FALLING SOMEWHERE AS RAIN

As my love affair with soviet-era lenses continues, it seems that I am not alone in my appreciation of vintage glass and prices of such lenses have recently rocketed, as the practice of attaching old lenses to new cameras becomes more commonplace. Certain Helios models are referred to in eBay listings as having “swirly bokeh” or being “lomo” or a “bokeh monster”. Jupiter lenses are cited as being ideal for ‘street’ work and almost all find favour with enthusiasts looking for the cinema look as used by Denis Villeneuve in Dune and Zac Snyder in some of his films. As the lenses become more hard to find or become too expensive for my meagre pocket, I decided to look sideways, rather than further afield for other soviet lenses which might hold some appeal. Some years ago, I bought an Industar 50 pancake lens, more out of curiosity, as it was cheap and looked suitably antique. It was a L39 fit, as favoured by Leica, a brand slavishly emulated by Russian manufacturers. Although it was a squ...

My weekly trawl through the vintage photography section on ebay, sometimes flags up the weird or the curious and even less often, I manage to buy something. Over the last five years, vintage lenses and related material have shot up in price and popularity, as the hipster crowd have found it looks good to be seen with an analogue camera on their arm, alongside the tweeds and neatly trimmed beards.  Vintage Camera Stall, Camden Market  Also, the distinct look and effects possible with old glass have been popularised by Hollywood, as many film makers use older lenses to achieve specific effects. Zack Snyder recently used an old Canon lens to film 'Army of the Dead' and the cinematography of the 'John Wick' series echoes the glowing neon favoured by japanese camera enthusiasts, looking to re-create the cyberpunk effect. Shinjuku District, Tokyo One of the oddities I managed to score and very cheaply, despite having a bit of a drive round Lancashire to collect it, was this o...

 Having become used to the operation of the Samsung NX1000, I began to look at options for customisation. I am never content to just leave something pristine and straight out of the box, so in order to make it my own personal camera, I looked online to see what other accessories might be around. Aside from the usual lens options and a GPS module, there was nothing really exciting, so I looked at analogue lens options and found a universal adaptor with an NX mount on Amazon. Essentially a ring with a set of repositionable screws and a removable inner thread, the metal adaptor has the look of a ships steering wheel. It’s a ‘dumb’ adaptor, so autofocus or any powered elements won’t work, but it will accept almost any standard mount, by virtue of the screws, which grip the mount of the lens and hold it fast. As long as the flange distance is within a set range - i.e the focal distance for the lens meets the sensor cleanly - most lenses can happily work with the camera. On rare occasion...

I saw an advert for the 1970’s futurist magazine Omni, many years ago and it consisted primarily of a statement, which read thus: “The Past is gone. The Present, lost as it arrives. There is only Tomorrow” These words stuck with me, for a number of reasons, as I do enjoy the futuristic and science-fiction view of things, but also, like the Roman god Janus, I also revere the past. One face forever turned forward, but another perpetually looking back.  For this reason, the phrase from Omni magazine at once excited, but also saddened me and feels even more profound as I have aged myself, beyond the midpoint, where I have much more life behind me than I can possibly hope to look forward to. It's said that Times' Arrow flies in one direction only, forward into the future, so, without hope or chance of practical time travel, how can we look back at the past? We can extrapolate as to how the future may develop, but the past is already formed and laid out behind us like an invisible fr...