What on Photography

Although it was a bit cropped, still this was a quite wide-angle view (18mm) of a morning sky, and this was more or less the view what we are actually seeing = in other words, this IS a faithful representation of the view = and that was what we expect to a photo.  —– So, the Photo IS a COPY of the subject, therefore if the subject wasn’t there in the first place, the Photo couldn’t exist neither.  And may be because of that, the Photo competition prohibit the Photoshopped photo.   Photo has to stay as a faithful secondary image of the subject.

And this is the image of the same sky, taken by the other camera at about the same moment of the photo on top.

So, this is a tricky situation. This photo above may be seen to be an illegal image using a ready-made digital effect, so-called “Filter” such as in a smart phone.

But this is the natural character of the lens.  From the common sense, this images may not to be regarded a Photo still, this IS the image, straight out of the photographic device / camera.  (Downsized to 1200x*** and collaged by Picasa in my XP laptop)

They were the images out of Sony A7R with so-called Helicoid (B) lens. —– If the photography was a mean to express oneself, those photos may have my feeling which evokes much deeper into your subconscious.  And they were not by the ready-made effect but only one of the kind in the world. (Whether you like it or not.)   😀

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Helicoid Lens (B)

Helicoid Lens (B) is a sister of (A).  Both came from the same Sony Zoom lens and I’m using the same size helicoid which I got from China.

So, this 18~200 Zoom lens became the SZ lens and the Helicoid A and B.  Well done.

Lens was tested while temporally fixed on the camera using plastic pate, such as whether the lens should be used reversed or not, and with smaller Iris etc. (Photo middle) In order to adjust the infinity, lens was fixed on a M42 to M39 adaptor ring on the M42 to AI (Nikon) mount adaptor. —– after the infinity point was found, the position was fixed with super-glue. (Photo right)

It seems this lens was an aspherical as the funny shaped reflection on the surface suggests. (Photo left)  This helicoid extends from 17mm to 32mm and the Lens which got about 35mm focal length can focus from infinity to 15cm close-up.  And the calculation from the exposure reading, the brightness seemed to be F2.2.

Though, this lens is having very strong aberration. ( Astigmatism ?) —– same as the Lens (A), the center wasn’t too bad but image quality was one of the worst = which I appreciate a lots.  😀     (It’s so rare to find this kind of image in the photography because, nobody design the lens like this for sale.)

(Photo here above, Left was the (B) lens in its finished looks — looks cool isn’t it ?   😀  And the right showed the Lens’ closest view, which showed its softness for comparison.)

For impressionistic fuzzy image, the poorer the lens quality, the image looks more interesting. (I think / and that was where Pinhole Photography stands) —– strangely, the close up image was rather sharp. (I mean its center was) (Photo right)  —– Whatsoever, I’m quite happy with its outcome.   😀

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Helicoid Lens (A)

While hibernating in the winter (because, I can’t go ski kind, let alone climbing the mountain, = still have to do something — I made yet another homemade Lenses. (this time using a focusing helicoid sold in the net.)

In the political stance, I should re-use other old camera’s lens barrel kind though, they may not come when I want.  So, I bought some focusing helicoids from China such as 12~17mm, 17~35mm, 36~90mm, mostly M42 fitting.  (M42 rear mount / Pentax screw mount can be easily converted to Nikon, Canon, Sony-E with a simple (and cheap) adapter.)

And the lens I used was came from broken Sony zoom lens. (In the center of the photo above, two of the small lenses)

So, the game starts = how to fix a small irregular shaped lens to the helicoid.   In here, cut a card-board paper to the shape (Photo left) and mount into an empty filter ring (Photo middle) — and 52mm filter ring was mounted to the helicoid. (Photo right) = to test and check if the infinity focus can be made. —– (this approach failed)

And in here, another lens was temporally mounted on a helicoid with soft plastic patty (Photo left) —– Photo middle showed the lens on the previous photo was screw mounted to an aluminium ring which was epoxy fixed on to the 52mm filter ring, and to the helicoid, then to the camera body. (Photo middle and right) —– (For clarity sake, those photos were taken before the mat-black paint was applied

This lens, with about 65mm focal length has an Iris ! —– though, the image made by this lens was too bad (except pretty good center) and the effect of the Iris was not much help.  😀

