From the same roll as the previous image, this shot southeast over Carson City and the Piñon Hills to the east of Carson City was made with the Nikon F2as and a Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 on Ilford XP2 at about f/8. No post processing.
This is another capture from the roll of 35mm Ilford XP2 I finished up on the hills between Carson City and Washoe Valley. The Girl and I drove up the steep trail on the east side of this hill, which gives a lovely view of both Washoe Lake and Carson City. An afternoon pop-up thundershower was brewing to the southeast.
I wanted to finish up the roll in the Nikon F2as and the Bronica, so I spent a half-hour walking the hilltop with Sera (keeping a sharp ear out for snakes) and making some images. This frame looks like I used a red filter to add some contrast to the sky and the exposure seems just about right. I see some detail in the cloud tops and plenty in the valley below.
It was a good day. The breeze atop the hill was a little stiff and gusty, pretty typical for a Nevada afternoon. But it also was cooling so I did not mind.
The rocks were a little rough on The Girl’s feet. So I put her back in the rig.
Sera after I put her back in the rig. Shot with Nikon F2as and a Nikkor 35mm f/1.4 on Ilford XP2 with exposure data unrecorded. No post processing was applied.
Five rolls of negatives were returned to me this week. I spent a few minutes looking through them, after reviewing the scans. I came away with a few notes, but need to formalize them.
There are a few good frames in the set. It is probably about my average hit rate. I would like to move that hit rate up, but that is probably another story.
A number of frames were significantly underexposed, both the Pentax 645Nii and the Nikon F2as. These were generally frames that had a lot of sky in them and I think it biased the in-camera meter. I would get a better result if I opened up the aperture a stop or two. (Note taken…)
I missed focus on a few frames. The take away is to be very careful when focusing, particularly the Bronica. I have a bright screen to put in the Bronica and need to get that done before I take it out again. It will help.
I replaced the screen in the Pentax with one that has a split-image/microprism cell in the center of the frame. This is going to improve my ability to focus the camera.
I need a light table and loupe for review of my negatives. I think there is a light table buried in the garage (in a box) somewhere. However, the technology has changed (for the better) since I bought it, so I will buy a new one. The LED lamps are so much better than the micro-fluorescent tubes of my original.
In the meantime, I made the capture with my F2as and a Nikkor 35mm f/1.4, probably using a filter (not recorded) and I did not record the exposure. The film was Ilford XP2. It is a good frame.
We were on the hills between Carson City and Washoe Valley. I have a few more good frames from that outing.
Lucas shot with Nikon D800e and Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 wide open.
Lucas serves as a test subject for many of my lens testing exercises. I have been playing around with my Nikon D800E and a Voigtländer 90mm f/2.8 APO Skopar. I want to see how the lens renders the subject and the out of focus areas. The 90mm does not focus very close, maybe about 2 feet plus (about 0.8 meters). It is quite sharp wide open and the backgrounds look lovely.
It is a very good lens and I need to take it out on walk.
Lucas shot with a Nikon D800E and a Voigtlander 50mm f/1.4 Nokton at f/2.8.
This frame was shot with a Voigtländer 58mm f/1.4 Nokton at f/2.8. It will focus quite a lot closer than the 90mm. It is also quite sharp wide open and has excellent out of focus character. Again, this lens will want to go with me on a walk.
One thing I like about the Voigtländer lenses is that they have a chip that provides data to the camera body. So exposure and distance information is available to the camera and stored in the image file. These lenses will also work on my Nikon film bodies.
This capture of Lucas the Spider (one of my favorite plushies) was done with the Nikon D800E and a Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 Skopar at f/8. I did some light processing with DXO Photolab 7.
This little Lucas the Spider plushie is a favorite test subject for lenses. If I shoot at night, then I have some light sources in the background and I can get a sense for how the out of focus areas are represented by the lens.
I shot this with my Nikon D800E (ancient at this time) and a Voigtlander 90mm f/2.8 APO-Skopar lens I bought earlier this year. I really prefer legacy glass to modern glass for the older lenses’ character, including their flaws. They often render more interesting images in everything from color, to sharpness (or lack thereof), to background blur (bokeh in photo parlance). Their optical imperfections produce interesting effects that I often like.
The Voigtlander lenses are proving quite interesting and have a modern adaptation. They have a microchip interface to the digital cameras (my Nikons) that enables the camera’s CPU to read the lens settings and incorporate that data into exposure control and fill in the EXIF data in the image file.
I like the Voigtlander lenses enough that I think I will add to my collection of them. I suspect they will become commonly used on my Nikon film bodies.
