The more pedantic among you (g******j), will be quick to point out that there has been no post entitled “It’s all Ray’s fault - Part 1”. In fact, there has been, it was just not made obvious.
About a week ago I announced my intention to sell my Canon camera gear. I noted that “At some point in the last couple of days I finally decided that sitting on a pile of expensive Canon gear to support the occasional job or sporting shoot was just silly”. This was true, but I did not enlarge upon what pushed me into making the decision.
In truth I had been procrastinating for months about selling my DSLR equipment. I would wake up of a morning with a firm decision to dispose; but by lunchtime had decided I would keep it for ever. By late afternoon I was re-drafting eBay adverts and by bedtime they were deleted and I would go and give the nearest lens a little stroke of affection. I couldn’t decide, and so the default was to do nothing.
The tipping point came in the fresh fruit section of Central food hall on a Saturday afternoon. She who must be obeyed was whizzing about buying stuff to eat and I was feeling as bored as I always do in food halls. Then the phone rang and it was Ray.
I ran into Ray on a photography forum and we have struck up a friendship. We have never met, but we both have a Mac and we both have a GF1 camera and we both live in the same country; which in some cultures is sufficient basis for a marriage. Before retirement, Ray was a professional photographer and for many years he covered the Formula 1 championship; which gives him something of a hero status in my eyes. He is a very enthusiastic and helpful chap and I always enjoy our conversations; especially those which take place in food halls and relieve me from the tedium of having to try and direct my wife to the check-out without passing any of the expensive cosmetic counters.
I can’t remember the purpose of this particular phone call; but we moved onto the topic of using “legacy” lenses on the GF1 and it was downhill from there.
If you buy a micro four thirds format such as the Panasonic GF1 (and you really should), then you have the choice of a reasonable range of lenses from either Panasonic or Olympus; and one from Leica. But that is just the tip of the lens iceberg. The size of the camera means that it is just crying out to accommodate the huge range of lenses from rangefinder cameras such as Contax, Leica and Nikon. The market was quick to respond and soon you could buy adapters which enabled you to attach almost any lens to a micro four thirds camera.
As a photographer of many years, Ray already had some classic lenses which he had used with his rangefinder cameras, and had since invested in more to use with his GF1. And they are investments. A few years ago you could only use these lens with a beat-up old film camera; but once you could stick them on the front of a modern digital camera, prices rose steeply.
So Ray was on the phone telling me how great these lenses were, and I was thinking “I want one”, as well as “she who must be obeyed is getting dangerously close the face cream section”.
And that (the lens desire, not the face cream) is what prompted the sale of the Canon gear. Sell the Canon lenses and use some of the money to get my hands on a classic. And they don’t come any more classic than the Contax 45mm F2 Planar, for years evaluated as the highest quality lens in the world for a 35mm camera, and even now only bettered by a $5,000 Canon monster.
So I found one on eBay and I bought it, for the grand sum of $350, which was a whole lot less than I had received for just one of my Canon lenses. And I got an adapter thingie; and they both arrived yesterday. Here they are attached to my GF1, rather hastily snapped with my phone, for which apologies:
The lens is unmarked and works perfectly. The big black ring at the back of the lens is part of the adapter. You turn the black ring and it connects to the focusing ring on the lens. Yes, no automatic focusing here. But the zoomed-in view support for manual focusing in the GF1 makes focusing easy; and the lens is a joy to use; makes you feel like a proper photographer.
In a break between rain storms, I popped out today and took some shots of flowers. Very happy with the results. I sent some to Ray. “Very nice, now you need to go and buy the Contax 90mm”. Just as well I have some cash left over from all the Canon gear I just sold, talking to this man is expensive.
Detail from above photo (click on image to see full size):
Comments 🔗
2010-08-25| genuinej saysI’m sure all of your readers, with the exception of Walter, already regard you as a proper photographer.
2010-08-26| Ray saysBrace yourself my friend - I’m taking a keen interest in an M9.
Just as a back-up to the GF-1 of course!
2010-08-26| Spike saysYou are a dangerous man to know!
2010-08-26| biggrtiggr saysAmo those photos, much prefered to prancing ponies