Week 1: Helios 40 - "Oxford"

This is Hertford Bridge, also known as the "Bridge of Sighs" in Oxford. I was in relatively early ( well, 0915ish ) which is why you can't see hoards of tourists. It's a popular shot - apart from anything else having been featured in one of the X-Men films where James McAvoy ( Professor X ) goes into a pub through a door underneath it - neither of which ( the pub, or the door [ or for that matter, arguably Professor X ] ) exist.

I have had the interesting privilege of knowing a few cities quite well - Edinburgh, Oxford and bits of London - all of which turn up in film and television frequently, and long ago I had to promise other members of the family that I wouldn't complain too much about the inaccuracies of routes taken where they jump from one side of a city to another, go down dead-ends or the wrong way up one way streets !

Today is the last day with the Helios 40, so a moment of quiet reflection on what I've learned about it:

1) It's heavy, but looks pretty cool ...
2) The "bokeh" is brilliant
3) 85mm-ish for a focal length is a bit longer than I would normally prefer - especially for the city.
4) It's sharp in the middle, but fades off to the sides quickly - but it does so in a pleasing way.
5) f/1.5 is really, really fast in reality and manually focusing to that depth of field is sometimes a challenge.

I've tended to use the EVF this week, rather than the hybrid viewfinder - mostly because of the focusing challenges. But the camera supports that without missing a step, so overall, I've enjoyed the lens very much - I kind of knew that I would, as it's been one of my favourites for a while. Next week I'm going to have to push myself a bit more !