Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/06/19

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Subject: [Leica] IMG: Portrait of Orion
From: jmaddox01 at suddenlink.net (Jack Maddox)
Date: Tue Jun 19 04:26:31 2007
References: <20070619110544.203AB2FC08@donald.hostspirit.ch>

Didier,
I have several 50mm Nikons and none are that soft. For what ever the 
reasons it is a different kind of lens. Great shot.
Thanks for showing
Jack

Didier Ludwig wrote:
> This is a portrait of my 8 yrs old son Orion, shot yesterday evening:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Didier/color/orion_nikkor.jpg.html
>
> The reason why I post it is that I am positively surprised about the 
> special character of the lens I used. It's a beaten LTM Nikkor 2.0/50mm I 
> bought very cheap last year. It has has some minor, hardly noticeable 
> haze, the barrels are very brassed and the aperture ring gets stiff above 
> f8.
>
> After some B&W test shots I was rather deceived - too much glow around 
> highlights, and not much contrast. I thought I would have it CLA'd by John 
> van Stelten one day and almost forgot it.
>
> For luck I didn't sent it in. Yesterday I gave it another chance, in 
> color. The sun was already gone but the sky still bright and the light 
> soft and diffused. I shot that wide open portrait of Orion with the R-D1s, 
> one meter distance, one picture only (because Orion hates being 
> photographed, and I'm very glad he exceptionally smiled). 
>
> After I opened the RAW file on the computer, I felt like having found a 
> pearl in a mushroom. This lens has a unique, very natural (and thus 
> oldfashioned) color rendering, and the softness, when not combined with 
> too much contrast, becomes very nice for portrait shots in such light. The 
> background bokeh is also very consistent. This lens will not be cleaned 
> for shure! But it will see significantly more usage in the future...
>
> Comments & critiques welcome as always
> Didier
>
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> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
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>
>   

Replies: Reply from leica at screengang.com (Didier Ludwig) ([Leica] IMG: Portrait of Orion)
In reply to: Message from leica at screengang.com (Didier Ludwig) ([Leica] IMG: Portrait of Orion)