There is something uplifting and life affirming about jumping into a cool pool during the depths of Summer. Of course I would also say there is something joyous and life affirming about diving into a warmish pool in the dead of winter --- when there is ice on the deck and cloud of steam hanging over the water. Seasonally contextual, for sure.
I was rooting around in the photo cupboards last evening just to see what had "fallen through the cracks" when I came upon a TTArtisan 21mm f1.5 lens complete with an L mount. I had almost forgotten this one and I think I know why. It's soft in the corners. Really soft. Even at f8.0 it's soft. That must have bothered me when I first got it but now it seems eccentric and whimsical instead of flawed and impaired.
I stuck the lens on a Leica SL2 and headed out the door to swim practice today. The water was three or four degrees hotter than it was on Sunday morning. That just goes with the territory when the heat dome drops by to torture us.
Jen was our coach. She's mean. Not bad mean, just "get to work" mean. She's out to make sure malingering is not actively practiced at her workouts. If you've come to stand around you've come to the wrong place....
Our main set was tough because of the water temp. We ended up doing 16 x 150 yards with each set of four descending. Which means you start out at a comfortable pace and then each 150 yard swim is supposed to be faster/harder. We managed. But just barely.
Toss in a warm-up set and a cool down at the end and we still managed to get in a couple miles; even with the uncomfortable temperature.
After I got out, got dressed and drank more water I walked out to the car and grabbed the Leica off the front seat of the VSL staff car and shuffled back to the pool deck just to see if my memory of the TTA 21mm was accurate. Yep! The center can be nice and sharp but at medium distances, even at f8.0, the performance of the lens in the corners just flat out sucks. The trade off, at least for me, is that I can set the lens to f8.0, set the manual focus ring to about 8 feet and be in focus from something like 4 feet all the way out to infinity. It's "point and shoot" simplified. And who really pays attention to anything in the corners anyway ---- except for my friends who are architecture photographers?
So much potential for fun in a quiet pool. Just waiting for swimmers to show up...
that's usually my lane. It's lane #4. I share it with several other crazy people.
Why do I write, "crazy"? How else to explain that we keep showing up and swimming
and I've forgotten at this point what exactly we're there to achieve but we show up and
do it anyway. Maybe we dream that we'll get faster as we get older. Or that
some miracle will occur and our technique will improve so much that we
can re-live the swims of our youth. It's a beguiling target; I'll say that.
Ben more of less grew up at this pool. I spent ten years on the board of directors.
I've probably done 8200 practices over the 28 years I've been swimming there.
At some point you'd think I'd get it all figured out but there is always something
to work on. Something new to learn. In that respect it's a lot like photography...
sometimes, after workout, I'll grab a cup of coffee from a shop that's close to
the swim club and sit out here on the deck just breathing in the day and
enjoying being outside. I guess it's like meditating.
Save me a spot at the table....
No lenses were harmed in the creation of this blog post.
Another hot day on tap. You can already feel it at 9:30 in the morning...
2 comments:
21mm is like our range of vision. Look straight ahead and the center will be sharp and the corners blurry. That lens is genius!
I think you are on to something. That's how I'll use it. Thanks.
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