Canon FL 50mm f1.4

Boat -- NEX-5N & Canon FL 50mm f.14 @ f1.4, ISO 1000

The Canon FL mount was the predecessor of the Canon FD mount.  Basically, it's a very simple mount without any sort of automation, such as aperture priority or speed priority.  All these are really the same mount.  Most FL lenses will work on FD bodies as with stopped-down metering.  I did try the FL 58mm f1.2 on the Canon T90 and it worked well.  The Canon FL 50mm f1.4 lens has the same build quality as the FL 58mm f1.2.  Both lenses have the A/M switch for manual aperture control.  This feature was removed from the later FD and New FD mounts.

Red Tulips -- Panasonic G1 & Canon FL 50mm f1.4

In terms of optical quality, it's slightly less sharp wide open than the FD 50mm f14 SSC or the nFD 50mm f1.4, but is still usable.  Lots of purple fringing at wide apertures on scenes with strong back lighting, but improves when stopped down.  There isn't too much difference between f4 and f8.  All three mounts of this lens are excellent when stopped down a little.  I find the colour of the FL 50mm f1.4 to be very neutral, compared to the FD and nFD versions.

In all, I like this lens.  When you hold it in your hands, you feel the quality of the all metal construction.  The 8-blade aperture helps this lens' nice bokeh.  I don't see too many of this lens, but lots of the cheaper, but not any less well made 50mm f1.8 version, which is also a nice lens.  All the FL lenses I have were made with quality regardless of class.  The FL 50mm f1.8 feels just as good as the FL 58mm f1.2.  For us manual focus lens addicts, a well made lens is just as important as its optics.  In this department, the FL lenses deliver, and their optical quality is not too shabby either.  Grab them if you see them cheap.

Colours!

Ryan Playing Video Game --1D Mark III & EF 50mm f1.2L 

Itsn't it unbelievable that our digital cameras capture colour images with a black & white sensor?  Ok, cameras using the X3 Foveon sensors are excepted, as it uses a vertical filter on the sensor itself, but majority of digital cameras use a Bayer Array sensor, which was invented by Kodak, and colour is interpolated from the RGBG filter.  Today's Bayer sensors are so good, colour accuracy is truly amazing.  Luckily, we don't have to worry about the technical side of this stuff.  We just point, and click, so to speak.

William

William -- Canon 1D III & EF 50mm f1.2L

I like taking candid pictures of my kids.  It was a lot easier when they were young but as they grow older, they are more aware of my presence, especially with camera in hand.  Occasionally, I am still able to snap a picture here and there without them paying much attention to me.  I look at it this way, any picture I can take of them is a bonus.  A little piece of memory that I will enjoy looking back when the kids have all grown up and live their own lives.  That, I think, is why so many of us love to take pictures.  We are capturing our present for the future to see.

Canon 28mm f2.8 IS & 24mm f2.8 IS Lenses

Mystic Lamps -- NEX-5N & Kodak Anastigmat 50mm f1.6 Cine Lens.

Today we are bombarded with product announcements from many companies in the photography business.  The Nikon D800 got a lot of attention with the highest resolution sensor on a consumer DSLR; a whopping 36MP of it.  This kind of resolution was strictly medium format back just couple years ago.  It shows how far digital photography has gone.  Anybody needs that 36MP is completely another business.  Just imagine 70+ MB RAW files.  Storage is cheap, but this is insanity.

But, I am more interested in the Canon lens announcements.  The long waited 24-70mm f2.8L is a bit of a disappointment for many, as it lacks the image stabilization (IS).  The more consumer friendly 28mm and 24mm f2.8 IS are far more interesting, in my opinion.  This is the sign that Canon has finally started to revamp their consumer primes, at least for these two, which were introduced near the beginning of the EOS.

Frankly, these two lenses are a complete surprise for lots of people.  In fact, I didn't read anything about them before they were announced.  I would be completely happy with them, if the image quality holds up, which I have no doubt it would, until I saw the retail price of $800 for the 28mm and $850 for the 24mm.  The currently selling price of them is $330 and $450 Can$ respectively.  The addition of IS doubles the price of the existing lenses.  Canon is getting a bit greedy here, don't you think?

Toronto Mounted Police

Mounted Police -- NEX-5N & Kodak Anastigmat 50mm f1.6 Cine Lens

Even in this age where everything is motorized, Toronto still has the mounted unit that patrols the city.  Quite often you will see them around the downtown streets,  or the know that they have been there from the horse droppings left behind.  I guess it's more of a tradition than mobility.  Sure the horses will run faster than human, but pretty much everything that requires mobility is done on cars and motorcycles.  I do welcome the presence of the horses though.  I think they look great and is sort of an attraction for tourists.

