Today, my friends, was a sad day. After I left you last night, I decided I would take some pictures with my digital camera, seeing as how it has not been getting a lot of love lately. Since I started the film class it has just sat in the bag. In order to make the switch all I needed to do was change my 50mm 1.8 lens from the film camera to the digital one. A simple enough task, but oh so many things went wrong. One thing actually; I dropped the lens.
The whole thing played out in slow motion. I saw it slip from my careless grasp, fall a mere two feet to the cold tile floor, and finally crash to the ground with a spine-tingling thud. I was frozen. Every photographer is bound to drop at least one piece of equipment at some point in their life. I, up until now, had been very fortunate that I had never done so.
Initial damage reports seemed good, until I tried to focus the lens. Gears were grinding and making sounds one should only have to hear in the deepest, darkest layers of hell. This was a bad sign. Not one to give up hope, however, I gingerly placed the lens on the camera. Despite the awful noises emanating from within, the lens did seem to still perform well. That is, until I tried to use the auto focus. With one last grind of the gears, all noise stopped as the guts of the lens spilled forth from the housing, revealing circuitry and ribbon I could only imagine in my nightmares. Surely I was dreaming.
Sadly, I was not, and I am now the proud owner of a set of VERY well made convex and concave lenses. I am also out a lens. The little lens did serve me very well in it's few short months of service. It will be dearly missed.
I have been planning on upgrading to a higher quality lens, but I was planning on making the purchase sometime around this summer, not right now. Due to my film class though (and my burning desire to own one) I have been forced to move the plans foreword. I suppose forced isn't the best word though, as I am rather excited. I loved my 50mm so much that I decided to get another one. This time though, I went with it's bigger, badder brother. The 50mm 1.4 USM. That's right ladies and gentlemen, 8 focus blades instead of five, with a micro ultra-sonic motor. It's pretty rare that I pay extra money for expedited shipping (because if I wanted it that badly I always figure I could just go get it from the store) but because this is a little out of my actual monetary budget and must be charged, I will make an exception. I'm sure in several days you will see joyous pictures of me un-boxing my new baby. As for now, I will leave you with a very, very sad photo. The squeamish may want to look away.
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