Notes From The Top Left Corner

[Rob MacKillop]

Oh, I like the second very much, Chris. A Mystery Man!

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thank you, I like that one too Rob.
He has an ectoplasm-like aura around the perimeter of his shadow, which I think is great!

 

[Pete Askew]

Love them, Chris. Especially ectoplasm man!

 

[Chris Bennett]

Cheers Pete.

 

[Chris Bennett]

We were supposed to be having a few days away but things changed suddenly and the trip had to be cancelled. The weather is bad and so I've been going through a few things I took earlier this year. I came across these two from a trip to Krakow.

 

[Chris Bennett]

A couple of Adaptall lenses arrived this week. One, I bought because it was cheap, but unused and still sealed inside its original packaging. It's an 80-210 f/3.8-4.0. Apparently this was the UK's best selling zoom lens and, right enough, there are scores of them floating around on the 2nd hand market, and yes, I have several other lenses of a similar spec, but I was unable to resist this immaculate example.

The other is something I find much more interesting and useful - it's a 35-70 with a constant max. aperture of f/3.5. It was this that I strapped onto the NEX 5 body and sallied forth with.
I took a walk along the Lancaster canal to see what there was to see.



White Cross




Longboat Chicane




Leafy Reflections




Arch and Twist

 

[Pete Askew]

Nice focal length range I think. I used one on a Nikon FE as a travel camera for years.

A fine set of captures too. Love the lighting in the first and the textures in the last.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thanks Pete. I like the last one too. I was trying to convey the twisted perspective caused by the bridge having been built to accommodate a bend in the road that it carries. That didn't come off quite as clearly as I had hoped, but like you, I like the textures. Also I was surprised at how vividly and brightly the almost black water reflects on the dark bricks.

 

[Dave Farnes]

That is a fine set. Love the first one, the dark tones work very well. Has a timeless quality, could have been taken yesterday or 100 years ago. The second one looks familiar, there is a spot with an almost identical view near Camden lock.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Thanks for your thoughts Dave.
Gosh, I haven't been to Camden since I was a teenager when my friend (another Dave) bought an outrageously colourful spotted shirt at the market one Sunday morning. I also seem to remember spending a small fortune on records.

 

[Chris Bennett]

As mentioned in another thread, I ordered a new lens last week, a Fujian CCTV C-mount lens. I paid £16 for it! It arrived today and it's a 35mm f/1.7 and it will be saddled up to my little Sony NEX 5. The adapter arrived a couple of days ago, so there's nothing stopping me now!

It's extremely small, but beautifully made. Playing around with it for a while, it looks like it might be a bit tricky to accurately focus quickly with it, as the circumference of the control rings is very small.

I will be prowling round the streets of Lancaster for a couple of hours with it tomorrow, so I shall report back. Hopefully, I will have some images to share too.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Fujian 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens.

 

[Chris Bennett]

As can be seen from above (first two images), f/1.7 is not there for the purpose of high fidelity!
Put to appropriate use, though, I reckon it has lots of potential for fun and frolics.

 

[Pete Askew]

Relatively high contrast though, even at f:1.7. Interesting.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

The tones in the third are excellent.

 

[Chris Bennett]

The third is my favourite Rob.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Back to the station at lunchtime today. The Fujian done good!

 

[Pete Askew]

It did indeed. If only he'd been wearing a hat!

 

[Chris Bennett]

...or some ectoplasm!

 

[Chris Bennett]

I rarely go out without a manual focus lens but this morning I felt like not having to think too much about things. I went with a 50mm f/1.8 and here are a few I took.