Personal

Tony at Lucca Bar & Grill in Benicia, CA. Shot for kicks. Pretty sure this was with a Canon 5D.

I’ve always loved the 28mm focal length. Never a fan the “regular” 50mm, which I always thought was too long for general everyday use, I always gravitated to wider focal lengths because I like to get close but still take in a lot of the scene. I can shoot with an equivalent 28mm or 35mm for the rest of my life and be happy.

When I got a chance to get my hands on Fuji’s 18mm f/2 lens for the X-system at a good price, I had to try it. It has a bit of a reputation for being one of the weakest of Fuji’s lineup of primes. From what I read, the biggest complaints are color fringing and some poor edge sharpness.

I’ve had it for a couple of days now and while I haven’t done any professional shoots with it, I’ve shot it on walks around the studio so I can judge the quality of the lens myself.

This lens is very light. It’s even lighter than the Fuji 27mm f/2.8, which really surprised me. I also really like the square shaped lens hood. Some people think it looks strange but I think it’s quite handsome, not to mention compact–nothing like the more common petal-shaped hoods like the one found on the Fuji 18-55mm, which adds a lot of size to that particular lens.

I also think the image quality if great. I’ve never cared about edge sharpness. I’m not a landscape shooter and I have never scrutinized the edges of a photo for sharpness. My eyes just don’t go there. As for color fringing, I really put this thing to the test and shot it in some of the most difficult situations I could find that would normally give lenses problems with fringing. While I saw some fringing, I only saw it because I was looking for it. In practical use, there wasn’t enough to bother me at all.

I’m really growing fond of this lens. It’s small, light, has an aperture ring unlike the 27mm, and it clicks in 1/3 stops which I love. The image quality is wonderful and I could shoot at 28mm all day, every day. The fact that it is a bright f/2 lens is a huge plus, too. It’s a keeper for me and will probably live on my Fuji XE-2 when I’m not shooting portraits on location or in the studio, and I’m sure it will start sneaking into my studio sessions soon, too.

More pictures of the East Bay Comic-Con in Concord. The first post featured photos taken using 35mm film. This post is the digital stuff. 50mm is a little too long when you get in tight spots at a convention, so I had to take along the Ricoh GR, which has an 28mm-equivalent lens and a big APS-C sensor, despite it’s small size. Really great, unassuming little camera.  Great time at a great con.

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I can walk around a comic book convention all day. Today, I did just that. Soaking in the beautiful art, toys, and comics amidst a thousand other like-minded people makes the day go by so fast. At today’s East Bay Comic-Con in Concord, CA, I shot pictures using my Olympus OM-G, an all manual 35mm film camera with a a 50mm f/1.8 lens, using Kodak UltraMax 400. I shot some digital stuff too–but I’m putting that in another post. I really do still prefer the look and the process of shooting with film, so the film stuff gets it’s own post. I scanned with an Epson V500 flatbed scanner, and read comics with the negatives scanned.

See the second post with the digital photos here.

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Kauai, Poipu Beach.

35mm Fujicolor 200 film loaded into a Fujifilm Klasse S.

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We went to Kauai in October. Shot everything with 35mm Fujicolor 200 film loaded into a Fujifilm Klasse S. The film wasn’t the greatest, as it was hastily purchased because the Kodak I ordered didn’t arrive on time. Shadows have a green tint to them, but such is the personality of different emulsions.

While I certainly would have shot more with digital, I think the volume of what I treasure from this trip would actually have been reduced. I really had to make sure what I was shooting was important enough to document. This is only a small fraction of what I shot, and the rest will remain in the personal archives, to be viewed and treasured only in person, at home. Just like the old days.

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A few more from Davis when we saw our friend’s band at the Davis Flea Market. Flea market-like wares abound, and Tony couldn’t say no to the Swiss Army knife with a flashlight on it.

Saw my friends’ band Dead Cat Hat at the Davis Flea Market in (where else?) Davis with my friend Tony. Had a rollicking good time. They played in an attic space 15 feet above the floor. 15 feet. It was like watching KISS, only the music was better.

I brought the Ricoh GR with me, so all the zooming was done with my legs.

You definitely should be listening to them and going to their shows.

It’s 2014 and time to get back to work. I always have to remind myself that the things we use to create (cameras, computers, pens, pencils, paint, paint brushes, etc.) are just tools.

These are the first photos I’ve taken with my Canon EOS M and 22mm f/2.0 Lens Kit.
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I bought the camera because my Ricoh GR is still in repair, as far as I know CRIS Camera is still waiting for the part to repair it. For my personal photos, I’ve been shooting nothing but film and with my iPhone when it’s convenient. I have nothing I against pictures taken with a phone (outside of the fact that comparatively speaking, they suck)–what I hate is the experience of shooting with a phone.

Shooting exclusively with film again for nearly 2 months straight has reminded me of how we used to shoot pictures–carefully chosen subjects, conservatively exposed frames. Much more thought went into whether we wanted that frame or not. We weren’t so profligate with it, and I feel like my digital shooting is much more careful now because of it (until of course I fall back into the habit of clicking-because-I-can, which is just inevitable with digital).

With the holidays coming and my daughter at the magical age of 2.5, and very aware of the legend that is Santa Claus, I wanted something more robust and capable than an iPhone, and more flexible and generous than film, since we have so many holiday activities planned. To hold myself over, I got a Canon EOS M and 22mm f/2.0 Lens.

At an equivalent focal length of 35mm, and a lens faster than that of my Ricoh GR, the focal length is right in my comfort zone.

After getting out of the office, I decided to take a twilight stroll and push the camera/lens combo’s low-light abilities for my first run through with the camera.

So far I can definitely say I enjoy shooting with the camera, but with the finer controls buried in menus and touchscreens, and only one real spinning control dial and a minimal amount of buttons, my impression is that the EOS-M is a step up from point and shoots (albeit a big step up) rather than an alternative for those who want to leave a D-SLR at home. It feels and acts like a point-and-shoot in its slight sluggishness and choice to use slow-ish shutter speeds, rather than an aggressive picture-making machine like the Ricoh GR.

I haven’t even shot with the camera in daylight yet as of this writing, but I’m definitely looking forward to shooting all weekend with it. I’ll post more as I shoot more.