calling his girlfriend from the academy

calling his girlfriend from the academy, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Another year is nearly over. And what a good one 2009 was for my family and me. The christmas days are a chance to reflect what is behind and what is ahead of us. So I look forward to spending quality time with friends next year again, seing parts of the world I know and do not know yet.

On my agenda there are two photo projects, the Year with a Leica and the Photochallenge.org. One will force me to take photos with one given camera / lens combo through a year, the other stands for searching / composing daily themes. And my travels will hopefully bring me to the USA, Canada and Italy plus several trips to german cities (Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Cologne for Photokina fair).

This picture was taken on my NYC trip in November, remembering me of the many cool things I was gifted to see during my one week stay in this marvelous city.

So I'll call and mail a few friends in the next days and finalize my plans for 2010.

Hope you have a great christmas time and look forward to the upcoming year as well.

Carsten

Christmas time . . .

Central Park IV - embrace the blue, originally uploaded by topfloor.

The month of december is always very hectic for me as my business has high season towards the end of the year. Capturing this nice lit tree in Central park a few weeks ago was one of the few glimpses of approaching christmas I was able to see and feel this season :-)

Go out and enjoy the lights, catch the bokeh.

The shot ' Central Park IV - embrace the blue ' was taken early in the morning.

Carsten

Hello from Leipzig . . .

Central Park III - warm lights, originally uploaded by topfloor.

. . . have been a bit busy in the last weeks, and more is to come down my december road. Just began to upload a few more pictures of my recent visit to New York, this one is

Central Park III - warm lights

and was shot (very) early on a late November day at f/1.0. Don't forget to get out and TAKE PICTURES, even if you don't have much time.

Happy shooting!

3 pics in the All day I dream about photography blog

look up and wonder, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Wow, a first timer . three of my London pictures were selected by this blog here

http://www.adidap.com/2009/11/13/adidap-flickr-round-2009-10-03/

First shot

First shot, originally uploaded by topfloor.

At Meister Leica Camera Store in Hamburg, on friday the 13th, a little magic happened in my favour. Only hours before departing for New York City I was able to pick up my M9. This is the first pic I took. Pictured is the counter, in the foreground my M8 (middleground Espresso was nice) and in the background another happy customer who picked up his new M9 as well.

EXIF: 1/90th at f/2 with ISO 160, 35mm ASPH

Farewell, am on my way to Gotham city :-)

Isle of Light - Lichtinsel

Lichtinsel V, originally uploaded by topfloor.

In the Fuldaaue Park of Kassel there is a little (artificial) island called Siebenbergen (seven hills). A light installation was to be seen there for a few weeks in the evenings, as our local newspaper HNA reported. Some of the installations can be seen under the title Lichtinsel on my Flickr stream . . .

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=lichtinsel&w=11292650%40N00

Happy Shooting :-)
Carsten

Great example of Time Lapse Video of China's 60th ann. parade

Millenium Bridge (1) - Photochallenge170 Bridge, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This is a superb example of how still camera pics can be worked in a fascinating time lapse movie. Have a look and enjoy.

If anybody can point me towards the source of the nice music that is used in this video, I would be thankful.

China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

Visit in Hannover - former World Expo area (year 2000)

Expo III, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Nine years ago, I enjoyed visiting my first world expo, a mere 2 hours drive from my home in Hannover. Many buildings were sold and moved to other places, but of course some are still there in Hannover.

Together with my buddy in crime, composer, we strolled around the buildings and structures. Weather was pretty bad, so black and white was the way to go.

Stron lines made my day, so revisiting such sites can be a very nice experience.

Have fun!
Carsten

Streets are full of bokeh

Paris ~ Streets full of love & bokeh, originally uploaded by Siebe.

Siebe, a fellow shooter on Flickr, does nice work with prime lenses. You may give his stream a look.

The picture I blogged here Paris ~ Streets full of love & bokeh is a nice example.

Have fun!

Travel light

Day-Trippers, originally uploaded by topfloor.

A Post from me at kwerfeldein.de - What do you have in your camera rucksack? - inspired me to write this comment (in german language).

Was habe ich bei fotografieren stets dabei?

