Having learned the hard way that thoroughly washing vegetables before eating is often not enough to stave off food poisoing (toxins grow inside some) in Vietnam, I’ve had some unwanted time indoors these past few days while getting back on my feet. Recently I’ve been reviewing the photos I took while I was walking the Camino de Santiago last year.

After that venture, shot mostly with M glass, a 28 Elmarit III, 50 ‘lux ASPH, and 90 ‘cron pre, the first thing I did when I went to Porto for a few days rest was to buy an R 28-90mm zoom. The haze buildup on my sensors from doing frequent lens changes in bad weather was almost scary. A zoom would obviate that. Or would have, if I’d used it during the last year, which I haven’t.

The second thing was to offload the three lenses, not at all for any transgressions, but rather because they’d been repeatedly subjected to quick temperature changes (fogging) and, day after day, tolerated steady rain, often heavy, often for days on end. I was afraid they might end up with some internal anomalies down the road.

But the photos they took? Stunning. And you know what happens whenever I look at photos from the past, right? Yep. I start thinking about re-acquiring one or more of the lenses. In this case, it’s the 50 ‘lux ASPH, which I didn’t want to let go of in the first place. I knew I had a jewel. When I did replace it, it was with the ‘lux SL behemoth which, as I came to learn, just isn’t as good a lens. Can’t remember what was in between, but now it’s the 50 ‘cron-SL ASPH, not the APO. Fine lens, but I need a ‘lux.

So now it’s a waiting game, until next time I’m in the ant farm. Unless, of course, I spot a nice copy sooner…

SL2/28mm Elmarit-M . . .