Animals and children tell the truth, they never lie
Originally published 3 June 2018
TL:DR — I went to the zoo!
So it's been a while since my last update. I have done some sessions since my last entry so I haven't failed my goal, technically. It's the write-ups that are proving more difficult to keep up with! I can't promise that I'll manage to stick to a fortnightly entry especially with my work keeping me busy and tired at the moment, but I'll surely try.
I do have quite a few things to cover but I'll split them up into their own entries for ease of reading. One notable thing is that I got some new(ish) lenses! I'll talk about that in more detail in another post, but this entry will feature the Panasonic 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6 lens, and the Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95 lens.
The sun was out one weekend so I decided to go to the zoo. I'm not fond of the idea of animals in cages and not being in their normal habitats, but at least they're being cared for and the zoo does considerable things for conservation. I forked out for a Zoo Crew annual membership at the Wellington Zoo — apparently it helps fund their conservation efforts — so I think I'm at least helping out.
I tried out the Panasonic 45-175mm lens first. It was as expected — it gets close in to the subject and is pretty sharp. It's also great as I didn't have a lens past 60mm before. A lot of the time I would simply get as close as I physically can with my 60mm and crop heavily to get the composition I want. I would say that the Sigma 60mm is sharper than the Panasonic if both were shot at 60mm. But obviously with cropping in, I am significantly better off with the longer reach of the Panasonic.
157mm, f/8, 1/200s, ISO-2000 | Panasonic 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6
Here's a napping cheetah with the Panasonic lens at the longest focal length. It's plenty sharp enough (even considering I cropped in from the original). I don't think I'll do much actual wildlife photography to warrant a longer range so the 45-175 looks like it'll fill my telephoto needs on its own (unless it was dark, in which case probably not).
175mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, ISO-200 | Panasonic 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6
But the Panasonic was never going to give me something I haven't had before apart from the longer range. The real test of the day was my new Voigtlander 42.5mm lens. It's another prime lens so it doesn't zoom. The other thing about it is that it's a fully manual lens. I.e. I can't set the camera in shutter priority and expect it to automatically control aperture (I have to physically change it myself on the lens). And it has no auto-focus, which means I can't just point the camera on what I want to focus on, press the shutter button and expect it to find focus on it's own. So, yeah, completely new to me in terms of how to shoot!
I must admit I was a bit concerned that maybe I jumped into the deep end too soon with having a fully manual lens. I mean I'm still getting used to thinking about shutter and aperture settings, etc, so to have another thing to think about seemed scary.
You can see how finicky the focusing can be with the aperture more open. The paws and the rock are in focus in the picture below, but even a few centimetres past them it starts to get blurry. I was worried that I won't get things in focus properly and that I'd end up with a lot of useless shots.
42.5mm, f/1.4, 1/4000s, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
But actually, it wasn't as difficult as I imagined it was going to be. Granted the animals weren't running around, but I was glad I could follow them well enough to get more shot in focus than not.
42.5mm, f/1.4, 1/5000s, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
The thing I like about this lens is how it renders the out of focus areas. The area in focus is nice and sharp, but then it falls to a nice blur. And you can see how, even with the girl being close to the wallaby's head, she's just far enough behind that she's starting to get blurry while the wallaby's face is in focus.
42.5mm, f/2.8, 1/1600s, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
For this next shot, I didn't bother with setting the exposure properly. There was a really strong backlight with the sun shining very brightly on the day. Plus with the E-M10ii's non-flippy screen I had some difficulty framing the shot in portrait with the camera right on the ground. So I was really happy that I manage to get it almost perfect with the focus around the eyes. I took the shot more as a test of how thin the focus is, and it's clear that it can miss very easily if you're not used to it (or maybe even if you are used to it). I do like the look though so I imagine it would be great for close portraits of people.
42.5mm, f/1.4, 1/2000s, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
This lens is just so much fun to use with the manual focus! I really like this next shot in particular as I nailed the focus on the meerkat and the girl's face together.
42.5mm, f/1.4, 1/1250s, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
But, again, with the thin focus plane it's easy to miss focus. It's not as noticeable when the pictures are smaller (i.e. when viewed on tablets/smartphones on social media), but at larger sizes it's easier to see. As in the picture below, the guy's face looks like he's in focus (I was trying to focus on the near eye). But if you zoom in it's clear that the focus is actually past his nose and seems like it's more in line with the far strap of the lanyard.
42.5mm, f/1.4, 1/1600, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
The picture above also shows some of the Voigtlander's faults. It's not even wide open, at f/1.4, and it's got considerable instances of white lines around the couple's outline where the sun hits them. I think it disappears if I shoot the lens stopped down to around f/4. But then what's the point of owning a lens this fast if you're not going to shoot it close to wide open. Personally I don't notice the faults that much so I rather enjoy the look of having better subject separation.
Here's another one where I overshot the focus. The girl on the right is clearly blurred. And while the girl on the left luckily had her head down, it's clear to see that the focus plane is past her head and is more around the back shoulder.
42.5mm, f/1.4, 1/1000s, ISO-200 | Voigtlander 42.5mm f/0.95
All in all it though was a good day of practice and I'd consider my first test with manual focusing a success! I do note that none of the things I shot were moving particularly fast. I guess it's hard to say at this stage how I'll do when it comes to more dynamic subjects. Either way I enjoyed using manual focus a lot. So much so that I think I actually prefer it to auto-focus where I tend to focus and then move the camera to compose the shot. I don't think I'm any slower with using manual focus with the composition already set from the get go.
I have a feeling that the Voigtlander 42.5mm is going to be one of my favourite lenses. I'm excited to try out it's sibling 17.5mm version sometime. The 45-175mm lens did its job well, too. I don't shoot at the long end often, but having a lens of this range which is small and light means I have the reach when I need it.