Also, außer Speicherkarten, Akkus, einem Blasebalg sowie ein Brillenputztuch gehört bei mir nichts sonst dazu. Einen Rucksack nehme ich grundsätzlich nur mit, wenn es auf Wildlife-Tour geht. Ansonsten tut es eine Hüfttasche (Think Tank Photo Speed Daemon), die zwei Objektive hält. Oder eine kleine Schultertasche (Think Tank Photo Urban Disguise 40), in welche eine / zwei Kameras und ein Objektiv paßt.

Die Hüfttasche nehme ich, wenn ich bereit bin, die Kamera stets offen zu tragen und die Schultertasche, wenn ich auch mal freie Hände brauche und die Kamera einen Platz dort drin benötigt.

Ein Stativ trage ich bei Bedarf an einem Stativgurt diagonal über die Schulter.

Bei Shootings mit Blitz oder mit umfangreichem Equipment nehme ich einen Rollkoffer, aber niemals einen Rucksack.

Meine strikte Ablehnung vom schleppen schweren Equipments (und noch ein Objektiv und noch ein Stativ und noch ein Blitz . . . . ) kommt aus Erfahrung mit schmerzenden Schultern und Rücken. Ich kann mit einer Kamera und einer Festbrennweite zwar viele Aufnahmen nicht machen, aber diejenigen, die funktionieren, sind oft besonders schön.

Für mich liegt in der Beschränkung auf sehr wenig (aber dem richtigen, der Shootinglocation angemessenem Equipment) meine fotografische Freiheit.

Das gilt natürlich nicht bei Shootings, bei denen ich vom Auto aus oder in einem Studio usw. arbeite, da ist mehr Equipment entsressend und gut, aber dann im (sehr) großen Rollkoffer ohne Schleppfaktor.

Wie stets, alles Ansichtssache und persönliche Vorliebe. Meines Erachtens ist schon eine SLR groß und fett, wenn es ums shooten außerhalb des Studios geht. Wenn dann noch oft große Zooms draufkommen, ist rasch die Grenze des gewichtsmäßig zumutbaren erreicht, deshlab bevorzuge ichh auch deshalb (auch aus gestalterischen und optischen Gründen) Festbrennweiten und / oder Sucherkameras. Bei Sonenschein ist noch ein ND_Filter dabie, damit ich weiter bei Offenblende arbeiten kann.

Viel Spaß, Carsten

Supercool Streetphotography Video by Chris Weeks

M8 on stone, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Chris Weeks (a professional shooter) has made a outstanding good film about Streetphotography and you can watch it online here . . .

http://aphotocontributor.typepad.com/aphotocontributor/2009/09/experimental-firmware.html

The Vimeo video (splitted in three files) rund a good 40 minutes long, all captured with Canon 5D Mk II cameras and features mailny Leica Rangefinders and some Streetshooters, working in L.A.

Have fun!

Right angle viewer

rencontres, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Useed my new Hoodman Right Angle Viewer on my Nikon D700 for this one. Quite practical for low down shoots. And the Hoodman has adapters for several brand cameras, which makes it a safe investment. I bought it in Germany at enjoyyourcamera.com as a Hoodman Winkelsucher Pro for 140 Euro.

Have fun!

Product Info: http://www.hoodmanusa.com/products.asp?dept=1018

50 days with a 50 mm lens - 50 50 project of Bert Stefanie

down low, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Bert Stefanie, a belgium photographer, has started a project of shooting 50 days with a 50 mm lens only. As I work more and more with prime lenses and 50 mm is clearly my favorite, I will follow Bert's progress.

Link to Bert's Blogpost http://bertstephani.com/2009/09/02/the-5050-project-day-1/

Have fun!

How long will these kind of photos be allowed to take?

This is my train . . ., originally uploaded by topfloor.

This time in german language, Ein Berliner Blogger und Fotograf 96dpi hat einen außerordentlichen Artikel über ein sinnlos erscheinendes Fotografieverbot einer Uni veröffentlicht. Zu lesen hier:

http://www.96dpi.de/archives/2009/09/05/fh-potsdam-mensa/

Hope we hear good news about this issue.

Sometimes Reflections help

beauty, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Near the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, this photo opp. jumped at me - nice reflections that make the atmosphere of this shot ('beauty').
Have fun!

