Christmas f1.2 {Part I}

Leica CL + Nikon 50mm f1.2

I was a little annoyed at myself that I felt compelled to keep using this lens, rather than just putting it away after determining I had no real use for it. I was especially annoyed that I used it over the Christmas weekend! We could have had pictures that were actually in focus, and that were taken at a wide enough angle to fit more that a couple of people into the frame.

But when I thought about it some more, I realised that using any of those other lenses, and at a reasonable aperture, would have required such a high ISO I would not have liked those shots anyway. After all, that is why we had long ago stopped trying to take pictures of indoor events with ‘proper’ cameras, simply using a phone instead. So perhaps the Nikon 50mm f1.2 was not such a bad idea after all. The photos that I did manage to get in focus, have more character than smartphone photos, and are more memorable.

My daughter threw some books off the shelves just before the guests arrived for Christmas dinner and I did not have time to re-arrange them properly. When Dolly was then placed into the gap and given some custard to eat, I thought the resulting composition deserved a photo. At least Dolly’s face is easier to focus on than my daughter’s, as she is willing to stay still for more than 2 seconds!

Having realised that indeed inanimate objects are easier to focus on that human subjects, I went to town practicing taking photos at f1.2 - but even then I did not find it easy to get interesting compositions.

Far from perfect, but the atmosphere is incomparable to a smartphone photo. This lens might be the one after all to capture indoor events.