It was a sight to behold....

It was a sight to behold...., originally uploaded by benny ng.

Was at Michael's place yesterday to drop off some lenses before flying off.

Thought it was going to be a splash and dash but ended up having dinner at his place. And got the chance to see part (and only part) of his extensive collection! Not for the faint of heart! I think you can easily buy a Mercedes C class with what's on the table.

Cheers,

Compressed

Compressed, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Just playing with the Canon 100mm f/2.0 LTM on the Epson R-D1s. This lens is suppose to be notoriously hard to focus, especially on the R-D1s due to the camera's short baselength as well as the shallow depth of field at f/2.0.

Anyway, Bernard, John and I went to the Padang after hanging out at Peninsula for a while. The light was good and I managed to get a shot of the financial district in a slightly different perspective.

Cheers,

Absolut Bokeh

Absolut Bokeh, originally uploaded by benny ng.

ISO 200, 1/8 sec, f/2.0. Shot on Epson R-D1s.

It's all A. J. Goh's fault for letting me play with this lens. The Nikkor-P.C. 8.5cm f/2 LTM. Nikon built it's reputation on this and the 10.5cm f/2.5 lens.

For such a compact package, it's certainly makes it's presence felt in your hands. There is a lighter version of this lens in black and chrome finish.

Anyway, here's a test shot to see the out of focus rendition. As it's a Sonnar design, it's exhibits smooth and creamy bokeh!

Perhaps I should get the black one to see if there are any difference.

Cheers,

Canon 25mm f/3.5 LTM

Canon 25mm f/3.5 LTM, originally uploaded by benny ng.

One one the recent acquisitions... Canon 25mm f/3.5 LTM. Epson R-D1s in the background.

A very compact lens, very similar to the Canon 28mm f/2.8 LTM. I wonder how this antique stands up to Voigtlander's Color Skopar 25mm f/4?

Macro shot taken with my trusty Canon IXUS 40!!

The Summicron Adventures in China

The Summicron Adventures in China, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Brought along the Epson R-D1s and 3 Leica Summicron-M on the China trip, together with my Canon digital SLR. Let's see how well they work for me. Will be uploading the pictures into one of my flickr sets.

Let's hope I didn't bring more than I can carry! Ha!

Cheers,

p.s. This is uploaded "live" at the commune with wireless internet! Isn't technology cool!?

What the F#$&!?

What the F#$&!?, originally uploaded by benny ng.

This was actually taken 3 days ago in flight rather than on land. LH025 from Hamburg to Frankfurt. I was seated on the wrong side and would really have preferred his window seat for some spectacular light. Oh well....

It's a shame that I don't really get the time to go around in Europe. Usually splash and dash. Would have love to go beyond Hamburg and see some sights.

Anyway, I'll be back in December again.

Cheers,

Final stop - Hamburg

Final stop - Hamburg, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Went for a walk about near the Park Hyatt and ended up at the train station instead. Took a couple of shots around there and like this one the best. It's no fun being cold and hungry. Everything cost so much more in Euros.

Cheers,

Thomas Punkt & RATHAUS

Thomas Punkt, originally uploaded by benny ng.

RATHAUS, originally uploaded by benny ng.

From the streets of Hamburg, on a dull, cold, wet autumn day..........

Cheers,

Canon 19mm f/3.5

A very interesting lens....

Available in LTM mount or a much cheaper FL mount with or without retrofocus.

Anyway, just bid on a Canon FL 19m f/3.5 R for the fun of it.

Also, chanced upon another Canon 19mm f/3.5 LTM in Japan.

キヤノン19ｍｍF3.5 スクリューマウントレンズです。
Canon 19mm f/3.5 screw mount lens.

レンズ内多少ゴミの混入あります。
There are dust inside the lens element.

前枠やピントリングの黒塗りがはげているところがあります。
Front frame and focusing ring has brassing on the black paint.

専用ファインダーと前後キャップが付属します。
Finder, front and rear caps included.

