I have created this Flickr page as a tool to aid my photography journey. I am exploring how to translate the world into photographs, which are not only representations of space, but a representation of time as well. The translation of a moving three dimensional world into a timeless projection.

I spend considerable time exploring the capabilities of my cameras, studying their ability of visual rendering, how camera body and lens synergy works. My purpose is not to find "what's best in life". Big statements about who has better camera gear leaves me completely uninterested. My purpose is entirely the understanding of what is happening inside the camera, how does the lens contribute to what we see, and most importantly, how can the photographer shape it, and how does it shine truly.

I was not born as a genius with a photographic eye. You can see a lot of photos of mine are no reason for photographic pride. Yet, I am committed to a path of exploration, being open about both my good and bad moments with the camera, and photographing what brings me joy. Creating snapshots of the world around me. Taking notice of the little things in life, that we take for granted. I want to portray the ordinary, that which I see every day, at an angle that portrays timelessness, and capture the beauty which surrounds me.

About my camera gear progression: I have always been using Canon. (Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a Nikon D800/D700/D600/Z7/ZF or Pentax K1 or a Fuji GFX... I just happened to start with a Canon, and stuck with it for the simple reason of consistent user interfaces.) Started with a Canon A20 in the early 2000s after a few years with film. After losing the A20 on a beach, got an A610 (point and shoot), and then the 20D with the Nifty fifty which was a huge jump. Sadly, my good trusty 20D has passed away a few years ago, around 2019 - shutter died, the dreaded "20D shutter lag". Even motherboard surgery at home failed to revive it... which was required as Canon discontinued support of this old yet fabulous camera. I know, there are much more expensive and much highly regarded cameras out there, yet the 20D created fantastic images which have always been captivating me. Although at that time I mostly just moped that I do not have a 5D mark II nor any L lenses... Since, I have learned that you need to know how to work around the cameras limitations. They are always so secondary compared to my own limitations as a photographer. Just avoid forcing your camera to operate the way it was not intended to operate... and it is guaranteed that it is still a wonderful camera, if it was wonderful 5, 10, 20 years ago.

The 5D classic is the full-frame version of the 20D. They have the same sensor technology / sensor generation, and color science / IQ / menu system, and perhaps more importantly, the same camera handling experience. For those who want the 5D classic look, but are on a tight budget: this is the camera for you! It looks and feels almost exactly the same as the 5D classic, with an extra x1.6 reach. When they are next to each other I have to look hard to see which one I grabbed. (Exact same menu system and button layout. 20D has a built in pop-up flash, and has a smaller screen, but otherwise no differences... they even use the same battery and have the same color science.)

I love prime lenses, my exclusive lens for the 20D was the EF 50mm f1.8 STM/II - the venerable Nifty fifty.

As I said, I did not start out with real talent / eye to catch the essence... my photographer friends can snap any day a better shot with a cellphone than I could come up with a good camera. No camera changes that, although I have noticed that with experience I have been improving constantly.

For several years I have not made photos after the 20D stopped working. However, I felt the call again, and got an M50 Mark II at the end of 2022. I had the 15-45 kit lens which is super practical (light, small, and has image stabilization as well) but kind of not exactly sharp and has bland colors. King of practicality, but falls short on rendering. The photos are utilitarian, cancapture anything in a reasonably sharp manner, but lack any inner beauty on the M50. I got the absolutely tiny pancake lens EF-M 22mm, which is my most practical lens for this camera as a super-portable tiny package that's no bother to grab. It is an understatement how convenient the M50 is with this pancake lens, the size of a point and shoot. I can take it anywhere - and the humble tiny camera you got on you is a million times better than the fantastic big camera that is not with you when you need it. Got a Viltrox speed booster adapter for my EF 50mm, took a few photos with it (some are seen below), and then after that single session the lens died, sadly even refused repairs. After surgery, it still functions as an 50mm manual focus lens stuck wide open.

I am quite satisfied with the ISO 100-200 performance of the M50: very good dynamic range (for my use, about 13 stops on paper at ISO100), vibrant colors with architecture and landscape, and very good resolution using all the pixels as information carriers with the EF-M 22mm lens. Skin tone and rendering, portraits - sadly it does not cut the mustard. Can be made acceptable after a lot of post processing, but sensor level image processing (butchering?) makes you work hard for it, destroying fine tones and transitions. Pixel resolution is available in buckets, but tonal resolution and fine color transitions are entirely gone.

