Today I headed into the forest of Havana with a clear purpose: photographing a couple. But I arrived early… and when there’s time and cameras in the bag, standing still is not an option.
While waiting for them, I started to play (and study) two very different lenses, almost opposite in character:
the Steinheil Macro Quinaron 35mm f/2.8 and a Carl Zeiss Sonnar 300mm f/4.
Everything you see here is in black and white. I feel this is where these lenses speak more honestly. No distractions. Just light, form, and texture.
With the Steinheil, I’m starting to feel more confident. It’s not an easy lens, it doesn’t forgive mistakes, but I’m beginning to anticipate how it reacts. I can genuinely feel improvement. There’s still a long way to go, but I’m learning its language.
With the Carl Zeiss, the story is different. I’m still struggling. I don’t know if it’s simply its demanding character, or if the fact that it has fungus is affecting the results more than expected. Either way, it forces me to slow down, to doubt, to repeat. And that, too, is part of learning.
I want to propose a small challenge:
in the comments, try to guess which photos were taken with which lens.
Not about being right, but about training the eye. That’s how we all grow.
