Almost every photo walk has a purpose or an agenda. Sometimes highly defined. Usually quite vague. Now...Saturday....

We've been talking about testing gear lately. At least I have. One of the lenses I recently purchased has been languishing in the equipment cabinet mostly because it's not a 50mm lens (my favorite) and  I've been more focused on getting all three of my rangefinder cameras perfectly calibrated before using this one because it's a 90mm and they require more rangefinder accuracy because they provide less depth of field. You can really tell if a camera and lens are front or rear focusing when a longer focal length is involved. By the time I grabbed for a camera on Saturday afternoon I felt confident that everything was just as it should be; camera-wise. 

The lens I'm writing about is the Voigtlander APO-Skopar 90mm f2.8 for the M mount. The lens is deceptively tiny and light. I bought the chrome version just for something different and I think the lighter finish also makes the lens seem less dense. I wanted to see how useful the 90mm focal length would be on a rangefinder camera and I thought it would be fun to take the lens out on a sunny, late afternoon and put it through its paces. 

I used the lens on a black M240 body and shot everything in Jpeg. I know that some reviewers have decided that they don't like the SOOC Jpegs from Leica rangefinder cameras but I've always found them to be really nice. Especially if you tweak the camera settings a bit. More contrast seems to be what they want to work really well. At least for me. If you measure stuff using test targets in your basement studio you may have completely different point of view as regards Leica Jpeg response. I'm interested in a "pleasing" look and not necessarily a completely accurate rendering. The urge for perfection seems to go hand in hand with unhappiness.... Even where cameras are concerned. Especially where cameras and lenses are concerned.

I think the images here (below) tell the tale. I've played around with post processing a bit but not so much as to obscure the basic look and feel of the files. I think most stuff looks better with a bit of contrast enhancement. It's just the way I see the world.

The 90mm VM APO is a very sweet lens. I already own the Sigma 90mm f2.8 for the L mount but the Voigtlander is more useful for me as it can be easily used, with an adapter, on the M, L and GFX mount cameras (and many other mirrorless models) whereas the Sigma i lens is limited by its lens mount to only the L cameras. That makes the VM very useful for me. I'll keep the Sigma for those times when I want the luxurious laziness of autofocus with eye detection. It's great for that. 

The 90mm VM results from the day convinced me that I'd gotten my RF calibrations done well. The lens focuses quickly and has a relatively short focus throw and that takes some getting used to. The lenses I collected to use on video projects were selected, in part, because they feature long throws which allow for really accurate fine focus and better results when doing manual follow focus moves in video. For example, the Carl Zeiss 50mm Milvus lens has a very long focus throw. Maybe 270 degrees; much of it in the close up area. But careful focus marking on the barrel for stop and start targets pays off with smoother throws and more accurate stops and starts. It just does. Conversely, it takes a long time to go from something that requires close focusing to a subject situated near infinity. Practice, practice, practice. The 90mm VM is quick to focus; snappy. But that also means you have to be quite careful to hit exact focus when you need to. With a rangefinder it's actually a bit quicker for me because the coincident rangefinder has a more binary display. It's easier for me to see where coincident images come together than to explore exact focus on a focusing screen. Focusing on a screen requires, for me, more iterative ins and outs for me to be finally sure of the exact spot. I'm betting the focus throw of the 90 VM to be something around 90°.

The M240 camera I used was easier to focus and compose with than I thought it would be. At one point, back in the film days, Leica made three different versions of the M6. The different magnifications worked to make the cameras match up better with various focal length categories. There was an M6 with a .58 magnification finder that was optimized for using wider angle lenses. It was perfect with the 28mm lenses and also quite good with the 35mms as well but as you got into standard and tele lenses the frame lines became progressively smaller and that always makes composition and focusing a bit tougher. 

The standard camera in the M6TTL line up was the one with the .72 magnification finder. It was a decent balance for use with all manner of rangefinder lenses but it was a bit too tight to accurately and easily show all of a 28mm frame. One really needed an external/shoe mounted bright line finder for use with the 28mm. (Now the standard M camera magnification is .68 but Leica have made the viewfinder bigger and that helps with the wide angles. 

The camera I loved back in the film days was the Leica M6TTL with the .85 magnification finder. It was perfect for use with the 50mm lenses and very good for the 75s and the 90s. But 35mm was as wide as you could go and the finder still felt very cramped at that focal length. I would love to have a new digital M camera with the choice of a .85 viewfinder. It would be wonderful with this 90mm lens but even more delightful with the 50mm lenses. That would be rangefinder heaven. 

But it all is what it is. What we give up in finder magnification flexibility (and the cost of owning three different bodies in order to optimize the use of different focal lengths) we gain in having live view which can effortlessly show us exact framing of any lens on the camera and also offer punch-in magnification for precision focusing. 

On Saturday I chose to use the rangefinder to focus the 90mm and not live view. I'm okay with the degree of accuracy I was able to get. 

*****

Yesterday was someone's birthday. We all went out for Korean food at Oseyo on East Caesar Chavez St. The food and company were wonderful. Then we all celebrated the birthday with big slices of chocolate cake and ice cold glasses of milk. I'm sitting here today writing this right now because I'm still full from yesterday's fun excess... and writing the blog gives me an excuse to sit, motionless, like a snake who devoured a whole herd of something or other and must now deal with digesting it.

I read a blog post this morning about the agonies, and the trials and tribulations, of selecting products one wants or needs to buy. The tortured description of the process was almost disturbing. I have an opposite methodology for buying photo gear. It goes like this: Realize that a 90mm for your rangefinder might be fun. Go to B&H's website (or your favorite website) and see what's available for your camera in the price range you can afford, select between black and chrome finish all the while understanding that there is no "right" choice and that either option would be fine with you. Put in shopping cart. Check out. Wait for arrival. Use in a state of general, uncomplicated happiness. Done. Time elapsed with the purchase of the 90mm? About two minutes. Presto: more life left over for living well. Happiness ensues.  More photography gets done.

Research is deadly. Can be boring. And indecision is a clear path to anxiety and depression. Pull off the bandage. Get what you want. Go with your gut reactions. Stop worrying about getting everything just right and you'll actually have time to go out and make photographs. Even silly test photos like the ones below....  (this does not apply to expensive hats....).

Last shot of the evening at twilight. ISO 3200. 

only one mannequin shot and only added because I loved the texture on the hat...

this frame originated in color. The one below was taken a few minutes before and 

was shot with the camera's black and white setting. With contrast boosted in camera.