Lines

Lines -- 5D & Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f1.9 Kodak Retina DKL Mount.

Most of the the Retina mount lenses are very nice and well made, but many of them are small aperture lenses. This Xenon is probably the fastest DKL mount lens. Unfortunately, due to the aperture built-in the adapter, and the fact that very few DKL mount lenses are f2 or faster, the DKL-EOS adapter have a maximum aperture of only f2 (f2.5 on mine, unfortunately) so that the lens can not be used at wide open. A shame.

The Process or the Result?

Old City Hall -- 5D & Leica-R 28mm f2.8. Larger Picture.

People who get into photography for many reasons. Some only like to lust over the expensive equipment, others like to look at the photographs they have taken, and yet more will enjoy the process of creating the images. I am sure there are far many other reasons.

I am a little bit of everything. I love well made gear and lust over top end stuff, but my bank account ultimately limits what I can actually have. Just think of it, well made and being great does not need to be expensive at all. For me, old lenses are prime examples, although there are some very expensive old lenses, in general, they are much cheaper than the auto focus equivalent, and in some cases they are even optically better, not to mention how well they were made, for far less money. If you have ever used a Pentax Takumar lens, no, not those cheap plastic PK mount ones, but the M42 or screw mount Takumars, you will know what I mean.

The process of image creation is also something that I enjoy immensely. I use both auto focus and manual focus lenses, but I use manual focus lenses more. Why? The act of turning the silky smooth focusing ring, the sound of the aperture clicks, and the touch of metal lens barrel, all combined to give me a sense that I am creating something. On the other hand, an auto focus lens focuses instantaneously, and in a split second, an image is captured, usually in perfect clarity. To me, what lens to use, depends on what kind of pictures I am taking. Guess what gives me the most pleasure?

I also care about the end result. After all, the lens and camera are made to take photographs. As I said before, those of us who do not have the creative juice or a good eye for composition to take good pictures, it's an eternal frustration. We try again and again, just hoping one day we can take one really good picture that we can be proud of. Unfortunately, at least for me, most pictures are mediocre at best, but, at least there is hope that next one could be better. For this reason, the equipment and the process are more enjoyable for me, for the time being.

Frozen Don River

Frozen Don River from Queen Bridge -- Canon 5D & Leica-R 28mm f2.8 Elmarit @ f2.8. Larger Picture.

Toronto Open, Winter 2010 -- Cubing Competition

The Toronto Open, Winter 2010 cubing competition was held in Seneca College's Oasis Conference room. More than a 100 cuber from different locations competing for the world record. This event produced the 2nd place world record time for a 3x3 solve by Harris Chan at 7.33 seconds. The world record is held by Erik Akkersdijk of Netherlands at 7.08 seconds, achieved at the Czech Open 2008.

My son Dillon, who just got into cubing a few months ago, asked me to register him for this competition. I must say that it's been an eye opener. As with many hobbies, there are fanatics in all of them. Cubing is no exception. But, all the cubers I have seen showed exceptionally good sportsmanship. The skills of some of the cubers are just beyond words. Who would have thought a 3x3 Rubik's cube can be solved in matters of seconds?

It's unfortunate that I had other commitments and could not stay for the top 10 final in this event. Below are some of the pictures I took for this competition.


Getting Ready. 5D & EF 35mm f1.4.


Speed Stacks. These things run on battery and less than half way through competition, the main display is dead due to drained batteries. Also the display is multiplexed (digits are displayed one at a time at high speed, to save power) and if you take a picture with speeds higher 1/30 of a second, you may not see all the digits.


Spectators -- 5D & EF 35mm f1.4.


28.93 seconds. Dillon at one of the five turns. His best personal record was 21 seconds for a 3x3 solve -- 5D & EF 50mm f1.2.


Harris Chan (in the middle) -- Holds the second place in world record at 7.33 seconds for a 3x3 solve.


Organizers, volunteers -- Jai (in green), Eric Limeback (with the pointing finger).


2.40 seconds for a Rubik's Magic solve. Ryan's personal best is around 1.7 sec.


Eric Limeback solving a 3x3 blindfolded.


The Winners -- Harris Chan first place, Eric Limeback second place, Emily Wang third place.


Harris Chan -- Official Personal Best at 7.33 seconds for a 3x3 solve. This is the second place in world record.

Stained Glass Sticks

Stained Glass Sticks -- Canon 5D & Isconar 100m f4 @ f4. Larger Picture.

An EVIL Canon Camera?

Street Musician, Ottawa -- Canon 5D & EF 35mm f1.4 @ f1.6, ISO 3200.

I think most people are surprised how well the micro 4/3 cameras are selling, possibly including the m4/3 manufacturers. This clearly shows how traditional DSLR manufacturers have been ignoring the market segment where people want small, yet interchangeable lens Digital SLRs. The Four Third format was a good attempt, but unfortunately not very successful, because 4/3 cameras are not much smaller, if at all, than traditional DSLRs, simply because of the optical reflex mirror, which limits how small the camera can get.

