In 1976, when I was 13, I found a camera box in a "catch-all" closet in our house.
I opened it up, and there was a Kodak Pony IV 35mm camera in it's leather case with accessories!
I had a Vivitar 110 pocket camera that I used, but this looked like a REAL camera.
I asked if I could use it, and my parents said yes, if I learned how myself. Because they hadn't used it in so many years that neither one could tell me how to work it.
Over the next few months I checked out library books from the junior high and high school as I finished 8th grade and entered the 9th grade.
I learned f-stops and shutter speeds and film ASA (now ISO) number.
I've enjoyed photography for 35 years now. Sometimes passionately and sometimes I let my cameras gather dust as my family responsibilities (and my kids) grew.
This week, I bought my first true macro lens.
I use a Nikon D90, and I bought a used Sigma 50mm f/2.8 AF-D Macro lens from a man on eBay.
It's an older model, but this thing gets to life size, 1:1, at it's closest focus point.
I've used screw on close up filter sets from time to time, but this lens opens up a whole new world for me.
It might be an older lens with older technology as compared to the latest aspherical lens, super-multi-coated, hypersonic motored lenses from Nikon, Canon and even Sigma and other 3rd party lenses, but I'm LOVING this thing so far.
3 comments:
My favorite lenses are always the older ones. They may not have the high-speed electronics of today's lenses, but that's not the point. What matters is craft, heft, glass, and on those fronts, nothing touches something made before mass production took over.
Good to know you are still passionate about the photography. You just opened another treasure box. Enjoy!
Sigma makes some really great lenses!
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