New Toys from the Camera Show

I was debating whether or not to go the camera show today; last time I went, I spent more than I should and didn't get anything unique. In the end, gear addiction won, and my body had to follow so camera show I went. Met a few old friends there which was nice.  Ever since the old Henry's Outlet Store moved, those of us used to hang out there no longer see each other much, except at photo shows.

In a way, I am glad I went today. Got a few unique lenses, and most importantly, they are very reasonably priced. The Pancolar 50mm f2, which I owned a copy before but had problems, and sold it at the yard sale at give away price. The copy I got today is a beaut. It's in very nice condition and came in the Exakta mount. This lens will be a nice complement to my Pancolar 80mm f1.8.  We will see how it performs. If the Pancolar 80mm f1.8 is any indication, the 50mm f2 will be a fine lens.

Steve, who talked about Topcon lenses in the comments section of this post got me intrigued in these lenses. Ever since, I have had my eye and ear open for them and today my wish is partially fulfilled. Got a Topcon body with two beautiful lenses: 58mm f1.8 and 10cm (100mm) f2.8. Both lenses are in excellent condition. Frankly, I am overjoyed. Don't much care about the camera body, though it is in equality nice shape, but these lenses really make you fall in love with them. Steve is right, these are great lenses. I would probably try to get a collection of the Auto-Topcor and find the 28mm, 35mm, 85mm,  135mm and the 58mm f1.4 and any other focal lengths that they made.

Can't wait for the colors of spring to roll around and try out these lenses.

Three Amigos - Pancolar 50mm f2, Topcor 58mm f1.8, Torcor 10cm f2.8. Click for larger.

Leslieville Pumps

Leslieville Pumps is my favourite gas station.  For the last few years, this, and the Costco gas stations, are the only places where I get my gasoline.  Leslieville pumps is consistently cheaper than most other gas stations around my area. I reward them by buying from them whenever possible.

Leslieville Pumps - NEX-6 & Canon nFD 50mm f1.2L @ f4. Click for larger.

Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL - Low Light Samples

Many of you already know, that this Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL lens is one of my favourite standard lenses. It's bokeh is delicious and wonderful; its optics superb; and it's one of the most handsome looking lens I have. I felt bad that I haven't used it often enough, so I took it out for some night shots yesterday, as seen below. One of the things I just found out, is that it's flare is very interesting. If you look at the second picture, just under the dark cloud, you will find a flare with star-shape inside a circle. Never seen anything like that before.

Grocery store - NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL @ f1.9. Click for larger

 

Toronto at Night - NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL. Click for larger

New Bridgepoint Hospital - NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 DKL. Click for larger

Fire Station #315

Quite a few historic fire stations in Toronto have very unique architectural designs, and each one is different. This fire station #315 has one of the tallest towers of all the ones I have seen. It's located on College street &  Bellevue Avenue.

Fire Station #315, Toronto - NEX-6 & Voigtlander-Zoomar 36-82mm f2.8.

Graffiti in Toronto

Graffiti is prevalent in most cities, and here in Toronto, graffiti that is not defined as art is considered illegal. Any graffiti appears on the outside of a personal or business property must be removed at the owner's expense. Because of this city by-law, the building right across from where I work has been fighting a losing battle with graffiti "artists". They have been busy removing graffiti on its wall, but usually a few days after the removal of the existing graffiti, another one will replace it.

Graffiti - NEX-6 & Voigtlander Zoomar 36-82mm f2.8 DKL. Click for larger.

OT: Being With the Wrong Person

This morning a radio station asked its listeners if they had ever been with the wrong person. Not surprisingly, quite a few people called in to say yes and for the time I listened to it, mostly women. There were variety of reasons for still being together, despite being with the wrong person: kids, feeling sorry, etc. I do not understand the reasons why people can still be together if they can't stand each other.

Very often, the feeling of being wrong with each other is not mutual. One partner may never even thinks the other is having these feelings, and often shocked when confronted. In situations like this, communication was amiss somewhere between them; I think communication is one of the most important avenues that link one and other, and provides valuable feedback, so that we know how we are doing. Of course we are talking about sincerity and truefulness here. If honesty is not even there, the problem is far worse and no amount of communication can resolve. Being frank and honest is the basis of meaningful communications.

