Play with Lens (2) — Tamron 300mm F5.6

On the previous post, I’ve shown you many samples of the fuzzy, soft-focus images

created by the (mostly) single convex lens.   And I had a belief that the single

convex lens which inherently possessing aberration would produce soft image.

Yet still, what I have tested was the lenses about 50mm focal length —– then I thought,

if I can get longer (= telephoto) soft-focus lens I could take nice photos from distance.

(Pentax had 80mm Soft-focus lens and Canon used to have 135mm Soft lens though

their effect was rather subtle.)

—– So, why not to see it with the front element of a telephoto lens. 

What I tested was old (70s ?) tamron 300 mm F5.6 lens. (Photo above — bottom left was  

the front element and the bottom right was the rear element.

(this rear lens seems to be a 2 element compound lens) 

Photo above is the test shot of the Tamron 300 mm F5.6 (center photo was the part

enlargement of the photo left (full-size) and the right photo was by the Tamron 500 mm

F8 Mirror lens as a comparison) —– 500 mm lens showed much clear image though

this 300 mm lens was not in the original and in good condition. ( — Even worse,

those photos were taken through the dusty double glazed window)  🙂

The question was if this front element alone could show the soft image ?

Photo above, both left and the center were taken while rear element was removed

(= Front lens alone ! )    (This lens could focus down to 1m = 1/3 close-up.)

Well, with or without the rear element which supposed to eliminate

the aberration did not make much of difference. (on this occasion)

= My attempt to make fuzzy telephoto lens was failed so far.  🙂

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Play with Lens

 So far I made quite few lenses to obtain soft-focus or wide-angle pinhole etc,

mostly by utilizing single lens. (still, some of them seemed to be an achromatic

compound lens)  Single lens has inherent aberrations which produces soft image.

Furthermore, I’ve experimented soft images with focus shift or even with camera

shake/vibration using aberration corrected normal lenses. Though, those approaches 

were hardly called technique but more like an opportunist seeking a good luck, since 

the success rate was rather low = lots of try and only few will show the good results. 

That’s because, when the focus ring was rotated while camera’s shutter was open,   

the resulting shake gives devastating effect than a soft nice blur.

= make smooth focus shift while camera was held steadily. = That’s what I need. 

Inside of the Canon G9 compact camera, I found pretty useful mechanism.  

(1) A motor moves the lens.  (2) Small stepping motor shifts a lens for focus.

—– though, those two mechanisms were constructed on the same plastic piece.

(Photo above, left) = I needed to cut and separate its center mechanism out of the

lim with DC motor.  (second photo shows the separated piece = the lim which can

drive a cogged barrel — in the second photo top, the lens was placed in the barrel)  

Photo 3rd and 4th showed the center mechanism — the lens was pushed out most

and pulled inward most by its stepping motor.

The photo above, left is the cogged barrel = when it was rotated by the motor,

the barrel, hence the lens will be extended(= Pushed out) (photo center)  

When motor rotate opposite direction = lens was pulled in. (photo right)

Those function is exactly what I need for a smooth Focus-shift.

 In order to have an experiment to get a soft focus by the focus-shift ( by a normal

lens, not by the aberration) I took the lens unit out of a Canon 50mm FD lens.  

(Photographic equivalent of gouging the eye !)

( a disc shaped mechanism on the right is the Iris — very useful device )

The lens unit which I’ve put inside of the plastic barrel, in the photo before was this

Canon 50mm F1.8 Lens.  —– though, on the test, I found that this Canon 50mm FD

lens can’t give an infinity focus on Canon EOS = only usable closer than few meters.

(otherwise, the EOS’s mirror will hit the lens bottom.  😦  )

[]

Then, give a thought, what all those hustle for ?

—– Why not just modify a Canon EF 50mm for EOS = 

put an extra electronic connection to override their AF motor !

