Blue

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5 lens with TC-16A teleconverter. 100 ISO; f/2.5; 1/250th.

Photographed with a Canon EOS 30D camera fitted with a Helios-44 lens originally on a Zenit-E film camera. The Helios is a Soviet copy of the Carl Zeiss Biotar 58mm ƒ/2 lens.

Hanging a newly laundered shirt from the top of the bookcase is a handy way of getting it nicely aired in a room often warmed by sunlight. I bought Fowler's Modern English Usage in a charity shop. There was a 1970s bus ticket inside its pages doing service as a bookmark. I like things from that period. I used a Canon EOS 30D with a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens mounted via a cheap adapter. That lens is also from the 1970s. It has an interesting history. Johannes Berger of Zeiss invented a 55mm f/1.4 Planar lens in 1957. But the design wasn't used for Zeiss lenses, because Erhard Glatzel invented a 50mm f/1.4 Planar lens, which was better. Berger's Planar, an asymmetrical double-Gauss scheme, similar to Nikon’s Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4 lens of 1961, was licensed to other manufacturers. Amongst these was Tomioka, a Japanese glass manufacturer. Chinon, who made cameras but not lenses, went to Tomioka for a standard fast lens. They got the 55mm f/1.4 (there was also a 55mm f/1.2 supplied in smaller numbers). In appearance, the 55mm f/1.4 closely resembles the more usual offering of a 55mm f/1.7 lens which came with Chinons of that period. Notably, the barrel is all-metal with a strip of thin leather glued on for a focussing grip. The standard of construction is good without equalling Leitz or Nikon quality. Because of the similarity in appearance, some suspect that the f/1.7 version was also a Tomioka product, but that is not proven, whereas the Tomioka involvement in the 1.4 55mm lens is pretty clear. Some of them even have the Tomioka name engraved at the front. Others are identical except for the absence of that information. The versions with the Tomioka name are appreciably more expensive to buy secondhand.

Canon EOS 30D with a Canon EF 35-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens.

Aperture-priority set to f/11. ISO 200. 1/125th, Lens at 80mm equivalent to a field of view of 128mm in full frame.

Blue in the stream like none I have seen apart from dreams that escape me.

Nikon D700 + AF Zoom-Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF lens.

Photographed with a Nikon D90 and an AF Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G lens. I've owned two of these lenses and sold them because their performance beyond 200mm was not that good. Yet for the price you pay (very small) and their portability (very lightweight) they are worth having if you can deploy them between 70 and 200mm only. They are not the sturdiest of lenses but they're better than nothing.

An old AF Zoom-Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens on a Nikon D700. This lens has a macro setting which is actually of some value.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor AF-S 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 G ED lens. This is a replacement for the 18-70mm I got rid of and I am pleased to have an even better copy of it.

You can focus very close with the Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens, and it has image stabilisation as well. The clarity is generally good. But it is a biggish lens in comparison to old 35mm Nikkor lenses and heavier to carry. If it was the only lens you carried you'd scarcely care, but as part of a collection in a gadget bag you might examine how much you used this lens in comparison to others. Footnote: Having looked afresh at other photographs I have made using this lens, I think it deserves to be employed much more often. If you would also like to see those pictures, they are in my album - listed at the top of "See also..." to the right-hand side of this page.

Nikon D90 and Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 AF lens.

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens. f/4; 1/125th.

Photographed with a Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens.

I took the photograph into the early morning sun using an old Nikkor-H Auto 300mm f/4.5 lens on a Nikon D2Xs. There is a lot of flare but I like the compressed perspective and muted colours. This is a fresh edit of the photograph I posted six years ago. I have increased exposure, particularly in the shadows, and made other minor changes. The subject is the flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal at Caen Hill, near Devizes. There are 29 locks providing a rise of 237 feet in two miles.

This is a photograph of the de Clarke monument in Locksbrook Cemetery, Lower Weston, Bath. It is a bronze sarcophagus with an angel over a base of Pennant stone sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford. The monument was erected to Mary, wife of Lieut.-Gen The Hon Sir Andrew Clarke. It is probably the finest tomb in Locksbrook. Nikon D40 and AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VRII lens. Focal length 34mm (full frame equivalent 51mm). 400 ISO; f/5.6; 1/100th.

Edward Onslow Ford's angel on the de Clarke sarcophagus in Locksbrook cemetery, Lower Weston. Cemeteries, particularly of the Victorian era, reveal much about the demography of the locality they served. In Locksbrook the relative wealth is striking compared to other Victorian cemeteries of less well-heeled communities. Nikon D40 and AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VRII lens. Focal length 150mm (full frame equivalent 225mm). 400 ISO; f/5.6; 1/250th.