NEW YORK NEW YORK – Out again with the old lenses. Today I’m shooting with a Carl Zeiss Jena 3.5 cm f2.8 Biogen from 1937. Pre-war Zeiss lenses quote focal lengths in centimeters, rather than millimeters – this is a 35 mm lens. It was about as wide as things got back then. I have 28mm Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar from 1937, but its maximum aperture (f8.0) and tendency to flare make it a bit of an odd ball. The 3.5cm lens that I’m using today is uncoated so it’s prone to flair but produces lovely transparent shadows. A real winner in the high contrast world of Manhattan. Today I found myself on Lexington Avenue in the 50s with Citicorp Center acting as a gigantic reflector.
Day 2272 of one photograph every day for the rest of my life.
On this day two years ago (day 1542): Looking up on 94th Street
