Do I need another lens?

I recently acquired another lens - The Mitakon 65mm f1.4. For the most part I was pretty satisfied with the results from the 32-64mm f4 Fuji lens for portraits anyway. But at some distance, meaning more than a few metres away the background in some instances with not sufficiently out of focus to give a really pleasing result. What you’re seeing here is just a little experiment. You might know that a close up lens which you can buy at a relatively cheap price can produce an image at a significantly shorter distance than a bare lens is capable of. Either a close up lens or in this case, an extension tube.

The extension tube here came with the 120mm GFX lens in my original purchase of the GFX100S. The Mitakon 65mm happens to have a GFX mount so fitting the two together was easy. I tried a few shots hand held but results were not quite as good as a tripod and triggering the shutter with a phone app. The DOF was ridiculously thin. Looking at this image I would say almost less than 1mm!

The Mitakon anyway has a very smooth fall off when it comes to background blur. I have yet to try it without the extension tube for a portrait shot but just taking random images I can see that a similar albeit reduced blur and fall off is already excellent.

In using the camera’s close focus (magnification) function I felt I was looking through a microscope at the yellow fibres. No sharpening has been applied to this image. I look forward to posting portrait style images as I get the opportunity.

cows on a hill

A warm-tone image taken during drive in the country. A simple image with plenty of texture. I don’t use a tele lens much anymore though there have been occasions where it would have come in handy. I have to rely on a short tele of 120mm (which equates to a 95mm full frame) and crop in where necessary. It’s a workaround.

a forensic nightmare

A murder scene with this many foot prints! Fortunately this was not that. A walkway above the beach. It makes such an interesting collage. I don’t think I could have created such a varied design. I was a bit surprised that somehow the prints were not all smudged and blurred. I may blow this one up and see how it looks. At first glance it looks like hieroglyphics from an Egyptian tomb.

Two swans

Back in 2012 when this photo was taken, my camera didn’t have GeoTag capability. So I drove the circumference of Iceland without any record of where any photos were taken. I think this one in particular was somewhere close to the east coast. There were variations of this image which included three and four swans.

Iceland landscape

Yes there are forests in Iceland, However I didn’t come across them in my circuit tour of the island. Google shows up several forests that are apparently not that hard to access. There were locations that I passed which had the odd tree but for the most part, treeless was common. Nevertheless, these landscapes had their own appeal and made excellent subjects for B&W images. Apparently since my visit there in 2012, reforesting has made significant progress.

Atmospheric night shots

I’ve been doing stills for the past week for a movie being filmed in my location. Firstly, a great experience working with a very professional team. You might say we were hampered by the weather - rainy conditions and such however the scenes called for exactly that kind of weather, producing atmospheric conditions. I used predominantly 16x9 and xPan format making it easy to include extra elements in the scene. The Fuji GF 32-64mm was the only lens used and did a great job. The feet did any extra work.

Kangaroo mob

Kangaroos abound in the countryside in Australia. We have them on our property as well, usually keeping their distance. They can be seen in groups of twenty, thirty, even in their hundreds in some areas.

Filming stills

Some XPan shots from a film shooting yesterday. Really enjoyed working with this crew. XPan works well with the cinematic processes since it’s mostly spread around for the behind the scenes shots.

unscripted

I do like a good random shot. This wasn’t setup to be like this. He reached down to feel the water temperature then walked off. I did a number of shots with him - a natural model, unfussy and easy to shoot.The colours and tones of the day added something to the feeling. This was in the early days of the GFX 100S.

An old bull trick

As I approached this young bull he started to show a bit of attitude and looked like he meant business. So I thought I’d try an old bull trick… I started to drag the dirt under my feet as a kind of a challenge, the way bulls do before they charge. It seemed to freak him out a little even though I only have two legs. He trotted off unwilling to take up the challenge. Of course I did all this from the safety of a fence. ; )