At school the topic that interested me the most in physics was optics and the properties of light.

I’ve pretty much forgotten what I learnt and decided to get a book to refresh my memory.

It might never come in handy for everyday use but there is no harm in knowing the science behind how lenses work and the scientific theories of light.

2 June 2016 Having had a bit of time to have a look through this book Optics Demystified by Stan Gibilisco is a really useful guide to explain the principles behind chromatic aberration, lenses, inverse square law amongst other things in as simple a language as possible.

I’m not sure how much of the information is sinking into my tiny brain but at least I have a better understanding of the science behind the equipment I’m operating on a day to day basis.

I purchased these lens caps cheap from the most popular online auction site and have regretted it ever since. They don’t fit properly and it is a pain fiddling with them at the end of a shoot.

So if you are happy to pay less for the “fake” so that you can save a bit of money then be my guest. Me? I’m going to replace these with the real thing. 

I’ve just downloaded and installed the FilmConvert plugin for Adobe Photoshop as I wanted to see if this add on would be interesting to use. 

Paying for the full version I would expect it to be simple to activate but every time I hit the button it is giving me the dreaded Apple beach ball. 

So if you want to know if I think it is just a version of Instagram filters for full size images you will have to wait until their support get back to me and I can use this properly.

5 June 2016 So I managed to get it to work now. The screen I needed was hidden behind the plugin interface, so all I needed to do was to move it to one side and the activation screen was there.

The picture on the left is straight out of the camera and the picture on the right is the one with FilmConvert applied.

Now you could argue if the plugin is worth the money if with a bit of tinkering in Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom you can get the same result. I have to mention at this point that the original was shot as a JPEG and if I had shot in raw I may have seen a bigger difference.

The reason why I don’t shoot in raw but prefer to shoot in JPEG is that it forces me to get it right in camera rather than think oh I can fix that later. If the JPEG is no good I have to ask myself why is it no good? What can I do next time to solve the problem while on set so that it does not happen again.

I do understand why people shoot in raw. Like all good photographic tools there is a time and place for each one. And this article highlights that JPEG v raw debate (which tanks to Twitter was highlighted to me).

Anyway, the plugin is useful for a quick change to the feel of an image so may well come in handy in the future. 

I saw this Nikkor 58mm f1.4 AF-S G lens being sold used at a really cheap price and thought it would be a shame to pass on it. 

No time to test it yet but from first impressions it is really light in weight for a lens that is big in size. From what I can tell the previous owner did not exactly abuse it but it does have the feel of it being well used. So even though it may not be made from tank like materials it does stand up to it being used.

Once I get a chance to use it I will of course report back.

27 July 2016 Now that I’ve had the chance to properly use this lens I’m pretty impressed with how good it is.

The auto focus is good. Nice and fast together with accuracy. I like the focal length plus the images from it.

It is the lens that is now attached to the camera most of the time. Sorry 85mm f1.4 you will just have to be patient just like the other lenses.

Just been playing around with WordPress 4.5 and the theme Twenty Sixteen and it doesn’t look too bad now. Not sure if they did something since I last played with it but I’m going to start using that theme now.

The other thing is that Twenty Sixteen is better on mobile devices than the previous version.

I saw this for sale at London Camera Exchange and couldn’t help myself from buying it. It may not be as fast as the f1.4 lenses I own but the party trick is the Defocus ring.

Not really had a chance to properly play with it but it looks good to me from the first test shot.

24 April 2016 Had a proper test of the lens today and I think that some people have misunderstood what it is all about. It really is a specialist portrait lens which I wouldn’t really advise to use in other circumstances. You can use it for other situations but you would be making life difficult for yourself.

The reason this lens is a specialist portrait lens is the ability for it do the petroleum jelly on the lens filter trick without getting your gear all mucky. And the reason why this is an old lens which may not get updated is that this style of image when out with the shoulder pads in the 1980s.

Photoshop and Lightroom have pretty much done away with the softening effect this lens does manually. Besides today it is all about sharpness and dynamic range.