(Ideally, huck into the Canon camera’s OS and reprogram it to give a focus-shift while

shutter is open = was the best though, not only the risk to destroy the camera but also,

the Canon doesn’t like it at all. ) 

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Graduation — ? ! ! ! of the Kyoto Uni’

Photos from Japan. —– a guy said “If anything crazy happened, it’s in Japan”.

As a very decent Japanese, —– still I agree with him.  Those photos were not from

Cos-Ple or Carnival but  can you believe, it was the Graduation Ceremony in

 the Kyoto University.

 Yes, they are new Graduates, the top-brains in Japan.  So, they are not crazy at all.  

 It’s not a Halloween or Carnival but more like an act  of Manga or Anime

 = Typical Japanese culture.

Before Manga, Japan had Ukiyoe (Utamaro) tradition.  = This tradition was in the context

 of Kabuki Culture.

[]

This Kabuki derived from a word “Kabuku” (傾く) = inclined or twisted = Eccentric. 

Strangely you might thought, the very traditional, Shinto, Buddhists Feudal society  

under the Shogun / Samurai-Ruled society,  still having very exceptional tolerance

towards the Eccentric or even indecency. ( think, mass publication of “Utamaro” !)

So, to have a public display of very extravagant Kimono of  Lord Date etc, etc, or

show-off of Fire-fighters, even a Yakuza’s stunt was a part of the Japanese culture.

= So, why not to have a FUN at the Graduation Ceremony ! ! !

(You may mistaken that it was a display of Ego, but far from it,

If the person could kill-off the own Ego, he can become a cat = otherwise, how

the one could make oneself fool, on THE day = only once in the life.) 

—– Original Report  :  http://togech.jp/2015/03/25/2105

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PS: Since WP changed the system for us to upload / editing, I can no longer change 

      the color of the letters = so that, the text may looks funny here. 

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Lens Test on Cherry and Plum Blossom

Those photos were taken a while ago, the same day I took pictures of Daffodils.

(After this, there must be much better full bloom somewhere else though.  🙂 )

(photo above was taken by a Canon Fisheye lens)

And the following photos were taken by the Two Element Homemade Lens above.

The beauty of this lens was that there is no focus  😀   (Other than this lens,

rest of the lenses were used with the Tilting Macro Bellows for focus.)

And the following photos were taken by a lens originally came from a Canon

compact camera G9 = it was their zoom’s front element.

The lens was Epoxy glued onto a lens mount ring and a filter ring was fixed too.  

Unlike first two photos, those photos were (I think) Plum tree.

Next was a front element of a Zoom lens  (I don’t remember where it’s came from,

Canon or Sigma ?)  — The lens was fixed in a similar way to the other homemade lens.

Front element itself couldn’t eliminate the aberration. —– but this one showed

very strong Coma aberration — (if not a camera shake).  In most of the case,

good softness of the image was created by the Spherical  aberration  

= so, Coma aberration was not desirable here.

Strangely, this Coma aberration appeared somewhat in middle distance.  

And not much so on the close-up.

This one above showed no Coma aberration but the following one did  ? ? ?

I need to have more test.

Last one here came from a cheap Wide-Converter for a compact camera.

It got quite big diameter — hence the effective F-aperture is F1.6 !

 

I like the images from this lens though —– strangely, despite full open F1.6,

the back image was not necessary out of focus or dissolved into big  Bokeh.  

Anyhow, each lens got its own character = pros and cons.  🙂

Last photo above was again by the same Fisheye lens. 

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Daffodil — Lens Test

As the spring has started, I took the lenses (in fact quite few) which I “made” duling 

 the winter hibernation out to the test.  🙂

And those lenses were designed to use with 

 tilting bellows I specially made for Canon 5D.

Photo left, Those three lenses (mounted on the

 Nikon mount adapter) were saved from 

 the broken cameras or lenses.

— Left one came from Canon G9, center one from an old zoom lens and the right one

came from a Wide-adapter and as they are having focal-length about 50mm~60mm

therefore effective F-aperture is about F2 (fully open only ! )   And being used on the

Tilting bellows they are able to give a focus from infinity to more than 1:1 close-up.

