Selection

I met a fellow photographer in the garden of Hauser & Wirth in Somerset. She kindly agreed to have her picture taken. It's wonderful when this happens. Nikon D40 with a Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens. Field of view equivalent to a 50mm lens on a full frame camera. 400 ISO; aperture priority set at f/5. Shutter 1/320th.

Canon EOS 30D + 18-55mm kit lens. ISO 100; 18mm (28mm equivalent). 1/80th at f/5.6.

Nikon D40 and AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VRII lens. Focal length 105mm (full frame equivalent 157mm). 800 ISO; f/5.6; 1/160th. I have been here many times yet not made this photograph before. It depends on the position of the photographer in relation to the subject; the focal length of the lens; the season; the light; the aperture. So many variables.

Photographed with a 24mm Nikkor f/2.8 AF on a Nikon D2Xs, a crop sensor camera where 24mm equates to something like 35mm on full frame. 1/125th at f/4; 400 ISO. I think the red berries are from a rowan tree.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S lens. Wide open with a shutter speed of 1/8000th. I don't think I've ever shot anything at 1/8000th before. Until today I considered 1/1000th quite adequate.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens.

Photographed with a Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens on a Nikon D700 camera.

Photographed with a Nikkor 200mm f/4 Ai lens on a Nikon D40.

Shot using a Nikon D40 with a Nikkor AI 50mm f/2 lens made sometime between March 1977 and January 1979.

Nikon D40 + Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5 - 5.6 lens.

The view south through a window of an eastbound train which had stopped at Castle Cary railway station. 4.30 in the afternoon in mid July. Shades of 'Adlestrop'.

Nikon D40 + Nikkor 18-70mm lens at 70mm (equivalent to a field of view of 105mm in a full frame camera). 400 ISO; f/5; 1/400th.

Nikon D2Xs at 400 ISO with an AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G lens. Lens at 80mm (equivalent to 120mm in a full frame camera). Camera in aperture priority and set at f/8. Shutter speed 1/250th.

The secondhand Nikon D70s which I bought for £49 has performed well - sometimes. Some of its output has shown banding and image break-up of a calamitous order. The camera has frequently demanded a format of its memory card quite unnecessarily and at some inconvenience in escaping from the instruction. Sadly it must go back to the seller who described it as 'good'. Pah! Lens at 29mm. 200 ISO; f/6.3; 1/160th.

Depth of field courtesy of a Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 lens manufactured circa 1971. Fitted to a Nikon D2Xs; the Nikkor-H has fortunately been converted to AI standard. The D2 cameras have crop sensors; thus the field of view of an 85mm is more akin to 130mm. Here I was at 100 ISO with an aperture of f/4.5 and shutter speed of 1/60th, which was a bit risky for the focal length. Heigh-ho.

Canon EOS 30D with a Canon EF 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens.

Hanging a newly laundered shirt from the top of the bookcase is a handy way of getting it nicely aired in a room often warmed by sunlight. I bought Fowler's Modern English Usage in a charity shop. There was a 1970s bus ticket inside its pages doing service as a bookmark. I like things from that period. I used a Canon EOS 30D with a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens mounted via a cheap adapter. That lens is also from the 1970s. It has an interesting history. Johannes Berger of Zeiss invented a 55mm f/1.4 Planar lens in 1957. But the design wasn't used for Zeiss lenses, because Erhard Glatzel invented a 50mm f/1.4 Planar lens, which was better. Berger's Planar, an asymmetrical double-Gauss scheme, similar to Nikon’s Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4 lens of 1961, was licensed to other manufacturers. Amongst these was Tomioka, a Japanese glass manufacturer. Chinon, who made cameras but not lenses, went to Tomioka for a standard fast lens. They got the 55mm f/1.4 (there was also a 55mm f/1.2 supplied in smaller numbers). In appearance, the 55mm f/1.4 closely resembles the more usual offering of a 55mm f/1.7 lens which came with Chinons of that period. Notably, the barrel is all-metal with a strip of thin leather glued on for a focussing grip. The standard of construction is good without equalling Leitz or Nikon quality. Because of the similarity in appearance, some suspect that the f/1.7 version was also a Tomioka product, but that is not proven, whereas the Tomioka involvement in the 1.4 55mm lens is pretty clear. Some of them even have the Tomioka name engraved at the front. Others are identical except for the absence of that information. The versions with the Tomioka name are appreciably more expensive to buy secondhand.