Asahi Pentax Super MC Takumar 50/1.4 : Sushi tools

Im almost out of stock archival images!! Oh noes!
this was from last weeks sushi escapade, I didnt realise how much I manipulate some of these scenes until I looked atthe files afterwards .

I dont mean by post processing , I mean moving items around, or removing things from the shot , or angling menus and/or napkins to reflect light around. As you can see in the shot to the left , Its a bottle of Soy sauce, 3 small dishes ( I dont know their proper name) and chopsticks that I removed from their wrapper but unseparated. The first few didnt work out, but once I removed the napkins and placemats , and slid the items directly under a spotlight, it was the shot I was looking for . My daughter says I used a menu to reflect the light onto the bottle.

 Super Multi Coated Takumar 50/1.4 at f1.4 and ISO 800 .


The news I was talking about was grabbing an actual autofocus pentax lens, the FA 50/1.4 that has the same optical formula as this lens, so we shall see how the images turn out.

Pentax Super MC Takumar 50mm/f1.4 : Miso Hungry ( desktop wallpaper)

Someone asked me for a desktop wallpaper recently, so I made this one from the *sushi set*

 I focused about 3 inches prior to the bowl and i had it away from the spotlights so it has a nice subdued lighting, and a rich colour to it all.

 The top part is the bowl of miso soup, and the bottom left is a piece of Red Tuna Sushi ( yum!) taken at ISO 800 on my Pentax KX and my lens of yore, Super Multi Coated takumar 50/1.4

Full size here, enjoy

Super Takumar 50/1.4 : Miso Soup for the soul

 Continuing with my theme of food establishment fotos, I took my eldest daughter to the local authentic sushi bar , well I guess she took me because I wanted to go to the coffee place :)

 We had a 24 piece party pack of sushi and maki and it was delicious except for the miso soup which I didnt like ( she didnt either)  being a kid she got away with " I dont like it" and I had to make do with " I left some in the bowl so I can take some photos of it ":)

 Im trying something new that I learned on another site , Thorsten Overgaards excellent site . For outdoors Im using ISO 100 for indoors ISO 800 , and I am also trying to use the lenses as close to wide open as possible , so this shot is:

 Pentax KX with 1971 Asahi Pentax Takumar 50/1.4 @ 1.4 ISO 800 and shutter speed of  1/60 second. The in-body IS ability of the KX is a godsend for these type of shots , and I also found that the density of the Takumar makes the camera really easy to hold steady as it ends up being well balanced.  full size here

 I mostly took this shot as I noticed the crazy bokeh of the spotlights in the restaurant , and I cheated alittle by sliding my bowl directly underneath one of them !

later , now Im hungry, just not for Miso

Contax Carl Zeiss Planar 85/1.4 T* : Portraiture excellence

One of the bargains I found that is normally not a bargain was my Contax Planar 85 lens , or to call it by its full name the:

Cpntax Carl Zeiss T* 85/1.4 Planar   I got for a really great price from a retired photographer in Saskatoon

The downside of it is that it wont work on my KX without some hardware modifications and I am reluctant to do so as its a rare German made version as I said before.

 The upside is : the incredible clarity and definition even on a 7 year old Canon Rebel XT , this was taken at a party for my daughter and using natural light only . Handheld and wide open my mother seems to pop out of the frame, but as she said " I look like an old woman" funny how being 67 does that to someone!

DDR Pentacon 50/1.8 : bargain lenses part Vb

Ok,
  I was a bit disappointed with the performance of the pentacon outdoors in the harsh winter glare, I need to buy a lenshood methinks! Saying that, I went out for a coffee with a friend of mine, and it was -21C outside, which apart from being cold as all get out was great for my car stereo, i dont think the sound has ever been so clear and crisp!

 I ordered my usual drink and for some reason this time it was bubbly, I mean REALLY bubbly, so before i put in my dairy product I took 3 or 4 shots with the Pentacon 50 wide open at ISO 800 .

 One major advantage of the Pentacon is that it can focus down to 0.3 metres, so thats what I did to see how the quality and depth of field are, and i must say i am pleasantly surprised  , the middle bubbles are in focus, the foreground ones arent and the ones at the back of the mug have the crazy Euro-style swirly bokeh that I like in these oldies. Im thinking I should print it out and see if the coffee shop will hang it up.........

Helios 44m-6 58mm f2 : Bubbling blue clouds

This summer I seemed to spend alot of time taking shots of sunsets and sunrises ( a good thing!) as we had so many that were gorgeous , or maybe it was that I never paid attention to them before, Im not sure which.

 Once again, the trusty Pentax KX and the soviet M42 gem Helios 44m-6 , the lens for some reason has a way of making the images *pop* I guess thats what you get when you copy a lens formula from Carl Zeiss , luckily as I mentioned before, it was 40 dollars and not 200+

This was taken at f4 and the sun had started to set, but the clouds above were still in the sunlight and gave off the awesome radiance that you see here

l8r

A little lens flare for a cool January day: Pentacon 50/1.8

Just a quick post here, I decided to see how that pentacon 50/1.8 did when it was sunny out this winter, not so good I fear, it is tremendously flare prone and even by using lightroom to within an inch of its life, this image still isnt as good as I would like it to be, but I put that down to my lack of l33t post-processing skillz than any deficiencies with Adobes excellent lightroom 3

  This is the tree outside my house taken at f2 ( f1.8 has no shape to the out of focus highlights) and you can see the hexagonal flares in the ice drops quite readily