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landscape photography

Using Vintage lenses on Mirrorless Cameras

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Rockport Harbor
Still clear morning at Rockport Harbor

Using vintage lenses that were manufactured many years ago has always fascinated me! For photo geeks it’s intriguing but for most people they just care about the image. So recently I went out to test a lens that was made in 1958 the Leica 35mm f3.5 LTM (thread mount) Summaron. I was given this lens when I was 15 years old along with the external viewfinder. A few years ago I had the lens cleaned of fungus and started using it on my Leica M-P 240. The unfortunate thing is that the thread mount to bayonet mount I have on it is for a 90mm not a 35 so the wrong frame lines come up in the viewfinder. I am sending mine to Tamarkin Camera in Chicago in return for a 35mm one. It will be fun to be able to see the frame lines correctly for once.

Rockport Harbor
Still clear morning at Rockport Harbor

This lens has a very nice vignette to it as you can see in the image above. It’s like a piece of jewelry all cleaned up. What a gem! I was curious to see how the color would be an I was pleasantly surprised at the images I got.

Dinghy's
Dinghy’s at the Gloucester Maritime Center

The black and white conversions were outstanding as well meaning that the contrast was top notch. I found very little wrong with the results they were outstanding.

Dinghy's
Dinghy’s at the Gloucester Maritime Center

Finding compositions over at the Maritime Center is a breeze as they are everywhere. I just loved poking around the old hulls etc. The combination of this little lens and camera brought me back to the old days of shooting with my Leica M3 with this lens. I can’t wait to shoot some film with that combination later on this summer it should be fun. Below is a video I did on this little project.

Up to the Gunnels – Schooner Sylvina W. Beal

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Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA. 16mm/24mm

Harold Burnham is going to rehab this old schooner the Sylvina W. Beal over the next two years but for the moment she has been tied up next to his shipyard in Essex, MA. This gave me a great opportunity to check out my most versatile lens the 16-80 mm or in 35mm full frame terms 24-120mm. This is a great range and which these images will give you an idea of. The morning was very still and the water was barely moving when I arrived in Essex. The reflections were outstanding and gave me some very nice images of this vessel at high tide.

Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA. 80mm/120mm

The reflections, peeling paint, and old hull made for some intriguing compositional elements. In black and white this became even more apparent.

Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA.

Walking around for different vantage points gave me some even more exciting images using this great all-purpose lens! I shoot mostly at the wide and long end with very little at the 35mm/50mm mark so this latitude was a true god send for this particular project.

Schooner Maine
The schooner Maine sits abandoned next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA. 80mm/120mm

The old abandoned hull of the schooner Maine sits sunk in the mud near the Burnham Shipyard in Essex. The long throw of the 16-80 gives some nice perspective on this rotting relic.

Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA.

Another shot using the 16-80 at 16/24mm also gives some nice perspective. I really enjoyed the outing with this lens as I find myself using it more and more as my go to lens. Below is the video on my experience photographing the Beal.

Planning your Moon shots

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supermoon-1

I try to not miss an opportunity to photograph a “Super Moon” near a local lighthouse when the sunset and moonrise times line up. Back in March, when the “Buck Moon” came up right at sunset, it was the perfect time to get the shot. I used an app called “Photo Pills” to see which lighthouse on Cape Ann it lined up with. I also use a newer app called “TPE” which has less features to it. As it turned out the Straightsmouth Island light in Rockport, MA lined up perfectly with the rising moon. I used the Fujifilm XF 100-400 as it is a long reach from the Headlands in Rockport to Straightsmouth Island. Using this app I was able to figure out very closely where I needed to stand. If I had gone any lower near the water the lighthouse would have broken the horizon and it would not have looked as nice. It’s still a little close for me but I could not get any higher to lower the top of the lighthouse below the horizon. If I had been at water level the moon would have come up right behind the lighthouse which would have been pretty cool but the haze would have made it less visible.

supermoon-2

This particular day in March was quite warm (around 70 degrees F) which heated the land up quite a bit and as the sun went down an atmospheric shimmer appeared as the warmed land let off it’s heat. Using such a long lens compressed this heat and gave the images a slightly off sharp look. I was worried all day about the haze that was building on the horizon but the moon came through quite well. The top image is just as it broke through the haze. As the moon got higher in the sky it became clearer to see.

supermoon-3

I only managed to get the lighthouse light in a few shots just not in the ones I wanted. It was a good thing a sea gull flew through to make this last image more interesting. I also made a YouTube video of this photo shoot which I have embedded below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pynzXhJVemM&w=560&h=315]