Fun with Alpha 7R

My newly arrived toy, Sony A7R has quite a few advantages to many

other cameras. — Not mention small and light, but it’s remarkablly

thin body and the flexishible control system to accept many kind of

the lenses, gives great opportunity to play with fancy optics =

and have a fun.  😀

On this occasion, I show you how to utilize junk camera lens.

The Camera came from an Odds Ends box of a shop, was it £1 ?

— I don’t remember.    The lens was literally gauged out from the

plastic body. (Photo Left)     And it was stack to also gauged camera

body cap. (Photo Middle) —– and put onto the A7R. (Photo Right)

I couldn’t figure out who made this camera, nevertheless,

it’s says focus Free ! = The lens stack on the A7R camera produced a

photo like this = far subjects (Right is the enlarged image)

And to the subjects less than 1m distance without any change of focus !

(exposure was given by the camera’s AV setting)

The camera, A7R gives so-called “focus peeking” and showing it

as the Red lines on the View Screen. (It’s mean, the camera thought,

that area has be in focus.)

—– ? ? ?  Then, I started to wonder “What they mean FOCUSED”

(From now, I wouldn’t trust what they says.   😀  )

And the trouble of the A7R seemed to appear, they ARE very seceptic

to the camera shake. = this picture was 1/160 sec’ shutter speed with

ISO 1600 —–> Still I needed to use a tripod for the photo one above !

(Obviously, a small and light body with

such noisy shutter creates big shock ! = No wonder, why they needed to

redesign new camera with quiet shutter = My one was a defective !)

It’s not funny.

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Pinhole Photos on Alpha 7R

As I promised I made a pinhole to my friend’s  A7 camera.

8mm hole was made on a body cap and thin aluminium

panel (beer can) with 0.3mm hole was stuck inside of the hole.

Utterly funny accidental discovery was, a body cap of  A7 can

be used on Nikon body, if it was inserted off 180 degree. = so,

the test of this pinhole was done by a D810 body while pulling

the Ai-coupling lever. —– Then, another coincidence, I saw a

good second-hand  A7R in a camera shop = what a convenient

timing = I bought it — by trading the Olympus OM-D away

(because the Olympus body seems to be falling apart.)

Therfore, those test shot was made by a SONY  A7R, on the

way to see my friend.  😀

Some thing very remarkable was that all of those photos were

made almost automatic = camera has been set to AUTO and

without me changing ISO, Color balance etc, nothing, but just

aim and click. (the best of all, I could click while seeing

the view finder image.)  (It seemed, ISO was set 6400,

shutter speed were about 1/15~1/60 though,

I hate the Shutter nois, and the color)

On coincidence, I started to make the Pinhole Photo on this  A7R. 

— Even funnier discovery I made was, that the Olympus’ old

OM body cap fit to the  A7 body if it was inserted 180 degree

off direction = I don’t need to order and wait a month to get it.

(Body cap or thin (and cheap) adapter is the base to make “Things”)

So, first of all, my own pinhole was tested on a OM body cap while

the beer can panel was placed on the bottom of the body cap.

(Body cap penetrating 4mm into the  A7R = its mean 18mm

flange back – 4mm = 14mm ! — This pinhole can make 14mm

ultra-wide lens effect ! —– Well, in theory.   😀 )

So, this IS the 14mm wide pinhole image ! —– though,

with the Cosine Rule, light fall off is such significant, image

became round.  “Like Pinhole camera”  Ha ha ha.  😀

And this is the comparison, Nikon 16mm Fisheye lens’ view.

(Sound a bit patronizing, though, you have to see, what sort of

effort was paid to compensate the light fall off on the lens design. 

And, see the pinhole image above to see there is no distortion =

distortion was caused by the light-bending optics = Pinhole is

not bending the light (because they are not a lens)   😀

—– Well, I got a toy.   😀

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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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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. 

.

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.)

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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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