Season of Photographic Eye - Picture 7 Week 48, Wednesday - Slush
"In previous post I discussed the relationship with photographic eye and art. Today I'm going to look the problem of photographic eye through a another related concept: photographers identity. One can say that photographer has a strong identity when people recognize his/her work from the photographs alone. Maybe it's the distinctive style, way to photographer handles the subject or the subject in itself – all in all it means that photographer doesn't just capture the objects and things front of his camera, but instead imposes his/her personal interpretation into a photographs he creates. One could also say that photographer who manages to do that has found his/her photographic eye and utilizes it through photography.
If you want to be a commercially successful photographer with a distinctive identity and style, the path into that is somewhat easy to outline: [...]"
Season of Photographic Eye - Picture 8 Week 48, Saturday - The Punctum
"In his book Camera Lucida Barthes has come up with a great term for a specific photographic quality that describes a certain ideal what I'm trying to capture with my family photography. This term is punctum and it could perhaps be translated to sting, stab or bite. In Barthes's thinking punctum relates to essence of photography and to describe this term, I'm going to offer a very similar kind of example which Barthes gives in his book – it's pure coincidence is that I too happen to have a similar kind of picture which Barthes uses in his book to explain the punctum. [...]"
Very nice images and interesting choice for the lens, snapsy! Should make a very nice portrait lens on 5N. If it only had OSS it would be a lens made in heaven...
Season of Photographic Eye - Picture 9 Week 49, Wednesday - The Photographic experience
"In previous post I told you about Roland Barthes, the French intellectual and philosopher, who has tried to explain the essence of photography and devised the term punctum to describe the unique feelings photography can bring up in us. Being especially a French philosopher his writings can be pretty abstract, but I do like what Barthes is trying to explain with his winding words. I myself used this term for my own purposes when I tried to describe what I am (ideally) searching for when taking family photographs – a certain sting that makes one see being, life and time in a lucid way. At best, photographs have that sort of effect on us. But what Barthes is really trying to do, is to create a new kind of understanding of photography that doesn't rely on any existing theories of art or cultural studies. [...]"
Wow. This thread is dying or dead. 7 posts in the past month? What's going on?
Anyway, I picked up the Sony 35/1.8 OSS today. I have the Sigma 30 as well, and it's really good, but I wanted the extra speed and stabilization. So far, I really like the lens. Despite some mixed reviews it's quite good wide open (though not exceptional) and very good stopped down. I really like the bokeh wide open too...very pleasing rendering. It also looks better in person than it does in pictures.
Congrats on the SEL35F18...an excellent lens in my book.
Yes, this thread is slowly dying...not much traffic here anymore.
I still pop in once in a while, but find it getting a bit stale compared to other forums that are thriving regarding Sony gear.
Jman13 wrote:
Anyway, I picked up the Sony 35/1.8 OSS today. I have the Sigma 30 as well, and it's really good, but I wanted the extra speed and stabilization. So far, I really like the lens. Despite some mixed reviews it's quite good wide open (though not exceptional) and very good stopped down. I really like the bokeh wide open too...very pleasing rendering. It also looks better in person than it does in pictures.
These are all wide open:
Jordan, I'm glad to see you stepped up for the 35/1.8. I've used this lens on and off since December 2012 and really like it.
My advice to you is not to get hung up on shooting it wide open. In the situations where you're inclined to use it that way, stop down a wee bit to F 2.2. By giving up a tiny bit of lens speed, the lens sharpens up a whole lot and the rendering is beautiful at that aperture.
I'm not sure where you saw the mixed reviews of this lens. The reviews I've seen have all been very favorable. In the A6000 review that Thom Hogan just posted (link below), he says the 35/1.8 is excellent, which is high praise coming from him.
I saw some reviews before purchasing that showed some 100% crops at f/1.8 that were really soft (and it confused me since the reviewer was commenting on how good it was...and I thought, wow...I must have much higher standards). Then I saw some other reviews where it looked quite good. I can tell you that mine is quite good at f/1.8. It's not as sharp as some of the best lenses I've used at wide apertures, but it's more than usable and sharp enough that I don't think I need to worry about stopping down a bit for extra sharpness.
I took a shot last night at f/1.8 on a distant subject and it was quite sharp even in the corners. Again, not biting critical sharpness, but not even really hazy either...good resolution. I shot some last night stopped down just a bit more, and it does get quite sharp down a bit, but I'll do that when the situation calls for a bit more DOF or when subject sharpness is critical, but for the most part, it seems like a lens I can choose aperture based predominantly on how much DOF I want.
Hey Jordan, are you seeing a big difference with the AF of the 35/1.8 vs. the Sigma 30 that you've been using? The difference vs. my Touit 32 is huge. Also, have you tried using Eye AF for shots of your kids? I find it to be very effective with this lens.
Season of Photographic Eye - Picture 10 Week 49, Saturday - Vintage
"While the basic books of photography offer very useful knowledge, they often doesn't really touch the question of photographic eye: the individual way of seeing the world and things around us. The photographic eye is more about what you feel is worth of photographing, how you look it and what you expect to see in it. It might be difficult to answer of the bat, but the more you concentrate on what happens inside your mind during the shooting and how you value/rationalize the pictures you've taken, the better you start to learn why you shoot the way you do. In the following I have tried to come up with different kind of ways to see your subject through camera's viewfinder. [...]"
Yes, I like my A 6000 and the 16-70mm, it's a very nice combo and handles very well. Reminds me of my old Pentax ME Super since the body is about the same weight.
