Having a new lens to play with is, remotely, like having new eyes. At least it is when the lens is or does something different than lenses you have owned in the past. I have never owned a lens wider than 24mm. Therefore the 12mm (18mm equivalent) ZEISS Touit f2.8 is opening my eyes to new possibilities, and refining my vision of scenes I have captured before. When you add the extra clarity and resolution of the ZEISS lens…the particular crisp, clear ZEISS look…it makes old scenes well worth revisiting.

I have taken this shot before, with several different cameras and lenses, in various seasons of the year. Of course the sky, never exactly the same twice, would be enough to renew the scene, but each photographic rig certainly lends it’s own character. Here it is the Sony NEX 5T and, as above, the ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8. ISO 100 @ f13 @ 1/200th. Processed for a somewhat natural HDR effect in Snapseed on my tablet.

And for the Sunday Thought: Well it ought to be something about new eyes and renewed vision, don’t you think, all things considered? After all that is part of the promise of Christ…new eyes…renewed vision. A whole new way of seeing the world. I am certainly thinking that this morning…and it is, indeed, one of the things I treasure most about a life of faith in Christ…but mostly I am thinking how easily amused I am. All it takes is a new camera, a new lens, and I am filled with new energy…happy as a boy with a new toy. All that is ill in life (and there is always a great deal that is ill in life, if not in my own, then certainly in the greater life of humanity in a troubled world) falls away while I go out to explore the new possibilities of new gear. I am happy. I am blessed. Such fun!

And I hope my excitement is at a least a bit contagious. I hope some of it got caught up in this pastoral image and that you feel it, behind the peaceful scene, when you look at it. It does not change the ills of the world, either my own or those of the people who really do suffer, but it somehow clears the mind, elevates the soul, puts the ill in perspective against a backdrop of beauty and light that makes it bearable. I can only really speak for myself here…I would not claim it makes the suffering of others any less intense…but for me the excitement, the fun, of finding and sharing beauty (even facilitated by new stuff) is part of the new eyes, the renewed vision that is our gift in Christ.