The End of the Kodak Moment?

Young rose leaves -- Kodak SLR/c & Carl Zeiss S-Planar 60mm f2.8 Makro. Click for larger. 

I meant to write about my thoughts on the demise of the once great Kodak company when they announced that they were filing for Chapter 11, but never got around to it.  I will never know how Kodak has fallen so hard and eventually on the last draw of its breath, but I think the executive management has a lot to do with it, along with the marketing department.  In so many ways, Kodak was a pioneering company that has given us so many advances in photography, analog or digital.  It was the first company to market a professional digital SLR (and of course the sensor in it), and for a long time, they were the only game in town.  Sure, the bodies came from Nikon and Canon, but the digital technology was all Kodak.  It was the slow adaptation to consumer digital cameras that kill them.  They were holding on to film, and hoping that digital would not make it.  It's too bad that they were wrong, and I am sure it's a little too late trying to regain any market share, not to mention the paper thin margins on consumer digital cameras these days.

I had the Kodak SLR/c full frame for a few months, and that was my first full frame DSLR.  Unfortunately, as much as I love the colour and image quality from base ISO, it was a clunky camera and wouldn't even work with my 135mm f2L lens (won't focus, but other lenses were OK).  It was based on the old Sigma 7 body and everything about it was slow and the LCD screen is next to useless.  The dinosaur like 1Ds was like a race car compared to this ancient piece of hardware.  I simply couldn't stand it.

I hope they will restructure, at least keeping the Kodak company alive, but I highly doubt it will ever be a photographic imaging company again, at least not in the consumer market, especially if they sell off their sensor technology.
 

My Love

My Love -- 1D Mark III & EF 85mm f1.2L @ f1.2, ISO 1600

The person in the picture above is my wife, Jessica.  We have been married for just over 16 years, and we dated for 11 years prior to that.  I know for fact that we will be together till the very end; we are made for each other.  You see, we never dated anyone else before we knew each other.  My life has changed in so many ways, to the better, because of her.  I am amazed of her tolerance of my many faults, one of which is the addiction to photographic gear.  She is way smarter than she gives herself credits for, and she never wavers in the principles that she believes in.  She is a person I can trust and believe in; a person who will be there when I need her the most; a person who will never abandon me when I have nothing left; a person who I can't wait to come home to, regardless how far away I am.  I love this woman!

The Conductor

The conductor -- 1D Mark III & EF 85mm f1.2L @ f1.2, ISO 800

This little kid was play conducting along side the real conductor at my kid's winter concert.  I thought it was funny.  Too bad the angle wasn't good to include the real conductor with the more of the players.  Usually these plays lasts about a minute and a half, so there wasn't a lot of time to change lens or get a different angle. Another plug for the 85mm f1.2L.  It's one of those lenses that never lets you down, even at f1.2.  The only other 85mm f1.2 lens that I know of, and is on par with image quality, is the Zeiss Contax 50 anniversary 85mm f1.2.

Flash Back on the Old Love

Megan -- Canon 1Ds & EF 50mm f1.8 Mark I

Going through some of my old pictures and found this one above that I took more than 3 years ago for testing the 50mm f1.8 version I (metal mount) on the original, very old 1Ds.  For some reason, I LOVE the colour from the 1Ds and its image quality at low ISO is still one of the best.  If not for the abysmal LCD screen, very slow operation and the one level of image magnification on playback, I would have kept this beautifully made full frame camera.  I really took this camera everywhere I went since it was my only camera at the time, and I am really glad that I did.

By the way, the 50mm f1.8 Mark I is really nice.  If Canon can upgrade the Arc-Form Drive motor to Ultra Sonic Motor (USM), it will sell like hot cakes if priced under $200.  But then again, Canon wants you to buy the 50mm f1.4 or 50mm f1.2L.

Manual Focus Lenses and Exposure Issues on Canon DSLR

Canon 1D Mark III & EF 180mm f3.5 Macro

If you have been using manual focus lenses on Canon DSLRs, you will know that the exposure is not accurate as you stop the lens down.  Basically you need to compensate -1 stop for each stop down.  On the 1-series of bodies, this is not as bad, but it's still there.  The severity depends on the lens.  Some are better than others, but all seem to exhibit this problem.  You will eventually get used to it and automatically adjust.  When live-view appears on the Canon DSLRs, and if you take pictures using it with manual focus lenses, the problem is gone.  Very accurate exposure on any aperture using live-view.

For EVIL users, they never knew what the fuzz is all about, since all of them use some sort of live-view and exposure has never been an issue.  This is one reason I like using manual focus lenses on EVIL cameras -- very accurate exposures on any aperture.