Let's talk about lenses.

[Ben Rubinstein]

Back to an old favorite that I don't think I've used for two years or more.

Yesterday arguably the leading Rabbi of the Jewish people, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, passed away. The burial ceremony was to take place some 100 yards away from my studio and with an estimated million people coming to the ceremony (yes I said a million, police reported over 10% of the entire country there!) I skedaddled about 3 hours before the start otherwise I would have been stuck there till after midnight. I biked over to David's Tomb in the Old City of Jerusalem, the site where King David is said to be buried. There have been extensive renovations at the site over the past couple of years and the architect was a genius of lighting. The tonality and lighting they have created there is to die for. I need to spend far more time there but until then...

David's Tomb, Lensbaby Composer, single lens element, f22, handheld at a 1/100, iso 6400 on the 5D3 which is remarkably film like. I could not believe just how much I could pummel and abuse that iso 6400 file and still hold the tones. We are blessed to live in this age of photography IMO.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f2.8 G ED. I am liking this lens very much as an all-purpose lens.

@24mm-f11​

This is my favorite. I wonder if you took more of the scene. I'd love to see the rest of the tree on the right! I wonder how this seems to you, Cem, compared to your experience with the 24MM Canon 24mm TSE?

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Spent an hour today trying to calibrate the focus on my 50L which is driving me insane. I went out today to do some shooting with the hopefully fully calibrated lens. The light was gorgeous an hour before sunset and I captured a bunch of shots with the great light. Of course dufus here had forgotten to switch back to AF from the testing, the one shot which by chance had the focus exactly where I wanted it was also the shot which I liked the most. Phew, wipes brow. Not bad getting the focus perfect by chance at f1.2!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Spent an hour today trying to calibrate the focus on my 50L which is driving me insane. I went out today to do some shooting with the hopefully fully calibrated lens. The light was gorgeous an hour before sunset and I captured a bunch of shots with the great light. Of course dufus here had forgotten to switch back to AF from the testing, the one shot which by chance had the focus exactly where I wanted it was also the shot which I liked the most. Phew, wipes brow. Not bad getting the focus perfect by chance at f1.2!

Ben,

This photograph takes me by surprise. The sharp focus on the window iron work, yet softness of the figure in the distance works well here. I'd have thought it was with a LF camera. I use the 50mm f1.2 Canon L lens, lens wide open, just for isolating the subject in still life, portraits and groups of people. (Now, with built in corrections for aberrations in Canon Cameras and some RAW software, it should be even more useful.)

Your use of this lens wide open for architectural scenes in street photography in Jerusalem's old city is to say the least, unusual and brave, but more likely, a little meshugah!

I'm really looking forward to seeing more of how this lens can render the ancient stone passageways and buildings of Jerusalem's old city.

BTW, how do you calibrate focus?

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

This was opposite the shuk to be exact.

I actually switch off the vignetting correction in ACR for this lens. Part of the attraction. The rendition is very good, one of the only 35mm lenses that can 'fake' a larger format look and get away with it successfully IMO.

I've been shooting urban landscapes for a while at 1.4 or 1.2 depending on lens. You've seen plenty samples of it here. I find it suits the more dream like way I'm trying to portray my thoughts as I walk through the city these days. Works for me.

I calibrated using the Dot tune method which is a module available with the Magic Lantern hack (read up on dot tune and ML then read this). Nice and easy way to do it though somewhat beta still. It's still a very frustrating lens to use. Close up the focus shift is horrific and in general at f1.2 it's a c**pshoot whether the focus will hit or not. Suppose it would be boring if it was all easy....

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Was in the UK for my sisters wedding, took a couple of days with the kids in the very rainy Lake District. Got up before dawn (who am I kidding, dawn was 8am! ) to shoot this image. My first fine art image with the A7r. Shot at iso 25600, yes, quarter of a million iso, about f2 on my 50mm Super Takumar handheld pre-dawn. It's a very fun camera to do this stuff with. Tiny old feel camera in hand, pipe in the side of my mouth pre dawn by a wet roadside. Not sure that life gets much better in the photography world....

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Ben,

Was in the UK for my sisters wedding, took a couple of days with the kids in the very rainy Lake District. Got up before dawn (who am I kidding, dawn was 8am! ) to shoot this image. My first fine art image with the A7r. Shot at iso 25600, yes, quarter of a million iso,. . .

