Shinjuku Moon-rise

Shinjuku Moonrise │ NEX-7 & Voigtländer Nokton Classic F1.4 │ 35mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/60, RAW

It seems I'm a bit of a lunatic, this month ;)

Took this shot on Saturday at 5:30pm in Shinjuku, central Tokyo. I'd spent the day walking around the familiar back streets and was feeling quite uninspired, and cold. I felt I'd wasted the afternoon until the sun dropped at around five, and we were greeted with a majestic moon-rise over the city.

I quickly whipped out the camera, and took a few underexposed shots of the moon, knowing I could pull some details out of the NEX-7 raw if I shot with a low enough ISO. Sure enough, There's enough dynamic range here to make out the cars on the road, and people in the bottom left.

Should I get another lens?

Should I get another lens? │ NEX-C3 & SEL30MF35 │ 30mm, ISO 1600, f/3.5, -1.3EV, Lightroom 4.2 Still debating the Sigma 30mm f/2.8. It's not super-fast, so no razor-thin depth of field. It's cheap (good for price) but also cheap (bad for build). It's just ¥16k (£125), which is an absolute steal for a brand new lens... and one with quite a reputation. It's got something of a cult following due to its impressive sharpness relative to the price of the lens. The kit lens is just fine (in my opinion). Zooms have a place in photography, and that place is convenience photography. I can go out all day with a zoom and never have to change lens. Wide angle to telephoto; it's all covered. However, there are obvious compromises when it comes to optical quality. Due to the increased number of parts and other artefacts (such as barrel distortion as a function of focal length); fixed length lenses (primes) tend to offer a better optical quality as they're optimised for only one focal length.

The Sony E mount Zeiss 24mm F1.8 lens is a thing of beauty. Optical quality is excellent. However, it's extremely expensive (¥92k; ~£700GBP). That's all well and good, but I won't be purchasing it on a whim. Its purchase will be a much more informed decision. Not so with the aforementioned Sigma. It's a bargain. I have almost enough loyalty points at the local camera shop to purchase this lens for the price of an evening meal... and the sharpness is extremely good.

I have a couple of manual focus lenses, which I love dearly. The first is my Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 (shown in the picture attached to my NEX-7). I love this little lens. It's fully manual, beautifully made and exquisitely designed. I also have a very good condition Canon FDn 50mm F1.4, which is also a fantastic manual lens and I recommend it entirely (especially as used prices are so low). However, though manual focussing on the NEX cameras is a joy... sometimes it's nice to have a break and let the camera have a stab at focussing. It's always possible to add a micro adjustment or two, manually, should the situation arise. However, I don't have a lens with a super strong resolving power between my 16mm kit lens (which constantly gets slated online, though I like it a lot) and the Voigtländer at 35mm. The Sigma 19mm is also sharp, but I feel might be just a tad too wide for general out and about shooting - I could always just crop the 16mm shots a tad. I have two zoom lenses which both start at 18mm, but they are zooms and are best optically mid-range.

Now I've gone from sounding convinced I'll get the sigma to wondering if I can just make do with the zooms and their image stabilisation (great for low-light handheld shots). But then, the sigma isn't much money at all. I hardly use the macro lens with which I took the above picture; it needs to be restrictively close to the subject in order for it to fill the frame (thus hard to take pictures of animals/insects/anything not a tree). Any, I forget what I was rambling about now. I'll probably get the Sigma as it's not so much money and seems to have some rather impressive detail available.

However good a lens or imaging sensor is, though - the most important role in photography will always remain behind the camera.

When it rains...

When it rains... │ NEX-7 & Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 │ 35mm, ISO 1250, f/2, 1/60, -2.7EV

... it pours. I'm rather pleased to be inside writing this post, snugly tucked up away from the [relative] cold and wet outside. Though there's something satisfying about coming inside after being out in the rain, tonight I rather feel more satisfied simply watching and hearing it fall.

I researched cloud formation and processes during my Ph.D in atmospheric physics, but on nights like this I prefer to ignore the science behind it all and watch the rain bounce of roof-tops, umbrellas and trees. I like to hear the near-deafening roar of a downpour. I like to see the mini-rivers form wherever they can. An in Japan, I like to see people riding a bicycle one-handed whilst wielding an umbrella :)

Mt. Takao

Mt. Takao │ NEX-7 & Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 │ 35mm, ISO 100, f/2, 1/800 On Saturday morning, we took a train from central Tokyo to Mt. Takao at the western edge of Tokyo. We walked for a few hours to the summit of the mountain, at around 600m, where I took this picture showing the dramatic topography that comprises Japan. It's something one cannot see in the UK, as the land back home is either rolling hills or reclaimed flatlands. It's also very pleasant to have such a few just an hour or so from central Tokyo, where only a few square metres of skyline can be observed from ground level due to the imposing skyscrapers.

It's a pleasant walk, and one of the few times one will walk around Kanto area saying "konnichiwa" to passers by. Though a popular and relatively busy route, people out for a walk always have a "hello" to say. Of course this couldn't happen in downtown Tokyo, otherwise we'd lose our voices!

