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| St. Mary's Church interior @ F4 |
Though sometimes I recommend lenses that might cost a few hundred clams, today I am evaluating a SMC Pentax-M 50mm F/1.7 that was €49 plus a tenner for shipping. If you are lucky enough to be in a populous country with boot sales or pawn shops, you might well find this model cheaper.
This lens was last manufactured 40 years ago, so I am somewhat late with this review!
Does your gear matter? Simple answer: yes.
Those populists who say otherwise are perhaps simply currying favour. Or, to be generous, perhaps they are attempting to counteract the overwhelming commercialisation of the internet, where everywhere you turn someone is proclaiming the newest trinket to be the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time).
But both extremes are wrong. The newest tool won't make your practice better. But it's also true that ignoring the quality of your gear is foolish. This article will assert the review principles that I abide by, so as to place my articles here in the correct context.
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| "Chris" with the Pentax-FA 43mm Limited |
Photographers have argued for decades about a certain appealing quality of an image called "3D pop". Some claim that it doesn't exist. Others concede that it does exist, but deny that lens design has anything to do with the effect. Those that promote 3D pop sometimes resort to hyperbolic claims about the characteristics of certain vintage lenses that (they claim) cannot be found in contemporary glass. The subject is so heated that a few years back it spawned a parody article which, in my opinion, did more harm than good.
Here's my take: 3D pop exists and can be well described. Certain lens designs encourage the production of this effect. While it's not necessarily true to say that older lenses are required for 3D pop, specific vintage lenses are desirable, for reasons that will be explored below.
I've been slowly going through my older lenses and seeing what works best with my Lumix S5. Historically, most of my photography has been on Pentax APS-C and Micro-Four-Thirds formats. A vintage lens made during the film era is more suitable for a full-frame sensor in terms of coverage, but any issues will show up more plainly.
With that in mind, I decided to perform a quick comparison of three lenses I have on hand: Cosina 55mm 1:1.2 MC, SMC Pentax 50mm F1.2, and Zeiss Planar T* 50mm f/1.4.
Some years ago I reviewed this lens by adapting it to the Micro Four Thirds system. I was having fun today, so thought I'd remind my readers of this amazing lens, while sharing photos taken on a full-frame system.
If you are looking for an excellent lightweight laptop for everyday use, I have a suggestion. My impetus for writing this article is not to encourage you to spend more money, quite the opposite. My goal is to highlight a strategy to counter the continuing wastefulness of the tech industries. Read on for a (slight) rant and some (excellent) advice.
The problem of photographic (or cinematic) equivalence is a subject that rears its ugly head every so often. Many people simply misunderstand this concept. For my own benefit I am providing the following summary. Details can be found in the references, but the purpose of this article is to clearly state the objective facts. After this, people can argue as much as they like about personal preferences.
The sections will be numbered for ease of reference.
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening...”
This fantastic quote from Martha Graham is reproduced below in its entirety, together with correct reference. Provided as a resource for those who see this distributed on social media.
This is another blog post in my everyone-asks-this-question-a-million-times-so-now-I-can-just-link-them-here series (patent pending). The problem with most such questions asked on social media is that not enough information is provided. Answers depend on the use case, available equipment, and budget.
All prices provided are for two mics, since I assume that stereo recording is desirable.
Note that I have used very few of these mics in practice but have been aware of their performance for, in some cases, decades. Here I am compiling the expert opinions of others, based on my training as an audio engineer.
Here's a quick article listing the essential applications I install with every new Windows computer. These solve some of the nagging annoyances and make life more efficient.
The great thing about Windows is that every problem has a solution and most of them are open source. All of the solutions below are free. And none require compiling or other technical jiggery-pokery.