Pictures of Clouds

For some reason, I have always been fascinated by clouds. The shapes can range from peaceful cotton ball clouds to weird and fierce looking monsters. Below are few I took in the last few days which I think is interesting.

Let There Be Light -- Sony A7 & Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens. Click for larger.

Cloud Monster - Sony A7 & Tamron SP 60-300mm f3.8-5.4 Adaptall. click for larger.

Stairway to Heaven - Sony A7 & Tamron SP 60-300mm f3.8-5.4 Adaptall.

Old Man Smoking - Sony A7 & Tamron SP 60-300mm f3.8-5.4 Adaptall.

The Other Hektor

This one is actually a projection lens - Hektor 120mm f2.5. As usual, it's mounted on a focusing helicoid, this time on the Vivitar 2x Macro Teleconverter that I made into a helicoid. This lens is actually pretty sharp, as good as the Hektor 13.5cm f4.5 that I used yesterday. The only negative is the contrast being pretty low. Being a relatively fast lens without aperture, this is expected. It also shows quite a bit of purple fringing on high contrast, backlit scenes. The bokeh is not bad at all, and the lens is quite a bit easier to focus than the other Hektor.

Well, another fun lens to shoot with :)

City of Toronto - 5D Mark II & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens.

The fountain - 5D Mark II & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens.

Scooter - 5D Mark II & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens.

Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens Samples

Daisies in Black & White -- NEX-5N & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens. Click for larger.

I now have a helicoid with aperture control, which adds  a lot of flexibility.  Sometimes a little bit of depth of field can make the picture look quite different from wide open.  Often, I like pictures taken wide open.  This seems to bring out the optical qualities of the lens in use.  This is the case with the Hektor 120mm f2.5.  When stopped down, the bokeh looks a bit strange.  Maybe it's due to the aperture blades of the helicoid.  Both the Hektor 120mm f2.5 and Colorplan 90mm f2.5 share similar optical qualities.

Young Iris - NEX-5N & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens.

DIY Lens -- Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens Part 1

Got a Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens a couple weeks ago, and I have thinking of making a lens out of it. By itself, a project lens has no aperture, no focusing mechanism, and therefore not very useful except on a projector. Since I don't know how to make lens parts, the only way I can make a lens is to use a barrel from an existing lens, and plant the projector lens in. This is easier to do than you think, and it's a lot of fun to do.

Tools: You don't even need a lot of tools. A Dramel with cutter attachment to cut the projection lens to to shorten its length. A file to smooth the cut. Small screw drivers to remove the mount of the lens to take out the lens elements inside, and glue. I used Gorilla Glue, but it has one nasty side effect -- it expands.


The projector lens -- Larger Picture.

The Lens Barrel -- This will be the hardest part. You need to find a lens with a 135mm focal length, and an front opening large enough to accommodate the projection lens. The one I found that fits, is the Enna Munchen 135mm f2.8. Unbelievably, this is one of the worse lenses I have seen, and the only one from West Germany. The outer shell is made of plastic, the front element assembly that holds the glass is made of plastic. Because of this, the thread quickly wore out and the front element assembly could no longer be screwed in tightly. One reason to scrap it. Optically, it's also a dog. In a word, a worthless lens. Anyway, it fits the Hektor 120mm f2.5 lens.


Donor body -- Enna Munchen 135mm f2.8 M42 Mount. Larger Picture.


Happy together before operation -- Larger Picture.

Mona Lisa Smiles

Mona Lisa Smiles at Kensington Market -- 5D & Modified Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projector Lens. Fickr Stream.

Love Birds

Walking on Queen & Church -- 5D & Leitz 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens. Larger Picture.

Got a Leica Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens the other day and was itching to see what kind of picture I can get from it.