A disconcerting revelation: RF+50mm

[mdarnton]

I started thinking last night (I know. . . bad idea) then this morning I checked, and yes, by a huge margin over the last 45 years, including recently, my best photos have been shot with a Leica and 50mm lens. Mostly a collapsible Summicron.

All of that Nikon SLR film stuff; all of those various other Leica-fit lenses. . . mostly a money pit.

:- (

 

[daveleo]

No, not a waste at all.
So you tried lots of stuff and have settled on your best set-up.
Great experience, in my opinion.

 

[rhl-oregon]

Now might be a (good, sobering, philosophical) time, Michael, to tote up the amount of insurance premiums you haven't needed to cover nonexistent catastrophes, the expensive restaurant meals fading from memory though perhaps the occasions remain cherished...and so on.

Could you make do with that one combo? Sounds affirmative. But surely there were some, um, bodies you enjoyed fondling I mean fondly, and lenses into whose eyes you gazed, infatuated....I guess I'll stop this analogy before the whimsy chokes me.

 

[ferider]

I was looking at your flickr and tumblr (really cool) sites, Michael.

There are lots of wonderful macros, and your wide self portrait isn't so bad either.

And compared to - say - a boat or a young girlfriend, that pit isn't very deep 🙂

Just saying.

 

[mdarnton]

Thanks. Most of that is just work, though, not the stuff that I really like to do that counts to me.

 

[CMur12]

Such revelations are certainly useful for establishing priorities, but I'm guessing it doesn't mean that all of your other photos were unsuccessful and that you regret having produced them(?). More likely, you have reassigned favorites.

- Murray

 

[Ko.Fe.]

The subject which come in conclusion is cheerful for me.
I was looking at my pictures yesterday and collapsible Cron was real joy.

 

[FrankS]

Bravo, Michael. Impressive work!

 

[Ronald M]

I knew a young fellow who claimed he spent 90% of his pay on women and boost and just wasted the rest.

So a few cameras don`t amount to a hill of beans. And you can always sell them.

 

[AlexBG]

I checked my metadata last month on photos that I had 5 starred on light room. Sold my A7 because of it and now use my rx100 a lot more.

 

[Hsg]

Don't fall into such traps by dividing your photos between cameras and lenses, get a second opinion.

The camera might vary but the photographer is the same, and its the photographer who decides what to photograph, not the camera.

 

[mfogiel]

There was a guy once who did the same thing: most of his life he shot the Coll Summicron 50. His photos often turned out acceptable: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN

 

[mdarnton]

I think that over the last couple of days I have remembered why that combo works for me (remembering how poorly things went when I got an SLR some years ago, and why), so with that awareness, I think I'm just going to crank that crank for a while and see how it goes.

 

[leicapixie]

Sadly I have long ago come to same conclusion.
Pro work was best served by Nikon-Pentax gear .
There were lots of "things" and umbrella flash..😀
It looked impressive.
Photos were no better!
When I shot for ME, it was M3 and Collapsible-Summicron.
Way less to carry and pontificate what lens, what filter.
My wife begged me to leave the SLR kit at home!.
The camera and lens you grab as you go out, is the one to use.

 

[Hsg]

From an interview with Cartier-Bresson:

Q.
Why the 50-millimeter lens?

A.
It corresponds to a certain vision and at the same time has enough depth of focus, a thing you don’t have in longer lenses. I worked with a 90. It cuts much of the foreground if you take a landscape, but if people are running at you, there is no depth of focus. The 35 is splendid when needed, but extremely difficult to use if you want precision in composition. There are too many elements, and something is always in the wrong place. It is a beautiful lens at times when needed by what you see. But very often it is used by people who want to shout. Because you have a distortion, you have somebody in the foreground and it gives an effect. But I don’t like effects. There is something aggressive, and I don’t like that. Because when you shout, it is usually because you are short of arguments.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/cartier-bresson-there-are-no-maybes/

 

[B-9]

I've been noticing that my main lens has become a 50 Summicron,

It's the older collapsible with thorium glass.

I shoot a M8 and it feels just right for most everything I like to shoot.

I also really like the 35 Summaron (goggles) for snapping.

I guess I too have become a normal/mild tell guy... It's the sweet spot!

 

[B.Toews]

"And years ago it occurred to me that more great photographs had been made with a Leica and a 50mm lens than any other camera/lens combination."

- Ralph Gibson

I will admit that a large number of my favourite photos have been made with my M3/50 combo...

 

[taxi38]

Its possible that the 50 gives us what we see minus periferal vision,wheras the 35 gives us what we see plus periferal vision; but gives too much importance to that perifery in the image.The image from the 50 is only influenced by its perifery and is so the more satisfying.It is also my favourite lens.

 

[Pioneer]

50mm lenses are terrific. They must be as I own so many. Some are pretty fast and some are actually fairly slow. They are all fun.

However, the one I enjoy working with the most is the Pentax M 40/2.8. There is really nothing technically special about it, I just like the viewpoint.

 

[David Hughes]

Yes, and I'll add the Leica Summicron-C 40mm f/2 for the CL. I just wish I could find a Pentax 40mm I could afford in "as new" condition.

Regards, David