Sometimes it's easy

Bokeh Bench, originally uploaded by topfloor.

While being in Brighton (UK), I walked the city and sat down here, glancing at bars and cafes on th eopposit side of the street. This picture 'Bokeh Bench' came as a result of stopping and sitting down - and it captures the mood of this place nicely, I think.

Have fun, Carsten

Trace of the Autostadt

Mercedes SL (1), originally uploaded by topfloor.

Did some bokeh - hunting shots at f/1.0 from Wolfsburgs Autostadt.

Btw., I discovered a cool site for german photoblogs - foto-radar. Give it a try, you might like it.

http://foto-radar.de/

Happy shooting!

Skybridge

Skybridge, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This week, some of my shots were included in the top notch selection of All Day I dream about Photography http://www.adidap.com/2009/08/27/adidap-flickr-round-2009-05-10/

Fast Forward - mini project

Fast Forward, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Photowalking usually stands for walking the streets of a city, snapping photos of subjects of your interest. This can be people, architecture, deails and wide shots.

On my second day in Brighton I choose to do a more focused photowalk by giving myself a mini project to follow . . .

Shooting low down with shallow depth of field and the focus pane very close to the camera, having the main subject clearly out of focus (blurred).

To do this I choose a 50 mm effective focal length with f/1.4 maximum aperture, using a 3-stop ND filter to be able to shoot wide open in the sunlight. Putting down the camera on the ground was easy. Usually I shot a focus stack (shooting burts while turning the focussing wheel on my lens) so I could later choose the best picture at the computer (the camera I used was a rangefinder, not a DSLR, so DoF preview was not an option).

This is one of my first shots. What I found out is that sometimes f/1.4 was resulting in a too thin layer of sharpness so I sometimes had to stop down the lens a little bit (f/1.8 or f/2.0).

Have fun if you try this out for yourself.

Bend for fetish - cool Phototechnique

Bend for fetish, originally uploaded by topfloor.

On a recent trip to Brighton / UK I could observe this photographer (Lomokev) shooting shoes and legs.

He choose a very low point of view by plaing the camera on the ground, using a right angle viewfinder to compose and focus the subject. Equipment he used was a

Canon 5 D
with a 50 mm f/1.4 Canon lens
and a Canon Angle Viewfinder C.

The results of this technique can be seen here . . .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lomokev/sets/75334/

and here with other subjects . . .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lomokev/sets/82556/

Hope you enjoy plaing with this technique; of course a angle viewfinder is only an option and not a must.

Happy shooting!

Backup - how do I . . .

Experimenting with D3, originally uploaded by topfloor.

For the Blog kwerfeldein by Martin Gommel I posted a comment I wanted to share here (in german language):

Wie sichere ich meine (Foto)daten

Ganz einfach:
a) Download der Karten-RAW-Dateien mit umbennen, IPTC-Info schreiben sowie Bulk-Verschlagworten und in Tages-Directories mit Lightroom 2 auf einen Drobo (4 Platten als quasi-Raid mit knapp 4 TB Nettokapazität, Anschluß via FW800)
b) Mit Mac ChronoSync Backup der Bilder und LR2-Katalogdatei auf eine externe 1 TB USB-Platte (USB2)
c) Mit Mac ChronoSync Backup der Bilder und LR2-Katalogdatei von der externen 1 TB USB-Platte auf einen weiteren Drobo, der in einem anderen Gebäude steht
d) Upload aller Bilder (non-Public) auf meinen Flickr-Pro Account, mit max. 2048 Pixeln an der längsten Seite, geschärft für Bildschirm als JPEG
e) Alle 3 Monate mit Mac ChronoSync Backup aller Bilder und LR2-Katalogdatei auf drei separate externe USB-Platten, die wieder in anderen Gebäuden aufbewahrt werden
f) Alle 6 Monate 1 externe Platte in einen Safe in einem anderen Gebäude auslagern

Externe Platten der 1 TB Grö´ße kosten um die 100 Euro, also fast nichts. CD’s oder DVD’s sind mir zu langsam. Mein Bildaufkommen liegt so bei 30 bis 60 Tausend RAWs pro Jahr (mit 10 bis 14 MP Kameras).