Roughly in the centre of the photo, one can make out Mt. Fuji. Sitting flat-topped above the clouds, Mt. Fuji's 3776m summit is often visibile on a clear day. Very soon the mountain's familiar snow-cap will return, as temperatures at the summit plummet to below zero. Typhoon 17 (台風１７号) hit Tokyo yesterday, bringing heavy rain and severe winds. Today is the day after the storm; beautiful blue sky with not a cloud in sight.

From Wikipedia:

Mount Takao (高尾山 Takao-san) is a mountain in the city of Hachiōji, Tokyo, Japan. It is protected within Meiji no Mori Takao Quasi-National Park.

Standing 599 metres (1,965 ft) tall and located within an hour of downtown Tokyo, it is a popular hiking spot, with eight hiking courses and more than 2.5 million annual visitors. The Tama Forest Science Garden is also located at the mountain's base.

Mount Takao is closely associated with tengu, minor kami from Japanese folklore, and the daitengu Naigubu. A Buddhist temple, Takaosan Yakuōin Yūkiji, is located on the mountain.

Meiji Shrine

Lens: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 Camera: NEX-7, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/800, Hi-contrast JPEG

My parents arrived in Tokyo a couple of days ago, and I took a few days off work to help show them around whilst they recover from jetlag, and to slowly familiarise themselves with Japan. They were kind enough to bring with them my new toy, a Sony Alpha NEX-7. I've had its predecessor, the Sony Alpha NEX-C3, for little over a year now (thanks Charlie for the wonderful birthday present!), and have committed to the brand through lens purchases after being pleased with the portability and quality of this little camera system. The NEX-7 builds on the C3 in a few key areas. It's got a larger grip, which is useful for using larger lenses, such as the SEL18200LE zoom recently added to my arsenal. It has an electronic viewfinder (EVF), which is similar to the viewfinder on a DSLR, except that it overlays a swathe of information to assist you. It has more menu functions, more dials, is made from magnesium and has a 0.02s shutter "lag". The sensor is still APS-C, but is up from 16MP on the NEX-C3 to 24MP. The ISO range is boosted, and the overall quaility of the camera has a semi-pro feel about it.

So, yesterday I whipped my manual focus, fast Voigtländer lens onto the NEX-7 and took it to Yoyogi Park and Meiji Shrine. The above photo is of the sake barrels donated to the shrine. The light was peeking through the trees surrounding the path, and reflected strongly off the barrels, giving a stark contrast.

Here's some history of the shrine, ripped from Wikipedia:

After the emperor's death in 1912, the Japanese Diet passed a resolution to commemorate his role in the Meiji Restoration. An iris garden in an area of Tokyo where Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken had been known to visit was chosen as the building's location.

Construction began in 1915 under Itō Chūta, and the shrine was built in the traditional nagare-zukuri style and is made up primarily of Japanese cypress and copper. It was formally dedicated in 1920, completed in 1921, and its grounds officially finished by 1926.^[3] Until 1946, the Meiji Shrine was officially designated one of the Kanpei-taisha (官幣大社), meaning that it stood in the first rank of government supported shrines.^[4]

The original building was destroyed during the Tokyo air raids of World War II. The present iteration of the shrine was funded through a public fund raising effort and completed in October, 1958.^[5]

Meiji Shrine was brought into the flow of current events with the 2009 visit of United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After arriving in Tokyo on her first foreign trip representing the newly elected President Barack Obama, she made her way to this shrine in advance of meetings with Japan's leaders to show her "respect toward history and the culture of Japan."^[6]

In January 2010, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle demonstrated the same respect when he concluded his visit to Japan with a visit of the shrine.^[7]

Call Me Maybe

Lens: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 Camera: NEX-C3, ISO 200, f/1.4, 1/125, RAW

The weather in Japan is in that strange transitional phase between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The temperature has dropped by about 10 degrees or so from last week (it's just 21℃ today), and there are frequent heavy showers, lightning and echoing thunder.

I spent the majority of my day off walking to various camera shops around Tokyo, marvelling at the intricate designs and high prices. I took a bit of a detour between shops and thought I would check out the Robert Indiana sculpture I've not visited so far this year. I noticed this old chap reading a mail on his phone, and I rather fancied it was from someone special, and perhaps he'd call them.

Maybe.

Day off

Lens: Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm F1.4 Camera: NEX-C3, ISO 200, f/1.4, 1/640, RAW

It's my fourth day off in 2012, the last being when my brother came to visit. Tomorrow, my parents come to visit. It'll be their first time to visit Japan (or Asia for that matter), and I still can't quite imagine them being here. They're being kind enough to bring over a little something I ordered last week, which will be explained in more detail when it's here ;)

Why the photo of my MacBook Pro? Well, the damn video card has packed in, or something. I can only basically see in 256 colours or some other kind of awful inverted hell. Only just about bearable for text, completely useless for any photography. Arse. I snapped this photo and then used the iPad camera connector to import the photo onto my iPad, from where I could upload to Dropbox and sync to my laptop instantly. Had I the recently announced NEX-6, I could have sent the photo wirelessly. However, though the NEX-6 is a significant step up from my current NEX-C3, there are features other than wifi which I desire in my next camera :)