(with a bit of difficulty on use.  😀 )

Most of the photos here were taken by the “Center lens” photo before, except

the right photo above, which was taken by the Canon Fisheye lens.

Well, they were just a fraction of test shot —– still, shows some results

which I appreciate a lots.  🙂       ( —– whatever you say.  😀  ) 

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Singing Bowl

After the post of Wind-Bell I got a call from a person who said that she got

genuine Japanese glass Fuurin. “Oh, marvellous!”—– It’s said to have come

from a Net-shopping with a help of her Japanese friend.

“The sound is exquisite, its ethereal resonance suck you into the infinite depth

of space!” “How extraordinary!”— and she said that she got a singing bowl

from Tibet too which sound even deeper and draw us into deep meditative state.

—– though, —– What can I say ? ? ? —– should I say “Congratulation” for her

able to get hold genuine article ?

Or should I praise her keen effort to seek a genuine sound ? —– ? ? ?

Or should I flirt her that her spirit will reach higher awareness soon.

[]

It may not fare to write here like this because soon she will read this and might feel

offended though, this is not just her personal phenomenon but this is the wide-

spread misconception among those who, so-called “spiritually awaken” — or

New Age kind of people.

As a matter of fact, it is not easy to see what they are after. (Fashion ?  Snobbism ?)

Are they really believing that they can get hold the Cosmic Power through a

Crystal they bought ? —– Are they believing that to keep a particular article, made

her to posses its myth and the understanding ?  (It’s called Fetisizm Sir/Mme !)

[]

In this area, there are three levels of  misconception.  

1) Believing that the object has its own power. (Like a Crystal power)

2) Or believe the function of its object would solve the problem.

(Like an exercise machine — the matter is not what the machine is but your act.)

3) With its object, the one can imagine that he or she suddenly acquire the truth.

(Like a “Special Mantra” “Book of ancient wisdom” kind. Chanting  O~~~~~rm !)

(— like seeing a film, made a person to believe “Be force with ME” ? )

Unfortunately, none of those kind are in the world. If anybody selling, it’s a fraud. 

[]

Yes, I did said that the sound draw a mind into meditative state and this IS the

state of Void.    This is true, — you try test = what you found?   Did your brain

configure any notion out of tinkling sound ?

I don’t think so = nothing there because nothing else of pure sound is there.

But in this Void what could be discovered ?   It is the question to be a Buddhist.

—– To a non Buddhist, Void or a sound of Fuurin or Singing Bowl wouldn’t make

any meaning other than A sound.   Though, to a Buddhist who seeks nothing,

this Void opens the eyes to see the Void.  (I said, “seeks nothing”)

[]

—– How come ? = our brain takes High-pitched tone as a sign of danger, hence

our brain activities were suddenly silenced and all the perceptions were

concentrated to pick-up further sign.  — even though our higher brain did know

that the tinkling sound was mere Wind Bell and nothing to worry about at all, still,

the emotional region / limbic system and all the sensory receptors were tentioned.

= This combination : completely blank-out Thinking activities and the

completely open / absolutely passive perception is very close to the state of Zen,

and it was the base of the Clear Eyes.   (Then, to see WHAT is depend on the person 

— some will see the enlightenment, but some see nothing.

— you can buy Singing Bowl but not necessary the Enlightenment.)  

And this is THE Singing Bowl ! —– yes it sounds more or less the same to Tibetan

Singing Bowl.

(It’s my cooking pan. = the handle was just unscrewed that’s all, and still sound nice !

— cooking pan wouldn’t make any rice sound.  But it would sound just Gong !   :-D)

—– What’s wrong with this ?          Do you still clinging to the Tibetan Bowl ?  

___/\___

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Fuurin / Wind-Bell (2)

Well, this product / Wind-Bell here, was an utterly odd creation.  

