Re-Entry Level Amateur in Bakersfield, CA
Sep 14, 2014 20:12:02 #
Hello all. I was very interested in photography as a teenager in the late 70s/early 80s, though back then I was much more into the gear than the images it created. I gave it up around 1988 when I started college, and just got bad into it three-years-ago with a Sony DSLR (DSLT actually) and a decent zoom lens.
Well, the Sony is long gone, as is the Harley V-ROD and everything else I could sell to fund my new passion, and this time, its much more about the images than the gear, though the gear is eye-bleadingly expensive.
I got the Leica bug when lugging my Sony kit around and watching a woman shooting with nothing except an M9 and the smallest 50mm lens I'd ever seen (50mm f/2.5 Summarit-M). I started looking around and learned of the M Monochrom and just had to have it. Tried a few Leica lenses, and finally settled on my current five-lens kit, which is deceptive because four of them are 50mm. For travel or casual use I have the 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M which is Leica's cheapest, slowest and smallest 35mm lens, and also in my opinion (after trying all three current models) their best. At f/2.5 and 35mm there isn't much bokeh to be had, but what it does have is simply sublime, better (IMO) than the $5300 35mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH even. My other modern lens is the 50mm f/2 Summicron-M, which made its debut in 1979 and is the oldest lens in the current Leica catalog. Like the 35mm, I bought it more for the particular way it renders than for price (I planned on buying the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH). Then come the vintage 50s, of which I have three. All are "Sonnar" type lenses, with two original Carl Zeiss Jena lenses converted from Contax to Leica thread mount, and the last a Russian knock-off of the same. They are as follows; Carl Zeiss 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar (1937, uncoated), Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm f/2 Sonnar T (1941, coated) and Zomz 5cm f/1.5 Jupiter 3 (1963, coated).
My wife wanted color, and so I started playing with color cameras large and small. I bought a Sony RX100m2 and a Canon 6D with a 24-105mm f/4 L zoom and 35mm f/2 IS prime for a recent trip to Germany and Austria and while both performed excellently, I didn't like the controls or feel of either. The Sony stayed due to its incredible convenience, but the Canon went away, to be replaced by a Nikon Df and assorted glass for next year's trip to Korea.
Current and near future Nikon kit is as follows. Nikon Df (silver) body with 50mm f/1.8G kit lens and a Nikon FM (chrome) on the way as a film backup. Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 VR for events or other situations where I don't want to mess with swapping lenses. Finally what I plan on using for 99% of my color photography are the following primes. 24mm f/2.8 AF-D and 58mm f/1.4 AF-G (both ordered Friday) which together will make up my lightweight travel kit. I also bought a late 1960s 35mm f/2 Nikkor O and 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor P (the 105 is INCREDIBLE) and will likely add the 28mm f/1.8 AF-G and 85mm f/1.8 AF-G.
The 58mm f/1.4 Nikkor is to me the SLR equivalent of my 1937 Zeiss Sonnar, a lens that somehow magically makes people better-looking than they really are. Like the Zeiss on my M Monochrom, I imagine the 58mm Nikkor will practically live on my Df.
The first image was taken early this year at a Leica Akademie workshop in Los Angeles, or technically, 2 hours before the workshop met (6:30 AM)
Leica M Monochrom at ISO 320 in available darkness. Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar (1937, uncoated). Minimal post, converted to JPG in LR5.
The next shot was taken last week at a local wine bar with my new (to me) Nikon Df and late 1960s Nikkor P 105mm f/2.5 (Sonnar pattern). ISO 3200 OOC JPEG, no post.
The last image is a selfie shot on the BART near San Francisco International Airport. Leica M Monochrom at ISO 3200 with 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M, yellow filter, minimal post.
Well, the Sony is long gone, as is the Harley V-ROD and everything else I could sell to fund my new passion, and this time, its much more about the images than the gear, though the gear is eye-bleadingly expensive.
