Lens quality — in different aspect

While watching the morning sky (8:52 AM  GMT  24-12-2016) I saw a light of an air craft.  I clicked my Nikon D810 with Zeiss Distagon 18mm (for Nikon mount) thinking if the light was captured.

—– With my amazement, not only the light but also the air craft itself was clearly captured. 

It’s difficult to see on the original photo, still on the enlarged image, not just the light but the shape of the airliner was clearly seen.  Yes, this IS what we call the resolution, the quality of the lens.  (May be, the quality reflecting its Thousand pound price, more precisely. —– still, this lens was made by the Coshina, Japan whom Zeiss entrusted.)  (By the way, those photos were taken through the dusty double grazing window, so, they were not in the optimum quality. = I’m not such keen to wide open the window or go cold outside for this kind of shooting. — sorry, lazzy me.)

I found an interest to see the comparison of the lenses.  (Photo above was the same Zeiss 18mm image and its part enlargement of the bottom right — See a crane and its red light behind the tree branches.)

Oh, how sweet !  This image was made by the homemade Mag Lens. — not much details (because of heavy Coma aberration) yet, strangely the image of the tree was somewhat retained.  That was why I love this lens !  If you know any optical filter or digital manipulation which could create same to this effect, please let me know.

This was rather surprising, what I found was some detailed images from utterly cheap (two plastic) Toy Camera lenses ! = faint though, the red light was still visible.  —– This image might impose you a question, in reality, what quality you actually need, with what price ?   Wasn’t that just a useless obsession or vanity to have 40, 50 Mp Hi-resi images = What are you going to do with it ? And after you died, who is going to keep your photos ?  (My photos are destined for a landfill, that why I’m showing them here in 700 x 300 pic size while I can, for somebody to have a fun,  Ha ha ha.   😀 )   (The quality of a photograph is not its sharpness but its context.)

For a comparison, the another thousand pound lens = Canon EF 24~70mm F2.8 was mounted on Sony A7R, fixed as a 28mm lens — though, may be with fully open F2.8 or being as a Zoom lens otherwise because of Canon = showed some details and the red light but far behind the Zeiss’ sharpness.   

So, they were some rough guide to the lens quality. — or I’m saying, toy camera or homemade lens are not too bad.    😀

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Fortnum and Mason (+ other)

It seems this is the only a post looks like a festive season.  If you are celebrating, enjoy it.  

Merry Merry something !

(The lens used were Homemade Mag lens on Sony A7R)

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Oxford Street (and Selfridge) Xmas shot

Those photos were taken by the lenses, homemade Mag Lens or Halina wide Lens though, few of them were by the Gaudy Lens on the Tilting Bellows with Sony A7R.

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Halina Wide or its lens

Often I’ve been using a term “Junk” or “Toy Camera” quite casually, despite of a bit of guilty   conscious.    Many years ago, once I strongly complained to Nikon, when they produced a (relatively) cheap Nikon EM with its back-light compensation button in blue plastic (it really looks cheap plastic) I said to them (to the boss of Nikon UK) “Don’t make cheap camera looks cheap” “Although, it is cheap, for the young student from a poor back ground, it must be an affordable limit, and their dream and the treasured possession” “Make it looks cheap and make them feel shabby wouldn’t create the future of Nikon any good return”= so, they changed the button to chrome colored. —– Yes for some people, so-called Toy Camera was still only a camera they could afford. 

On the photo, you may see 4 of the Canon EFS 18~55 — in fact I had 2 more which I’ve completely taken down to the pieces for study or use the motor etc. for the other purpose (such as this front element or that).

People may misconceived that a kind of the work I’ve been doing, it must be done in a well equipped proper workshop. (Quite few people thought I got a Lathe machine, even a Laser Cutter.)  They were wrong, the works were done in my kitchen mostly by a hacksaw.  (if it was a very dusty work, done in a bath tub (without water of course)

Forget a political correctness kind —– the reality IS, the cheap camera which end-up in an odds-ends box as a junk was just made by an ABS plastic mold + plastic parts = nothing like each mechanical unit was assembled on the metal frame like a more expensive counterpart.    So, to disassemble a junk camera meant hacksaw the area I need to gauged out from the lest. 

