Zurich, Claridenstrasse

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Zurich Claridenstrasse, 2015-10-04, with Sony A7 and Olympus Pen-F 70mm f/2.0.

The Olympus Pen-F lens is designed for half frame 35mm film, that means 18x24 mm2 is used in portrait mode on the 35mm (the 35mm includes the perforations in order to spool the film - therefore its name). Yet the 70mm lens fully fills out the 36x24 mm2 frame (thought here the image is a little bit cropped on the right, and only slightly cropped at the top and the bottom).

The use of this half frame 70mm lens on a full frame digital camera is is very much to my delight, as it is very difficult to find any full frame prime 70mm lenses (and that is also fast). I realised over time that I prefer the 70/75 mm view very much (and for this the Leica Summilux and Summicrons are unfortunately bit out of reach:). As it happens it is just in this range that a real gap between the very popular 50mm lenses and the again specialised portrait 85mm focal length appears.

At this moderate distance and stopped down the lens seems also more than sharp enough (no extra post processing applied besides the slight crop). Still have to see how it works on close up range and fully open.. but that would be in another post.

Zürcher Lachmöwe

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Common black-headed gull in Zurich on 2014-11-10 with Sony A7 and Minolta AF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 (the non-APO version).

The small gulls are very common around the Zurich lake and Limmat river and masters in catching breadcrumps in flight.

The Minolta AF lens is actually very small (short when focussed to infinity), light, and cheap. It feels plasticy, because it is. But it allows a minimal focus distance of 1.5 m only. The little more expensive APO version is supposed to be very sharp, but for a web picture I am more than pleased with this one.

Church of Zurich

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Zurich, 2015-02-20.

The Augustinerkirche, first build in 1270, the least known of the five churches in the old town of Zurich. Hidden in a side corner of the trendy Bahnhof street - shot over lunch time.

It is one of the few Catholic churches in the Protestant Zurich of Zwingli, however this one is not Roman Catholic but belongs to the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland .

After the reformation it was used for 300 years as a mint, therefore the name of the Münzplatz next to it.

Taken with the trusty old Leica M3 on Tri-X 400 and the Summilux 50mm pre-A.. ah, bullshit.
Used the Sony A7 with Canon FDn 50mm f/1.4 ;-). Stopped down a bit and some grain added in Lightroom.

Crystal Flowers

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Zurich, 2015-03-03, with Sony A7 and Olympus OM 35mm f/2.0.

The old Olympus OM 35mm f2 lens doesn't have a bad reputation, but is also not especially well regarded. Both compared to other Olympus OM lenses for different focus lengths as well as in comparison to some other often legendary 35mm Leica or Zeiss lenses. However I like its out of focus rendering, which to me is kinda thick and warm (thought it isn't so obvious in B&W :), and for the web resolution it also looks sharp enough.

Black and white conversion is directly out of the camera. Oh, and the flowers are not really crystals or even out of glass, but does it matter?!

Zuri Town Hall Quay by Night

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A view on the Zurich Stadthausquai in a winter night, 2015-02-02.

The building on the left with the clock on the tower is the post office.

Then comes the department of the major - the traditional city hall. Thought there is another town hall one bridge further down the river which is actually the parlament for the canton. BTW, the town house (on this photo) is also the final scene of the most famous Swiss movie, Die Schweizermacher (starring Emil Steinberger). That one is all about getting the Swiss Passport :D.

Then the famous Fraumünster, which is the number one must see for tourists here. This is because of the Chagall Windows, which you can see as the three narrow tall black windows on the front side of the building (plus one more window on each side plus a third rosette, which are all not visible in this picture).

At the beginning of the bridge you see the small silhouette of Hans Waldmann on a horse, one of the two Swiss main general of the Battle of Morat. He was also a major of Zurich.

Behind this statue is the Zunfthaus zur Meisen, the wine makers gild, which was the riches of the Zurich gilds and looks a bit like a French castle - unlike all the other wooden or old style Zurich gild houses.

Oh, and last not least on the right side the tower of the St.Peter church (with yet another clock, in this case the biggest church clock in Europe - yes bigger than the Big Ben clocks).

With Sony A7 and the lens used is the Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8 vers. 1, stopped down, so with its six aperture blades you see six "sunstar" rays from the lights near the boats and on the bridge.