all new and shiny

After my most recent trip I’ve been feeling somewhat tired. The reason is probably that I filled every day of the trip to the brim with shooting, museum visits and catching up on my social life. Now I’m just digesting and in need of a bit of downtime so that I can begin to integrate all these wonderful new experiences.

Years ago when I was still in school I used to go on city trips with my mum each year. We visited all sorts of fabulous places like Vienna, Berlin and Florence. During those trips we would usually start arguing over our plans, since my mum tried to stuff all this activity into every day, while I just liked to sit in cafés and occasionally just do nothing much at all. I guess by now I’ve become more like my mum and I’m always painfully aware of how little time I have on such trips to do all the things that I would like to do and meet all the people I would like to see. There never is enough time to do it all at a reasonable pace.

So, this week after my return I’ve allowed myself some well deserved downtime and just developed a few black and white films in the meantime. I shot only a few rolls and spent the rest of the time relaxing, editing the pictures from May, watching movies and trying to get back to my usual calm self not bent on rushing around frantically.

Today I’m showing you the first longer set of pictures from this year. Included are a bunch of rolls shot with my new and shiny Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.1. It’s a bit of a crazy lens, not suited for all subject matter or every photographer, but personally I really enjoy shooting with it. The lens is by no means perfect. Wide open it’s sharp enough in the centre, but boy does it glow! It also smears quite a bit in the corners. So, if you’re into really perfect lenses which are sharp from corner to corner even wide open, then it’s probably not for you. Also, if you don’t like heavy or big lenses, you should definitely skip it too. It’s a beast and weighs a ton, so it’s definitely not a good choice for a standard 50mm. If you like a bit of a classic look and shoot a lot in very low light or with low ISO film, it’s actually a good choice though!

What I like about it most is the flexibility. With this lens I don’t have to worry about loading low ISO film or about too much grain from pushing my film. I can just shoot whatever I want in all sorts of conditions. Interestingly I bought this lens to use primarily at night, but in the end I used it much more during the day with low ISO film. Before I got it, I didn’t really have much use for such film, since I was mostly zone-focussing from the hip. However, with this lens I need to focus properly anyway, so I might as well shoot film that is less grainy. It’s been a bit of an eye-opener I have to say and now I have a whole long list of low ISO films I would like to try. So far I’ve gone through a whole batch of RPX 100 and a bulk roll of Rollei Retro 80S in combination with this lens and it’s been fun. In total I have already used the lens for shots on 75 rolls of film and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it.

To sum it up, it’s a great lens if you like that sort of thing and can live with a few flaws. Best purchase this year by a long shot and I say this although I really love my Zeiss 6×9 folder too! You know what’s the most interesting part though? This lens got me thinking about a lighter standard 50mm lens. After years of shooting only 35mm lenses it’s more than a little strange to even consider something like that. Nevertheless, the 50mm perspective is growing on me and I wouldn’t be surprised if I would end up with a classic 50mm Summicron one day. Who would have thought? That said, it’s not a priority, so it probably won’t happen anytime soon!

Pictures taken with: Rolleicord V, Schneider- Kreuznach Xenar 75mm f/3.5. Leica M6 with Zeiss ZM C-Biogon 35mm f/2.8 and Voigtländer Nokton 50mm f/1.1.

Starting with: M6 / Biogon / ARF+ 400 / HC-110.