Southbank by Gaudy Lens (1)

Yesterday I went to the Southbank to see my friend and took those

pictures too.   Sun was baking hot and the air was steaming. 

(You might thought, the lens used was yet another pinhole though,

wrong — it was the Gaudy Lens = as I chase the same fuzzy effect,

the image may look the same kind though, the fuzziness of this image

was created by the aberration of the single grass.

Not only the aberration, the hallation on the untreated lens surface

was very strong.  But, that’s what I wanted. 

(If you want clear picture use your Phone camera please.)

And for this kind of subjects, was sharp details necessary ?

I don’t think so. 

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Fun with Alpha 7R

My newly arrived toy, Sony A7R has quite a few advantages to many

other cameras. — Not mention small and light, but it’s remarkablly

thin body and the flexishible control system to accept many kind of

the lenses, gives great opportunity to play with fancy optics =

and have a fun.  😀

On this occasion, I show you how to utilize junk camera lens.

The Camera came from an Odds Ends box of a shop, was it £1 ?

— I don’t remember.    The lens was literally gauged out from the

plastic body. (Photo Left)     And it was stack to also gauged camera

body cap. (Photo Middle) —– and put onto the A7R. (Photo Right)

I couldn’t figure out who made this camera, nevertheless,

it’s says focus Free ! = The lens stack on the A7R camera produced a

photo like this = far subjects (Right is the enlarged image)

And to the subjects less than 1m distance without any change of focus !

(exposure was given by the camera’s AV setting)

The camera, A7R gives so-called “focus peeking” and showing it

as the Red lines on the View Screen. (It’s mean, the camera thought,

that area has be in focus.)

—– ? ? ?  Then, I started to wonder “What they mean FOCUSED”

(From now, I wouldn’t trust what they says.   😀  )

And the trouble of the A7R seemed to appear, they ARE very seceptic

to the camera shake. = this picture was 1/160 sec’ shutter speed with

ISO 1600 —–> Still I needed to use a tripod for the photo one above !

(Obviously, a small and light body with

such noisy shutter creates big shock ! = No wonder, why they needed to

redesign new camera with quiet shutter = My one was a defective !)

It’s not funny.

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Pinhole Photos on Alpha 7R

As I promised I made a pinhole to my friend’s  A7 camera.

8mm hole was made on a body cap and thin aluminium

panel (beer can) with 0.3mm hole was stuck inside of the hole.

Utterly funny accidental discovery was, a body cap of  A7 can

be used on Nikon body, if it was inserted off 180 degree. = so,

the test of this pinhole was done by a D810 body while pulling

the Ai-coupling lever. —– Then, another coincidence, I saw a

good second-hand  A7R in a camera shop = what a convenient

timing = I bought it — by trading the Olympus OM-D away

(because the Olympus body seems to be falling apart.)

Therfore, those test shot was made by a SONY  A7R, on the

way to see my friend.  😀

Some thing very remarkable was that all of those photos were

made almost automatic = camera has been set to AUTO and

without me changing ISO, Color balance etc, nothing, but just

aim and click. (the best of all, I could click while seeing

the view finder image.)  (It seemed, ISO was set 6400,

shutter speed were about 1/15~1/60 though,

I hate the Shutter nois, and the color)

On coincidence, I started to make the Pinhole Photo on this  A7R. 

— Even funnier discovery I made was, that the Olympus’ old

OM body cap fit to the  A7 body if it was inserted 180 degree

off direction = I don’t need to order and wait a month to get it.

(Body cap or thin (and cheap) adapter is the base to make “Things”)

So, first of all, my own pinhole was tested on a OM body cap while

the beer can panel was placed on the bottom of the body cap.

(Body cap penetrating 4mm into the  A7R = its mean 18mm

flange back – 4mm = 14mm ! — This pinhole can make 14mm

ultra-wide lens effect ! —– Well, in theory.   😀 )

So, this IS the 14mm wide pinhole image ! —– though,

with the Cosine Rule, light fall off is such significant, image

became round.  “Like Pinhole camera”  Ha ha ha.  😀

And this is the comparison, Nikon 16mm Fisheye lens’ view.

(Sound a bit patronizing, though, you have to see, what sort of

effort was paid to compensate the light fall off on the lens design. 

And, see the pinhole image above to see there is no distortion =

distortion was caused by the light-bending optics = Pinhole is

not bending the light (because they are not a lens)   😀

—– Well, I got a toy.   😀

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SONY a7 for Pinhole Photo

My friend photographer, Antonio showed me a small camera.

(Along side his big Hasselblad ELM.)

It was a first encounter with SONY alpha camera —– despite

seeing a lots of camera review etc, so the photographic images

were familiar still, the real camera in its fresh was a shock to me. 

Almost the same size of the M4/3 camera still, having full frame !

(And the lens attached was a Zeiss, the images were quite crisp.)

So, I tested how SONY  a7 camera can handle the Pinhole.

My set of Pinhole was mounted with an adapter (in this photo

the camera was a Olympus) and made a Mono-hole image.

And this one was a Multi-Pinhole image.

Then, this one was a Double-Density Pinhole image.

