3D Photography

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of meeting cinematographer and film maker, John Tran, son of Hai Tran -- owner of Vintage Visuals, which I have bought many lenses from in the past.  John brought a copy of his documentary "Daddy Tran - Life in 3D", which I watched partially on TVO a while back.  The documentary was filmed by John and directed by his talented and beautiful wife Siu Ta.  You can see a trailer on Youtube.  The film was about John's father, who is an obsessive collector of cameras and lenses, who eventually turned his hobby into a successful business.  This documentary resonates with me because I see some of his characters in myself. Well worth your time to watch it.  It comes up occasionally on TVO and maybe available for borrowing in Public Libraries.  John also brought with him some of his father's 3D pictures and a viewer.

The only thing I knew about 3D photography was the toy-like 3D viewers you see (or used to see) in tourist stores.  They typically have ten slides with the size of a thumb nail.  It was interesting, but that's about it.  The ones that John showed me was shot mostly in Velvia slide film in square format.  Not sure what size but might be two inch square.  When I looked at it the first time, I almost fell off my seat.  It was simply stunning.  The picture seems to jump out at you in beautiful colours, and in glorious 3D!  I never knew 3D pictures could be this gorgeous.  Hai Tran is a prolific and accomplished photographer.  The landscape pictures of Calgary's many parks are absolutely fantastic.  After looking at the 3D pictures, the ordinary pictures will look flat and lifeless.  Now I can see why some people are so obsessed with this medium.  It's addictive, because that's what our eyes were created to see -- in 3 dimensions.

For sure this is not a hobby for everyone. For one thing, the slides are prohibitively expensive if you shoot medium format, and I am sure it takes considerable amount of time to master through trial and error.

Roses -- NEX-5N & Kodak Cine Ektar 63mm f2. Vignette is naturally caused by the lens. Click for larger.

Seeing Double

Tree & its reflection in Don River - NEX-5N & Kodak Cine Ektar 63mm f2 C-Mount

The Kodak Cine Ektar 63mm f2 is one of the few c-mount lenses that actually covers the APS-C size sensor of the Sony NEX cameras.  Well, there is still dark corners, but considering it was designed for 16mm movie cameras, it's not bad at all.  Also, I think the image circle is even larger than the 102mm f2.7 Kodak Anastigmat.  The image towards the edge is far better than the 102mm.

The 63mm f2 is amazingly sharp, and the images coming off of this lens is wonderful, especially in colour.  In fact, it's one of my favourite c-mount lenses.  If you can get one at reasonable price, grab it and you won't regret it.

Bronze Statues

Bronze Statue -- NEX-5 & Kodak Cine 63mm f2. Click to see larger.

I was hoping this lens would have a large enough image circle to cover the APS-C sized sensor, but it vignettes heavily.  Even at 63mm, it just barely covers the NEX sensor.  Kind of expected, but still a bit disappointed.

Bikes in Snow

The first C-Mount to NEX adapter I received was used to make the NEX mount focusing helicoid, so I didn't have much of a chance to use it on actual lenses.  Received two more couple days ago that I ordered last week from a US vendor.  Tried various c-mount lenses on the NEX, and as expected, most wide angle lenses (less than 50mm) have severe vignetting.  Even longer lenses, some of them also have dark corners.  Most disappointingly, the Kern-Paillard Switar 50mm f1.4 still does not fit, and thus can not be focused to infinity, at least with the adapter I have.  Perhaps I can understand why.  The center ring was purposely made to mate with m42 mount lenses on this adapter.  So, in theory, you can use M42 lenses with this adapter if you add enough extension tubes.  More importantly, M42 mount focusing helicoids can be mounted to this adapter.  This will open up some opportunities for experiments with some specialty lenses.

Bicycles in snow -- NEX-5 & Kodak 63mm f2 cine lens. Click to enlarge.

Rest Assured

Rest Assured. Sign outside Mt. Pleasant Cemetery - G1 & Kodak Cine 63mm f2

Passed by this sign a few times, and always thought it was funny, but couldn't stop and take a picture of it until today, when the traffic was really bad.

Kodak Cine Ektar 63mm f2

Now that I have had a chance to try out the four Kodak Cine lenses: Cine Ektar 152mm f4, Cine Ektar 63mm f2, Anastigmat 50mm f1.6, and the Cine Ektar II 25mm f1.9. My favourite is the Ektar 63mm f2. This lens produces fabulous images that are sharp with great bokeh. Too bad, as all too common with old lenses, the focusing is not very smooth, which takes away some of the fun out of taking pictures.

All pictures taken with the Kodak 63mm f2 Cine Ektar lens & Panasonic G1. Click on the picture to see a larger version.