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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DD-Pinhole on OM-D, M-4/3

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The DD-Pinhole was mounted like the other on OM-D’s body.

(DD mean, Double Density concentric Pinhole.)

= Pinhole inside of other pinhole !

— it’s a philosophical enigma Sir  😀

DD-Pinhole chose the subject and much harder to use

in comparison to Single Pinhole.

Still, its painterly effect is fun to play with.  🙂

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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)

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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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Thought on OM-D and AA filter

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Having had an EOS to Micro 4/3 adapter delivered, I tested it on the

Olympus OM-D, E-M1 with Canon Fisheye and broken 18~55 Zoom lens.

(OM-D, E-M1 + Canon EF 8~15mm Zoom at 15mm (F4) )

What I found peculiar was, enlarged image in OM-D wasn’t pixellated

but randomly muddled up. = This must be the Olympus’ solution =

Electronically produced AA filter (Low-pass filter) to avoid the Moire. 

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Then I realized, that the “Cancellable AA filter of Canon 5D SR”

must be this — otherwise, can you imagine “Physical existence of

filter film suddenly dissapear with a flick of a switch ! ” — No,

I don’t think so.  How the camera able to know the original image,

before the image was muddled by the fiter which was already there !

= It mist be an electronically, digitally produced muddling effect

like OLYMPUS is doing here.  —– Just a choice of one more effect

and selling it £ hundreds more price !   What kind of business ? ? ?  

(This is the reason why I hate today’s  “Consumer’s cameras”= the

image produced by them were too heavily processed = like having

thick cosmetic and heavy makeup = so, the picture is pretty pretty

and looks too beautiful — it is almost a fraud.)

(Canon 5D Mk-III, EF 8~15mm Zoom at 15mm (F4) )

—– So, I tested the same with Canon 5D Mk-III = In fact, the

enlarged image was X400% (a part of the 6m x 4m enlargement)

(Canon’s image process showing white edge — this tendency is

problematic in their HDR process.)

.

Incidentally, I tested that broken EFS 18~55mm lens again here.(Camera was 5D — Photo Left at F4, Middle at F11, Right at F22 )

Considering it IS a broken lens, even without the front element,

the optical quality of this lens is remarkable.

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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.   😀

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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.

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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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Bang bad

Since couple of months ago, the AD / Banner of this company

started to appear in my screen.  I only guess how they were

directed here and showing what.  

The choice / direction was uncomfortably spot on to my taste /

interest. —– The space was provided by the Fire Fox though,

the info’ such as what I Googled etc must came from Google.

Yet still, in what extent they do know about what I’m doing and

would buy what is a private matter.      While ago, after I Wiki

a flower Jacaranda, those AD showed me a cushion printed a

Jacaranda flower.   How nice.  What a hell.

Because of they showed me such and such interesting / useful

product in such a price  (I didn’t know still, eBay was heving

the identical item), I ordered them 4 items in rapid sequence. 

The first one = geared motor was delivered in a week

— with my surprise, it came from the Laos, not from the China.

(But the other 3 items, posted same address, took exactry 3 weeks.) 

Other than the normal circulation in the formal trade, a kind of the

industrial components / parts appearing in an open market with a

knock-down price was — either by rejected (faulty or out of the

spec) or end-of-the-line = dead stock, if not of a bankrupted

/ liquidated goods. 

(A motor and its fixing in the photo above is a typical sample of the

unsalable product = hence sold to this dealer = may be a price of the

scrap  — (Photo left) The bracket, the motor should be mounted,

couldn’t take the motor since the hole was too small.

(2nd Photo) The coupler which should connect the motor shaft to 

the drill bit holder was not in the correct size.

(3rd Photo) The motor shaft was 3.17 mm diameter = in fact, it

was 1/8″ not a metric 3mm. 

(4th Photo)  Still, the coupler was made for the 3mm motor shaft.

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Economical / industrial situation in China is so bad, so that the

mountain of dead-stock component / bits of the electronic circuit

are no-where to go = So, this dealer is trying to make a money out

of those scrap though, as they are not the manufacturer, they

don’t know the meaning of the technical specification.   Hence,

the motor arrived here no instruction of how to use. = How many

people can use this while giving modifications ?  (One suggestion 

was “Heat the coupler and hummer in to the motor shaft” )  😀

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While checking the detail of the other products, I found a lots of 

them are out of standard = useless to non-professional engineer. 

Just use a common sense, “Why it’s price was so cheap ?”

The situation is Bang bad.

* * * * * 

PS :  (I found a custommer’s comment to their product)

• Poor quality control

  Durch:Raymond 2016-06-21 04:30:40

• Ordered 3 but none worked, missing components due to poor soldering. tried to return but Bang good link does not allow a complaint without posting a you tube video, and who has time for that. I ordered replacements through eBay and will throw these out.

 

—– It’s puzzling, why Bang ** is showing those negative

comments = may be their tactical way to tell That ther is no

way to return and implying that the products may not work.

* * * * *

PPS : ( The 1/8″ shaft of the motor above has been reduced by

a sharpning stone and the drilling head was installed to what

it should be. )

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