Daniel Cuthbert on Nostr: Last burst of those summer rays... The Light Lens Lab 50mm F2 Speed Panchro II, ...

Last burst of those summer rays...

The Light Lens Lab 50mm F2 Speed Panchro II, designed by Mr. Zhou in China, is possibly one of the characteristic lenses I own.

The original Cooke Speed Panchro II is a beautiful piece of optical history, but rare, expensive and increasingly difficult to find. Unless I turn to cybercrime, this lens is an easier way of shooting that famous “Cooke look”.

What I love most about it is the imperfections. Modern photography is too perfect.

The glow, the softness, the vignetting, the gentle fall-off and the way it renders light. Modern lenses are designed to correct these imperfections. The Speed Panchro embraces them, and somehow, those imperfections are what give the image its character.

Not technically perfect. Just beautifully imperfect with flaws and renderings more how we see stuff.

Modern technology has spent decades trying to remove imperfections: more resolution, better dynamic range, less distortion, less flare, sharper corners, cleaner high ISO, perfect autofocus.

And now there's a cultural reaction to that perfection

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/article/2024/aug/16/the-mistakes-are-romantic-gen-zs-revival-of-point-and-shoot-cameras

People are deliberately choosing older cameras because the limitations create an aesthetic. The blur, grain, harsh flash, colour shifts and blown highlights aren't necessarily defects anymore, they're part of what makes the photograph feel distinctive and human

We dont see perfectly. Our eyes are amazing but modern smartphone and digital camera sensors dont reflect what we process.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91050385/why-gen-z-is-obsessed-with-point-and-shoot-digital-cameras

So here's to more mistakes. More blurs, more harsh colours and not what tech bro's in the valley think we want or need just because their wealth depends on it.