Master of Splatter

One midsummer’s night in San Benedetto del Tronto, a small town on the Adriatic coast, I attended a live concert by Claudio Simonetti, a living legend among Italian horror film fans. Initially with his prog-rock band Goblin and later on his own, he composed the soundtracks for almost all of Dario Argento‘s horror motion pictures. Among the other various artistic collaboration, he also authored the soundtrack of the Italian version of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

I am not a fan of this genre, but I know that in this kind of motion pictures  music is not just a complement, but an essential part of the overall atmosphere of a scene because it helps to create a multisensory experience for the audience. No matter how scary the visual scene, its effect can be greatly reduced without the right music and sounds to evoke nightmares, personal demons and fear. In this, Simonetti is a true maestro. He ingenuously blends classical and electronic music, with hints of Bach, the Alan Parsons Project and Jan Hammer. His music becomes an integral part of the script, contributing to evoke the uncontrollable fear in the audience which is a signature of Dario Argento’s style.

But I am going off-topic since 35mmc is not about music, so let’s get back to photography.

I was not there as a part of an assignment so I had no privileged access to the stage, and I hadn’t planned to attend the concert either. So I just had to rely on my usual carry-on kit —a Fuji X-T5 with a manual focus 7-Artistan 35mm F/0,95— and shoot from where I was sitting.

As always, getting good photos in these settings is a nightmare – pun intended. However, I am fairly satisfied with the results, except for the fact that the 7Artisans aperture ring does not click when turned. This might be a useful feature for shooting video — which I do not — but it is certainly not for photography. On lenses where the aperture ring clicks, I can set the correct value without looking at the barrel, allowing me to stay focused on the subject. Without this kind of tactile feedback, I must constantly switch between the viewfinder and the ring to check whether something has changed without my noticing. Lacking any electronic contacts, the camera simply shows an F value of zero, so when I see the shutter speed change, I cannot be sure whether it is due to a change in light or because the ring has been inadvertently turned.

Yet, I find this lens very capable. The 0,95 aperture claim is probably unrealistic, however this doesn’t change the fact that the results, also in challenging conditions, are very good —mind, very good in absolute term. So, once again, I have got an empirical confirmation that there is no point is spend money on red-dotted lenses (some of which I owned, btw) to get very good pictures. With a bonus: you can be free to photograph without the strees of protecting a 5.000,00 Euros (or more) lens from damages and thieves.

Just for the records, I’ve got no links to 7-Artisans. I bought the lens with my own money, and no one asked me to write about it.

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