Pinhole Machine for A7R

While having Olympus OM body cap handy, which happen to be a

perfect fit to Sony A7, E-Mount, I could easily make a Pinhole System. 

= With or without Fisheye effect and the choice of Single Pinhole or

Double Density Pinhole. (So, I can do it in the industrial scale !)

Other than a strange color hue on the peripheral, the pinhole shot was

well-managed by the camera’s AUTO setting = Automatically chosen

ISO 6,400.  Just aim and click.  Single Pinhole, Photo above left. 

Double Density Pinhole, Photo right.

And a Mob-phone-camera Fisheye adapter was attached with.

(Since, Foster beer can run out, this time the Pinholes were made

on a Danish variety.   (Photo Top, Right)   😀 

I think, its looks, works pretty good.

* * * * *

Again, to be fair to the paying customers, this is the real staff

Canon Fisheye (Zoom 8~15mm).  With a help of just arrived EF

to E-mount adapter.  —– See the dimensional difference.

(A7 camera’s Focus-peeking worked very well =  able to show

the difference of 10cm on the 15mm image was remarkable !)

= definitely, miles better than my eye-sight !

—– Though, am I going to use the Alpha 7 in this way is quite

questionable.  So far, I found the use of the A7 with the Homemade

Toy lens, and the Pinhole machine is very handy and comfortable. 

In addition, I might use A7 for Digitizing the Transparency  and

make another tilting bellows to take advantage of the

A7 camera’s 18mm flange-back.

(Use 35mm film camera’s lens, it can focus from infinity.)

 

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Fun lens on the Alpha 7R

Picture here is a kind, nobody would be impressed, still nobody

would complain kind.  It was made by a lens of rather humble origin,

came from discarded toy camera. —– Considering it’s utterly cheap

existence (two plastic lenses structure) the picture isn’t too bad at all.

On the time, people see the picture on the 5″x3″ chemist print,

this kind of quality was perfectly acceptable.

In fact, I’ve talked about this lens, few post ago.

And now, the lens has been properly (in certain extent  😀 )

re-structured for Alpha 7 camera. (Beautiful isn’t it ?) Ha ha ha.

(So, the lens can take landscape to portrait without refocusing

or change F-aperture kind = anyhow, no controls here at all.)

Only the trouble I found with this combination was = mysterious

blurred image they makes.  It was under a blight day light. 

The AUTO setting on the camera, A7R chose ISO 1600 and

shutter speed was  1/160.  

Why the picture was blurred ? — I set up a tripod (not a heavy weight,

still proper Gizzo tripod) — strangely, still the picture was blurred. 

It was nothing but a mystery.  (Obviously, I need to test further though,

at moment, this IS a lens (other than Pinhole) I got for this camera.

(I’m waiting to receive lens adapter for this camera.) — Whether this

body got a resonance to  1/160 shutter vibration, or the camera activating

other function to cause adverse effect ? = So, I tested the camera on

manual setting :  ISO 3200-1/320, ISO 1600-1/160, ISO 800-1/80,

ISO 400-1/40, ISO 200-1/20. Iso 100-1/10, Iso 50-1/5.  All hand-held.

ISO 3200 – 1/320

ISO 50 – 1/5

Those photos above were the shot on the test.    Non of them

showed heavy blur = it seems, the AUTO and  1/160 combination did

the Blurring business.  😀   — on the AUTO setting, other function

of which I’m not fully understood the implication, meddling in.

(Such as when the A7 thought, the image is too high contrast, the

automatic HDR operation comes in = gives three consecutive

exposures = unexpected hand may not keep still.)

I guess, something adverse effect of AUTO might have had happened.

It’s still a mystery Sir. 

* * * * *

To be fair to a Paying Customer, this is the quality if you pay the price.

This photo was taken by  Canon EF 40mm F2.8  on 5D Mk-III

— can you see the difference ?   (It’s costing  £100 more.)

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Southbank by Gaudy Lens (2)

Previous post was about the people, here the landscape.   😀

You might say “Those people in the picture, aren’t they the people ?”

“Are they ? 

I thought, they were the well made stones.  Just happen to be there.”

Survive well in such heat wave.

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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.)

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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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Pinhole Photo on Micro 4/3 Camera

When I encountered heckle a lot of trouble to do Pinhole Photo

on the Nikon D810, I came to a conclusion “It’s better not to

attempt it other than on the Canon 5D”.

Let alone with the smaller compact cameras. 

Canon has an exceptional capability to deal with any lenses on

their camera = without making a change of the setting or special

operation, with the same AV setting we can keep shooting even

with a Nikon manual lens — (yet, to Pinhole, it needs to cover the

View finder).   

Then, I became aware that the Micro 4/3 camera can be used

with a lens which got no electronic connection to the camera

when I saw my friend was using his C-mount Angenieux cine lens

onto his Olympus Pen digital camera.