Then, gauged out lens unit (in this case 2 plastic lenses) was temporally attached on the camera to see the exact position. (Photo left)   And test mount the lens unit on the camera body cap. (Photo middle)  On the end, this is the finished product. (Photo right)

While toiling with such hard work, what sort of the image could be created ?   In reality, nothing special or rather say, it’s a crap.

Not necessary the infinity, but this is a far enough distant objects.   Tree twig looks twig = seems OK.

And without having refocus (no such things here), the subjects, a meter or so looks like what we are seeing.  May be this is the point, we are amazed.  (Really ? !)

Wait a moment, think again.  A lens of 28mm (for full frame) would have rather large depth of field.  Say, fix the distance to 1.7m and set the aperture for F8, the subjects from 0.8m to somewhat 20m (almost “far”) would be (regarded to be) in focus. 

So, this IS the image made by a lens (Canon EFS 18~55) fix to 28mm, 1.7m and F8.

And this IS the close distance image made by the same lens without chang anything. (focus was still 1.7m)

It must be clear, so-called omunifocus is not necessary an amazing phenomenon. Here is a very simple common sence in photography = Stopped down wide-angle lens can shoot anything.  (But the trouble IS, it would make the photo looks messy — to express, the less is more)   🙂

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WW Party on the Boat

WW gathering (some says, it is Wireless Workshop, others say Wednesday Workshop or Wireless Wednesday ? ? ? = since it started as a group hacking into 2.4 GHz Wireless Data link) had a party in a Pub in the Westminster, and to go there we took a boat on the Thames river.

So, from Greenwich Pier we took a boat TRS (Thames River Service).    It was still 4:30 though, it was already after sunset = night voyage.    How fancy !

And we arrived to the Westminster = its mean the foot of Big-ben.

After that, not much to show.  😀

By the way, a white dot on the right end was the Super full moon ! —– though don’t ask any better picture.  The lens was a junk (£5) Canon EFS 18~55 lens on Sony A7 camera — ( it’s mean no F-aperture control = fully open.)   And the shake of the images were not because of the moving ship or I was drunk,  I purposely made them for a sake of the art = believe me.     He he he.    😀

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Chip on the Card

It seems my Bank sends me the new card every two years.  The card got magnetic track and an embedded microchip as well.  This chip seemed to have so much information about my banking data. 

(Photo left showed the back of a chip. = You can see those 5 dots were connected to the chip by the gold wires. = Yes, they are a sophisticated electronic device ! —– and, if you collected million cards, you can mine, may be one gram of gold.   😀  ) 

In fact, where ever we go on this planet, as long as the device was on-line, the data contained in the chip can define who I am and my banking.  And the data would link to such as the credit record as well. 

Once before, the Virgin Media double charge me (since they are the merged company, one of their part = Nortel, as well as the Virgin sent me the net-connection bill.  I blocked the direct debit at once then the battle started. 

It took another 6 months for them to realize that they made a mistake (seemingly they don’t know what other part of the company was doing what).  The Virgin kept sending me the so-called outstanding charge then sold the alleged debt to a debt recovery company and the threat of debt recovery by force started, and my bank account was black listed. (= no more direct debit contract)  And the trouble of credit rate lasted over a year while Virgin was saying “Credit company did it not us” and to find which credit rate company did it = we need to pay money to investigate it !   Since then I never trust Virgin, even look at their AD mail.   

So, just check the card, its data can tell all the “So-called trouble” whether they are true or not. = Naturally, I’m very cautious about to give off the data = number etc.  and when I dispose the old card, I not only cut them but also heat them and twist like in a photo on top.   You may say its a paranoia — no, it’s not a joke.   With this kind of guard and never used real name on the net, thanks goodness, I’m virtually free from Spam, Fraud, trickster sales.   🙂

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Robot with Leiz (?) Lens

Among my camera collection, the most peculiar one must be this Robot camera with a Leiz Xenon lens.  Leiz lens though, it was made by the Taylor Hobson.  Taylor Hobson is a British optical, precise engineering company, so why British lens was sold as Leiz Xenon Lens may have interesting story. (You may find.)  And the lens was made for Leica camera and further modified to fit this Robot camera.

