I’ve been using a Super Takumar 50/1.4 adapted to my Rebel XT a lot lately. I think it’s got a bit of the radioactive yellow thing, which I guess means it sat around a while out of the sun. It’s supposed to go away after exposure to sunlight, but after several months of use and some time in the windowsill it’s still a bit yellowish. It doesn’t really matter with digital because it’s easy enough to adjust the color later.

I forget to stop down the lens a sometimes after using the open aperture for easier focusing. All the stray light, flare, internal reflections and whatnot conspire to make some subjects look pleasantly soft. Seems to be distant subjects, where you’d have the focus at infinity, that look best. So, I tried a few shots of the capitol with the aperture open to 1.4. Bumping up the contrast removes the haziness, and I prefer shots like this in black and white. In color they look like 70s snapshots, which can be nice too.

This has been a pretty nice cherry blossom season in DC - a little windy but warm enough that they haven’t fallen to the ground early like last year. These were down around the tidal basin, across from the Jefferson Memorial. There are some less crowded spots out around Hains Point, but there’s something about the trees around the tidal basin - the light off the water illuminates the blossoms from below I think. There’s a bus from the parking at Hains Point to the tidal basin this year, so it’s easy enough to see all the trees.