The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: available light

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

Offcuts of fabric stacked on a dining room chair. Photographed in available light using a Nikon D2Xs with a Nikkor AF-S DX 18-200mm lens. 95mm; 400 ISO; f/7.6; 1/250th.

Nikon D2Xs, Tamron 70-210mm f/2.8 LD SP lens.

Nikon D2Xs + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S lens.

The subject is the Korean-made, Domke-inspired, David Bailey-endorsed canvas camera bag. I photographed it with a 50mm lens on a Nikon D700. This sort of subject is the natural home territory of the 50mm. I have owned this bag for several years, having bought it on eBay for £25. I have never seen another like it, which is surprising considering that David Bailey's initials are embroidered into the fabric at the front. Maybe the bag only ever appealed to photographers whose initials were also 'DB'. The design owes a lot to the Domke F-2 bag although there are a few differences in detail, such as an all-round zip in addition to the dog-clip hardware. However, the Domke canvas is soft cotton, whereas the fabric of the David Bailey version is slightly thinner and resolutely synthetic.

Canon EOS 40D + Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens.

A bit of wood carried home as a trophy and photographed indoors using a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI lens on a Nikon D700 in available light. The background is a reproduction of 'L. Prang & Co's Holiday Publications' from 1895, by Louis J. Rhead which was in an art nouveau calendar of 2015.

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

Available light. Canon EOS 40D at 1600 ISO. Chinon 55mm f/1.4 lens at f/3.3. 1/250th.

My first proper camera had a 58mm f/2 lens; I got used to a slightly telephoto view of things. When I traded up to a better camera it came with a 50mm lens which was a bit faster but disappointed slightly with its wider view. This might explain why I don’t mind the field of view which standard lenses provide on cropped sensor digital cameras - typically equating to 75mm - 90mm. It’s a perfect portrait lens at a far cheaper price than an 85mm, but more particularly, it’s a focal length which helps you to fill the viewfinder easily. Right from the start of my interest in photography I wanted arresting images, not yards of grass or tarmac with a small subject of interest in the distance. Whilst sometimes it’s alright to get close to your subject; on other occasions it either isn’t possible or appears inappropriate. Another exciting discovery was that I could take photographs indoors using available light. And so began an interest in fast lenses. Every increment of extra speed comes at a cost. It’s always tempting to say, ‘Why bother? Another half-stop won’t make much difference’. But once you are a light gatherer, you’re hooked. All this leads to this lens, a Tomioka-made Chinon 55mm f/1.4, manufactured around 1975, give or take a year either way. On a Canon cropped sensor camera like the EOS 40D the field of view is 88mm. The light-gathering properties won’t be as great as they would be on full-frame, but f/1.4 is nevertheless impressive. Nor will the bokeh be as dramatic as on the film camera with which the lens was supplied, but it’s bound to be interesting anyway. It’s a bit bigger and heavier than the f/1.7 Chinon, the other lens in the photograph, which was more usually supplied with the Chinon CX of 1974-76. It’s smoother to focus and a bit more definite changing f stops, but that could simply be caused by unequal degrees of use. The f/1.4 was made by Tomioka, a Japanese glass manufacturer used by the smaller companies like Chinon who didn’t make their own lenses, and it’s made to a formula of Johannes Berger which was licensed from Zeiss, who never used the design. In the dark winter months ahead, I am wondering if it might become a favourite lens.

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 undisputed. 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. In this photograph of an advertisement for a Chinon CX from a magazine published in 1976 (the CX was made from 1974 and succeeded by the CX II about two years later) you can see the difference in price between the usual f/1.7 lens and the premium f/1.4. Keep in mind that another £10 was 12.5% extra, and quite a lot of money relative to the overall price - though it would have been a better investment than £10.95 for the ever-ready case, in my opinion. Fast standard lenses tend to be expensive. Even the Tomioka 55mm f/1.4 doesn’t come ‘cheap as chips’ like a lot of vintage M42 stuff. Is it worth the extra investment? The image in the viewfinder ought to be brighter wide open, and even half a stop more light can make a difference in a dark room. But that is theory and I have yet to experience the anticipated superiority of the Tomioka-made 55mm f/1.4 Chinon lens.

Dark November afternoon. Heavy and persistent rain spreading northwards accompanied by strengthening southerly winds and the occasional power cut. Canon EOS 30D + Chinon 55mm f/1.7 lens + Minolta Close-Up No.1 supplementary lens.

Quick release tripod bracket on a Nikon D2Xs held in left hand photographed with a Nikon D50 and a Tamron AF Zoom 55-200mm f/4-5.6 Di II LD Macro (Type A15) fitted with a Nikon No.4T Close-Up attachment held in right hand. Focal length 60mm. 1600 ISO in available light. Aperture-priority set to f/6.3. Shutter speed 1/200th.