Good Lens or Cheap Lens

Some regular reader may remember, this lens has appeared here before.

But if you look inside, you may noticed that this one doesn’t have shiny

blue beer can.  = In deed, the front lens is the same though, the panel, and

the pinhole inside is different.  I did swap the panel to single pinhole hence,

it still has semi-fisheye wide angle view but the image doesn’t have a

hallasion created by the Double Density Pinhole.

The front lens came from an ubiquitous cheap Fish-eye Adapter, therefore,

giving fish-eye like distortion and wide-angle view, but being as low cost =

single lens structure showing the Chromatic Aberration.  = Part enlarged

bright-spot of Photo above, rainbow effect is quite visible.

Theory was the same = ” Place a strong concave lens before Pinhole would

creates [Wide angle Pinhole Image]” and this one has a concave lens from a

Canon Zoom Lens. = which is in deed the front element of the same lens I’ve

experimented with its rear element in the previous post.  

And I put the same Double-Density Pinhole panel behind of this lens.

This Canon’s Zoom was EFS type 18~55 mm hence, it was a kind of

medium wide-angle, so that even a front element concave lens was not too

strong = giving modest wide view.  (Though, still having quite a distortion.)

Yet still, the lens carrying the quality of the Canon = this front element

has an Achromatic design = no Chromatic aberration was visible. 

So that, thanks to this high quality Diopt-Pinhole Photo System, on a

full-frame 5D Mk-III camera, I can take high-quality Fuzzy image !

(I’m serious, believe me.   Ha ha ha  😀  😀  )

———————–

IN ADDITION:  This is the front element from a Sigma Zoom Lens.

Lens came from a friend of my friend who gave-up to repair the lens.

(The person managed to disassemble though, couldn’t put it back.)

It seems Sigma was used all sorts of clever tricks to produce the lens

“Reasonable”= not superb, still good enough, light and small, and

most importantly, not expensive for the people of this class.

The front lens seems to be plastic = easy to be scratched (Photo Left)

and the Photo Right shows funny reflection = this is an “Aspherical Lens “. 

You may have a fancy illusion toward the Aspherical Lens. = Yes, Aspherical

lens can give superb optical quality though, these days, it was used as a

magic bullet to save a cost !  (Instead to use many heavy and expensive

Grass, just one plastic Aspherical Lens could eliminates the aberration.)  

Because, Aspherical lens is no longer difficult to make nor expensive.

= Computer give the design and the laser curving can make a precise

die-cast, then the rest would be just a plastic mass-production work. 

As a rather ordinary  x3  Zoom, the strength of the front Concave lens is

similar to the Canon’s Zoom shown before.   The front element consists

two lenses hence it supposed to be an Achromatic design —– though

photo above shows the Chromatic Aberration. (See the rainbow color.)

(of cause, it might be corrected together with the rear element.)

And I put a single pinhole behind of this lens.

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Too Early Spring (2)

This is definitely a Cherry tree though, she already started to bloom. 

(on 10th of March !)

And somewhere in the town, I saw two of the Common Magnolia in full bloom.

This is yet another Magnolia tree.  

In London, the temperature became as high as 25 degree C yesterday.

May be having a warmer weather seems to be better than frosty one

—– though, I’m not necessary comfortable.     It’s something wrong.   

PS: ————————–

I just found this cherry tree in full bloom in the Greenwich.  

I’ve been here around every Wednesday though, there wasn’t a flower

last week —– and suddenly today !   🙂   ( Honest, Believe me.  😀 )

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Junk as a Macro lens

Camera lens is the optics = even if it was broken and ended-up in a bin,

lens can still function as an optics.  Convex lens can project an image.  

This lens was a Canon zoom lens which I got free from a camera shop.

Top left of the photo above, is the rear group of the Zoom lens which function 

as a convex lens to project the image.  Convex lens mean, it will work as a

magnifying lens and in reversed direction, it could be a good macro lens.

—– for a fun, I tested this lens unit to take macro photo.

(on the photo, you can see a L-shaped plastic bar on the lens-unit, there were

three of those which held the lens unit in the position though, such flimsy

plastic couldn’t survive a shock and easily broken but impossible to repair, it

was the end of the life ! — replace whole unit may cost half of the lens price.) 

For macro photo, lens unit was stacked on a mount adapter ring using sticky

plastic-pate, and it was mounted on

Canon 5D through 2 sets of Extension

tube. (total extension was 125mm) 

—– After few shots, I found the

sharpness wasn’t good enough,  

so that, I closed the Iris somewhere

half-way. (Photo left)  

This Aperture / Iris  has a

stepping motor built inside

= So, I’m going to make electronic circuit to drive it. 