So, they are the images. (Looks hopeless coma aberration)

My attempt to make homemade lens has been having funny paradox, while making the lens DIY, the image quality was just fuzzy and poor, —– yet still, I’ve been trying to make it somewhat usable. —– ? ? ?    Then the “Enlightenment” came which was “Why not”  It IS the nature of the lens = bad lens makes bad image.  What’s wrong ?  The top photo here was made by this, Helicoid Lens (A) —– I think, this bad image was not too bad.  I like this painterly effect.  Don’t you agree ?  (It seems, the Japanese Zennists are visiting here.   So, those “Play with lenses” are also the demonstration of the “Mind game in Zen”=  “liberate yourself from a stucked mind” “Why not”    Ha ha ha.   😀 )

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Blue Moon without Eclipse

It was a Full Moon, but we in England couldn’t see the Eclipse like somewhere else could.     Never mind, it won’t cause any misfortune.

(As always, the photo here was taken by Tamron SP Mirror 500mm F8 on Sony A7R. Through double glazed window.)  😀

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Dance Dance Dance !

May be because I’ve clicked the Spanish Flamenco or Japanese Awa-odori dance kind before, time to time, Youtube send me the dance viz —– so, I’ve encountered those amazing dance viz.

In this viz above, the first group was Doushisha-Kouri Hi’ and the second group was Osaka Tomioka-Hi’ —— Yes, they are all Hi-school girls.  First group was performing the dance,  titled “Black Rose” in black costume.  Then the second group was dancing in the 80s Disco style.  Those two were the top of the many hundreds of the entries of Japanese Hi-school Dance Club Annual Competition.  Lots of the club members may never dance before = It’s mean, to train the members in Three years to this level must be nothing but a phenomenon. — (A story behind told, that they practiced up to Nine hours a day ! —– Some comments to the viz described “like a Ninja” = Yes, Ninja was created in the same way = They were all under the same Japanese Zen Culture !)

Despite Tomioka got only second in last (2017)  year’s National Competition, once their viz, “Babbly Dance” was uploaded on to Youtube, it spread through SNS, they received 30 million hit and created a hype in Japan. ( So, they were invited to dance at “New year’s Eve National Song Fest/ 紅白歌合戦 on NHK” = for the hi-school girls to appear such National fest was the exceptional honour)

I admire the intensity and the speed of their body movement, though I wouldn’t dance in that way.   They dance very physical though, their movement was a staged, visually choreographed style for show = not follow a natural body dynamics.   It’s mean, if they were pushed while dancing, they will be easily toppled.  I took the basic body movement from the ski = if we lose the balance on ski, we will fly in the air and land 10 Ms away.    So, I’ll keep the center of the movement always in the symmetry to the center of gravity (so that I can hit or give a kick in any moment without losing the body balance as the body itself having the counter balance.)

One girl was saying, “Don’t think. Just keep doing until the body start to move automatically” = this words were the same as what I’ve been writing here, “Don’t think = Mushin” is the key in the Zen practice.  When their body start to move automatically, the ill-balanced artificially choreographed movement would be smoothed out.  I think, while doing such intense training, those girls would gain much more important “Natural dynamism of the body” which will be the key for their happy, healthy life for whole life.  Well done girls.

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Piece of Art

I’ve just received a mail, large air-bubbled envelope.  And I discovered a content, a piece of Art which could have been packaged in a heavy wooden crate.

It’s from a daughter of my friend, who started a fine art study, whom I gave a pinhole photo device. —– As a return of a 0.2 mm void on a beer-can panel, she made pretty unique image of a master piece for me.  (It’s a proof of that, a 0.2 mm void could have a trade value for could be a priceless master piece though, don’t take it for a precedence, it may not work for your case.)   😀   (A void created by a Zen master could have a significance, comparable to the whole universe.)   Believe me.   Ha ha ha.  😀

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Morning SKY – 18

Took on 18-01-2018/02:41   (This photo got funny reflection of the room)

England was having only +9° weather and severe gale force wind, nevertheless the life goes on and as usual, still, a morning is keep coming.