When all else fails, and they are no long able to have the feelings that pulled them together initially, I think people should part gracefully with dignity; It would be torturous for both to hang in there without reason to, and we really need to respect the other's feelings.

Waiting for the streetcar - NEX-6 & Schneider-Kreuznach Retina-Tele-Xenar 135mm f4 DKL

Sigma Mini-Wide 28mm f2.8 - Sample Pictures

This is a Contax/Yashica mount version of the manual focus 28mm f2.8 lens. This was quite a common lens, like most other makes of the same focal length. The lens is multi-coated, but flare resistance isn't too great, as you can see from the picture in my last blog entry. I haven't really tried the lens at f2.8, so don't know if it's any good. I would imagine it would be acceptable. Will test that later.

At f8, the lens is quite decent.  Very sharp in the entire frame on the NEX-6. Probably less good at the corners on full frame. It's a good performer optically, but nothing spectacular. The best thing about this lens, is it's great built quality, and the very cheap price you can buy it for.

More New Condos - NEX-6 & Sigma mini-wide 28mm f2.8 @ f8. Contax mount.

Church - NEX-6 & Sigma mini-wide 28mm f2.8 @f8. Contax Mount.

Garbage Bins

I often wonder what would happen to our living space when we can no longer economically get rid of the increasingly large amount of garbage we produce. A city of a few million people can generate an unbelievable amount of trash. Already, in Toronto, we ran out of landfills, and we were trucking some of our trash to Michigan in the US but that had to stop few years ago, as the Americans had enough of our junk. Now, we are still looking for a site to dump the waste. It will be only a matter of time before the new site fills up, and then what? What would happen 200 years, or 500 years from now? Unless we have fusion engines that uses trash as fuel, we'd better look for a better solution.

Garbage Bins - NEX-6 & Sigma Mini-Wide 28mm f2.8 @f8, Contax Mount. Click for larger

Canon FD 20mm f2.8 - Second Outing

After more than a month of working mostly from home, I have started working in the office again. One of the advantage of working in the office is the opportunity to take pictures in my lunch hour.  The weather was relatively warm today so it was a good day to go out and do some shooting.

The 20mm lens may seem very wide but on the APS-C sensor, it's equivalent to 30mm; a mini wide angle. It's wide enough as a normal wide angle, but not so wide that's it's hard to control. The Canon 20mm f2.8 is quite a nice lens. I intended to test its edge performance today, so that I can compare it to the Sigma 19mm f2.8. At wide apertures, the Canon FD 20mm f2.8 seems a bit better at the corners. In fact, it almost as good as the center (not true outer edges of course, due to the crop sensor of the NEX-6), but the 19mm Sigma has an adge in the middle, which is very sharp at f2.8. I think the bokeh is also nicer on the Sigma at wide open. Over all, I enjoy using the Canon FD 20mm f2.8 lens. It's nicely build and focuses very smoothly, and optically very good.

Bokeh - NEX-6 & Canon FD 20mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Waiting - NEX-6 & Canon FD 20mm f2.8 @ f2.8. Click for larger.

Taxis - NEX-6 & Canon FD 20mm f2.8.

Sigma E-Mount 19mm f2.8 - Photo Set

The Sigma 19mm f2.8 is a versatile lens. With an equivalent focal length of 28.5mm on the NEX cameras, it's wide enough for most shooting situations, but not so wide that it's hard to control. I have been shooting with it in the last few days, and I quite like it. The only thing that pulls it back is its corners, when compared to the 30mm f2.8. It's not as sharp and the distortion is slightly worse. Nevertheless, this is all forgiven due tot he low price. It's a nice bargain indeed.

Yellow School Bus - NEX-6 & Sigma 19mm f2.8. Click for larger.

The (seemingly) abandoned building - NEX-6 & Sigma 19mm f2.8. Click for larger.

The Lock - NEX-6 & Sigma 19mm f2.8. Click for larger.

Old & New - NEX-6 & Sigma 19mm f2.8