And, this is how the photo was taken while using a small flash-light.

The photo wasn’t too bad —– considering the lens came from a bin.  😀

This lens unit act like a 38 mm lens, so that it can produce about  x5 macro

image on this extension.   The photo above was a clopped part-enlargement.

(effectively,  x10 magnification = 3.6 mm object was on the 36 mm frame)

Originally, this was a rear half of the good zoom lens. —– Think about, it

is a magnifying glass of £100 cost = it got to be high quality !

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Parts Box ?

To make, modify or repair something etc. what ever to do, it’s always need

to have all sorts of components or parts. —– strange urban myth was that

I’m a kind of professional, so, I have a professional class storage / drawer

box to sort the components.  And people are believing that I got a workshop.  

Wrong !   I’m a non of professional.  Therefore, I’m keeping the components in

the most unprofessional way.

= My storage box for the parts is “plastic Ice-cube tray” used in a fridge. = This is

the most compact and convenient way to keep the small parts in order.

(And cost virtually nothing.  🙂 )

Even just the screw, there are many different sizes, starting from  1mm~.  

About the same size but old  1/8″ doesn’t match to metric 3mm screw.  

So, they has to be kept separates, ETC, ETC !

Situation is far worse in the electronic front. —– if I got to store everything,

I need to have a space, size of a shop.  

So, I keep the items handy I most likely to use, in the Ice-cube Tray.   

I don’t remember when I got this and started to use. —– I might have

brought those from Japan = it’s mean, I’m using this, past  40 years !

For me, the matter is its function.  = as long as it fulfils my needs, that’s enough.  

And, even more crucial matter is  “What I do with those components”.

Parts are just a matterial.  Part wouldn’t creates anything. = Thousands tons of 

cement is not a building.   And the beautiful way to pile-up the cement neither

form a building. —– Building would be counted when it was elected.

So does the component here, when it became a part of a finished product,

it would be counted as a meaningful existence.  (but thousands end-up in a bin)

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(That) Early Cherry again

I lost the count how many times I posted the photo of this Cherry tree.

Because of this tree having the flower (almost) always, I talked

about many times, often with amazement.

She kept the full bloom from October to the next may before. But  

it was a bit low-key in last year —– still showing 10 or so flowers

always since last October and she would be in full bloom soon.  

So that I even dubbed her “Perpetual Cherry”.  Despite watching her in past

3, 4 years, still I’m not wise to tell why this tree has the flower out of season.  

—– Genetic ? = Type of variety such as crossed with Winter Cherry ?  or

just because the freak weather had triggered her to miss-judge the timing ?

What ever the cause, the weather these days are enough for her to bloom.

 

(My worry is that her branch seems to be very thin —– was that because of

the energy has been directed to the flowers and not much went to the body ?  

= we may need to give a lots of fertilizer to her ! )

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Moss

Wet but not too cold = who most enjoy this weather must be the Mosses.

And nobody would say otherwise.  So, no word here. 

(In fact, I do know them very little any way.  🙂 )

Three photos above were taken by Zeiss 85mm F1.4 with close-up lens.

Rest of photos were taken by Canon EF Macro 100mm F2.8 with Close-up lens.

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Tripod — give a thought

Among rather delicate Photo equipment, Tripod is exceptionally physical.

No another equipment would be thrown into a car floor. —– and may be that

was a reason why a film company disposed and gave a broken tripod to me.

When I got a huge Bilora tripod (Photo Left),  it’s legs were crushed. I replaced

them with 3 Manfrotto’s Monopod and put Gitzo No.4 (largest) Tripod-head.

= This 15 Kg heavy tripod can extend to 3 m high(with extension column) and

never produced blared image caused by a vibration, resonance kind. (of cause) !

(I was using this for Pentax 6×7 high-angle shot, or large format 4×5 kind.)

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Center Photo is a rather light-weight Gitzo (Reporter) with Ball-socket head.

Unlike other Gitzo which got 3 axis (X,Y,Z) fixing,

this ball-socket head has “a kind of” ease for quick

adjustment.  In the same time it is a disadvantage.  

If 3 axis can be adjusted individually = for instance, while keeping X,Y

fixed, but change only Z direction, it can have finer control.  

And being as light-weight and thin pipe, (even worse, ball and socket’s joint

is rather thin long neck) this tripod is sceptic to vibrate when all the

combination and the balance of the weight happened to resonates.

