I have no idea who Mr. Acker was other than what’s on the grave marker: he was born in 1853 and died in 1936 making him 83 at the time of his death. He seems to be buried with two other people: Frederick and Harriet who I’m guessing from their ages were perhaps a son an daughter. He’s buried in Sparta Cemetery in Ossining, NY. That’s the extent of my knowledge.

The topic of this post is, however, not Mr. Acker. It’s my Sony Nex 5N. I bought this camera late in 2011. At that time I was having trouble relating to my DSLR (A Sony Alpha 500) and as I got older I didn’t like carrying around all the DSLR gear. So I was looking for something smaller and lighter and the NEX fit the bill. I’d also read about the possibility of using legacy lenses with this camera (with an appropriate adapter) and since I’d started to collect old cameras/lenses I thought I might be able to use them with the NEX. I used the camera almost exclusively for quite some time.

My quest for something smaller and lighter continued and in January, 2014 I picked up a heavily discounted Sony RX100 model 1. This camera is so small and light that I began to carry it with me all the time and it quickly became my most used camera. I would occasionally take out the NEX but the RX100 had become my primary camera.

I’ve been looking back over my older pictures of late and I’m finding that most of the ones I really like were taken with the NEX. Where the RX100 is very sharp and contrasty, almost clinical, the pictures taken with the NEX have less contrast, are frequently less sharp but have a certain quality to them. The native e-mount lenses I have seem to have quite low contrast (with the exception of the Sigma 30mm f2.8). I have quite a few legacy lenses and pictures taken with them vary greatly in terms of their “look”. With the RX100, of course, the lens is fixed so the “look” is always pretty much the same.

I don’t think I’ll stop using the RX100 any time soon. It’s just so convenient to carry around. But I do think I’ll start to use the NEX again. Now I just have to clean the dust spots on it’s sensor…

The picture above was taken with the NEX 5N and an Industar 61 lens. This 55mm f/2.8 lens originally came from the Arsenal factory in Ukraine – at the time it was made part of the former Soviet Union. I’ve found the lens to be sharp and the colors to be quite vibrant. It’s in Leica Threat Mount and obviously used with an adapter on the NEX.