TimeMachine sichert meinen Mac (Programme), alle Daten sind aber auf externen Volumes (Drobos, Single-HDs).

Bin ich unterwegs, dann erfolgt Schritt a) auf externe USB2- oder FW400 Festplatten und ich lasse LR2 gleich ein Backup auf eine zweite eterne Platte machen. Der LR2-Katalog wird dann lokal auf der Mac-HD gespeichert, die XMPs stets sofort zur RAW dazugeschrieben. Wieder daheim, importiere ich den Katalog samt Bildern, so das a) erreicht ist und verfahre dann normal weiter. Auf längeren Reisen mit viel Bildaufkommen habe ich stets 4 Kopien aller RAWs auf 4 kleinen externen Platten in verschiedenen Reisetaschen / Koffern.

Datenverlust hatte ich noch nie, Festplattenausfälle schon diverse.

Gutes Buch hierzu (gerade auf Englisch in 2ter Auflage ganz neu herausgekommen) ist Peter Krogh - The DAM Book.

Viel Spaß beim fotografieren aus Nordhessen,
Carsten

Catch the sun

Black and White in BW (Ver. 2), originally uploaded by topfloor.

This is an example of the fine beaches near the hotel at the OBX. The clear line and tones led me to this BW, hope you enjoy it.

Have fun!

Jockeys Ridge

Sun sets, originally uploaded by topfloor.

On my way to the car, back from the big dune, the sun caught my eye reflecting in this light.

Have fun!

Nice Blackpoint

Nice Blackpoint, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Different Lighthouse, looked for something else than the classic Lnadscape thing, so I went for this graphical Close-Up.

Have fun!

Classic of a Lighthouse

Colors, originally uploaded by topfloor.

The sky was friendly, and so I did best as I could to capture some of the beauty of this place on the OBX.

Have fun!

Beaches

Beaches 1, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Sometimes it can be hard to find a decent foreground for shooting the clouds :-)

Did my best and this is the result of a HDR.

Hard working man

Hard working man - BW Ver., originally uploaded by topfloor.

In the same little harbour, this friendly fella was nice enough to pose for us for me for a minute - Thank you.

To compensate for the very hard sunlight I took a rapid bracketed series of 7 shots and let Photomatix do its magic.

Converted in LR.

Have fun!

Colors of the US of A

Colors of the US of A, originally uploaded by topfloor.

While walking a small harbour, these reflections caught my eye. All I did to the file in LR / PS was to crop a little and turn the image. These abstracts sometimes get me :-)

Have fun!

Another Shot made it to Flickr's Explore

By the Chicago River - Photochallenge.org 2009 Day 098 - Urban, originally uploaded by topfloor.

My picture
By the Chicago River - Photochallenge.org 2009 Day 098 - Urban
was listed on the Explore Page. Thx for the views, comments and favs to all of you! Have fun!

Look and See

Look and See, originally uploaded by topfloor.

My days in Chicago are over. Very cool city with so much to see that the 3 nights I spent there were short. Have to return one day :-)

I am now heaed to Seattle which will me my starting point to drive south along the Oregon and California coast.

Have fun!

Rock in Row, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This morning I went to the Currituck Lighthouse (in the forest) and gave my best to compose a shot - not too easy with boring clouds at the sky. You can see my pics of the day here at

Sonntag, 3. Mai 2009

Arrived

Sunset variation, originally uploaded by topfloor.

After 25 hours of railing, flying, waiting and driving, I made it in one piece to Kitty Hawk. My first day there was spent driving the entire island (made more than 200 miles trip) and finding some nice spots. More photos from my first day at the OBX can be found on my Flickr stream http://www.flickr.com/photos/geopirat/sets/72157617546735875/

Boarding will start in 5 minutes

Boarding will start in 5 minutes, originally uploaded by topfloor.

I am on my way from Germany to th eOuter Banks / Kitty Hawk in the US of A. Starting by train at 05:51 am, I hope to reach my destination safely in 19 hours. This is the beóarding room in Frankfurt airport Terminal 2.

More pics from this day of travel can be found on my Flickr stream here http://www.flickr.com/photos/geopirat/sets/72157617638826814/

Good combo

Good combo, originally uploaded by topfloor.