Well, not quite! But still an impressive sensitivity.

about f2 on my 50mm Super Takumar handheld pre-dawn. It's a very fun camera to do this stuff with. Tiny old feel camera in hand, pipe in the side of my mouth pre dawn by a wet roadside. Not sure that life gets much better in the photography world....

Just lovely.

Glad you find the A7r good to work with.

As to fine art, all photography is art, and this is certainly fine.

Thanks for sharing.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Ben,

Try shooting at ISO 1600-3200 and underexpose 3-4 EV instead of shooting at such high ISOs. Total noise will be equal or less and you will have no problems with highlights clipping.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Didn't have any clipping. This way I get WYSIWYG in the viewfinder which is worth the extra is it not? Teach me.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

As to fine art, all photography is art, and this is certainly fine.

Here is one which is more just messing around, Pentax Super Takumar 35mm f2 wide open. Not sharp but character oozing out of it! A friend gave me a Takumar 28mm 3.5, 35mm f2 and 135mm f3.5 as payment for setting up his lightroom for him. Not sure about the other two but the 35mm is a lot of fun. Gorgeous rendition.

 

[Alain Briot]

Spent an hour today trying to calibrate the focus on my 50L which is driving me insane. I went out today to do some shooting with the hopefully fully calibrated lens. The light was gorgeous an hour before sunset and I captured a bunch of shots with the great light. Of course dufus here had forgotten to switch back to AF from the testing, the one shot which by chance had the focus exactly where I wanted it was also the shot which I liked the most. Phew, wipes brow. Not bad getting the focus perfect by chance at f1.2!

Beautiful.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Thanks Alain, coming from you it means a lot.

Was teaching a class on perspective sitting on this bench, the walls and trees there are perfect for explaining the concept. By the end of the class it was getting really cold. The kids were too busy complaining to notice the literally just two minutes of golden light but I borrowed my camera back and shot this quickly. 28mm has never been a focal length I 'see' in so please forgive what is for me a rather over easy/technical composition. This was a Pentax Takumar SMC 28mm f3.5 lens a friend gave me. First time taking it out to be honest. A7r handheld at f16, iso 3200. 36 megapixels, 50 year old wide angle lenses and handholding with frozen hands are not really the best recipe for landscape photography to be honest. The detail is around the 10 megapixel mark.

 

[Alain Briot]

You are welcome Ben. I enjoy the human element in your street photographs. The combination of both work very well in the image I commented on previously. There is also an element of mystery coming from the blurry area which creates a certain ambiguity about the meaning and the subject of the image.

In your new color image I like how the bench continues the curve of the path. Well seen.

I agree with you regarding the 28mm focal length in 35mm. It hasn't worked for me either. It's not wide enough for a true wide angle (I prefer a 24 or wider) and it's too wide as a normal lens (I prefer a 35mm or longer)!

How do you like the A7R overall?

Alain

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

That's a mine field question!

OK. Menu's suck. Shutter release position and feel suck. Shutter lag suck big time. Seems to be very picky with lens choices due to a thick cover glass on the sensor which is annoying as I did want to buy a 50mm Summilux pre asph. They talk of shutter vibration with slower speeds and long lenses (not lenses I use though).

But.....

For those of us who love the feel of what an SLR used to be like prior to the end of the 1980's, it's absolute heaven. Small, light wonderful metal body. All that and the most advanced sensor in the 35mm world. I've yet to try it in it's role as a super high resolution camera, until now just enjoying the incredible tonality that the sensor gives. The point is though for this price and this size, it's a two faced camera. On one hand a fun and small street camera that you carry everywhere, on the other a serious medium format contender. When I think that I have all this for the price I sold my Canon 5D3 for second hand. I've not had this much fun with a camera for a decade.

The shutter lag is a problem though. 163ms according to imaging review. That's compared to 42ms on a D800 or even 85ms on my old Canon 5Dc's. It's losing me moments. I'm trying to work out how to work around it.

 

[Alain Briot]

That's a very insightful report. Thank you. It works for me in giving me a good idea of what it is like to use this camera. The reason I asked is because I read all sorts of things about it on the web. This camera seems to be creating quite a bit of stir!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Ben,

Glad to see you this morning and a hearty mazaltov on your new camera! The image here is very special for the match of millennia of the golden stone walls with the golden light on the modern bench.

