4.28.2023
The lenses arrived. They are as cute as can be. Tiny and mechanically perfect. Here's my quick, first look at the Carl Zeiss 28mm f2.8 Biogon ZM.
4.27.2023
Waiting for the Fedex guy. And a reminder that Eeyore's Birthday Party is this Saturday.
4.26.2023
I reached into a time machine and grabbed an image of the downtown power plant as it looked about ten years ago.
Two new (to me) lenses arriving at VSL this week. Stay tuned.
Interesting times for me. I added two Nikon mount, Voigtlander lenses to the equipment inventory this month and learned, in doing so, that I really like the process of manual focusing and that I really, really like some of the quirkier, older (pre-2010) lens designs and resulting optical characteristics that have been floating around for years.
I did something dumb yesterday. I had a moment between swim practice and lunch with B and I misspent the time looking around mindlessly on the web. I went to a popular website for a camera retailer in the San Francisco area and browsed through their "Recent Drop" offerings. It's a long, rambling listing, with product photos, of used gear that they've accepted on various trades. A lot of Leica, Nikon, and Sony stuff, and a good number of collectible items as well.
I was half way down the page of the first 100 listings when two or three lenses just listed caught my eyes. The most important of the them were both Carl Zeiss Biogon lenses for the Leica M mount cameras. After getting re-educated lately about 28mm lenses -- via the tutelage of the Q2 -- I was hankerin' for a manual focusing 28mm lens I could use on my L mount cameras (Leica SLs, Panasonic S5). I wanted a lens that is known to be sharp and contrasty (on all but the Sony cameras with their overly thick filter stacks) and best of all, small in size. A Carl Zeiss 28mm Biogon f2.8 ZM (M mount) in 9+ condition seemed like the way to go. I put it in my shopping cart. I've purchased from this store a number of times before and feel comfortable that they'll stand behind their sales (and product descriptions).
I was about to shut down my impromptu shopping and head into the house but lens adjacent to the 28mm on the page also caught my attention. It was the Carl Zeiss Biogon 35mm f2.0 ZM. And it too was in top condition. Might make a good pairing and both are reputed to share the overall look (color and contrast) of the Carl Zeiss 50mm f1.4 Planar which I also have. I couldn't resist temptation so I dumped the 35mm into the shopping cart as well. (Both are still available new as current products.. .. .. ).
I was about to complete the order online when I was inspired, no doubt by my recent negotiations with GE over the dastardly refrigerator, to go into an available chat on the website to see if I could negotiate even better pricing (although, in all fairness, the items were well priced already). Having spent two years in Turkey I learned to love haggling with vendors. ... ..
I asked about a discount for ordering both items at the same time, tossed in my "returning customer credentials" and got into a good natured discussion with a real person. But online. They took a couple hundred dollars off the initial pricing and tossed in free 2nd day shipping. I bit. We'll see if the lenses turn out to be as good as I thought they would be.. ...
Anybody out there have experience with either of these lenses? Chime in if you have the time.
The guys are here to cut the grass and do some landscaping. I can't stand the sound of mowers and leaf blowers so I'm heading to the gym for some strength training. Hopefully everything will look ship shape when I get back. Funny, I have plenty of lenses and would always like a few more but in 26 years living in this house I've never purchased a lawn mower or other motorized yard work equipment. A case of different priorities I guess.. .... . .....
4.25.2023
Much as I love to go see photography exhibits I usually only go to lectures by book authors. They are more interesting. Unless you can find lectures by photographers like Elliott Erwitt.
I have been in and out of the HRC (Humanities Research Center, also named, The Harry Ransom Center) many, many times. In days of yore I could arrange to take my photography classes from UT to the center to see some of the collected works in their great repository of famous photography. In the 1980s when I taught in the College of Fine Arts we could make reservations to have curators show our students actual, original works by Strand, Steiglitz, HCB, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and many others which are part of the Gernscheim Collection.
The class sizes I took over were small. Just my teaching assistant and six or eight students at a time. Curators would hand out white, cotton gloves and then we'd get a quick tutorial on how to handle paper prints without crimping them or otherwise marring them. Once educated we would pass around say, a Weston contact print of Peppers so students could see what great prints really looked like. Some prints only got handled by the museum's staff. But we could lean in and really study them in detail.
I remember one image that Henri Cartier-Bresson made of the Pope at the Vatican plaza surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people. Just tightly packed in around the Holy Father. HCB had a high vantage point. The image was striking. Printed 16x20 inches (which is why student weren't allowed to handle it directly). But, as most of the students pointed out, HCB had missed focusing very precisely on the most important part of the subject. The Pope was rendered soft. Slightly out of focus. But what a powerful object lesson for aspiring photographic artists. Everything doesn't have to be perfect.
I was at the HRC for a lecture by Laura Wilson a month or two ago. And I was there last Thursday for a lecture about Norman Mailer and James Baldwin, given by writer, Darryl Pinckney.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darryl_Pinckney
The talk was thoughtful and interesting. Afterwards there was a reception with wines and finger foods. And I walked around the first floor of the HRC just looking. That's when I came across this image presented as a transparent film on one of the HRC windows. Part of a classic Dorothea Lange photograph from the FSA.
In another part of the gallery space was one of the very first photos.... ever.
Altogether it made me happy to live in a city that can be so stimulating for artists. Well, at least for the artists who show up.
Here is a video my friend Will and I did years ago about the loan of the Magnum Collection to the HRC by Michael Dell. Fun. And also in "monochrome."
https://vimeo.com/9830948 Will and I filmed this 13 years ago...
I went out for coffee after swim practice on Saturday. We tried a new coffee shop. We walked around the neighborhood and stumbled into some art produced by children. It was fun!!!
I was walking around Austin with a 40mm lens on my camera. I found these two images and thought they were funny. Unusual. One doesn't expect to find trenches in a building on Congress Ave. Just a block or two from the Capitol.
I guess it's a historic building so whoever owns it can't just tear it down on a whim. But it's pretty well place real estate so at a certain point an investor sometimes just punts. I can't imagine what the trenches are for but then I am not a structural engineer.
4.24.2023
Voigtlander's Interesting Selection of Nikon AIs mount lenses. Is it a good idea to buy a lens with an "antiquated" mount?
4.23.2023
OT: Your focus determines your reality. Concentrate on the here and now. (philosophy stolen directly from Star Wars).
Just how well does the Leica Q2 perform in its macro mode? And just how good is its noise performance?
I don't know if it's really visible but on close examination, in the 100% mag. frame above, I see some chromatic and luminance noise in the black area between the front two tomatoes. But given the 6400 ISO setting I think it's an excellent performance. I'm happy with it.