ファインダーはレンズにキズがありますのでオマケ程度にお考えください

Should I? Shouldn't I? I do have more lenses that I can use at this point in time.. We'll see...

In the middle

In the middle, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Taken in Hong Kong with my Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical.

Thought I try something different by desaturating the left side.

Hmm.....

Cheers,

The Perfect Boyfriend

The Perfect Boyfriend, originally uploaded by benny ng.

He doesn't smoke or drink. Won't stray. Never talk back. Don't complain if he's a bit of a bore though...

Touch down!

Touch down!, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Like they said, "There's no place like home!"

Also taken with the Rollei Plannar 80mm f/2.8 HFT.

Cheers

Sunset at 40,000 feet

Sunset at 40,000 feet, originally uploaded by benny ng.

This was taken when we were flying back from Bali. Boring flight so took out the Rollei Plannar 80mm f/2.8 HFT to play. Was lucky to be seated at the correct side of the plane by the window so got a few good shots.

Although pricey, this lens is actually very good. Too bad so little of them was made and as such, it's very difficult to find. What I would really like is to get the Nikon F mount focusing helicoid adaptor. With an additional Nikon F to Canon EF adaptor, I can use the legendary Plannar 80mm f/2.8 on the Canon 1Ds Mk2!!! The seach begins!

I may post a few more pictures from the flight later.

Cheers,

Ribbit!

Ribbit!, originally uploaded by benny ng.

There's really nothing much to do here in the resort here in Bali. Ended up shooting leaves and stone statues. Good thing is that they are patient and don't move! Don't you just love the bokeh on this lens?

Taken with my new toy Rollei Plannar 80mm f/2.8 HFT.

Cheers,

Urban

Urban, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Took the Canon 50mm f/1.5 LTM for a spin around the Marina area. It's a real vintage, chrome on brass, heavy, with a little focusing lever that is also an infinity lock.

Anyway, it's a Sonnar copy and it's really sharp at f/4.0! I love this lens!

Cheers,

Taipei = Scooters

Taipei = Scooters, originally uploaded by benny ng.

It's just amazing how many scooters there are in Taipei. I think there must be millions! Benson told me that there's at least 1 to 1.5 units per household. On the roads, the only adjective I can think of is 'swarm' when describing their sheer numbers.

Taken with my trusty Canon 50mm f/1.5 LTM!

Cheers,

New Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f/2.0

New lens! New lens!

Lens Construction : 8 groups 10 elements
Smallest Aperture : F22
Picture Angle : 75°
Aperture Blades: 10
Nearest Distance : 0.7m
Diameter x Length : φ55 x 51.2mm
Weight : 244g

Retailing in Japan for JPY75000, which is about S$970! This should replaced the Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f/1.9 in LTM mount. Looks like it's slightly smaller and already incoporate an M mount.

http://www.cosina.co.jp/seihin/voigt/v-lens/v-l-m/28-2/index.html

Likely to hit the shores of Singapore by end August 08!

Cheers,

Fishing

Fishing, originally uploaded by benny ng.

A lazy weekend at Labrador Park with Bernard and my Leica M6.

Cheers,

A380 Tokyo to Singapore!

A380 Tokyo to Singapore!, originally uploaded by benny ng.

This is what a 15mm should look like in it's full glory!

Shot with the Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar 15mm f/4.5 Aspherical on the Leica M7, so there is no 'crop' on the image as it's not a APS-C sensor.

By the way, lots of goodies from this Japan trip. Got the another Zeiss Ikon, but in black. Some vintage Canon and Nikkor M39 rangefinder lenses as well! All in all, a good trip.

Cheers

Contax TLA 200 Flash!

640_MG_0006, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Finally the black Contax TLA 200 flash arrived! Most of those around are the titanium color version to match the Contax G2. I got this off ebay from a German seller who would not ship out of Germany. Had to ask him to ship to Andreas Werth, my friend in Germany and he subsequently shipped it with the Novoflex bellows over here. Mounumental effort indeed to get this fella.

