Treasures sit in closets, collect dust on shelves in some camera store or sit unnoticed in an unmarked bin at any of a number of anonymous estate sales. With the plethora of new gear that floods the market every year, there is an ever-growing supply of cast-off equipment. I collect vintage lenses for the same reason. They adriven by a belief that, by looking at the world through ancient glass, we will see things clearer - with a touch of nostalgia. It is for this reason that, in recent years, cinematographers in Hollywood have been driven into backrooms and basements at their local rental houses, looking for a way back in time, for some forgotten pathway - perhaps a set of old lenses that might restore their innocent vision. Instead, images are the product of plug-ins from a pull-down menu in some piece of video editing software.
Helios lens cahrt trial#
Images are no longer the result of trial and error, or faith mixed with chemistry. We have entered a new computerized world of photography that is technology based -calculable and raw. Prestidigitation has been replaced by digitalization. Decades later, after years of making images, the process has become mechanical. Now in my 50s, I have been trying hard to return to that place, so many years ago, to reconnect with those feelings of mystery and magic that drew me to photography at such an early age. I knew that the excitement I was feeling signaled the beginning of something that would shape me for the rest of my life. There was an air of alchemy about the place. I took in the smells and the imagery of overstuffed shelves and cabinets filled with peculiar equipment. My dad took me down to a local camera store one Saturday afternoon and we explored that musty old camera shop.
I was 12 years old when I got my first 35mm camera. Vintage l enses can give a memorable patina to your moving image or photograph - something that takes the edge off an over-sharp, antiseptic digital image and lends it some character. The right lens can change more than the field of view - it can change the overall tone of the image. Each shiny little bauble has the ability to take an average image and infuse it with something unique. I have a deep fascination with vintage lenses. My relationship with glass goes beyond a mere appreciation for focal length. Vintage lenses can give a memorable patina to your moving image or photograph - something that takes the edge off an over-sharp, antiseptic digital image and lends it some character.
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