The failure of the 28mm to excite you is due to the lack of it's use I'm part. Of course 24 and 21 are more exciting, they compress and give us so much more than simple glances can catch. However, the 28 mm is more contemplative and just needs to be used more to get to now it better.

Here, I'd love you to investigate the latitude you might have in the shading in the branches of the tree, or is it all dark and flat? The ability to rebuild dimensionality in shadowed areas would be a great reach for a camera like this.

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

I'm a 50mm man. If I go wide I prefer 24mm myself. 28mm has never really excited me.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Asher, are you calibrated where you're viewing this? The branches are not black at all, subtle dark greens. I know my screen is ok, I just printed an entire exhibit for my students and we used my screen as reference. It's a new one, NEC Spectraview 232. Cost me the sale of two flashguns but IMO well worth the cost.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

In your new color image I like how the bench continues the curve of the path. Well seen.

Alain

Rule of thirds and obvious leading lines is rather boring though. Just wanted to share as it's taken with an old and rarely seen (probably as it's very mediocre) lens. It's not a keeper image. I don't really do colour these days.

 

[Asher Kelman]

It's not a keeper image. I don't really do colour these days.

Ben,

Don't dismiss it! Not been processed really. Send it to me, I'd love to work on it. You kill of your creations too quickly!

Asher

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Compositionally it does not interest me. As I said, posted just as an example of an old lens.

 

[Michael Nagel]

Ben,

I do not have the 28/3.5 so this is third-party information, but I would not dismiss the lens that quickly. At least during film times it was considered a good lens. Personal preferences aside, 28mm FoV is somehow inbetween but it has its justification and occasional charm.

The A7(r) is certainly interesting, but it seems that you cannot easily use the Leica M lenses easily. As long as you stick with SLR lenses, the issues in the corners seem not to be that dominant.

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

I'll test it on a tripod when I next get a free moment and post my conclusion, ditto the 35mm f2 Super Takumar that I have. These were all freebies from a friend so nothing lost if they aren't any good. Now if only the fast wide rangefinder lenses worked on the A7r, I'd love a small 24 1.4 lens, it's the lens I always dreamed of when shooting weddings but I needed the versatility of the 16-35L that I used instead.

I haven't worked out yet whether to buy a metabones adaptor and use my canon lenses. They are good and a known factor it's just with such a small camera they would look rather ridiculous and somewhat defeat the purpose. Playing with getting the OM 21mm f3.5 instead to replace the 16-35L, it's a tiny and pretty good lens. Still not sure of an 85mm replacement for portrait use. Was thinking of a Jupiter 9 but the low contrast wide open makes peaking very hit and miss.

Anyone know of a good and fast (f2 or faster) 85/90mm equivalent that is not over contrasty, nice bokeh and stops down well but is small? Perhaps the Contax G 90mm eventhough it's f2.8?

 

[Michael Nagel]

Anyone know of a good and fast (f2 or faster) 85/90mm equivalent that is not over contrasty, nice bokeh and stops down well but is small? Perhaps the Contax G 90mm?

Personally I like the Pentax M85/2 (I still have it), it is small and lightweight. A little soft at f2 and tack sharp at f2.8 and above.

An example.

If you want so see more send me a message.

The FA 77/1.8 Limited is slightly larger and more contrasty.

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Thanks for those options Michael! I like the idea of the limited though it's a drop short it's faster and the limited's have legendary colour.

 

[Jerome Marot]

Anyone know of a good and fast (f2 or faster) 85/90mm equivalent that is not over contrasty, nice bokeh and stops down well but is small?

For the A7r, the Minolta AF 85 f/1.4 is an obvious choice.

 

[Asher Kelman]

For the A7r, the Minolta AF 85 f/1.4 is an obvious choice.

Would that then have AF working?

 

[Jerome Marot]

Would that then have AF working?

With the Sony adapter with the translucent mirror, yes.

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

With the Sony adapter with the translucent mirror, yes.

Given that it requires an expensive adaptor and is SLR sized I'm not sure it's that obvious. I'm looking for something small which won't look as incongruous as a mini pulling a tractor trailer. Even my tiny Takumar 50mm once you add the adaptor and (small) hood sticks out further horizontally than my 50L did on my DSLR. I've still got all my Canon lenses. Playing with the idea of buying the metabones or the cheaper equivelent but I do think it's a waste of the ability to go small.

 

[Michael Nagel]

The Minolta AF 85 f/1.4 is certainly excellent, but less on the small and lightweight side.

Best regards,
Michael