Las vegas
2-night trip to Vegas, this past October 30th and 31st. We went to see Garbage (this was pre-Beachballgate) at The Chelsea on Halloween, with Starcrawler opening. Been a Garbage fan for as long as I can remember and am now a Starcrawler fan, who are doing good ol’ fashioned greasy rock and roll; good show, good time. We were staying at The Cosmopolitan, so the “commute” to the Chelsea was one of life’s small pleasures.
One thing I’ve realized lately is that I kinda hate taking pictures with the iPhone. I tried to spice it up with the Moment anamorphic lens, but the images, while interesting, are still plagued with that godawful computational photography look. And whilst I’m ranting, I also strongly dislike the simulated “bokeh effect” that people use with their iPhone snaps. You know what I’m talking about: when the person is in focus but then there’s a shitty digital fuzziness added to their surroundings with that crude cut-out around them. Absolutely tragic shit. Trillion dollar company and this is the best Apple can do? (I generally kind of like Apple, by the way, as much as I can possibly “like” a Silicon Valley company.)
Not taken with the iPhone.
Sony A7C II with a Helios 44-M 58mm. One of the cool things the Helios does is give a tilt-shift-esque look when you shoot landscapes wide open.
Some cool flaring there on the right side (this was shot on the hotel balcony, not through the glass).
Vivitar 28mm 2.5. Note the blurry/soft spot on the bottom right, which looks like a Vaseline smudge.
Now compare that with this shot taken during the summer of 2023 with the same Vivitar 28mm 2.5 lens but on the Lumix S5 camera. Note that the blurry/soft spot is on the bottom left; this shot was also stopped down quite a bit which makes the soft/blurry section stand out even more. So why does this blurry/soft/smudge spot with the same lens show up on opposite sides with different cameras? Well, the lens is an M42 mount, which is a screw-in mount, and the adapter for the S5 was threaded in such a way that the lens would tighten onto the adapter with the blurry/soft spot on the left side; the Sony’s M42 adapter, however, is threaded in such a way that the lens tightens with the blur/smudge side on the right.
The smudge in question. To be clear, I love the look it produces—these sorts of “flaws” are the reason you buy vintage lenses.
Okay, now back to the Halloween 2025 trip…
Fremont St, with the iPhone 15 + Moment anamorphic gold flare lens.
Starcrawler.
The flares from the Moment lens are cool, but I really dislike how the iPhone handles saturated colored lights. Note the purple on stage and how totally fried it looks.
Garbage. No beach balls!