And those photos were a comparison of the view of my Pinhole

against the Zeiss Planer 35mm lens. (Mind you, my Pinhole is a

wide-angle pinhole with a concave lens attached on front.)

—– the Pinhole view (left) seems wider than 28mm lens.

The most remarkable point of  a7 camera IS, despite it is a full frame

camera, yet still as a mirror less, its flange back is only 18mm thin ! 

—– So, if a panel with a hole was attached on the camera mount, it

will have a 18mm ultra wide-angle lens’ view.    And I tested it while

placing the Pinhole panel directly on the camera mount (though,

there were a lot of light leak — still, we can see pretty wide image !)

To compare this image to the photo of 35mm image above,

how it IS wide is clearly visible. (= This is the big advantage.)

I promised to Antonio, I’ll make a Pinhole adapter for his a7

camera. (In practice, I’ll just make a hole on his body cap.)  🙂 

And I might buy SONY.   😀

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Tanbo-Art — Godgilla

Well, Tanbo Art mean Rice field Drawing = the drawing was made

by the different color of the rice crop = it’s mean, each crop was

planted exact position months ago.   And each colored crop was

pains takingly developed and the seeds has been kept over the years

by the local farmers — only for this fun.   (Still, with this Drawing,

it’s made this utterly non assuming local village “Inaka-date,

Aomori prefecture, famous and attracting thousands of tourists.)

So, for this year, they created Godgilla !  (Photo from Jiji news)

—– This almost like an obsessive dedication and the pains taking

attention is nothing but the Zen Practice (though they, the farmer

themselves may not aware of it at all.) = (Zen Ethos has been so

deeply sublimated in Japan, people does not necessary know why

it has to be done in that way, for what reason.  Yet still, as a custom

or tradition, it has been kept and practiced exactly the same way

hundred of the years, it’s forming the collective belief, the Ethos.)

.

One of the International research found, that the Japanese are the

most “Atheist” like people (doesn’t believe God or Buddha exists)

still, they all believe the fate or the punishment from the heaven.

= it’s mean, the teachings has been such deeply sublimated, hence

the words or the title figure has been completely forgotten still

the mind has been shaped down to the unconscious level.

(You may not aware why you were offered disposal chopstick when

you were invited their party / diner = they feel the chopstick is not

clean once you touched = So that, Japanese doesn’t eat like Chinese

or Korean from the same bowl but take the food to their own small

dish, avoiding a chance of the chopsticks touch others’.

—– The teachings of Right-Wrong / Do-Not Do were

deepen to the unconscious mind / chemical level.)

= So, once they were convinced and started to DO, there couldn’t

be any doubt or hindrance, down to unconscious level —– Do 

grow the best rice or make a strongest sword. = Just do it.

And do it without the self conscious, (it’s mean, no Ego or Greed

= mind is free) the result would be the best.

This is the Zen.

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Make Pinhole for OM-D / Micro 4/3

On the previous post, I mentioned about a Pinhole specifically

designed for OM-D.  So, mean while I play with it like a test.

(Real work starts when I got camera’s body cap from China.)

Camera’s body cap goes inside of the mount surface 3.7mm,

it’s mean pinhole could be mounted further 3.7mm nearer to

the image sensor.  (Micro 4/3 camera’s Flange-back is  19.25mm,

-3.7mm would be 15.55mm = it will make rather wide-angle view,

equivalent to 31mm lens on 35mm film camera.)

— but, for the time being, have a test,  just place a panel with hole

on the surface of the mount. (You will see how simple it IS !)

On a flatten beer can,  54mm dia’ circle was drawn. (Photo left)

And the disc was cut out from the tin panel. (Photo Middle)

Then the disc with a hole in the center was stacked on the camera.

(Photo Right)  —– That’s all.  No more, no less.   😀

Voila!  This is the Pinhole image made by the hole on

the beer can.   Left photo was a wide-angle version.

(A concave / diverging lens was placed on front)

And the Right photo was by the pinhole itself. 

ISO 8,000 AV setting — since the exposure was more

than 2 second, a tripod was used.

To push the fun further, I put a Fisheye Adapter for

MobPhone (widely sold for £10 or so)

= So, it’s a Pinhole Fisheye Picture !  (photo right)

And this is the Double-Density Pinhole on OM-D.

Left was the Pinhole itself and the right was with a concave lens.

Now you’ve seen how easy and cost nothing the Pinhole

Photography IS. = So, why not try if you got Canon, Pentax

or Micro 4/3 camera in hand.

(Though, pay attention to the dust)

.

 

 

 

Pinhole shot on OM-D

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA /OM-D  M-E1

This was the first street shot of Pinhole on Micro 4/3 camera.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA  = I don’t like this automatic singature,  😦 

ISO was 3200,  AV setting —– just a casual shot.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My eyes have been trained to see ful-frame wide-angle.

= I don’t like this cropped image = I need to make a

wide-angle pinhole specially for M4/3 format.  ( Because

of the N-M43 adapter, this pinhole is 23mm further

away from the OM-D’s mount, effectively the viewing angle

of those pinhole photos were same as a 85mm lens.