  The name Robot came from its spring driven automatic shooting mechanism.  And this particular model has double length of the spring which enable the whole 50 shots in one charge of the spring.  I think this camera was designed to be used on the scientific or military front in mind.  = such as that the camera was mounted on top of a microscope or under a wing of a spying aircraft where the shutter was triggered by a remote cable.

The camera was very well designed and solidly made (= heavy).  Film was loaded to the double cassett of which the film slit will be opened for a smooth winding of the film when the back cover was closed.  36 exposure film (about 1.5 m long) can have 50 shots with its square (24 x 24) format.

80, 90 years ago, 50 mm lens with F1.5 was an exceptionally bright lens and as its optical design was protected by the Taylor Hobson, no way else, Leiz needed to buy it from them. 

Leica lens can be easily used on the Sony A7 camera with a simple and cheap (about £5) adapter. (Photo left)

There are funny mix of the British-German conflict.  The distance scale was in imperial = feet, and it goes down to the closest distance 3.5 feet.

On the test shot on A7 camera showed quite sharp image = it convinced me, that the military reconnoissance people desperately wanted this lens on a Robot !

On the photo above left, about 70% to the right, you may see faint red spot, and that part was enlarged on the right photo.

And the same shooting of the same dried Rose on 3.5 feet distance. = photo middle was F1.5 fully open and the right was F6.3. —– Whether the softness on F1.5 was caused by the aberration or internal reflection (ghost) was questionable.   Still, somewhat common with the Zeiss lens’ softness isn’t too bad.  And I’m quite happy with it.   🙂

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Dorkbot Xmas Gathering

The word Xmas may be misleading, since a kind of techno people / Dork seems to have nothing to do with a religion. Nevertheless, they had a gathering last night.

London/SE “people doing strange things with electricity…” since 2001:
When:  19:30-22:30, Thu Dec 8 2016
Where: The Boxing Club, Limehouse Town Hall, 646 Commercial Road, E14 7HA
(directions below)

Free entry, no registration required
Talks start 7.30pm, doors open from 6.45pm…

Don’t forget – you can also follow us on Twitter:
http://dorkbotlondon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c64ae7bbb8eb1249be8ca8fa6&id=ea282147e5&e=0c7441a498
See who’s coming via the Facebook event:
http://dorkbotlondon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c64ae7bbb8eb1249be8ca8fa6&id=2d313544d5&e=0c7441a498

With speakers including – but not restricted to…

==== Hadeel Ayoub ====
twitter: @HadeelAyoub
http://dorkbotlondon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c64ae7bbb8eb1249be8ca8fa6&id=b961a31fba&e=0c7441a498
Hadeel has developed a “smart glove” that translates sign language
from hand gestures
to visual text on a screen and audible dialogue. She’s now working on
an app to enable
real-time translation of the text into other languages.

==== James Larsson ====
twitter: @JamesLarsson
http://dorkbotlondon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c64ae7bbb8eb1249be8ca8fa6&id=388f08ed24&e=0c7441a498
The inventor, techno-humorist and Dorkbot London regular returns to
launch his all-new
“Flashing Light Prize”.

==== Laura Dekker ====
twitter: @LauraDekker_io
http://dorkbotlondon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c64ae7bbb8eb1249be8ca8fa6&id=d17cc3de89&e=0c7441a498
Laura’s installation, “Some Small Robots Perform Recent News Media
Output Concerning AI”, can be seen in the “Technology is not neutral”
touring exhibition at Watermans Arts Centre until 8th Jan 2017.

==== Dr Kate Devlin ====
twitter: @drkatedevlin/
http://dorkbotlondon.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c64ae7bbb8eb1249be8ca8fa6&id=a5d9b5721d&e=0c7441a498
For mature audiences: Dr Devlin is organising this December’s Love and
Sex with Robots conference in London to bring together academics,
industry professionals and anyone else interested in sex robots.

==== Open dorks/demos: ====
Fresh from this year’s “CruftFest”:
Jon Pigrem’s @ObliqueResponse Phone
Giacomo Lepri’s Cembalo Scrivano .1 (CS1) augmented typewriter
(&…perhaps you?)

Our old friend Ian Morrison passionately talked about howling wolf though, I missed to catch the point how it was connected to the technology.

