It's probably not a good idea to eat donuts...but it sure is fun.
I looked through the assortment of donuts but skipped the inventive, whimsical and over wrought selections and instead chose a huge, luscious looking, standard glazed donut. Throwing caution to the wind I also ordered a cappucino. I secured these treasures in the car and headed home to enjoy them in the quiet solitude of my studio. The donut was great. The coffee was good. The experience of "The Salty" was nice.
Yesterday I spent time photographing with the 35mm lens on a rangefinder camera. I have many more images from the outing but the takeaway for me is that the 35mm lens and the sensor in a twelve year old camera are both pretty much perfect.
Everyone loves to bitch about prices of gear these days but there is a simple solution, if you can pull your ego and binary thinking out of the process. You can source used equipment that's perfectly good, capable of wonderful imaging potential, and very accessible for fractions of the cost of new gear. If you are looking at Leica rangefinders as I did recently you might find that a $2400, perfectly nice M240 is just as much fun to shoot with as a brand new, ten thousand dollar model. And there exists a good range in between these choices. It's not a binary choice.
Where lenses are involved I think I've gotten just as nice images and much more joy out of small collection of used Zeiss ZM lenses that were made for rangefinders and introduced along with Zeiss's attempt at success in a renewed rangefinder camera market, starting around 2005. The ZM 35mm f2.0 Biogon lens I was shooting with during my walk was purchased used and set me back about $500. Not $5,000 dollars. From everything I can see it's a wonderful lens and I can't imagine how much more performance one could expect ---- even if budget was no object.
I'll post some more pix a bit later. My coffee is getting cold and needs a warm-up.
Just don’t eat one or two on your way to an appointment with your cardiologist
ReplyDeleteTerry Letton
Terry, it's really the endocrinologists you have to worry about :-)
DeleteI don’t have one of those Kirk but my cardiologist gives me enough shit about such stuff. Maybe he should just buy a Leica
DeleteTerry
The Biogon sounds very cool. As does the general philosophy of giving great old lenses a second life. But what really intrigues me is the question of what a donut from 'The Salty' looks like...and tastes like. For generations, great bakers have always confided that adding a bit of salt to their otherwise sweet concoctions... elevates them to new levels. Did your donut have any hint of saltiness to it? And... would you consider returning to The Salty to photograph its clones, for those of us who are donut aficionados? Confession: in southern Oregon, where I live, the most intriguing Donut shop features donuts made with Japanese Mochi rice flour. They look luscious but have an extra je ne sais quoi in the taste department. How would you rate the Salty's donuts, on the Kirk scale?
ReplyDeleteMiguel, their donuts are a few steps above the usual donut flare but they wouldn't compete with the best of the best. Also, I was by in the mid-afternoon, long after the donuts were made and, in my estimation you really have to eat one within a half hour of production to get the full benefit and mouth feel of an excellent donut. Sadly, I think Austin is lagging behind in donut culture. When I was in Boston the donuts were both plentiful and exciting. But of course, good coffee makes every donut better... Thank!
DeleteShould read: "donut fare" not "flare"
DeleteI think the last time I bought a new camera and lens was the early 70's. I'm Scottish and a Taurus. Translated, that means I am very frugal. VERY!
ReplyDeleteIt's not that I can't afford new, it's just I can't bear to pay the stupid tax. I have had great success with my used gear and loads of fun. Do I have backups? You bet and it still saves me money.
Same goes for cars and other things yhat intrrest me like high end audio gear.. The money I saved over the years has been plowed into investments, travel and other business ventures.
Eric