Focus-Shift Flower image

Somebody in the USA contacted me to use one of my old photo which was

taken by a technique of Focus Shift, hence the image has big off-focus

bokeh superimposed on it.  In fact I’ve published such photo many times

like this or this. (though, the gear used or the lens may not be the same)

And even there was such drastic approach.   🙂     But this time, focus ring

was moved manually, and in order to have a slower shutter speed, shooting

took place in the evening, under rather dim light.

And to make off-focus, shift to near or far, or the setting of F-aperture etc,

above all, how far the subject, will make the picture looks quite different.

(still, there is no fixed manner = it’s just case by case.   🙂  )

Funny things of Focus Shift is, first moment, it was focused to the main

subject, then move the focus, generally till completely out of focus though,

why not focused here and there.  = Two subjects will have each clear focus

(and bit of bokeh)  🙂

Camera used here was the Nikon D810 — having had 37Mp image-censor,

there are ample of space to crop the image.

A radio DJ mentioned Xmas —– Oh no, soon it will be the November

—– still, flower patch has few flowers left.    Thanks Goodness.

[]

Salmon Tofu — simple cooking

Indeed, this was the reason why I bought Tofu. —– I used to invite the people 

to see my work, and in such a case, often I cook and eat the meal together.  

Now, I don’t need to do that since I started to show the photo in my Blog,

even the short viz in the Youtube, = just tell the person “See the blog”.

Anyway, when I cook, Salmon Tofu which I invented was my regular cooking.

—– not because original but above all it is the simplest and easiest cooking.

(no complicated preparation of Dashi etc — just put together and heat)   🙂

Only three ingredients = Tofu, a chunk of Salmon and a fresh Ginger —

well, a drop or two Soy-source. 

When the three were put together, place the bowl into the pan with shallow

water to boil = it’s mean, Tofu in the bowl was steamed. (7~10 minutes boil)

(Or put a cover on the bowl and cook in the microwave cooker for 5 minutes.)

The steam drip down through Ginger to Salmon and to the bottom of bowl

makes beautiful soup as well —– and its taste struck everybody.  (so far)   🙂

[]

Although this is not a vegetarian, I regard this is the Zen cooking.

= everything was there as it is but nothing else. 

And everything melt together and creates the best by themselves.

No complicated thinking or manipulation = just leave the process to them.

= the nature is having the best in its own.   (Proof of the taste — you try !)

And this nature, we call the Dharma. 

___/\___

[]

Tokyo Dream Party

Somewhat coinciding with a Japan Matsuri, there was a Japan themed

extravaganza in a member’s club somewhere in the Mayfair, London.

It was organized by my friends, stage designers and a good coincidence,

it was a day, happen to be my birthday.

So, it was a great occasion to have a fun for the day — even if it was

not organized for me still, as those people are my longstanding friends,  

they sang “Happy birthday to you~” altogether = What an evening !

(but no birthday cake —– I wouldn’t ask too much.  Ha ha ha ) 

All those performers, musicians are the Japanese and sang Japanese song.  

Organizers are the party people = wearing Sushi jacket (mind you, none of

genuine Japanese Sushi restaurant people wearing Sushi Kimono. = such

crazy things happens only in this country.  lol ) 

And number of so-called Cos-ple (Anime costume player) girls.

They supposed to be Kawaii (cute) — are they ? — (I’m not sure.)

They said to be the Ninja. = it’s mean Kunoichi. (female Ninja)

Though, I wasn’t convinced.  They must be the comedian.

(BTW, the name Kunoichi came from the each element of

the letter 女(woman) く=ku，ノ=no，ー=ichi．They (said to have) 

used a Honey Trap as well, as a weapon. — How exciting ! )

MMM ? Who ?  80s Japanese group, Frank Chickens ?

And, another (are they ?)— anyhow I don’t know the song. ( I’m 浦島太郎ね）

They are the very sexy performers. = supposed to be the Taiko drummer.

Drumming well, though I’m not sure of the jumping flesh.

Then, here comes so-called Yuru-chara — kind of stuffed toy / Mascot.

Organizer brought an automatic bending machine — this one sells

many sorts of pants / knickers. (for women — but not necessary.)  

It could be a great opportunity for a solemn faced gentleman to explore 

the taste without facing a shop assistant or giveaway a personal data to

a net shopping. —– still, are you sure no hidden camera watching ?

And Puri-cla  (Print club) = Photo machine with a lots of fun collage.

