The Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM - the "best f2.8mm 50"

My pal Bob "made me" get a Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM lens awhile back.  His sage words of advice were "It is the best f2.8 50 around"... It is tough to focus and dreamy at f1.2.  It is much better at f2 and in fact it is great at f2.8.  This shot was taken of the hand painted Totoro iPhone case that my daughter made for my son for his 14th birthday.  Even has his name in Japanese and a few soot sprites.  Leica MP-240, Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM at f2.8.

Totoro iPhone case by Sara.  Canon 50mm f1.2 LTM @ f2.8 (Leica MP-240@ ISO 2500)

The return of the 50mm Summitar

Well, not really the return of the Summitar, just the taking out of the drawer of the Summitar.  My friend Mark showed me his Dad's Summitar yesterday and that motivated me to take mine out and use it a bit.  Here's a shot of Tony looking out the window on a rainy Sunday (today) tracking a squirrel.  Shot on the Leica MP-240 f2.8 @ 1/60th.  The Summitar has a cool look that is less clinical that the Summicron.

Leica 50mm f2 Summitar @ f2.8 (Leica MP-240)

Leica SL and 35mm Summilux FLE

I've had the good fortune of being able to borrow a friend's Leica SL body for a few days.  My pal Steve just came up for a visit and I brought the SL and my 35mm Summilux FLE along to breakfast.  This shot was taken at Slickity Jim's Chat & Chew - a local favorite spot.  This photo was taken at f2.8 @ 1/100th of a sec and ISO 1600.  The bokeh (quality of the out of focus areas) is pretty nice on this lens and the SL images great in B&W (here converted using Nik).  We hope to snag a Sony A7RII for some testing and comparison this week. 

Steve @ Slickity Jim's 13 Nov 2017.  Leica SL & 35mm Summilux FLE

Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM

Image taken with a Canon VI-L camera on Kodak Portrait 400 with a Canon 50mm 1.4 LTM lens.  This copy of the 50 Canon 1.4 was CLA'd by guru Gary Cullen and is one of the nicest Canon 50mm lens I've had or used.  Film was processed and "low res scanned" at the local drug store (London Drugs).  This lens has a great price/performance ratio and works great on film and digital bodies.  Photo was taken in Kitsilano (Vancouver, BC neighborhood) at the site of the pool which is under construction.

Nikon S2 with 35mm 1.8 W-Nikkor and Nikon 35mm viewfinder

This Nikon S2 Black Dial is new to me (was Robert R's of Nikon RF fame) and is the first black dial I've owned.  The Nikon S2 (silver dial) was my first real RF camera.  My dad and I shot with a pair of these S2's both with 50mm 1.4 Nikkors in the early 1970's.  The black dial is just a bit newer version, but it looks and feels the same.  This set up is very smooth to use and rivals the Nikon SP, which had a tiny built in 35mm viewfinder.  This 35mm lens is a well known classic that sadly can't be mounted with an RF coupled adapter to a Leica M.  This has me wondering if I should invest in the LTM version of the lens...

The new face of Isaac

Isaac at breakfast at Slickity Jim's (http://slickityjims.com) this morning.  This is his new (to him) hand-me-down iPhone 4.  This will likely be a common view of him.  Shot on a Leica M9 with Canon 35mm f2 (DAG serviced) at f4, ISO320, post in Nik2.  I love that little Canon 35, but wish it would focus a bit closer as it was challenging to get this shot "in-booth".

3 years since being spoiled by a 50 'lux

Facebook just showed me this image (posted 3 years ago today on FB).  It was taken with a Leica M9 and a borrowed 50mm Summilux ASPH.  My pal Dave loaned me the 'lux for the long weekend.  This frame caused me to abandon my 50mm 'cron and buy a 50 'lux.  Today, this lens is still one of my all time fav's.  It delivers consistently and does great wide open.  According to the EXIF data, this shot was taken at f2, but I recall it being shot wide open.  

Richmond Night Market

At the kids urging we went to the Richmond Night Market http://www.richmondnightmarket.com which is the largest night market in North America.  What is a night market?  Fast food (some a bit scary), stalls selling cell phone gear and various odd trinkets, some carnival games and a Karaoke stage.  Big fun.  The kids have gone a few times on their own this summer.  Naomi & I haven't been since we first moved to Vancouver.  It was more fun then we expected.  The macaroni and cheese roti was a nice treat.

The kids each bought a Totoro lid (on the right) which magically adhere to a cup.  Leica M240 50 'lux

In addition to the Ramen noodle Burger (fried Ramen noodle patty and conventional burger), this food stall also offered fried SPAM sticks as an option. M240 with 28 'cron

Isaac looked pretty happy - he had just left a stall selling combat knives... He has a switchblade comb that he does tricks with, but hasn't figured out how to talk me into buying him a knife yet.  M240, 50 'lux.

First roll of Minox film back from Blue Moon

After what seems like years of no availability of film for Minox Cameras, Blue Moon in Portland, OR is supplying several types of film and offering processing and scanning services.  This allowed me to test my relatively new (to me) Minox C.  The testing of this Minox required some battery research as the PX27 that the C uses is long unavailable other than from some old stock sources in Europe.  The S27PX (6V) I sourced from Amazon seemed to fire the C ok (shutter speeds sounded about right) even though the voltage was a bit high.  Good news is that the Minox C seems to work fine.  This shot is of my son Isaac next to our street box veggie garden.  This was taken on Delta 100.  This post is a scan of a Blue Moon print.  They print on square paper and there is a nice "look" to the prints.  New life for an old format that I loved when I was younger.  Next stop is some ISO 400 B&W.

Isaac by the berries - June 2015.  Minox C, Delta 100, scanned Blue Moon print

Leica Q

Just came back from the SF Leica Academie workshop lead by Peter Turnley and had the chance to shoot a few frames with a Leica Q.  Very fast autofocus and very easy to manually place the focus spot.  Also the best manual focus I've used on a mirrorless.  Nice job Leica.

Peter in action.  Shot with Tom Britchta's day old Leica Q