Just a few shots from last night (and sunrise this morning) with this lens. Nothing big, as I am still getting used to this manual focus, but I liked them…
Pentax Asahi Super-Takumar 50/1.4 on my Canon 40D…
I would like to welcome myself to the “Old School All Manual” club. Yes, thank you, thank you…
We all know that the hardest method is usually the most fun method, and that goes for photography too! I have been wanting an old, fully manual lens for a while now, and I finally have it. I have worked my way into a 60’s Pentax Asahi Super-Takumar 50/1.4 with an EOS adapter. It mounts to my 40D just fine, and as is preferred, everything is completely manual (aperture, focus, exposure, etc). This is not only complex settings wise, but it is NOT easy to nail focus manually @ F/1.4. The focused area is so shallow wide open, it’s hit or miss and extremely hard to do, which makes it so much more fun. I. Am. In. Love…. So, on to the lens…
Pentax Asahi Super-Takumar 50/1.4 (pics taken w/ the 40D and 85/1.8)
And here are 2 quick shots with the new lens at my desk at work. The first is wide open @ F/1.4, and the second is stopped down a little to F/2.8 (if I remember correctly).
And just for fun, this is what it looks like mounted on the gripped 40D (taken w/ my phone). It’s so little!
*edit*
I couldn’t help but play with the lens some more. Here are two more, both wide open @ F/1.4. The desaturation was done on purpose (mainly on #2), kind of for a B&W w/ a splash of color feel. I have to say, I am pretty impressed with the performance wide open, especially for a lens made in the 60’s! Anyway, here ya go…
So, a good friend of mine let me borrow his hot lights this weekend. This was my first time using constant lights, as I am used to flash and natural ambient lighting. These proved to be both challenging, and a lot of fun. At something like 1000 watts between the 2 lights, they get extremely hot, so there is no safe/accessible way for soften them. A sheet would work, in theory, but I chose to work in a tight space for these, so there wasn’t any room to hang a sheet, and still give space so it wouldn’t burn. Because of this, these shots are with very harsh, unobstructed light. Considering my lack of experience with these lights, and the way I had to use them, *I* am happy with the results… These were lots of fun, and I can’t wait to use them again!
On to the pics. These are all with a single constant light camera back-right, and shot with a combo of the Canon 40D and Canon 85/1.8, manual settings…… 
(And yes, I realize that I have a horrible knack for catching my daughter in pics either right after she eats and has food on her mouth, or when she has been messing with her hair and made it all crazy! lol)
And here is a photo that I took the same night, but using on-camera flash rather than the hot lights. This was just a quick snap of my beautiful wife, which shows off the incredible Bokeh that this Canon 85/1.8 produces…
And, one last pic from Saturday night. My lovely wife, and our amazing daughter (our son was running around being a goofball… lol)…
Just a new sunset from the other day…
Canon 40D w/ the Canon 85/1.8…
I, of course, am all excited about the 40D, and as such, I am looking for any possible opportunity to use it. Well, there was a nice sunrise on the way to work this morning, so I decided to take a minute or so to try and capture it with the new body. I didn’t have long since I already left late for work, but I did what I could… Here it is…
Canon 40D (gripped) w/ Canon 85/1.8 – All Natural Light – 1/8K – F/3.5 – ISO800
So yes, I did it again, and made another trade. Last night I said bye-bye to my faithful 30D & Siggy lens, and picked up a Canon 40D. No money exchanged, straight trade, as usual. This morning when I left for work, I decided to bust it out of the Crumpler (7MDH) for a few minutes.
These were taken about 6:40′ish this morning, all with the new body. I am not all that happy with them, but I thought I’d post anyway since they are the first few shots with it.
Stats: Canon 40D (gripped) – Canon 85/1.8 – Varying Exp. Times – ISO 800 – Natural Morning Light
Here are two shots from tonight that I would like to share.
This was taken on the back-roads of Elgin TX, across a field.
Canon 30D + 85/1.8 – 1/500 – F/2.8
And this is a shot of my daughter. Lighting was done with a small halloween toy. Also, I did a bit of strategic desaturation… This is rapidly becoming part of my PP’ing style (in select situations)…
Canon 30D w/ Siggy 24/1.8 – 1/50 – F2.2 – ‘natural’ light…
When I got home from work last night, I found my wife and kids about to carve a pumpkin. Those are ALWAYS fun times, mostly because they are slimy, messy times! My favorite thing to do with my camera is to shoot candidly, so of course I did. (Pardon the mess, we are in the middle of something)
These are all with the Canon 30D and Sigma 24/1.8.
Strobist: What Strobist? These are all with ‘natural’ light, in the kitchen, after dark.
I had to share this. I took it with the Canon 30D and Canon 85 F/1.8. This is almost a %100 crop (just under %100 to fit in this blog neatly) from a bigger shot, and I am amazed at the quality at full res. Wow!
Session 3 last night, and grabbed a few pics. I thought I’d share. These are all taken by me, as usual, and with the 30D + Sigma 24/1.8. All are wide open @ F/1.8 as well… On to the pics…
Last time, I showed you the needle that I dubbed Godzilla, which was actually 13 needles in one structure, used at the same time. A pretty hardcore needle. Well, this time we took it up a notch. This is “King Kong”, 23 needles at one time. Very, very hardcore…
These are some of the inks that Rock just got. We used the red last night, and blue will come soon…
Rock:
Now on to some random action and what not. All we used all night was King Kong, so these are ALL with that 23-mag ‘needle’…
