Fujifilm X-E1

Lens: Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S.

Fujifilm X-E1 and Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R lens.

Lens: M42 Chinon 55mm f1.4. Made by Tomioka. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

Lens: M42 Fujinon 55mm f2.2. Fuji economised by not coating the optics and providing a fastest aperture of f/2.2. To complete the budget status, the camera marketed with this lens - the Fujica ST605 - had a fastest shutter speed of 1/750th sec. Honestly, they might just as well have done f/2.8 and 1/500th. But the lens nonetheless has ability. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

Photographed with a Fujinon 55mm f/2.2 lens. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

This is the Fujinon 55mm f/2.2 lens which came with my Fujica ST605 bought in practically new condition from an eBay seller for £5. Photographed with a Helios-44 lens also bought for a song on eBay. Camera: Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

Outer space. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1. Lens: Helios 58mm f/2.

Photographed using one of the relatively early Helios-44 lenses, a preset with unusual positioning of the aperture ring at the front and a scalloped focussing ring close to the camera end. The filter ring is 49mm and there are 13 aperture blades. When I bought it on eBay it was screwed into a Zenit-E. The logo engraved at the front reveals it was manufactured by the KMZ company. It is quite good, if a bit counter intuitive in use. It was a more up-to-date auto version of this lens that was on my first SLR, a Zenit-EM. I don't think I realised at that time just what a special optic I had. I have been reading a blog about the Helios-44 used in combination with a Fuji-X camera - www.sharkandpalm.com/photography-tips/walking-through-washington-heights-on-a-rainy-afternoon The writer enthuses about ‘the gorgeous lo-fi bokeh the Helios 44-4 offers wide open’ and remarks ‘Something I understand more every time I shoot with this lens is the limits of it's sharpness. Even when focus is spot-on, a subject on the edge of the frame hazes and blurs out of focus.’ He is surprised ‘that this cheap vintage glass can perform so well for architectural and landscape shots!’ In a blog reviewing the Helios-44 at www.sharkandpalm.com/camera-reviews/helios-44-4-lens-review-swirly-bokeh-for-portraits he opines that ‘for $30’ it is ‘one of the best portrait lenses for a mirrorless body you can find.’ Regarding the ‘Helios 44-4's Swirly Bokeh’ he finds that, ‘Funnily enough, this optical quality was also considered an engineering defect: newer versions of the Helios lens phased it out. The Helios 44-4, being one of the earliest models, exhibits some of the most dramatic swirly bokeh.’ Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

The ubiquitous aluminium flower vase manufactured in vast numbers for the businesses devoted to serving the bereaved. With the decline of burial as a method of disposal, they are probably manufactured in much smaller numbers these days. For almost all my years I have viewed these specialist utilitarian objects with great and ever-growing distaste. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1. Lens: Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF R.

I photographed this street scene from inside the calm of the Locksbrook cemetery, which has been closed to new burials for a long time and is now run down and neglected. It seems to be used chiefly by people exercising their dogs. Through the trees is a street of fine Victorian houses. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1. Lens: Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF R.

Lens: Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R wide open. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27 Camera: Fujifilm X-E1. Lens: Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF R.

Lens: Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R at f/11. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

Lens: Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R wide open. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

The anchor was an early Christian symbol when Christians were enduring Roman persecution. The anchor symbol concealed the cross without drawing Roman attention. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1. Lens: Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF R.

A cemetery on the outskirts of Bath. Now closed for new burials and neglected, it is used chiefly by people walking their dogs. Many memorials are overgrown and collapsed; a few, but not many, are visited and remembered. I was struck powerfully by the futility of erecting memorial stones when after a short time nobody can recall who you were. Many of the great and good are interred here; people of wealth and social standing. Some of the memorials are extravagant and ornate and would have cost a pretty penny. My visit on the first day of October on an overcast wet day underlined the end of the summer and struck a funereal note all of its own. Lens: Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R wide open. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.

Camera: Fujifilm X-E1. Lens: Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF R.

Lens: Fujinon XF 35mm f/1.4 R wide open. Camera: Fujifilm X-E1.