= a fun for the Japanese teens and a fun for the English grown-ups.

So, it was a good fun and the pleasure to be in an extravaganza,

which made a day for my celebration. = (Sure — now I feel older !  Ha ha ha)

(And this is my 800th post.)

[]

Japan Matsuri 2015

It was a Japan Matsuri = Annual Festival today at Trafalgar Square Central London.  

There said to be a performance of Taiko Drumming though, before I got there.

(and long after I left = 7 o’clock evening)  The weather was fine — in fact too fine.  🙂

Normally not, but I did come this time with a hunch to bump somebody

— and surely I did.

Why “normally I wouldn’t” was that because, I’m not so sociable person to the

general public, likewise, I don’t do any SNS.   Yet still, I have many friends

— though some of them, not seen so many years. ~ ~ ~ then, bump

the person in this kind of event. —– And I did today.

So-called Matsuri = Fest’ and its stage show seemed to be so and so

— or I would rather say, shabby. (No karaoke please.  lol)

(Photo by 500mm F8 Mirror lens)

May be the most typical JAPANESE phenomenon

= manga drawing panel (Photo left)

And Origami tuition / demonstration (Photo middle)

Surprisingly, Blush Calligraphy was pretty popular. 

Somebody was selling Kaki-goori /Ice Flappe (?) — What ! ?  £5 — Oh Com’n.

Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuke stricken Fukushima people was selling noodles.

— ?    I couldn’t find what was the connection.  (Photo right)   lol

And Fukushima shop soled me their local rice (Koshihikari) 500g Sample  for £3 = !

(Which was sold in Japan 10Kg for £18) = may be a support donation included !)

In fact Quite a lot of food stall. (Photo left) = Bento / Lunch box = £10 — what ?

I don’t know what was “that” in the Photo middle.  Photo right = Takoyaki. 

      The visitor must be noticed that the very peculiar things in this Fest’ = 

other than the food stall, there is almost nothing else = no stall of campaign,

such as Eco, Green issue, no appeal for Help / Donation even for recent flood.

No appeal of voluntary / community activity group. = In fact, this was not for

the japanese community = therefore, more than half (even 60~70%) of the

visitors were non Japanese. = so that, very few Japanese Cos’Ple girls there.

Among the Japanese, there must be very strong feeling of the Peace Issue now

which has been triggered by the recent change of the Diffence law.

—– But such movement has been completely hidden-away, because Japanese

establishment is far busier against the threat from the Chinese expansionism.

It is so funny to see a difference. Chinese is brandishing their military might and

Japanese is pretending to talk about the taste of a noodle. The timid dog barks.

—– So that, the funny irony was, Chinese couldn’t broadcast their military parade

without the Sony or Panasonic equipment NOR their military system doesn’t

function at all without relying on the Japanese components. lol.

Nevertheless, it was a nice day-out for me.

[]

My old Basket

I found 130 years old photos of Japan, pretty well hand-colored and preserved.  

Among them, this was a photo of a Basket maker and his work samples.

(This is a studio set-up photo by an Italian Photographer

— Photo Credit / 1886-Japon-Adolfo Farsari )

It’s amazing to see, the technique and the design hasn’t been changed much

—– I mean, if anybody still doing it somewhere in the world.

And funnily enough, I have one which has been with my life (mostly in the

mountain) for the past 50 years or more !

I bought this when we went to a mountain in the northern Japan, I found it in 

a local shop.  = it may looks a bit odd taste for a techno orientated Hi-school boy,

though I was a very opinionated noisy student, a sort of a nemesis of the school

authority then.  And I had a view to feel shame for the loss of the traditional

culture and the crafts.   Not because of a nostalgic feeling, but I did know such 

kind of crafts could be much suited for the daily life and even stronger for a long 

term use, as its historical fact = it has been kept used 100s of the years by the folks

= it’s mean, it has been repeatedly modified and refined. = it IS the

manifestation of the accumulated wisdom came from user’s side, not from the

head-big designer or the seller’s side !

And after so many years of the journeys and the climbs, it’s mean packed tight

in the backpack, tumbled, pressurized etc all sorts of hard use, still my basket is 

almost intact because of its flexibility.    It has been used not just packing

important items such as toolbox, first-aid kit, survival food, money, train ticket 

etc but also it was my pillow in the tent or where ever.  In any emergency,  grub 

it and jump-out the tent and run. (if we noticed a flush-flood or avalanche kind

is coming) —– In real life, once I run-away (to the side) from an avalanche and

move the tent just before a flush-flood came down, so not much serious trouble

I actually experienced.  (other than, hard climbing itself.  🙂 )

[]

You may wonder, why I didn’t use plastic container.    In fact I did, though,

they didn’t work well in the Winter mountain where the temperature goes down

minus 20~30 degree C. = they easily break.   And the another disadvantage of

the plastic container was,  when the water get inside, it stayed there for ever.