By removing the reflex mirror, a lot of restrictions are lifted and many benefits are immediately apparent. These include lower cost, as the reflex mirrors is one of the more expensive components of the body, shorter lens to sensor register (thus making the body thinner), smaller lenses, and best of all, less vibration due to mirror flap, so you can take pictures with slower shutter speeds.

I think the time for a full frame Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Camera (EVIL). The megapixel electronic view finder is now almost good enough as a replacement for an Optical View Finder. After using the Panasonic G1, I really prefer an Electronic View Finder for manual focus than an optical one.

Imagine a Canon 12MP 5D without a mirror box. This can be made much cheaper, but have ultra high usable ISO a la D3s. The full frame EVIL will be an entry level camera priced around $1500, will sell like hot cakes. Best yet, make a monochrome version of this camera without the Bayer array, for the B&W fanatics.

The reason I like to have an EVIL full frame, is to have much better compatibilities with manual focus lenses. Right now, so many lenses hit the mirror on my 5D, but if there is no mirror, all those lenses that could not be used because of mirror clearance can now be used. Manual Focus Lens nuts all over the world will rejoice!

Wishful thinking, I know, at least for the foreseeable future. I firmly believe future DSLRs will be mirrorless. We will wait and see.

Another One Hits the Mirror

My worse fear was realized when I tried out the Meyer-Optik Gorlitz 58mm f1.9 Primoplan today. The butt of the lens hits the mirror on the 5D near the infinity mark. Both copies do the same thing. It's really too bad. This is a nice, compact, well made lens that has some interesting characteristics. For one thing, it has the swirling background when shot wide open, but not as pronounced as others. As usual, first use of this lens today. Need more time to evaluate.

Stained Glass Fairy

Stained Glass Fairy -- Canon 5D & Isco-Gottingen Isconar 100mm f4 M42 Mount.

New toy from the Camera show over the weekend. This time around, I got mostly really old stuff, including this lens, a couple of Meyer-Optik Primoplan 58mm f1.9, a Carl Zeiss Jena 58mm f2, a Meyer Gorlitz Primotar 18cm f3.5 larger format lens, and a few other items. It will be fun to try them out.

DIY Lens -- Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection Lens Part 2

It took me a few tries before I realized I needed to cut off all of the the extra length of the Hektor's lens barrel just before rear of the lens element. About 10 cutting blades were used to cut the lens barrel. The Dramel cutting blades are very thin and wears down quickly. They also break easily too.


Cutting Hektor into pieces -- As you can see, it took three tries, and about 10 cutting blades. Larger Picture.


Ready to Assemble. Larger Picture.

After Hektor was cut to its minimum length, it turned out that it was too much. The lens would focus way pass infinity. Well, it's no problem. I just shimmed it with useless 48mm filter rims. Just removed the glass from the filters and thread the rim into the bottom of the lens. In the picture below, it's assembled and glued, and you can see one of the filter rims (says Canon on it). That's all there is to it.


Assembled and ready to use. Larger Picture.

In use, this lens is not particularly good. I mean it's not bad, but not what you will expect from a real Leica lens. Contrast is a bit low, sharpness is not that great until stopped down to about f5.6, and the bokeh is a bit strange. But, it's all done in the name of fun.

In the next project, I will try to document it in more detail. I was eager to get it done and didn't take enough intermediate pictures.

F0.95 -- More samples

I was able to convert the c-mount JML 50mm f0.95 lens into a native Micro 4/3 mount through the use of an adapter. This lens is too large to fit the c-mount to m4/3 adapter and thus wouldn't focus to infinity. Since the mount on the JML lens is removable, I removed the c-mount, and sanded down the c-mount to m4/3 adapter and glued the adapter to the JML lens. It could now focus slightly past infinity, but unfortunately, not a 100% success.

The sanding was done using a hand file, and I am sure I could not achieve good flatness. The glue could also play a role in the flatness of the adapter to lens. So, I have one side of the picture very sharp, and the other side is soft, due to an uneven focus plane because the lens is not mounted 100% flat. It's usable, but bothers me. I will have to look for a better way to make this focus to infinity without destroying the original mount.

Samples below, taken today. Click on the picture to see a larger version.


Megan -- G1 & JML 50mm f0.95 TV lens @ f0.95.


Voice of Ire, to poke fun of the $1.8M Voice of Fire -- G1 & JML 50mm f0.95 TV Lens.


Alexandra Park -- G1 & JML 50mm f0.95 TV Lens at f0.95.


100% crop from the above picture. Be sure the click on it to see original size. For an inexpensive lens, I would say this is pretty respectable wide open, no?