3458 - A Fence Fades Away

I love creamy bokeh. I always did, but since my departure from the Nikon world, I have mostly used cameras and lenses that were not strong on shallow DOF.

First came the Panasonic LX5, a compact camera with a comparably large multi-aspect sensor, RAW capability, unbeatably light weight and ergonomics that got everything right. It wasn’t even my idea. Juha Haataja, a remarkably good photographer, at that time used its predecessor, the LX3, exclusively. He raved on and on about it and I just wanted to try using such a camera. Who knows, I thought. In the end I stuck with it for nine or ten months. I still have it, I still love it, and from time to time I even use it 🙂

The LX5 had a very sharp and fast lens, but of course due to its small sensor size, shallow DOF was not its biggest merit.

Interestingly enough it didn’t put me off though, I just developed a new style. Massive depth of field was easy to achieve, and therefore I concentrated on composition and lines. I think that doing so made me a better photographer.

The on-going liaison with Micro Four Thirds was what followed. Larger sensor, long and reasonably fast lenses like the 75/1.8, but still, shallow DOF was not so easily achieved. At least until I bought this lens, the Mitakon Speedmaster 25/0.95. Not only does it open wide, it also focuses close. The result of both these properties is what you see in today’s image.