—– ( Before this, there has been a long stories of “Lens making” though, I’m

not actually making glass lens = just modifying them to an usable shape.)

—– anyhow, in order to make a lens usable, I’ve been mounting it to the

Camera Lens Mount using another metal ring etc etc = in short

I’ve been playing with lots of small metal pieces. = then I accidentally found,

some of those metal pieces makes nice sound when they were hit.

[]

So, the photos above are the metal rings hanged as a wind-bell but this one

was made to rather quiet one.  🙂   —– here, there was a post about a nice Zen

story of a Fuurin / Wind-Bell. —– Yes, Fuurin makes nice sound —– yes, on

the beginning. = second day, it became an irritation. = Hence, I made quiet one.

= it chimes only once or twice in few minutes. (When wind was not too strong.)

Its high-pitch tone with resonating tail makes our ears to listen,

and our ears can catch even faintest sound

 = the ears become so sensitive, 

still its sound got no meaning,

neither no-point to waite next sound 

= it may come may not come.  

—– So, the mind become completely passive and open.

= this is nothing but a deep meditative state.

The mind is in the state of Void.

[]

In this design, each three metal pieces had different sizes and the sounds though,

strangely, when they hit each other, they makes only one sound ! (or, to my ear)

(You know, it’s a famous Zen question, when two hand crap, why only 

one sound came out, despite each hand makes each sound ?  — Try to see. 🙂 )

[]

So, now on, the spring breeze has nice company.

[]

 

Poetry Contest (2)

Not necessary having a thought, I suddenly realized that the story of the Poetry Contest of Huineng and Shenxui was not right.    Its contest was the 5^th patriarch, Hongren try to find who should succeed him and become 6^th patriarch of the Zen.   Unlike the other sect of Buddhism, Zen does their learning without rely on the words. = the action in the practice or a thing or phenomenon trigger the understanding.

So, the founder of Rinzai Zen, Rinzai said to have uttered that, “On the way, (may mean Pathway) when you saw the scriptures, through them away.  When you saw the monks kill them or met Lord Buddha, kill him too.” —– (this advice was meant be getting rid of any notion, and empty the mind.) 

[]On the said Poetry Contest, for the answer to the Hongren’s request to show the Zen mind, well-learned top-rank monk, Shenxui wrote “Mind is like a mirror, I polish the mirror diligently for no dust to settle on it” —– opposing to this, one low rank monk, Huineng wrote “Since Mirror is not exists in the first place, where could dust settle”

—– Hongren found that Huineng has much deeper understanding in Zen, he chose Huineng to be his successor.

[]Zen teaching was started by Bodhidharma on 5^th century.   Though, as a matter of fact, there were numerous legend and myth about Bodhidharma but little historical facts were known, therefore any story has to be treated with a pinch of salt.

—–When Bodhidharma wanted to choose his successor, there was a similar story.   He asked his disciples  “Can each of you say something to demonstrate your understanding ?”

Dao Fu stepped forward and said, “It is not bound by words and phrases, nor is it separate from words and phrases. This is the function of the Tao.”

Bodhidharma: “You have attained my skin.” 

The nun Zong Chi stepped up and said, “It is like a glorious glimpse of the realm  of Akshobhya Buddha. Seen once, it need not be seen again.”

Bodhidharma; “You have attained my flesh.” 

Dao Yu said, “The four elements are all empty. The five skandhas are without actual existence. Not a single dharma can be grasped.”

Bodhidharma: “You have attained my bones.” 

Finally, Huike came forth, bowed deeply in silence and stood up straight. 

Bodhidharma said, “You have attained my marrow.”

Bodhidharma passed on the symbolic robe and bowl of dharma succession to  Huike and, some texts claim, a copy of the Lankavatara Sutra. 

Bodhidharma then either returned to India or died. (This story from Wikipedia)

(There was the conflicting stories, —– He might returned to Persia.  Or even killed in the mass execution at Heyin in 528.) []

My doubt was that why Shenxui, studying under Hongren did have such poor understanding ?  (While Huineng who was working in the kitchen could still pick up the Zen understanding from overheard conversation of other monks.)   