(They are not water tight = when they got pressure, their rid easily come off)

—– So, I’ve been happily together with Bamboo.   🙂

[]

 

Artcore Int’ Exhibition

There is an Exhibition of the Artcore International at the Bird’s Nest Pub in

the Deptford, London —– in fact, it coincided with their event called Nestival

with a lots of live music.  

You may find a lots of info’ here.     

https://www.facebook.com/events/382090185319668/

In fact, what exhibited there was a collection of weird images = almost

obsessively,  painstakingly created drawings, sculptures.

(thanks goodness not a kind of “So-called” conceptual art but has substance)

(sorry, so many artists and their works, I couldn’t name and credit each one

= if you are interested in, please visit there as it’s opens till 26th Sept’ )

The exhibition was organized by Joefur and Kevin who were the 

artists of Minesweeper Collective.   The Tyre Creature, (Photo above)

= Dragon ?  or huge Rezard ? looks amazingly realistic.  🙂

(Sorry, this picture = lefthand side = Top )

As I reported before, Deptford (next to Greenwich) is a weird artistic town.

  <<   https://yoshizen.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/deptford-art-or-odd/

  <<   https://yoshizen.wordpress.com/2014/01/18/graffiti-in-deptford/

  <<   https://yoshizen.wordpress.com/2014/02/23/spiritual-deptford/

So the Bird’s Nest seems to be a kind of community center, gathering point.

And it is a rare kind of pub always playing Punk, Sexpistol like music —–

the reflection of the local folks’ psych.   Good !     🙂

[]

Algae or Moss ? — Water plant

I’m not sure what is those green staff on the river bank of Deptford Creek.

Its green color indicates that they are a plant living on the Photosynthesis.

—– though, I don’t care.   I only thought, its green color is beautiful — and

it’s enough for me to click the camera. ( thanks goodness, this lens shows

only the atmosphere, not the useless details — of so-called Realism.   🙂

= often, surface detail mask the true reality. True reality may lie behind. )

This fuzzy lens I used to take those photos were yet another Two Element

Homemade Lens. (toy camera lens with strong concave lens on front.)

( The lens appeared in this blog

before.)

[]

Bizarre Lens on Macro shot

It’s the same lens, Pentax AF Zoom 35~70 F2.8 — with that heavy proxer.

So, the magnification ratio was about 0.5 (at 35mm)~1 (at 70mm).

As you may see, I’m not after the scientific details but the optical softness.

Still, when the subject was on the same plain (within the depth of field)

the lens can capture quite a details.   (All the photos here = F2.8)

(Note, in this photo, left bottom, an egg of the Green lacewing.)

Macro photography is the constant supply of the visual fantasy for me.   🙂

[]

Bizarre Lens – Pentax AF Zoom 35~70 F2.8

Well, the Lens = Pentax AF Zoom 35~70mm F2.8 itself was nothing strange

or I should rather say, Optically superb Lens. — But, the fate of this lens

was rather bizarre.  Originally the Lens was made as a Triangulation AF lens, 

so that the AF motor unit and the battery box were attached to the lens barrel.

It was the early 80s —– and soon, such AF system became obsolete.  

Still, Pentax designed this lens with their full force = Now looks rather modest

35~70 F2.8 Zoom then was an expensive fancy lens carrying £800 (?) price.

And the Zeiss vario-sonnar 35~70 F2.8 for Contax was much more than £1000.

On the market, the Minolta’s new AF camera has appeared then = When I saw

this lens in throwaway price £80 (I think) in the shop  (The quality of this lens

has been well reported.) I bought it and (you may not believe) modified !

( the AF unit was removed and the hole was covered by an aluminium panel) 

After I changed my 35mm camera from Nikon to Contax, the lens I bought  

first hand were 25mm, 85mm and I could use Tamron 90mm Macro and

500mm Mirror as well.  So, I modified this Pentax K mount to Contax mount.  

The Frangeback of Pentax K and Contax are both 55.5 mm but the Pentax

Bayonet is larger, therefore it wouldn’t go into the Contax camera. 

