Category Archives: Opinion

Accessories, Adapters, camera, lenses, Meta, Opinion, Sony E-mount

Adapting Lenses – Still worth it in 2023?

April 5, 2023 BastianK 42 Comments

Introduction

canon ef 200mm 2.0 l is usm sony 42mp high res review 1.8 comparison sharpness bokeh resolution brenizer — Canon EF 200mm 2.0 L IS on Sony A7III via Metabones Smart Adapter

There have always been people adapting lenses to other camera systems, but it was really the release of the Sony A7 that completely changed the game, being the first affordable fullframe mirrorless camera with a short flange focal distance, Liveview and built-in EVF.
This not only made it possible to use long forgotten legacy lenses from decades ago on a modern camera, it also led to some of the most sophisticated adapters we have seen so far.
This was the end of 2014 and since then a lot has changed, so let us see what are the reasons to adapt lenses and in what cases it is still worth it today.

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Meta, Opinion, photography, The creative process

Finding photo opportunities near home – Part 2

March 19, 2023 BastianK 14 Comments

Introduction

ttartisan 28mm 5.6 m m-mount pancake review smallest leica contrast sharpness resolution — Leica M10 | TTArtisan 28mm 5.6 | f/5.6

In Part 1 of this series we tried to figure out what things might be interesting to take pictures of where you live, this time I want to talk about collections. A friend of mine was looking for some Stuttgart specific decoration for her walls at home and asked me if I may be able to help out. When going through my archive (read: Lightroom library) I noticed that several of these Stuttgart related pictures can be summarized in categories. It seems I actually started several collections – and subconciously so.
I will show you small collages of these collections I made and I am also curious to find out: what do you collect?

Continue reading Finding photo opportunities near home – Part 2 →

Meta, Opinion, The creative process

The complexity of deciding which lenses to pack

February 20, 2023 BastianK 37 Comments

Introduction

Now I have way more lenses than anyone possibly needs – luckily this was listed as kind of a requirement in the job description here – but when that is the case it also gets more difficult to decide what lenses to bring on a trip or an assignment. Going by the discussions in the forums I participate, and on our Discord, it seems I am not alone here.
A community member said it would be interesting to know about my thought process of deciding which lenses to bring on a trip, so here we are.

My approach

These days I often build my kit around lenses that still need to be reviewed. This will also heavily influence what cameras I pick. But let’s forget about that for now and keep it to the lenses I actually own.

ms-optics ms-optical apoqualia 35mm 1.4 fast noctilux angenieux leica m10 24mp 42mp review sharpness bokeh vignetting — Leica M6 | MS-Optics 35mm 1.4 Apoqualia | f/2.0 | Gold 200

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Analogue, Leica M, Meta, Mr. Ding Studio, MS-Optics, Opinion, Techart, TTArtisan, Zhong Yi

Review Highlights of 2022

November 30, 2022 BastianK 18 Comments

Introduction

laowa 35mm 0.95 worlds fastest lens review bokeh 42mp 61mp laowa venus optics venuslens fullframe contrast resolution bokeh optical vignetting fall off — Sony A7III | Laowa 35mm 0.95 | f/0.95

Having reviewed a lot of things this year I thought it might be a good idea to mention this year’s highlights, giving them some well deserved spotlight.

Unfortunately there was also a noticeable amount of junk I reviewed, so this list ended up being a bit short.

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Analogue, Leica, Leica M, Opinion, Projects, Voigtlander

Analogue Adventures – Part 7: Cinestill 800T

May 30, 2022 BastianK 11 Comments

Introduction

cinestill 800t tungsten kodak vision 3 cinefilm c41 — Cinestill 800T

When looking for a higher ISO color film in 2022 – especially one for shooting under artifical light without the need for additional color correction filters – the Cinestill 800T is pretty much without competition. But there are a few things to be aware of, so let’s have a closer look.
Processing and scanning was done at urbanfilmlab in Germany.
The pictures you see in this article are from 2 rolls.