The "Snuffleupagus"

For many people this little DIY lens experiment looks nothing more than a different take on a bellows lens. In a sense, they are correct. The basic concept behind this contraption is firmly rooted in the tradition of a large-format bellows camera — a lens connected by a bellows to an imaging unit that allows one to tilt, shift, and swing the optic to properly align the image plane with the “film” plane. Dry, technical, perfect and to me, boring (as you might have guessed, I’m not big on Ansel Adams, either).

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Circular Photography

Recently I added a new vintage lens to my collection: a 1/2” Wollensak in a c-mount. C-mount lenses are commonly associated with 16mm movie and closed-circuit security cameras and given the design of the micro 4/3 system, can now be adapted to fit on a Lumix body. On a G1 this particular lens is equivalent to a 25mm wide-angle.

Obviously what’s interesting is that the lens itself generates a circular image on the G1’s sensor. The circular image is caused by the lens not filling the entire frame of the micro 4/3 chip. Some may feel such a lens is too limited or unworkable, but in my case it is an interesting creative experiment. 

Retro photography mashed up with a Lumix G1

I've been settling in with my Lumix DMC-G1 and manual lens combination for a few months now, and have made some discoveries along the way. For the most part, I've been shooting exclusively with an f1.4 40mm Voigtlander Nokton in a Leica M-mount and the time has been wonderful. That said, owning a G1 and using manual lenses is a different kind of photographic experience and one that has, for me, become both a retro and instinctual excursion.

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Why bother with manual focus and avoid Photoshop?

From time to time people ask why in this modern age I bother with manual focus photography? People are also often amazed to learn that I actively avoid the heavy use of tools such as Photoshop for other image post-processing. I mean, heck, I’m a technology guy so I should use all the technology, right? Wrong.

For me, photography is both an intellectually as well as physically creative medium, and in my life where technology plays such a huge role I find it necessary to set some of the tools aside and challenge myself in different ways.

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Lumix G1 and the Focus Challenge

One of the things I’ve noticed with my Lumix G1/Leica M-mount lens combination is that the lens can “overfocus” at infinity. What that means is that I can’t simply rotate the lens focus ring on my Voigtlander 40mm Nokton to infinity and expect sharp images.

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