So, I removed the Pentax bayonet and welded Contax bayonet on it. (Photo right)

(Because of the position of a lever, the lens was mounted 90 degree off center.)

This was a test shot of Pentax AF Zoom at 70mm, F2.8 — 1.2 m

And this was a comparison, Canon FE Zoom 24~70 at 70mm, on F2.8 — 1.2 m

And the Pentax AF Zoom at 35mm, on F2.8 — 100m

The Canon EF Zoom 24~70, at 35mm, on F2.8 — 100m

As a lens for general use, this lens is pretty usable even on Canon 5D Mk-III. 

(and this is rather familiar tree.   🙂  )

And familiar landmark in the park.

All those photos were taken at F2.8 (because no auto controle).

—– still, very much usable.  🙂

And this must be a

familiar kind of photo

to the regular readers.

In my view, this is  

a kind of old german 

charactered lens.

(comparable to Zeiss

Planer Lens)

Pentax AF Zoom 35~70 F2.8

at 70mm / F2.8 / 1.2 m

T[]

Dust, Water seal ? — on Canon 5D

As I’ve disassembled and checked the inside of several Canon 5D cameras, I noticed

some peculiar points, the way how those cameras were designed and made. 

There was an almost legendary story, how Canon camera was survived when all

the Nikons has stopped to work under the sand storm in the first Gulf War which

made the press photographers to change their camera like an avalanche.

I heard a first hand witness story from a photographer who was one of my pupil

(who became a staff photographer of Reuters and went to the desert.) — What he

told me was that many other photographer’s Nikon were breaking-down while the

Canon kept working~~~ (in fact, before his camera break, he part-exchanged his to 

Canon. = so, I didn’t actually see how Nikon machine was clogged.) — Since this 

event, camera makers are keen to appeal “the Seal against the Dust and the water”

in their camera design. = So as the 5Ds are no exception = claim to have the Seal.

THOUGH, when I opened their body, I saw very little such measure.

= this photo was a 5D Mk-III inside, as you can see, there was no seal or gasket kind

of material on their jointing edge.  = It’s mean, once the body was dropped in the water

the camera has no resistance to it.  — May be what Canon was saying was, “In the

normal situation”, such as a light rain splash = not soaked into the water which IS

regarded as the user’s fault.

If you closely look at the 5D body, such as the Battery cap. (Photo left)

You can see the gasket on its edge which might be giving you a sort of comfort.  

Though, it was just a show-off window display. = If you are serious, have look 

battery chamber of the memory retaining battery on the right-bottom of the body.

(right under the cable connectors = Photo center and right ) = situating the same

bottom of the camera, this opening has no protection against the water at all. =

When the camera was on the table and if the beer was spilt, it seep deep into the

camera body. —– Still, sound strange to you though, today’s DSLR camera is 

quite resilient to the water which is not because of the special design, but the 

nature of its electronic components. (but the image sensor get smear easily)  

Those components and the Circuit Flex are waterproof, which was designed to 

be washed by a solvent and the shutter switch has closed structure. (photo left)

Seemed to be the weakest-point against water is the Dial on the Grip (photo center)

= But the Dial was in a small chamber, separated from the electronic encoder

therefore the water wouldn’t go into the circuit easily (photo right).

[]  

You may not believe though, on my experience, I saved number of  TVs and

electronic goods, mobile phones, soaked under rain water, dropped into toilet,

and so-on, so that, they were even splash washed under the running water.

After completely drained the water, then dry it with hair-drier. (60 deg’ C Max)

(Don’t put the battery and switch-on before completely dry.)

= the most of the case, they recovered the function. = Same can apply to the  

DSLR.  (Hi-zoom compact camera may be much harder to save because the

mechanism is too small and compacted). — So, if you dropped your DSLR into

a water (cleaner the water, the better chance —– muddy water’s sand particle

reduce the chance) = grip the strap and swing, rotate the camera like a gyro 

in the air (if it was 5D camera, remove the memory battery to open the water 

escape.) = with a centrifugal force the water would be shaken off from inside.

(In an old day’s wisdom, put the wet camera into a pure alcohol = replace the

water by alcohol first —– a bottle of vodka may work as well)  🙂

Then try dry the camera as quick as possible. — place the camera in a box and

blow-in hot-air = otherwise a written-off camera could be saved or last few shots

of the assignment could still be taken.    (Though, if you couldn’t succeed, don’t

blame me = As I don’t presume any responsibility here.) Just Hope Good luck.    🙂

[]