I got the Leica bug when lugging my Sony kit around and watching a woman shooting with nothing except an M9 and the smallest 50mm lens I'd ever seen (50mm f/2.5 Summarit-M). I started looking around and learned of the M Monochrom and just had to have it. Tried a few Leica lenses, and finally settled on my current five-lens kit, which is deceptive because four of them are 50mm. For travel or casual use I have the 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M which is Leica's cheapest, slowest and smallest 35mm lens, and also in my opinion (after trying all three current models) their best. At f/2.5 and 35mm there isn't much bokeh to be had, but what it does have is simply sublime, better (IMO) than the $5300 35mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH even. My other modern lens is the 50mm f/2 Summicron-M, which made its debut in 1979 and is the oldest lens in the current Leica catalog. Like the 35mm, I bought it more for the particular way it renders than for price (I planned on buying the 50mm f/1.4 Summilux ASPH). Then come the vintage 50s, of which I have three. All are "Sonnar" type lenses, with two original Carl Zeiss Jena lenses converted from Contax to Leica thread mount, and the last a Russian knock-off of the same. They are as follows; Carl Zeiss 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar (1937, uncoated), Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm f/2 Sonnar T (1941, coated) and Zomz 5cm f/1.5 Jupiter 3 (1963, coated).
My wife wanted color, and so I started playing with color cameras large and small. I bought a Sony RX100m2 and a Canon 6D with a 24-105mm f/4 L zoom and 35mm f/2 IS prime for a recent trip to Germany and Austria and while both performed excellently, I didn't like the controls or feel of either. The Sony stayed due to its incredible convenience, but the Canon went away, to be replaced by a Nikon Df and assorted glass for next year's trip to Korea.
Current and near future Nikon kit is as follows. Nikon Df (silver) body with 50mm f/1.8G kit lens and a Nikon FM (chrome) on the way as a film backup. Nikkor 24-120mm f/4 VR for events or other situations where I don't want to mess with swapping lenses. Finally what I plan on using for 99% of my color photography are the following primes. 24mm f/2.8 AF-D and 58mm f/1.4 AF-G (both ordered Friday) which together will make up my lightweight travel kit. I also bought a late 1960s 35mm f/2 Nikkor O and 105mm f/2.5 Nikkor P (the 105 is INCREDIBLE) and will likely add the 28mm f/1.8 AF-G and 85mm f/1.8 AF-G.
The 58mm f/1.4 Nikkor is to me the SLR equivalent of my 1937 Zeiss Sonnar, a lens that somehow magically makes people better-looking than they really are. Like the Zeiss on my M Monochrom, I imagine the 58mm Nikkor will practically live on my Df.
The first image was taken early this year at a Leica Akademie workshop in Los Angeles, or technically, 2 hours before the workshop met (6:30 AM)
Leica M Monochrom at ISO 320 in available darkness. Carl Zeiss Jena 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar (1937, uncoated). Minimal post, converted to JPG in LR5.
The next shot was taken last week at a local wine bar with my new (to me) Nikon Df and late 1960s Nikkor P 105mm f/2.5 (Sonnar pattern). ISO 3200 OOC JPEG, no post.
The last image is a selfie shot on the BART near San Francisco International Airport. Leica M Monochrom at ISO 3200 with 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M, yellow filter, minimal post.
Leica M Monochrom at ISO 320 with Zeiss 5cm f/1.5 Sonnar (1937)
(Download)
Nikon Df at ISO 3200 with 1960s Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5
(Download)
Selfie - Leica M Monochrom at ISO 3200 with Leica 35mm f/2.5 Summarit-M
(Download)
Sep 15, 2014 05:46:38 #
Sep 15, 2014 07:00:15 #
Sep 15, 2014 07:59:41 #
Sep 15, 2014 08:03:58 #
Sep 15, 2014 09:06:59 #
Thanks all, great to be here. I actually "joined" about a year ago to read one article, but only really started looking around the sight last week. What a cool place!
Sep 15, 2014 12:38:57 #
Sep 15, 2014 16:20:00 #
May 23, 2015 14:11:22 #
asiafish wrote:
A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.
A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle.
There you go, shoving your atheism down everybody's throat again.
Your atheism really has no place here in a photography forum.
May 23, 2015 15:20:26 #
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