In addition, I was not happy of how digital the files look when ISO gets past 200 - at the pixel level everything turns to nastiness. So, got several M42 manual lenses. The Takumar 50mm F1.4, king of vintage tonal rendering. Helios 44-2 KMZ, a renowned lens with a remarkably strong and truly anti-digital character. The MC Beroflex 28mm F2.8 which was a wild-card, got it because I did not know anything about it and was on ebay for pennies. Same goes for the Montgomery Ward 135mm F2.8, which I got on ebay for $14 - did not find much information on it at the time, and I bought it because it is an entirely gorgeous fully metal lens. With these, the digital nasties were largely disappearing and the photos I get with the M50 resemble more the old CMOS sensor technology output from the 20D / 10D / 5D, indicating a lot better sensor - lens synergy than with the native EF-M lenses. However, the manual focus aids are inadequate to me, and I keep on slightly or badly missing the focal plane. With some lenses not so badly (Beroflex, Helios), with others most of the photos are next to unusable due to never nailing precise focus (Ward 135mm, which practically works only at infinity).

The beginning of 2023 I got a 5D classic. Yes, I got it because YouTube videos were raving about how good the 5D is with vintage M42 lenses.... However, the manual lenses have very limited use with the 5D as there's no focusing aids. In addition, most M42 lenses cannot be used on the 5D with infinity focus, as the lens rear element hits the mirror. (Broken mirror huge ouch!) The digital camera & vintage lens synergy exploration sent me on a long journey.

There's always a new discovery to make regarding the application of these cameras (M50 mark II and 5D classic). One such discovery was that you can change the focusing screen on the 5D to a split screen, and can focus manually. Works pretty well, dependably down to about F2 or so, but sadly, only with wide open iris. The split screen makes the camera useless for anything stopped down. (Screen center just blacks out.) Sadly, most M42 lenses push the rear element too much back into the camera, and when focused to infinity they hit the mirror. Typically it happens around the 5m mark - that limits most M42 lenses to near-field use only. Quite a pity.

After a year or so with the 5D, I also acquired a 10D out of curiosity in the beginning of 2024. Why? Because for $28 I did not pass it on, and that price included battery, charger and CF card as well. I was very pleasantly surprised by that camera. It is seriously slower compared to the 20D. However. it has a fantastic unique rendering, and I love shooting with it. Not just the love of camera was what I got out of it: it made me a much better photographer, even more so than the 5D classic.

In 2025, my new adventure is with a serious zoom lens! The EF 28-80mm F2.8-4L ultrasonic, Canon's first L series lens developed before the digital camera age, for its SLR film cameras. Even though I love my prime lenses, (like the Sigma ART 35mm and the EF 85mm F1.8), I ran into the conundrum. When I had one with me, I would have needed the other... and, in addition, I started feeling the pangs of not having a 50mm lens anymore. The EF 28-80L is a solution for both issues. I think of it as an 50mm F4 lens that can flex between 28-80mm, and if needed, it can let in a little more light at the wider end. Throughout its zoom range its surprisingly sharp. AF is fast and precise. Colors and texture are superb. The only downside is that it does not have the Zeiss-like ultra-high microcontrast. However, mostly nothing has that exceptional microcontrast, except for the Zeiss lenses. And that's the next stage of my lens / camera journey, getting into Zeiss territory....

.. through the Contax Zeiss 80-200mm F4 Vario-Sonnar lens. Some say it's one of the finest manual focus zoom lenses ever made. Well, I do say it is surprisingly sharp, as good as having prime lenses across its entire zoom range. Despite being F4, the spatial rendering is exceptional, the images are more authentic, three dimensional than with much shallower depth of field with my other lenses. Also, even at high ISOs the sensors do not struggle with noise, the lens lets through enough signal so the sensors are not starved and are not forced to heavy noise processing at higher ISOs.

And the journey goes on. It is April 2026, and by now I have the wider Contax Zeiss counterpart zoom, the 35-70mm F3.4 Vario-Sonnar macro. What a lovely lens. Beautiful colors, and incredible micro-contrast, and tonal / textural details in the macro range. Sadly, the normal range is not as stunning, but it's still a superb lens. Another Zeiss I got is the Planar 50mm F1.4 ZE, which has uncanny synergy with the 5D classic and my 5D mark iii.

And there are many more chapters in my camera-lens-human eye exploration. The one that stands out to me is the incredible synergy of the 5D classic and teh Nkion 105mm F2.5 AI Xenotar lens. Yes, Nikon lens adapted to Canon! Despite being different brands, these two were made for each other. I'm keeping the Nikon on the Canon for good....