I really like a piece of Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Combined with a fresh Coffee Latte, this was my pleasure on a short break on my way to Berlin. I like the nice style of the McCafe's in Germany, so much nicer than classic McDonalds in my taste. Surfin the Web to check some of my COntacts Flickr-pics on the iPhone via the Darkslide (free) App added some extra fun.

Enjoy!

Sometimes it's handy to have a cell at hand

Cake Stop, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This shot was made while queuing up for a Latte and a piece of cake en Route to home (Cake Stop), the (big) camera was in the car and the iPhone was my friend.

As I am a latecomer with this gadget (only have it for a week now), the camera feature is nice. Of course, the other stuff works well, too, but compared to a Blackberry (was a hardcore BB user for 3 years now) the hard facts / features of an iPhone are not outstanding / inferior to the BB in regard to the Outlook Exchange client.

Go out and take pictures, have fun!

Shallow Depth of field

Photochallenge.org 2009 Day 048 - B&W: Flower, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Just a snapshot - with a 40 mm lens on a 1,5 x crop factor body, at f/1.4. By chance, the flowers were in focus, the rest is nicely blurred. I like photos like this one :-)

Have fun

Shot for Photochallenge.org 2009 Day 048 - B&W: Flower

From highis often rewarding

From high, originally uploaded by topfloor.

I managed to find my way up to an old castle tower of Schloss Münchhausen. The last steps were very small and steep, but the view made up for it.

Have fun!

Bokeh - Alien Skin Plug-In for PS

Beauty, originally uploaded by topfloor.

On the Blog PhotoWalkPro I read an interesting article about this new plus-in. You may want to read it as well, the link is provided at the end of this post.

My comment for Jeff (the author) I wrote on his Blog was . . .
>>>>>
. . . Hey Jeff! Thanks for showing the effects of this very cool plug-in. I am a Bokeh addict, In MHO achieving nice Bokeh is possible with lenses with a max. aperture under 2.0, depending on the length / mms. A 85 mm f/1.8 will give you nice Bokeh, whereas at 21 mm a f/1.4 usually are needed. With a 50 mm lens, f/1.8 should work, f/1.4 is better. Lenses in the 50 mm range and f/1.8 or 1.4 can be bought (sometimes used) at the price point of this plug-in. But this is not the point, i think - with this fine plug-in you have the absolute control what is 'out of focus' or 'in Bokeh' - long after the shot. Even pics shot with a Point and Shoot as the Canon G10 etc. (small sensor -> big DoF) might be 'bokehd' with this plug-in. I hope Alien Skin has a trial period available for this thing and I'll start playing with it if possible. I look forward to your video, thanks for your post!
<<<<<

I checked the Alien Skin site and they have a 30 days full functional trial period. On theier site, you find interesting examples of Point and Shoot pics altered with this plug-in. I think it's worth considering if this tool may work for you.

Link to the Alien Skin product site: http://www.alienskin.com/bokeh/index.aspx

Link to the Blog-article by Jeff with good pics illustrating the tool: http://www.revellphotography.com/blog/?p=2781

Have fun!

Mood against the sun - Lost and Found

Lost and Found, originally uploaded by topfloor.

On a nice trip to a castle 2 hours from home, I had the chance to take this snapshot. The light was harsh and I was shooting a wide angle lens against the sun. With a little bit luck I managed to get the light on the hand holding the ball and a rim light around the head of my FirstLady standing to camera right.

Sometimes it's worth a try even in difficult light situations.

Have fun!

Welcome to the castle - 15 mm Super Wide Heliar Lens

Welcome to the castle, originally uploaded by topfloor.

I still am astonished to see that a 15 mm lens with a max. aperture of 4.5 is able to creae a DoF - effect like in this picture - wow. This is not only a 'Point and Shoot' lens but it can be a creative tool as well. A successor to the current model (screw mount without rangefinder connection) is coming in May 2009 for about a 30 % higher price tag, with amin. distance of 50 cm instead of 30 cm and with the ability to accept filters (IR for M8). Ken Rockwell and Stee Huff ( www.stevehuffphotos.com/Steve_Huff_Photos/VOIGTLANDER_15_... ) have posted decent reviews of this Voigtländer bargain lens.

