Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/07

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Subject: [Leica] Re: 90mm's
From: walt at waltjohnson.com (Walt Johnson)
Date: Wed Jun 7 19:56:33 2006
References: <9b678e0606051912q57707ab2sfec489dc95b8072a@mail.gmail.com> <C0AA6092.11820%bdcolen@comcast.net> <9b678e0606061947j5012dbe6l5d12c4288bdf1689@mail.gmail.com> <4486FB53.9040109@waltjohnson.com> <9b678e0606071816h48d7f8cese59dcfdded1e1df5@mail.gmail.com>

One thing I stumbled on, and I can't even remember where or when, was to 
get all the detail in your negs and work out the complexion problems 
later. Back when Focomats and D2s were the uniform of the day a crumpled 
piece of cellophane from a cigarette pack did the trick lens. 
(sacrificing lungs for soft focus portraits is really dedication)

Looking forward  to seeing what you get with your bag of tricks. I 
always buy used gear and did so even when I could afford new.

Walt
Don Dory wrote:

> Walt,
> You are all making this too hard.  I am going to Chicago tommorrow to 
> pack
> up my daughter for the summer here in Atlanta.  I don't know what I will
> have time to shoot so I will take the 24 and the 50 current L lenses 
> with a
> couple of rolls of 400 and a couple of rolls of 50 for the blurry 
> stuff if I
> have time.
>
> I plan on shooting in the barber shop next week and I especially want a
> character study of Tommy the owner.  I will use the 85 F1.5 because it 
> has
> great oof so the rest of the shop will show in the background but not
> distract from the primary subject.
>
> Later in the week my mother in law will be in town for her quarterly 
> cancer
> screen.  She is almost 80 so I will use the 90 Elmar wide open.  My 
> version
> of the lens is sharp but doesn't cut the finer detail wide open so her 
> eye
> lashes wil look sharp but the her skin will look twenty or thirty years
> younger; almost like using a softar I.
>
> If you have been following my images you know that I can usually get a 
> sharp
> image down to 1/8  with a 90 mm subject movement willing.  Sometimes the
> light doesn't let me hold that high a shutter speed with a 2.8 lens.  So
> going into those situations I will lug the heavier lenses in the bag 
> because
> 1/8 at F2 is possible but 1/4 at F2.8 doesn't work very often.
>
> So, to summarize, most of the time I walk around with a bag full of 
> the same
> lenses that everyone else walks around with.  Occasionally, there will 
> be a
> specific situation that I know ahead of time will look better with a
> different lens.  So I use that lens.
>
> I can do this because for the past ten or fifteen years I have kept my 
> ears
> open for interesting lenses.  I bought the Russian lens from Dante for a
> very reasonable price under $100.  I think that I paid $85 for the 85mm
> Serenar.  The 90 Elmar was under $100 at a camera store in Kansas City
> because the vulcanite was partially missing.  I found the current 
> Elmarit as
> NOS here in Atlanta for $500 because the store didn't know what they had.
> The 75 Biogon was $79 because the owner didn't think Exacta mount lenses
> were worth anything(they are if you have an Exacta to FD adapter).  These
> lenses have interesting charachter that can be used to advantage for
> specific situations.
>
> Thanks for the conversation.  It is what makes the LUG interesting.
>
> Don
> don.dory@gmail.com
>
>
> On 6/7/06, Walt Johnson <walt@waltjohnson.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Don
>>
>> I approached your post with a reasonably open mind. You are an excellent
>> ...
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>


Replies: Reply from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)
In reply to: Message from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)
Message from bdcolen at comcast.net (B. D. Colen) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)
Message from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)
Message from walt at waltjohnson.com (Walt Johnson) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)
Message from don.dory at gmail.com (Don Dory) ([Leica] Re: 90mm's)