My mum loves Rhododendrons. And even though they struggle a bit growing in her garden, or she struggles in keeping them happy, there are always few bushes blooming in spring. Not the biggest ones. But they still look stunning with the clusters of colourful, large flowers.
I think this is the biggest one she has. Growing right in the center of the Rhododendron flower bed. Surrounded by other that bloom at different times (or don't bloom at all) and bushes with colourful leaves they really stand out.
Last time I was there in the time they bloomed I took my brothers gear and went to test it. I asked him for some lens that will give me nice bokeh and he brought a whole bunch of them. He should have known by now that too many choices is bad for me! Just give me one and I am happy. Give me options and it will take ages to decide. In the end of the day I tested them all.. but which one today? which one on cloudy day? which one for flowers and which one to take to the woods? Aaaaa!!
This Takumar 35 won the battle. And not having any comparison to the Takumar 50 (which I tester right after and later we bought for ourselves) I was so damn impressed! I still am! The colours were so sharp and juicy... bokeh was great, even though on those photos it doesn't show as much. And since I had to, I finally got the hand on fully manual focus and camera settings. Slow process, but I am getting there :)
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Shot with Sony a7R + Takumar 35mm lens
(ƒ/1, 1/400, ISO50)
All photos and text are my own.
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