—– ?  But that is what Dorkbot is.   😀

For me, it is an occasion not only to see a kind of technical fun but also to see the old friends. — anyway, if anybody was a serious techno person, he / she wouldn’t come to Dorkbot.   Dorkbot is a jokey spot to see a fun.  😀   

(Those photos were taken by a junk Canon EFS 18~55 Zoom or Toy lens on Sony A7R)

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Mindfulness yet again ? ? ?

Many years, I’ve been having incongruity toward the use of the word, so-called Mindfulness. — With a kind of hunch (There seems to be a big mistake ! ), I refer back to the Agama scripture how they wrote about the definition of Selfless. —– It seems there is no direct description of No-self in the Agama, but only the indirect explanation, which was as an answer to a question “Is there permanent Self (Atoman) exists ?”   It was only in a metaphor of the impermanence of a soil (or cow dung). (= Even such simple existence of soil couldn’t be permanent, how the mind or Self could exists permanent.)

Of course the No-self was not the primary phenomenon but only a consequence of No-permanence, and No-permanence was because of the constant activity of the Karma. Understanding of the Karma was Lord Buddha’s most fundamental philosophy, and from here, such as Four Noble Truth were deduced.   Therefore, it may not too strange to have less significance of the No-self in the Agama scripture.   Or, it could be the deliberately placed emphasis to negate the Self.  Since you can’t talk about a thing which is not exists. Why Self is not exists, because it was a deluded product of the mind.  And the mind is only a momentary reflection of the Karma.  So that, to put emphasis on the mind (of awareness / memory) in the Mindfulness practice IS not Buddhism.  In deed, the Theravada sect who promoted the idea of Mindfulness was based on the idea of Sathi, which was the idea in the Vedic meditation.   Of course Vedic stands on the idea of Atoman = Perpetual mind / Self = so that, become aware of the mind = mindfulness IS their practice.   It is not a Buddhism but nothing but a Hindu practice.  This IS a typical mix-up or a misunderstanding of the Buddhism by the Theravada sect.

Whether clinging the mind could bring any good to the mental health of the person, in comparison to the empty-minded Buddhists.  It was too apparent in the social phenomena in a Hindu country, in contrast to a country where people even don’t remember that they were the Buddhist = Japan.   A country where the notorious brutal gang rape cases were kept happening, or the country where the safest place to travel.       The question IS where their Ethos and the Morality came from.

It was the observation made by Lord Buddha 2500 years ago.   Clinging the idea and such mind is nothing but a delusion since the idea of “such mind could exists” itself IS the delusion.   And let all the five senses free = not to stick to any perception will make us to emancipate any notion or image, hence able to see the Dharma. (All those notion, images which were the products of thinking, has been masking the Dharma.)

It IS the biggest irony, as long as you are thinking or seeing something, you can not see the truth. When you abandon to see, you start to see the Dharma. — The most funny irony IS, to abandon to see, stop thinking to see IS exact opposite of the so-called mindfulness practice. So, those so-called mindfulness practice is creating yet another delusion and the obsession.

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Kitsune-koge

Mind you, I’m not living on that bellows.  I’m living on my food (with very little blah blah or ism in it = just buy cheapest ingredients = it’s happen to be the fresh material) and cooking every day myself.  And I’m not using electric rice cooker, instead cooking the rice in a pan on the electric cooker.  But this evening, I was distracted by an Email and missed the timing to turn down the heat.  So, I burnt the rice very lightly which showed light brown on it, which we Japanese calls Kitsune-koge.  Since the color of light brown = Kitsune = Fox. 

Up in the mountain, where air pressure is lower, the water boils not at 100°C — 2000m high, boiling point is 85°C and makes a boiled rice soggy.  So, we try to burn the fire more and longer, resulting the rice burnt. — In England, I think I’ve made the rice burnt only once before.   Cooking manual heating and made the rice burnt only twice in the long half century isn’t too bad.   But much more important point IS, we Japanese appreciate the Kitsune-koge.  Like a burn on Onigiri on an open fire, lightly burnt rice, and its crispy flavor is a rare treatment on the life.   (Though, I wouldn’t intentionally burn the rice for this purpose.)  —— Bon appetet  !   😀

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