And the same question goes to the colleagues of Huike too. = they were no ordinary monks, THE direct disciples of  Bodhidarma.   As they lives together, they must have  lots of discussion even arguments. —– still keep maintaining such variety of idea = quite logical and full of blah blah, but where the “Teachings of the Master” which was supposedly on the principle of Void and abhorrence to the words, has gone ?

 And, what was the 5th Patriarch, Hongren’s understanding and the teachings of “mind” ? —– (Was he thinking, “There is Zen Mind” ? )  

— Who recorded those stories ?  — Was that came from the diary of Hongren ?  — weren’t those stories made-up to glorify each Huineng and Huike ? ? ?

While making others looks fool = makes stories interesting.  And this kind of practice was behind of all those compilation of “Sutra” or scriptures.  It’s mean, we need very critical sharp eyes to distinguish what was the true teachings.    🙂

___/\___  

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Jazz at the Cafe / February

Jazz night on this month at the Small White Elephant Cafe had a guest musician

Harrison Cole as a trumpet player.

Handsome boy Harrison (originally from Colombia) has been in Japan several

times, so, I teased him “You must be chased by many pretty girls there” — he said

“No no, nothing like that. My friend tried to chase those Kawaii-ko, neither him

was successful”  ” Ha, ha, ha, I don’t believe you”.

—- Left  Harrison Cole / Trumpet ——– Tris Harris / Drum ——- Les Booth / Bass Guitar

(They were experienced enough to ignore trespassing photographer — thanks ! )

With a good rethome and a touch of latin Trumpet, the customers started dancing.

During a break and after the music, a lots of chat with musicians, visitors

each other — there was even other photographer who was wondering what a

funny lens I was using. (my handmade fuzzy lens !)

It was more like a socializing occasion —– good fun !

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Fun from a broken Camera (2)

It was two weeks ago when I showed this photo of Canon G9.

Among the disassembled component, I found some of them are useable.

Such as the front lens alone (photo above left)  could be used as a 50 mm F2.6 lens

and the second group of the optics (photo above center) is a very strong diverging

(concave) lens = could be used to widen the view of a pinhole camera.

In order to use a lens, it has to be mounted somewhere — to a lens mount or

to a filter ring etc. —– unless it got exact diameter or screw pitch, we need to fill

the gap and glue (epoxy) them.  

I cut a beer can’s thin metal to the needed diameter and fix it with epoxy.

To do this kind of work, I bought M39 to M42 adapter ring and M42 to Nikon F

mount adapter. (Those item’s cost were only few pounds though, it took 2 weeks to 

get them here, and as being as cheap Chinese products, noting is what we expected

= M42 screw was slightly larger and couldn’t fit to the Pentax original mount.  

And the clow of Nikon Mount bayonet was too thin hence it was too loose.  

For M39 to M42 ring, I “re-cut” the M42 screw (Photo left in the center).

 (Photo Left : Nikon to Canon Adapter though,

part of its diameter was 0.5mm too large

= needed to file-down !)

(Such laborious cutting work with file is 

nothing but a good Zen practice.  😀 )

Second group of concave lens aforesaid was

mounted on the center of M42 to Nikon 

mount adapter. (photo above center)  

And the Front lens of G9 was mounted

on to a Nikon mount adapter via M39-M42 ring. (photo right) 

So, what was those hastle for ? —– The photo (right) here was taken by the

front lens of discarded Canon G9 Camera aforesaid.

(Left photo was also taken by a single lens came from another broken zoom lens).

( I’m preparing those lenses for the coming flower season ! )

If you like to see “sharp but ubiquitous” photo, please go to phone-camera.

The photos here, the images were full of aberration and halation still where

the focus lies, it’s sharp.  (Look the enlarged photo) —– they might be

the images what we are actually seeing.

(like impressionist painter had found).  🙂

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