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Mike Farley
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Postby Mike Farley » Wed 07 Mar 2018, 16:02

I was at Borough Market and London Bridge Stationyesterday. I briefly did some street photography in the market, trying to use my Fuji 56 f/1.2 more or less wide open on my X-E2. The idea was to isolate subjects against the background. Unfortunately, a combination of the camera's lacklustre AF performance and older focussing technology in the lens meant that I was getting very few sharp results. Not that the Borough Market is a favourite spot of mine, so I soon gave up and switched tactics. Both the location and the lens.

My weapon of choice was a "new to me" lens more accustomed to the sights of Japan. I know that as I bought it from a Japanese dealer a few weeks ago and this was its first serious outing. The lens is a Canon 50 f/1.4 with a Leica screw thread mount and has an optical design that was first introduced in 1957. My copy is not quite that old. Judging by its serial number, I would guess that it was made in the early 60s. I imported the lens as while quite a few were produced, it is relatively uncommon in Europe where prices also tend to be higher. Even after taking import duties into account.

You would expect that a fast lens from that era would be quite soft, especially at the larger apertures. That would have almost certainly applied to its predecessors but Canon was one of the first manufacturers to develop a fast lens with a more modern rendering. True, wide open it is not sharp at the edges of the frame but that is not usually an issue provided the centre is OK. Most compositions do not require edge to edge sharpness and a bit of blur can be beneficial in helping to draw the eye's attention to the subject. Mounted on a crop sensor camera, as in this example, edge performance becomes an irrelevance.

This shot relies on a familiar trope, a passerby with an appropriate hoarding in the background. In this case, there a play on words. (Sorry about that ....) Exposure was 1/240 @ f/2.8, ISO 3200. The old lens has done well.

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Regards

Mike Farley
(Visit my website and blog - www.mikefarley.net)

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