Question: What describes both Zachary’s mental function and photos taken with an extremely wide aperture of 1.2?

Four pre-schoolers being wheeled around in a buggy stare at me through the Starbucks window while their teacher fusses about obliviously.

Here we have two pictures of Zoe taken with two very different lenses. The first is taken with theNikon 50 f/1.2, a several decades old design that is still a great performer. Using it feels like playing Abbey Road on vinyl with a tube amp. Notice that though it’s still very sharp, it plays down contrast in her skin. At this stage in her development, about three months ago at 6 months old, Zoe was also still a very placid baby. Mellow like the lens.

Here we have a shot taken today with the Zeiss ZF 100 f/2, a cutting-edge macro lens that just came out last year. It’s still fully mechanical, like the old Nikon, but only because they disdain to spend any money on new-fangled auto-focus gadgetry that could be spent instead on beautiful pure glass and solid black metal (or, more likely licensing issues with Nikon). This lens is like listening to Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians on 8-foot tall electrostatic speakers (what, you haven’t?). Although the lighting is different so it’s hard to compare, notice how it has a much more neutral, clinical feel to it. It also has much more contrast, bringing each little hair and crinkle of skin into sharp relief. This lens is much more fitting to Zoe now, who although still sweet is revealing herself to be a feisty, strong-willed little girl. I call this her “I vill crush you!” pose.

(If you’ve read through this pretentious, geeky post you might as well click to enlarge to actually see what I’m taking about!)