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And the Photo right is one of my small tripod (but not the smallest) which

become flat, when not in use. (Easily slip into a bag. )  

This tripod extends to 1 m and fold to 38 cm, the weight is mere 500 g !

It’s a typical case, “Better than nothing” but never perfect in any aspects.  🙂

The most important point of using tripod is, never fallen into an expectation

of false security. = Unless the tripod is really hefty heavy one, the use of tripod

may create more adverse effect = causing the blur.  Somewhere like a beach or

hill side, when the wind was strong, the tripod may be vibrating with the wind.

(You can feel it while rightly touch the leg.)

Test your tripod with your camera mounted —–> Click a shutter while rightly

touching your finger to the tripod leg. = If you feel tripod vibrates,

that is a quality of your tripod ! => Need to become aware of FALSE security !

Then take a measure.  Such as, hung something heavy from the tripod.

When tripod is vibrating, instead to use a Remote-Trigger or Delay-shutter,

grip the camera (on the tripod) and trigger the shutter by your finger !

(Hand works as a dumper. )  —– Or completely opposite approach against

Shutter-shock = drastically lower ISO and the shutter speed and make

shutter speed something like one second to few seconds !  

Unless the subject is moving, strangely, the photo become much sharper.

(See it yourself !  🙂 )

—– From the experiences seeing the broken Carbon Fibre Tripod, Golf club

and Fishing rod,  I’m not a fan of Carbon Fibre.  = When they brake, they

disintegrates.  Broken aluminium leg is still “a kind of leg” = You still able

to shoot a last photo or two on it. 

But, disintegrated bunch of plastic is utterly useless.  

Not to have a feeling of “false security” mean, better carry an insurance

for the worst situation too = carry one Kg more for stronger tripod !

After all, the steadiness and the reliability comes from its solid weight.  🙂

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Pinhole Portrait Picture

Some one might say, they looks like the photos of the earliest (100 KP)

digital camera. —– Oh, com’n they were created by a pretty expensive DSLR  

5D, Mk-III you know how much the cost !

(Taken at the Wednesday Workshop in Greenwich) 

And the others might say  “What a waste of time” = Hours of days of work,

and created this ? —– What for ? ? ?   Oh, com’n what’s wrong with you ?

I wanted to show = to be a portrait, what’s the minimum the picture

need to have — or other words, “Enough” to describe the person.  🙂

In fact, it was the same one = Semi-Fisheye,  Diopt-Pinhole Hybrid,  

Double-density Pinhole. Very very sophisticated Posh system, you know ? 

Ha ha ha   😀

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Graffiti ? in Deptford

I don’t know how to call them Graffiti or Painting.

Anyhow, what-so-ever, They are there as they are.

 

I remember that about 10 years ago, I met artists who got their studio in

the pink building. — They were doing a kind of “community art program”

to paint big garbage bin in the town to black and white “cow like pattern”

= Making the city looks more pastoral and natural !  

—— What an utterly fantastic marvellous idea ! ! !  (I lost a word then. 😀 )

===== Guessing from the pink wall, they seems still there.

(Mind you, I’m writing this without any cynical connotation at all.)   

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New year’s First Sunrise — (well, almost)

New year’s First Sunrise —– well, not quite.  It’s the second one.  

Yesterday was a bit cloudy = so, this is in deed, the first opportunity

to take picture though ……… I didn’t even go out of my room,

let alone go-up a hill or a beach to take typical photo.

Worse still, I didn’t even rise a bamboo blind.  Still, with a longer 

lens with its shallow depth of field, bamboo-blind was disappeared.  

And at least, the photo on top is a genuine photo of SUNRISE !

—– but, first of all, why do we bother a day next of 31st of December ?    

or So-called New year’s day.  

It’s not even a Winter Solstice-day = just arbitrarily man-named day

= a products of human imagination.     Nothing absolute !

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We human invented so many rules and the patterns for us

to be bound or even enslaved by it.  

Like, if we use English, we have to follow its strict rules.  

Or some of the people created their own God and follow it.

—– so, to take a special significance of the NEW-YEAR’S DAY

—– IS just depends on our mind-set.  

Mind has created “Special Day” and the mind enforce its belief.

—– still, it is only in our imagination.  It might be fun and

able to have a kind of comfort to feel a part of the larger society

though —– we may better to think “Why do I follow this ?”

There could be the other kind of life “If not follow it”.

Enlightenment is to liberate the mind yet I wouldn’t simply say

brake the convention —– to chose the same convention, same

conclusion could be a feasible choice. 

Still, to see it in different eyes, everyday could be a fresh first day.

Have a peaceful and joyful year.

___/\___

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