A bit of lichen and the stob of a branch. Shot with Fufifilm X-T5 and Voigtlander 27mm f/2 at f/4.
I am enjoying the little Voigtlander 27mm f/2 Ultron for the Fuji X-Mount cameras quite a lot lately. I decided to take a break from the legacy glass and the Sony A7Sii and shoot my Fujifilm cameras a bit.
I like the Voigtlander 27mm for a number of reasons. It has a chip and so communicates its settings to the camera. That means that the EXIF data is populated and the camera can use the information to adjust exposure as needed. Yes, it adjusts exposure without these data, but with them the camera can do more.
Do not ask me how. It is magic.
That said, the Ultron optical formula does not produce the clinically (near) perfect images of computer designed glass. The images from the Voigtlander have some character to them. They are not always perfect at the edges and corners. They have interesting bokeh (out of focus areas). They produce good colors and are plenty sharp enough.
I have been playing with images of the lichen that grows on the Ponderosa Pines in the national forest. I should probably back off the exposure in the subject image just a bit as the stob seems almost blown out. But I like the image anyway and it was slightly adjusted in DXO PhotoLab 7.
The Girl and I enjoyed the hike yesterday. It was a good day. Life is good.
A Ponderosa Pine cone, shot with Fujifilm X-E4 with Voigtlander 27mm f/2 Ultron at F/4, SOOC.
After carrying the Sony A7Sii and three Carl Zeiss Jena manual focus lenses for several days, I decided to carry the Fujifilm X-E4, the Voigtlander 27mm f/2 manual focus lens (a pancake), and the new-to-me Lensbaby 56mm f1/2 Velvet along on walkies.
The Voigtlander is a known good performer on my Fuji cameras. It is small, light, and very good optically. It does not have the clinical performance of most modern lenses, but is a throwback to an earlier age with the Ultron optical formula. It is quite sharp in mid-frame and sharp enough at the edges, even wide open. The out of focus areas are generally lovely, with some fun bokeh when there are background highlights.
I have a few keepers from that walk even though we did not walk slowly and putter like we sometimes do. The capture above was at the end of the hike when I noticed this pine cone in the light and shadow of the surrounding Ponderosa Pines in front of the 4Runner. I played with the image a little bit although I did not move the cone.
The Girl was tired after the hike, so she laid on the ground with her water bowl captured between her front paws, enjoying the cool DG and the shade. I made the capture and we loaded up and headed home for the day.
It was good hike. I felt good. I came away with a few nice photographs. The Girl chased chipmunks. I am grateful for all these things.
The trail The Girl and I walk almost daily this time of year. Shot with Sony A7Sii and a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f/1.8 Pancolar. Light post processing with DXO PhotoLab 7.
At this time of year, The Girl and I walk mostly in the national forest. We get above 7,000 ft, where it is a little cooler. We gain the shade of the Ponderosa Pines. There is generally little other traffic on this trail, although we sometimes meet another hiker.
The climb does me good. The chipmunks provide much entertainment for The Girl. It is a bit more than a mile out to our common turn-around point. There we pause for a couple of minutes. I give her anywhere from a half to a full liter of water. I drink a little for myself. We take a breath.
Then I put the pack back on (and usually a small camera bag) and we head back to the rig.
I keep a sharp eye out for other traffic as I do not want a negative encounter for The Girl. I have also seen a bear (very briefly) once. There was a coyote that I saw several times last summer who did not appear to be afraid. (Not a good thing for him!) Fortunately, I was able to wrangle The Girl and never threw more than a few 3/8″ steel shot (with a sling shot) to scare him off.
I really love this trail. If we get out early enough, it is still cool and she does not overheat. If I wait too late, then the sun warms her and with the exercise she is too hot.
On this particular morning, we were out a little early and the light was still good. I made the capture a dozen meters from out turn around point because i like the interaction of the light on the trees and the curl of the trail in the midground.
We had a great hike. I am grateful for the beauty of the place where I live. Life is good.
Shot with the Sony A7Sii and (I think) a Carl Zeiss Jena 35mm f/2.4, probably about f/5.6. The RAW file was post processed with DXO Photolab7 using an Ektachrome 64 film simulation.
I just finished David duChemin’s All Questions Answered webinar a few minutes ago. I had a huge collection of questions sent in by his followers and students and winnowed down the list to maybe a dozen questions.
I found his answers to the questions of interest, but it was his excursions on tangents generated by the questions that I enjoyed even more. It was an hour and a half of listening to him brain dump his thoughts and feelings about the craft and he is articulate. So, it was an easy listen.