= I should make the one directly attached to

the OM-D’s mount.)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Location was around the Oxford Street to Soho area.

(The dust on the senser is a headache.)   😀

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EFS Junk Macro for Scarlet Pimpernel

This Scarlet Pimpernel photo was taken by a broken Canon

EFS 18~55mm lens.   How it was made broken, I don’t know, neither

the shop staff who gave it to me did.     Despite its front element was

missing, I had a hunch, this lens works. (Above photo / at 55mm, F4)

In order to mount the lens onto 5D body and test, I needed to

cut off the protruded lens tail. (photo right)

Amazingly, the lens worked —(obviously except autofocus.)

(Still able to give a focus confirmation on manual setting !)

And on AV setting, F-aperture worked perfect and the

exposure was correct !    Without front element, the lens can still

give pretty good macro image from 1/1 at 24mm to x1.7 at 55mm.

(Though, with dreadful distortion — Don’t ask too much.  😀 )

This image was made on 55mm setting with F-11 /AV.

And this one was, at 23mm setting, F-11 / AV on Canon 5D Mk-III.

—– considering it was a cheap kit lens, broken and came free,

= it wasn’t too bad was it ?    Canon is making pretty good product.

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* * * * *

(Above is the original size and its part enlargement of the top photo)

(Showed sharp detail though the depth of field is very shallow)

PS :  To the untrained eyes, the photos above seems to be unsharp.

So, I show you a photo of a Butterfly Wing and its cropped,

enlarged images, taken by this broken EFS Zoom lens at 55mm F11.

(Photo above = at 55mm setting, F11 — X1.7 magnification)

(Center part enlarged photo of above picture)

— is it sharp enough ? 

(don’t forget, this is not even a macro lens.)   😀

(Of course, if a junk lens could show the same quality, how

the Leica’s Macro Elmar or Zeiss’ Macro Sonner could

justify their price !

—– and, we can’t talk the price of the mass-produced kit

lens and the lens hand-made for few hundred scientists

on the same basis.)

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Poltergeist

While checking the Net, I heard a sudden banging noise from the

kitchen.= Bang, gang kind.  What ?   Is it a Poltergeist ? ? ?   

The sound was  nothing like a sound-effect =  very real and I never

imagined that there could be any supernatural phonomenon here.

I looked arround and located the cause to the inside of the cupboard, 

and found a tin of beans was fallen and hitting a glass next.  It seems

the tin has been swollen by its internal pressure, so that the bottom

of the tin was popped up, and the tin jumped. —– The reason why

the tin has been expanded so much was that the beans inside has been

rotten (I guess) and the pressure of the gas produced by the bacteria

came to the explosive level.

= It’s mean, the beanz has not been properly heated up or the content

has been contaminated by a dirt during the process in the Heinz factory.

.

I don’t normally eat the beans, neither potato (baked, chips even crisps

except Spanish omelets) — so, the reason why I bought this tin was a joke

= I used the beans to make a sweet.    Then the other tin bought together

stayed in the cupboard for many years left  forgotten. 

Now I learned, a tinned food could still get rotten. (or am I too lazy ?) 

😀

* * *

 You might be noticed, the popping noise of the can was throughly

explained through the rational causation here. = No supernatural

mambo jumbo or dubious fantasy at all. —– This was the way how

Lord Buddha taught the people, and a kind of the matter he couldn’t

see any rationality neither find a rational explanation, he completely

ignore the question itself (such as the matter related to the Atoman /

Self or the matter about abstract notion like an infinity or universe =

since, such as the Atoman / Self which is not exists in the first place

couldn’t be seen as a subject = We can not talk about the subject which

is not exists.  Neither the subject which couldn’t be definable = such as

a subject we only imagining and nobody know what really it is, couldn’t

be a subject of discussion.) —– It’s mean, all the glorious fantasy in

the Mahayana scripture is just a decoration for the sale. 

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Zen or just a Miser ?

Have you guessed it ?   This is nothing but a washing-up Sponge. 

Still, why it is here – was – did you noticed, it has been stitched up. 

I think, it came from a Pound-shop = four of them for a pound.

It has been used to wipe water arround kitchen sink or wipe the

bottom of a pan after washed etc.  (Inside will be left dry itself.)

Still after while it has been teared and broken.  So, I stitched up

its tear and kept using it. = It is not bad enough to bin.  (Even

though, I have new one left in stock.)

— it is a normal practice on my life. But, I never preached others to 

do the same or even suggested (it’s their business.) – Is it too stingy ?   

Or is this an attachment to a possession?   Kind of greed for 25 pence ?

If I may say, this IS my Mindfulness to the humble sponge.

And as I do, this IS Zen. 

If you think otherwise, your understanding of Zen IS wrong.

___/\___

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PS :

There could be two completely opposing views here.

* The mind, stack to the sponge could talk about Zen ?

* Or, the mind which couldn’t even pay attention to a sponge

could talk about Zen ? —– the answer IS, — What is Zen ? 

(Clinging the imaginary idea of Zen is remotest to the Zen.)   

Don’t talk, don’t think, just do.  = (that was, what

Lord Buddha taught.)

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