AM

    Hi Kirk, I have the old SL and several classic 50's, if these are out of camera jpegs can you let me know you colour settings, or if from raw, what you did to the files, I love this look and can't seem to quite achieve it.
    All the best, Mark

    ReplyDelete

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