/6:45 (ISO 800, 2 sec)

Looking out the window, I noticed rather fancy sky.   (Except the last photo, all the pictures here were taken by a Nikon mount Zeiss 18 mm lens / on AV mode)

/6:47 (ISO 800, 2 sec)

On front of my eyes, the Sky changes minutes by minutes.

/6:49 (ISO 200, 6 sec) —– When those 6sec exposure occurred, the camera was hand-held, while the top of the lens was pushed against the window glass.  😀

/6:54 (ISO 200, 6 sec)  (Notwithstanding its hand-held 6 second, the picture was surprisingly good. —– don’t you agree ?)

/6:56 (ISO 200, 6 sec)

/06:59 (ISO 800, 1.3 sec)

/07:01(ISO 800, 1 sec)  (The light in the each picture was a different aircraft —– so many of them flying)

/07:09 (ISO 800, 1/3 sec)

/07:32 (ISO 200, 1/20th sec)

/08:04 (ISO 100, 250th)

/08:33 (ISO 100, 640th)

At last, the sun came out.

/08:36 (ISO 100, 80th)

(Only this picture was taken by a homemade G9 lens on Nikon D850.)

 —– Related Post / “Morning Sky” / “Paint the Morning Sky“

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Birthdays Party

There was a kids and grownup’s joint birthday party among the member, ex-member of the Dorkbot / Spacehijuckers.  Where it took place in the notorious Lime house Town Hall, where the lighting was notoriously awful pink light. 

Made a situation even worse, I took pictures with a notorious homemade SZ lens and the 40 years old Nikon fisheye lens on Nikon D850.  And the result was what you can see.

Somebody started to do a clay craft, try to show their creativity.  —– Following the foot step of Marcel de Champ I made a toy size urinary = great attempt (I think).

SZ lens is about 100 mm F1.8 though, as it doesn’t have a clear focused point, it is not easy to use, especially under the dim pink light.  😀   (Of course, their  lighting can be set to neutral white though, if it was their choice I have to follow.   (Or, I should have brought own my light.) —– don’t worry it was just a party.     Happy Birthday !

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Stacked Lock Pin

When I took those photos, I’ve used additional close-up rings on the SZ lens.

Close-up rings I mentioned were those kind. (Though, this photo left was when I blogged about the lens from an Instamatic camera)  The Nikon mount SZ lens was attached by “Ai to EOS” adapter.   But the adapter stacked on the EOS Close-up ring.  So, I needed to hammer down the Lock pin to release the Ai adapter from the Close-up ring. (Photo right)  In fact I was lucky as I could access the pin —– if an EOS lens was stacked, (so, the pin was hidden inside) I needed to use a hacksaw to cut open the ring ( = the saw-dust might got inside of EOS lens and creates even further trouble etc etc.) 

What I found was, the lock pin was too long ! = It protruded from the ring, hence, even the release-lever was pressed down, pin was still blocking the Ai adapter to rotate.(Photo left)    The pin needed to cut and make it short.  And to do this, both side and other side of the ring was covered by the masking tape first, to prevent an accidental touch of a file to make scratch. (Photo middle)  Then file-down the pin (Photo right), till the pin never protrude from the ring surface when it was pressed down. (check it like photo left again and again).

Close-up ring like this (not necessary red color = blue, gold etc all very colorful) was sold in Ebay a lots, mostly about £25 for set of 3 though, I found this for £15 = may be it was “the rejected seconds” rejected from other bender = somebody throw it away = then, others picked up for opportunity (= any business is the busyness in China = remember, they made a cooking oil from the sewer remain !)  Still I’m buying a lots of staffs (adapter ring kind) from  China/Ebay —– while keeping eyes on its work (I’m not asking them to be a perfect, but at least it wouldn’t harm others ! —– since, I’m a very generous Zen Buddhist.   Ha ha ha   😀  ) 

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It was a full moon !

In the evening of the New year’s day, I noticed a moon behind the trees.  I thought, Oh, it might be a full moon, though, before it came to the center of the window, the sky got cloudy.

Yet still, you can see the unusual “Norwegian Moon rise Photos” in the Bentehaarstad Blog. —– not only that, you will find many many very interesting topics and the photos in her blog (click the links in the bottom)  I’m sure you will enjoy them.   🙂  

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