Have fun!

Camera and Coffee

Camera and Coffee, originally uploaded by topfloor.

A combo that is photographes quite often. There is a Flickr Group with that name http://www.flickr.com/groups/cameracoffee/pool/ with several nice exammples.

To watch the most interesting pics of this group, try Flickriver with this link http://www.flickriver.com/groups/cameracoffee/pool/interesting/

Have fun and enjoy your camera and coffee :-)

High tech structured chaos

High tech structured chaos, originally uploaded by topfloor.

In these boxes, medical care items are stored for later shipment. The system is called organised chaos, because the system put new items in the next empty box (chaos) but the computer knows where :-)

Light strikes

Light strikes, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Sometimes the Light is just where I need it, as in this starway of a parking garage. Have fun!

Short book review: Paris City of Bikes

Blurb Book Paris City of Bikes, originally uploaded by topfloor.

As I enjoy reading photobooks very much, I order Print on demand books via Blurb.com from time to time, especially when fellow Flickr shooters publish their work via the Blurb site.

Searching for tags such as city names and Streetphotography brought my attention to this book 'Paris City of Bikes' by Nirit Sumeruk (48 pages for 23.95 Euros plus Shipping). The book is all around Streetphotography in Paris with at least part of a bike in the frame.

- - -
Description of this book on the Blurb site: 'A photography book that captures Paris in it's very natural picturesque form, using bicycles as an excuse to do so! Every photograph is a timeless snap-shot of the city - with bikes gracing every single shot carrying the viewer to the next page... This is an unconventional "travel" book to make one fall in love with Paris.'
- - -

The book arrived yesterday, so I glanced through it. The pictures often have some poewer in them, and quite many of the shots on the left and right hand side of a spread work well together.

The downside of a good portion of the pictures in this book is that Sumeruk published pics that have really over- or underexposed parts in them and in a way that is not pleasing the eye. Working with the ND-Filter in Lightrrom (or with a grad ND filter in front of the lens) might have helped. Judging these pics as they are, their compositional quality is okay or good, but the wrongly exposed parts weaken the pics.

Conclusion: While an inspiration as a Streetphotography theme when visiting a city (linking pics via a theme such as bikes) the overall quality of the pictures in my opinion is not good enough to justify the price.

You can find this book at Blurb / bookstore via a search for the title.

Feelings about a Lens (21 mm f/1.4)

Lux21mm14, originally uploaded by topfloor.

A Flickr user JJSmartman asked me to share some words about this lens after seeing this picture I shot

This lens (pictured here on the blog) was the reason to move into Rangefinder cameras. In Hamburg, I had the chance to rent a digital Rangefinder and this lens for a day and a night. Walking the streets, bridges and tunnels of the city, taking some hundred shots and reviewing them in LR2, I was very pleased with the results.

Besides the known differences between DSLRs and Rangefinders (such as size, formfactor, shutternoise etc.) that I do not want to discuss here, the this lens is really special. While I am not qualified to do a technical review of this lens, I want to share some impressions and feelings I experienced when using it.

I own this lens for about 3 weeks now and used it in some bigger cities (Hamburg, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Mannheim) in Germany and for a industrial / architectural shoot in a modern medical industry complex in the northern part of my home state Hessen.

Weight / Size: This lens is - for a rangefinder lens - big and heavy (580 gramms and about 770 mm long). Compared to my DSLRs lenses (14-24 mm f/2.8 or the Sigma 50 mm f/1.4) it is pretty small and defintely not heavy, for me a clear plus of the rangefinder system as I enjoy to have high performance lenses at my hand that weigh less and are comparabily small.

Manual focus: This lens has manual focus (as has the whole Leica M - System), no problem for me as long as the subject does not move too fast. Either I choose hyperfocal settings of was often able to hit the focus point well.

Max. Aperture: This lens is a f/1.4 lens, giving me a shallow depth of field when sot open. This, combined with the 21 mm focal length (wide lens, even on the 1.33 crop factor digital body), makes this lens unique. I was drawn to this lens because of the outstanding combo of wide angle (though not superwide) and limited DoF. Looking for interesting foregrounds and combine them with the limited DoF is great fun and to my knowledge can not be achieved with any other 35 mm - camera-/lenscombo in this wideangle area.