(Left = 10mm Cine lens — Center = Double Density Pinhole — Right = Single Pinhole)

—– So, I tried my Pinhole on his Olympus Pen, and the 

camera produced the images (well, — sort of). (Photo above)

In order to explore the possibility, I bought a Micro 4/3 Camera =

Panasonic, Lumix GX7 to be exact. (because, I thought, unlike

the Pen which needs to select the menu to set an ISO and  the

Color Balance, GX7 could access them straight on a dial.)

—– Though, on a test, while shooting 30 odd pictures, I realized

that GX7’s AV setting couldn’t cope with dark Pinhole, regardless any

high ISO (= needed to give a manual long exposure with guess-work) 

And their ISO such as 12,500 could only produce very grainy photo

while spending so many seconds to do the “Noise reduction” = needs

to wait its finish before shooting next. 

(Left = Anastigmat 75mm with Nikon to M4/3 adapter, ISO 3,200, 1/13

Right = the same by Single Pinhole, ISO 25,600, 2.5sec’ )

(Left = by multi Pinholes, ISO 3,200, 8sec’— Right = ISO 12,800 / 1/15

—– Note:  High ISO only creates useless grainy image. = use lower ISO

and give longer exposure could make better image) — Of course,

fuzzy grainy image may suites to the other kind of “Art”  😀

So, I changed GX7 to Olympus OM-D, E-M1. 

On E-M1, it’s much easier to take Pinhole image.

= As long as the subject is not too dark, with ISO 3,200 and the

AV setting  a Pinhole of 0.2mm can make (good) images.

— otherwise, use of a flashlight could brighten the subject well

( if distance was more than 1m, use external flash).

(I was using a set of Pinhole I designed for Nikon and Canon 5D

with  a Nikon to M4/3 adapter.) 

Incidentally, I also found that the Pentax DSLR could take

Pinhole Photo very well. (I tested it with K-1 and I noticed

Sony  a7 series cameras can handle Pinhole amazingly well.)  

I’m thinking to make a Wide angle Pinhole, specially for the

M4/3 camera when I got a delivery of the Body Caps.

(camera body cap for £1.49 from eBay or C-mount to M4/3

adapter for £1.11 from eBay too — though, takes 30 days)

On the next post, I’ll show you some Pinhole street photos.

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Godzilla of Cicada shell

This is the photo of Godzilla sculpture made by the empty

shells of Cicada.

It came from  >>> http://hayabusa3.2ch.sc/test/read.cgi/news/1470180555/

I don’t think I need to explain what it is. 

(and so far, I couldn’t find who made this)

Anyhow, I’ve just dropped my jaw = lost a word.   😀

.

My Dragon sculpture made by wire was just a 3D version of the

line drawing = not much new.   (and this one as well)

—– Though, to conceive the idea to make Godzilla by the empty

shells of cicada seems to be far beyond of human imagination and

more importantly, it was not an empty crazy performance = the end

result IS an impressive art piece.

Our human mind could have even more area to fly further.

.

 

 

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.

.

* * * * *

(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.)

.

 

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.

___/\___

.

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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Beaulieu 8mm Cine Camera

— (Beaulieu 2008s / my Homemade lens on a Nikon to C adapter attached. 

— And the contact pin of the battery was connected to the 4AA cell battery)

One of the regular attendance of the WW Greenwich (SPC.org),

Gordon used be a busy cinematographer, even worked for Japanese

NHK before.    Naturally, he got many  professional cine camera but

all of them are film camera. —– and, he got stock-pile of such

as the Kodak Super 8mm Film even now. 

So, he wanted to create something fancy footage using even fancier

100 years old Lens. 

A French Beaulieu was a well-known cine camera manufacturer

together with, Arriflex, Bolex, Michell etc.    And one of his camera

Beaulieu 2008s is a servo-controled Super 8 cine camera —– though,

electric camera needs a power, but this camera’s (made 1968) special

battery is dead. —– So, he needed my help. 

The information through the Net, < say yes to analog ! >,

I found this camera’s motor has a feed-back generator and

a symmetrically powered Servo-amp = It’s needs + 0 – power,

hence 3 contacts in the battery chamber. (photo above left) 

I tested the camera while connecting the battery just by the

3 crocodile cables. = It’s worked perfect. (after 20~30 years ? !) 

When we deal with this kind of project, we need to see what IS

the main priority ? — To maintain the originality of the “antique”

— or just get a function. 

Neither Gordon or me got a romantic dream to the antic camera

but see it just as a tool. = So, I told him “Just have a 4AA cell

external battery case and connect it by 3 cables soldered to the

contact in the battery chamber”. (forget the nice appearance.  😀 )

So, the battery (as they can be accommodated in the camera’s

battery chamber = Photo above middle) was half sticking out

of the camera, — still, this was the easiest adaptation.

= As long as it is fit to the purpose, just use it. Why not ?

So, Gordon is going to have a test shoot with 100 years old

Ensign Anastigmat Lens ! — Though, now-a-day, to have

a 8mm cine film processed and digitized etc is an awkward,

expensive and time-consuming business = I can not promise

when I can report and show the results here.

Good luck Gordon.

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