Category: Photography

If your a fan of fast glass then you have heard of the sublime
Leica 50mm f0.95 Noctilux.

Well its price is as impressive as its aperture, so out of the question for most users.

There is a more affordable option from SLR Magic who have now released new versions of there more affordable options.  The 35mm f/0.95 and the 35mm f/1.4.

These are designed for MicroFourThird Camera’s the Sony NEX and Fuji X range.  While they have the Leica M mount they are not designed for the Leica but with that mount allow you to use an adapter to suite what every small mirror-less camera system you need.

They also produce a version for the Leica M series of cameras but being designed for full frame it is considerably more expensive.

If you interested in lens from SLR Magic check out Steve Huff’s website for more information.

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/12/29/the-new-slr-magic-hyperprime-35mm-t0-95-and-35-t1-4-arrives-for-testing/

http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/02/04/the-slr-magic-hyperprime-50-lm-t0-95-leica-mount-lens-rolling-review/

Star Gazing Live starts tonight on the BBC, always worth a watch.  If you have a telescope or even a pair of binoculars you will be amazed at what you can see on a clear night.

Even a modest camera when combined with a tripod can also produce some fine astronomical images.

1. Shoot 10 portfollio quality images over the year.
2. Shoot my Red Beach Image thats in my head.
3. Shoot my Dancer on Beach Image thats in my head.
4. Shoot at least one picture a month on film.

So how did my 2012 goals go.

Well for portfolio images, 10 is a tough target.

But I think I got there, I certainly have lots of stunning shots to choose from, lots of Landscapes and this year I did a lot of street photography.

For 2, and 3, unfortunately I did not get round to getting the shots.  I did manage to find the location and had short listed and tested a model but unfortunately our calendars never matched.  I’ll be testing a few more models in the coming three months with the hope to getting the shots this spring.

The film side went well.  I shot a lot film on my Large Format Ebony, and my Medium Format Hasselblad as well as on my Leica M4.

January is the annual CES show, and rumour has it that Nikon will be announcing some more glass and bodies for the Nikon Series 1 range.

A few fast primes would be nice and there looks to be another body on the way, a replacement for the J2, to be called the J3, and a new body called the S1.

It will be interesting to see what they have in store.  As a compact replacement there great little cameras but definitely second cameras and not a primary camera.

During a test shoot earlier in the month, after changing the lighting and taking meter readings, I then forgot to change the settings on the camera.  Luckily when shooting digital I always check the shot and the histogram after the first shot after lighting, set or positional change on the back of the camera.

So the above shot is over exposed but the rest were correct. This over exposed shot would normally be rejected, but with the help of the recovery slider in Adobe Lightroom and some adjustment of the back point, it has made a nice and striking high key photograph.

Its always a good idea once you have the photographs you need, to then go on and experiment a little, as in the above mistake, you might a nice shot hiding.