I cannot recall if I have any of his books. If not, I will need to rectify that. I am signed up for one of his courses and need to get after that as well. I will learn something, I am sure.
One of the questions was something like “What do you photograph for?” He had an articulate answer for the question (it makes him feel alive) and then enumerated a list of other reasons photographers have for spending the time, effort, and money making photographs. It was a good list.
He also spent time talking about finding the subject/genre that lights a fire in you. Ask the question “What am I passionate about?” Then go chase that.
The rhetorical question “What if I can only travel with my family?” was asked, and he shared Alain Laboile’s craft, which is he only photographs his family1. As with all art, one just has to find a way to make it work within the structure of one’s life.
I have written any number of times — I make photographs because it is one of the things that feeds my soul. There is a focus and joy that comes from noticing something as I move through my daily life and then taking a few minutes to explore it with a camera.
The header image is an example. Sera and I were hiking the trail in the national forest. She was hunting chipmunks. I was looking for the interplay of light, shadow, and texture in the world around me. This particular bit of lichen on a branch caught my eye. There is plenty of light and shadow. There is a muted set of colors, punctuated by the bright light green of the lichen. There is a randomness in the fall of the pine needles. Then there is the branch at a diagonal through the frame.
These things caught my eye2. It is one of several images made of similar subjects that day. Sera happily hunted while I paused to make the images. Then we were off on the trail again, both of us on the lookout for our prey.
Life is short. If there is something that would make you happy, go do that. Make sure it gets done. Because, one day, it will be too late.
I remain grateful. Life is good.
1Note to self: Buy one of Laboile’s books and study the images. 2With a nod and an homage to Wife, who said this to me many times.
I see this look a lot when we’re on walkies. She really loves to hunt the chipmunks that infest the national forest. Shot with the Sony A7Sii and the CZJ 135mm f/3.5 and exported straight out of camera.
The last few outings I carried the Sony A7Sii with a triplet of Carl Zeiss Jena (CZJ) lenses in m bag — the 35mm f/2.4 Flektogon, the 50mm f/1.8 Pancolar, and the 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar. These are all Zeiss designs copied by the East Germans after WWII.
The build quality of my samples is good, perhaps not up to West German Zeiss builds, but they all cost a fraction of the western glass. I find them very good optically and they produce lovely images with a quality much different than modern glass.
The Girl loves our walks in the national forest. If we do not get out early, I have to watch her carefully because she can overheat even at 7,000ft. The insolation heats her up even if the air temperature is about 80ºF. I always carry water and we take a break mid-hike so she can rest a couple of minutes and drink.
I see this look a lot. This particular fallen tree often harbors chipmunks and I think they tease her.
She is a happy dog. That makes me a happy man. I am grateful and life is good!
I have a thing for vintage glass, especially that glass that exhibits character. This sprig of Penstemon I found on walkies in the National Forest finally gave me a decent capture with the Sony A7Sii and a Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar wide open, SOOC.
Monday morning, The Girl and I were out fairly early for us. I made coffee and had some water, but I had a blood draw scheduled (late for me), so there was no food. Without the distraction of food and knowing that I had a hard stop of a return by 1030h, we headed out an hour earlier than normal. A new-to-me CZJ 135mm f/3.5 Sonnar had arrived a few days earlier and I had it out several times before. But Monday morning the Penstemon finally gave me a decent image with a darker background.
The CZJ Sonnar produces a nice background, particularly in the 135mm focal length and shot wide open. I find the Sony A7Sii very forgiving to a wide range of light with an electronic shutter that goes all the way down to 1/8000th of a second.
We kept moving because of my appointment, but paused now and again for me to make an image and to sip a bit of water. At the turn-around point in our loop, I get out the liter bottle and her bowl and gave her a good drink. After that short break, we were off again to return to the rig and get on with the day.
I have a number of vintage lenses that produce nice images. None of them produce perfect images; but all exhibit a quality that I find interesting. If I want a near perfect image, I have lots of Fujinon glass that con do it. But I find myself enjoying the less than perfect rendering of many of these vintage lenses more pleasing than the more clinical look of modern glass.
We made it home before 1030h. I had plenty of time for a shower, to make sure The Girl had enough water and that she cooled down, and a buffer to head off for my blood draw. Then I was able to go get some lunch and was plenty hungry.
I need to work more with this Sonnar, the 35mm f/2.8 Flektogon, and a couple of Tessar formula normal lenses in my collection.
It was a good day. We camped out in the house tolerating the heat, but the swampy kept the living room cool enough. I am grateful. Life is good.
