The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: book

I bought a Zenit-E to get the Helios-44 lens which was with it. This is the original lens that the Soviets copied from the Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f/2. It's a pre-set lens and takes a bit of getting used to. Received wisdom is to shoot it wide open at f/2 for the distinctive bokeh, but the contrast suffers when you do this. At f/5.6 it becomes a nicer lens to use. The Prayer Book is Victorian, although the year of printing is not given by Cambridge University Press. Nor is the typeface. I should have liked to know both, but for £2 secondhand I can't really complain.

Having bought the book in the secondhand bookshop at Lacock Abbey, I felt an unstoppable urge to photograph it under Benjamin Carter's sphinx which is supported by the plinth in the picture. The book is open at a reproduction of Evelyn Hofer's 'Portrait in Windowlight' photographed in 1969. Secondhand books are seldom described as 'used' or (worse) 'pre-loved'. I need to analyse why this is so, and whether it means books are held in high or low esteem generally. Photographed with a 50mm f/2.8 vintage Tessar lens on a Canon EOS 40D.

A St. Dalfour jam jar used as a supplementary lens.

Manual focus.

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.

Nikon D2Xs and Nikkor 50mm f1.4 AFD lens, plus a teleconverter.

There is a bit more depth of field; a slightly wider vista. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron AF Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di II LD Macro lens at its widest - 55mm. 1/320th at f/4. !00 ISO.

Nikon D2Xs + Tamron AF Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di II LD Macro lens.

Photographed with a Nikon D700 and a Nikkor O.C 35mm f/2 lens, factory converted to AI capability. I find I need to make repeated visits to places I like before I make any worthwhile photographs which reveal something of the character of the subject. I have returned to using the 35mm focal length on full frame because it seems to be a good way of setting things in context. 1/125th at f/2.8 with ISO at 1600.

Nikon D2Xs + Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical (IF) lens. Type A16N.

Some years ago an antique corkscrew came my way. From one end of the handle erupted a dirty old brush. This was a feature of corkscrews from around 1780 to 1850. The purpose was to dust away debris from wax used to seal the bottle or fungus that might have accumulated on the cork. A neighbour with practical skills sawed the brush part off and reconstructed the corkscrew handle, making it the kind of tool you'd prefer to use rather than avoid. The photograph was made with a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 lens on a Nikon D700. The background is a Penguin paperback book from circa 1971 entitled 'Cooking in a Bedsitter' by Katharine Whitehorn.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI lens.

Nikon D700 + Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI lens.

For Steve Bucknell. Photographed with a Canon EOS 40D and a Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens.

On view here is the top half of 'You See Poetry', the cover of a collection of poems published in 1970 by University College London Union Poetry Seminar/Workshop. The bottom half has the word 'poetry' divided in half to make a symmetric rectangle of twelve rectangles each being a linocut-style letter. 27 College members from many different departments contributed, including Alex Comfort and Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 35-70mm f/2.8 lens.

Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens.

Nikon D2Xs + 55mm f/3.5 AI Micro-Nikkor.

The first thing to do is to form the committees: The consultative councils, the standing committees, select committees and sub-committees.