Anyway, the black one looks just nice on my R-D1. Now to figure out how well this baby works with flash!

Cheers,

Got my Leica Summicron-M 35mm f/2.0!!

Marina Bay, originally uploaded by benny ng.

This is one of the first few shots from my new lens on the Epson R-D1! It's the fourth version of Leica's 35mm Summicron, or commonly known as the King of Bokeh!

Michael alerted me to this chrome version for sale on Rangefinderforum.com. Some one actually beat me to it. As usual. Luckily, buyer backed out and I ended up with the lens. Small package and feels really good in the hand. Let's hope it performs as well as it's reputation.

Cheers,

Testing my Elmar 3.5cm f/3.5 on chiif!

Chii Fei, originally uploaded by benny ng.

Got this off ebay and brought it along to show Chii Fei. Seems like I paid too much of it. As usual.

Anyway, looks like there's fog in this tiny lens so the contrast is very low. Of course nothing Adobe photoshop can't fix. I think I'll send it in for cleaning to see if it can improve. These tiny vintage lenses are just so....... pretty!

Chii Fei says "Buy less, shoot more"! Ha Ha.

Cheers,

Dream Two

Dream Two, originally uploaded by benny ng.

The buildings in Hong Kong can be really close. This is shot with the 15mm lens on my recently acquired Epson R-D1 and it can still fill the whole frame. Talk about really high density living.

Cheers,

It finally arrived!! My Epson R-D1

It's been a long two weeks and finally, the Epson R-D1 arrives! Complete with it's original packaging too! I bought it off James Rogala, whose a New York based Art Director. He has a website at www.jamesrr.com. My Voigtlander Ultra Wide-Heliar 12mm f/5.6 Aspherical I got earlier was from him too!

Oh, the bummer was that the package was detained by the customs and I had to go there to collect personally as they wanted me to pay taxes on it. Wasted a good Saturday. Oh well...

Anyway, I'm so excited with my new toy!

Cheers,

p.s. It's already updated with the R-D1s firmware so it's as good as an R-D1s. Yay!!

The world of Range finder cameras...

is so confusing.

So there's Leica and everybody says it's the one to get. Obviously there are other options too. But it seems like the predominant interchangeable lens systems are mainly confined to M mount, LTM/M39 mount, Nikon's S mount and Contax's C mount.

I think the M mount system seems to be the safest to go. Then there's the problem with cameras. You need to know what you like before you get them. Some of them have different type of viewfinders whilst others have differing 'framelines' which you need to match with your lens for framing. And then there's the fact that what you see is not what you get as you don't look through the lens. If you get lens that you don't have framelines for, you need to get viewfinders (which by the way ain't cheap!). And if you use viewfinders, you can't use flash. Everybody says you don't use flash for rangefinders. If that's is the case, then why do they make flashes for rangefinders. Strange....

Perhaps the SLR isn't that bad.......... Then again, perhaps I'll start with just a camera and one lens.

Cheers,

Rangefinder Renaissance

In early 2006, I abandoned photography for the second time but somehow, it crept back into my life two years later.

I've always been an SLR type of guy as the first real camera that my dad gave me was a Canon AE-1. Had great fun with it and really enjoyed the pictures from the FD 50mm f/1.4. Tried other cameras like Nikon, Minolta, Pentax, etc, but mainly stayed within 35mm SLR system. A brief foray into the medium format world with a Mamiya 645 system and shot 1 roll before packing the set for long term storage.

I have never had a rangefinder system though it's a 35mm format. I've always like small, delicate things and being light weight, it just might work for me! Choy was saying that it should be fun and the system gives a different perspective. I'm kind of sick of SLR photography and haven't really touched my set for about 2 years. So the hunt for a new camera begins!

A new camera, a new way of shooting, a different perspective, the passion has been revived!