{"id":715,"date":"2008-02-05T23:25:36","date_gmt":"2008-02-05T14:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-02-05\/715"},"modified":"2008-02-05T23:25:36","modified_gmt":"2008-02-05T14:25:36","slug":"artsy-fartsy-in-kyoto-at-f12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2008-02-05\/715","title":{"rendered":"Artsy-Fartsy in Kyoto, at f\/1.2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>250 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nMe  @  f<\/i>\/1.2<\/span>\nPhoto by Zak Braverman<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Zak<\/a> kindly offered to loan\nme his Nikkor\n50mm f\/1.2<\/a> for a while,<\/span> so\nI took<\/span> a walk<\/span> down to the Starbucks on Sanjo (eastern Kyoto, Japan) for the\npickup.<\/p>\n\n

f\/1.2 is an extremely<\/i> big aperture. I've written about the\nshallow depth of field you get at large apertures (small “f” numbers), such\nas on this Sigma 30mm\nf\/1.4<\/a> post, but this f\/1.2<\/b> aperture is a new<\/span> experience for me.\nFocusing on anything relatively near with the aperture at f\/1.2 results in\na paper<\/span>-thin field that's in focus, but even then, the focus is “soft” due\nto spherical\naberration<\/a> and perhaps other things that I don't<\/span> understand. Zak put this<\/span> to good use above, knowing that my face in sharp focus would be a Bad<\/span>\nThing.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nZak  @  f<\/i>\/1.2<\/span>\nwith a little extra artsy-fartsy contrast added in post\n<\/div>\n\n

The two primary uses of a large aperture lens like this are for\nlow-light photography (such\nas this<\/a>), and to take advantage of the shallow depth of field. In the spirit<\/span> of the latter artistic use, I thought<\/span> I'd use it on my walk home\nwith an eye toward a more<\/span> artsy-fartsy shot.<\/p>\n\n

However, upon exiting the cafe, I see a<\/span> monk chowing down on a Big<\/span> Mac. So much for<\/span> artsy-fartsy.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>500 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nHey, We've All Gotta' Eat<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

While eating, he was watching the Kamo River flow by. A shallow<\/span> depth of\nfield with the scene below didn't really do much except make everything\nmushy, so I ended<\/span> up with a more<\/span> normal f\/5.6. Except for the guy's yellow\njacket and the green of the weeds, the scene was almost completely devoid\nof color, so I just<\/span> went ahead and turned it into an artsy-fartsy grayscale.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>200 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nYou Flow Your Way, I'll Go Mine<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

You can walk or ride a bicycle along the banks of the Kamo river for\nmiles, and it's mostly quite pleasant, but the short stretch between Sanjo\nand Ooike is really unpleasant on a bicycle.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>4000 sec, f\/2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nBumpy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2500 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nRed Scoopy<\/span>\n( there was a Pink Scoopy parked nearby, as well )\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nBoring<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I really like the view of the mountains to the north of Kyoto you get\nfrom along the Kamo River, how they fade in layers many miles back into the\nmist. I see it<\/span> almost every day, but I've never figured out how to take a\ngood<\/span> picture of it. As the photo<\/span> above shows, though, I am quite<\/span> adept at\ntaking bad pictures of it. With the general mushiness of this lens at\nf\/1.2, the car (which is ostensibly the focus point) takes on somewhat of a\n“soft-focus glow.”<\/p>\n\n

Perhaps that kind of effect would be appealing for some kinds of fashion\nphotography.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f\/2.8, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nOfuku-san, $400<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nTommy Lee Jones is Tired, but Boss<\/span>\n(a brand of coffee)\n<\/div>\n\n

The plants and mini vending machine were in front of someone's house. I tried<\/span> a shot<\/span> of the plants at f\/1.2, but everything came out mushy...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>750 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nToo Soft<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It could just be user error (that is, perhaps I didn't<\/span> focus well, or\ndidn't have a steady<\/span> hand), but I'm fairly confident that I gave<\/span> it a\npretty<\/span> good effort. I have a<\/span> Katz Eye focusing screen<\/a>,\nwhich allows for much easier\/better manual focusing, and at f\/1.2, the\nshutter was a zippy<\/span> 1\/750th second. It's still<\/span> a sloppy<\/span> mess.<\/p>\n\n

Things are much sharper at f\/5.6, but the result is unpleasingly busy.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f\/5.6, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nToo Busy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I should have tried it at about f\/2 or f\/2.8.<\/p>\n\n

A few houses down, there was a small sprig of those red berries<\/a> I wrote<\/span> about\nat the end of last year, and at f\/2, I really<\/span> like the result:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>320 sec, f\/2, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nGoldilocks Would Be Happy<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I took the opportunity to revisit the red berries seen in that red-berries\npost<\/a> (in its first picture, and its last two pictures). I can't<\/span> say\nthat have I much<\/span> to show for it, though. The background<\/span> is just too busy,\neven at f\/1.2, to work in a wide<\/span>-angle shot.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>5000 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 160 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nOld Friends<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

However, the softness at f\/1.2 make a very<\/span> nice effect with this flower.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1250 sec, f\/1.2, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span><\/span>\nSoft as a Baby's<\/span> Bottom<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zak kindly offered to loan me his Nikkor 50mm f\/1.2 for a while, so I took a walk down to the Starbucks on Sanjo (eastern Kyoto, Japan) for the pickup.<\/p>

f\/1.2 is an extremely big aperture. I've written about the shallow depth of field you get at large apertures (small \"f\" numbers), such as on this Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 post, but this f\/1.2<\/b> aperture is a new experience for me. Focusing on anything relatively near with the aperture at f\/1.2 results in a paper-thin field that's in focus, but even then, the focus is \"soft\" due to spherical aberration and [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}