Optical quality: The lens is capable to capture sharp contrasty pictures as long as the photographer (me) does not shake the camera and is able to hit the focus point :-) - the abilities of the lens succeed mine. Of course, the lens is not free from vignetting etc., things that can't be avoided when shooting wide and wide open - but only slightly showing in the pics. I was only able to spot optical effects when scanning the 75 - 100 % zoomed picture on my monitor.

Build quality: This lens is made as lenses should be made - fine metal, smooth moving rings and a superb feeling when placed in my hand. Far superior to most modern DSLR lenses that have a lot of plastic inside and outside.

Conclusion: This lens is really fun and I enjoy shooting it immensly. The emotional factor outweighs other issues of this lens for me. Although I do not really need this lens (as my DSLR system is well stocked with beautiful lenses and bodies) for my shooting, i enjoy the Rangefinder Streetphotography thing very much. Besides this lens, I enjoy the 15 mm f/4.5 Voigtländer and the 40 mm f/1.4 Nokton Classic Voigtländer lens. I shoot film and a 1.33 plus a 1.5 crop factor body with these lenses, mainly cities / on the streets and in buildings.

I can recommend ths lens if you enjoy the same style of shooting as I do and do not mind the price tag that comes along with this lens. But I advise shooters that are making up their mind to buy this piece of glass to try this lens for a day or two first and to check the results. If you like them, the lens is probably right for you if you can afford it.

Worauf kommt es beim Objetivkauf /-auswahl an?

Kwerfeldein (Martin Gommel) hat in seinem Blog aufgerufen, dazu in max. 100 Wörten Stellung zu nehmen. Link: http://kwerfeldein.de/index.php/2009/04/02/was-ist-beim-kauf-eines-objektives-eurer-meinung-nach-wichtig/

Zeitgleich kam auf TWIP diese (englische) Liste von Kriterien:

CRITERIA

First, you should know the criteria for choosing a lens. Some of the criteria are subjective like: “Is this lens appropriate for your purpose? Is it versatile enough? Do you like the look and feel of the lens?” These are important, but hard to measure criteria.

You should also consider more measurable criteria:

1. Lens sharpness
2. Lens speed (F/2.8 is a faster lens than F/5.6 and faster is usually better)
3. Minimum focus distance
4. Number and type of lens elements
5. Manufacture for film, digital or both (Lenses made specifically for digital cameras will often not work properly on film cameras)
6. Amount of lens flare
7. Amount of chromatic aberration
8. Bokeh (How the out of focus background appears)
9. Light fall off (Corner to corner illumination)
10. Lens weight
11. Lens construction and build standards
12. Lens focus speed
13. Stabilization
14. Ergonomics
15. Price

Diese Liste ist so vollständig, das ich nichts mehr hinzufügen kann.

Ganz subjektiv sind bei mir aus der obigen Liste wichtig . . .

- fürs fotografieren in der Stadt muß die Linse KLEIN und LEICHT sein bei möglichst hoher Lichtstärke (ist eine Quadratur des Kreises, gibts aber)
- für Makro sind mir Schärfe / optische Abbildungsleistung wichtig

Billiges Plastik und wacklige Einstellringe kann ich auf den Tod nicht leiden, da darf es lieber ein paar Euros mehr kosten.

Alles ganz subjektiv, wie immer ;-)

Look up

Zeughaus, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Kassel's Zeughaus with a new Cafeteria für pupils. Wide Angle is fun.

Old tech

Selfie with rental, originally uploaded by topfloor.

I edited the pic for this blog post 15th of march a little, this is the sligthly altered shot.

Supermarche Middle

Supermarche Middle, originally uploaded by topfloor.

Noilly Prat is my favourite Vermouth for cooking. Even rice tastes better when fried a few seconds before boiling and some drops of this stuff.

On my way home, I was able to visit a french supermarkt - nice to have a different sortiment at hand.

French Wine

Supermarche Low, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This was shot during a visit in a french Supermarket, the Point and Shoot low on the floor. Have fun!