Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008 - (Page 18)

coastal shooter Canon .95 lens $1895 for the Canon 7 body and the 50mm lens. It is available from Camera West in Monterey and Mission Viejo. 831.643.9088 www.camerawest.com Why would somebody buy a film camera from 1961? In order to get the fastest lens ever made, a benchmark in low light photography. And just look at that beautiful hunk of glass. Who would want one of those giant, phallic telephotos that force distance? Much better to have a thick lens that lets you shoot with more intimacy. It really is a giant hunk of glass, and the camera feels as if it is just going along for the ride. The Canon 7 camera was the last Canon rangefinder, at a time when SLRs were taking over the market. It is not as fine as earlier Canon rangefinders, but relative to today’s plasticity, it feels machined and solid. A hand accustomed to plastic will find that chrome offers a strange authenticity: it is like making love to a real woman instead of a love doll. But the camera is just a means to the lens. The .95 aperture was a moon shot and has never been replicated. The second fastest lens, the Leica Noctilux, has a maximum aperture of 1.0 and sells for $6000, making the package above a relative bargain. Some who own Leicas are buying the Canon .95s and converting them to the Leica mount. But it begs the question: why would someone pay $6000 to get a wide aperture? You see, natural light rules. It falls obliquely upon the subject, shadowing its valleys and highlighting its prominences. It permits light to bloom from the darkness. The best thing you can do for your photography is to turn off the flash, which blasts flattening light. Most consumer digital SLRs come with kit lenses that have a 3.5 maximum aperture. To understand why a .95 lens is so extraordinary you must understand that an aperture scale is not progressive. A 2.8 aperture allows twice as much light into the camera as a 3.5. And a 1.4 lens twice as much as that. With a .95 lens you can shoot in an eighth as much light as a regular lens. It basically offers supernatural, cateye powers. You can shoot by the light of the moon, or a single candle. You can shoot where you never could. And it feels forbidden and delicious and impossible, yet suddenly possible. 18 coastaltraveler winter http://www.camerawest.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008

Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008 Contents Coastal Hotel Coastal Adventure Coastal Gambler Coastal Rider Coastal Skier Coastal Art Santa Barbara Pismop & Avila San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station San Geronimo Fairfax Iverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petaluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast Napa Map

Coastal Traveler - Winter 2008

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