Pots and pans

I had more fun today playing with my new (old 1960s) Super Takumar lens (50mm f1.4). This shot is of pots and pans hanging in my kitchen...taken in very low light. It's pretty much straight out of the camera with just a little tweaking of curves and desaturated a tad.

One interesting (or geeky) fact about this lens - and some other lenses of the same era - is that a radioactive substance called Thorium was used in their manufacture. The radioactivity is significant enough to be detected with a Geiger counter, but not so significant as to harm health. One consequence of the presence of this substance is a yellowing of the lens over time, a property that is said to be reversible by applying UV light: and we get plenty of that in NZ. I'm sending my Spotmatic to a vintage camera technician in Petone for a check up and - all being well - should have it back in a week or so.

Of course the real reason I'm so fascinated with this lens - and other vintage lenses - is not so much for its radioactive properties (I'm not that much of a nerd) but for it's excellent aesthetic qualities: to so see what I mean just have a look at this Flickr group devoted to the lens.