Making Useless Lenses Useful

Sometimes we have no idea why we buy certain things.  An impulse?  An idea that flashed in our heads that one day it might be useful?  Or, just because we want it?  No matter, we would later look at these stuff and wonder what the heck we were thinking!  Instead of throwing them out, we need to turn them into something more useful than paper weight to justify our original purchases.

I have a few 8mm movie zoom lenses that fit this scenario.  They can not be used on anything other than 8mm movie cameras, but it would be so nice to make them serve some photographic purpose again.  Using them as a full lens is out of the question, so why not use part of them?  The rear of the lens is too small to be useful, but the front element is large and can form images.

Two 8mm movie lenses.  The one on the right is already removed from the lens barrel. Both are in similar focal length but the one on the right is more than a stop brigher. 

 
To play with this lenses, you really will need a focusing helicoid, either buy one or make your own, or use a macro bellows.  There won't be aperture settings, unless you plant them into an existing lens barrel that already have apertures.  Using only the front element usually means the lenses are not optically corrected, as they would be when combined with the other elements in the original lens.  This actually turns out to be even more fun than just using them as designed, because, they act like soft focus lenses!  The un-coated lenses are even better than the coated ones for this purpose.

Front element of the Reflex Zoom f1.1 lens on the home made focusing helicoid.

The good news about making this kind of lenses is that they don't have to fit exactly.  No worries about decentering elements, perfect focusing, etc.  It's the effects that we are after.  So, use whatever that you can to make it mount on your camera, even holding it with your hands!

I certainly had fun trying them out.  It made me feel better that after many years of sitting around, digital cameras have made them into something useful and interesting.

Megan -- NEX-5 & the front element of an 8mm movie lens. Click to see larger.

My kids use to go nuts collecting and playing with this stuff, and I don't even remember what it's called.  Now they are all in pieces collecting dust.

Soft lenses are best used with lots of bright colours and strong lights.  Great for flower shots, but I don't have any to try.  They are also good for some romantic Kodak moments of your girlfriend/wife.

Konica AR to NEX Adapter

Ryan on headphones -- NEX-5 & Konica 57mm f1.4. Click to see larger.

Isn't it wonderful that all those Canon FD, Minolta MD, Konica AR and other vintage lenses that you thought would never see the light of day again, because their lens mount is too short from the film plane to be adaptable, are given a new life?  Since the introduction of micro 4/3 format, and the later Sony NEX, both have a mount with very short lens to sensor distance, essentially allows one to use pretty much any old lenses.

I just received the Konica to NEX adapter, from my favourite US based eBay seller Rainbow Imaging, and couldn't wait to try it out.  I don't have any of Konica's famous lenses, like the 28mm f1.8, but do have a small collection, including a minty 135mm f2.5 and a 300mm f4.  None of the DSLRs could adapt the Konica lenses, because it has the shortest of all SLR mounts, but the NEX-5 takes it with lots of room to spare in the mount.

The adapter is well made, reasonably priced, and works perfectly.  Very happy with it.  Will report with some impressions of the Konica lenses once I have taken some pictures with them.

Queen Street at Night

Leslieville is full of stores and businesses like this Cheese Market -- small, unique, charming.  Leslieville has seen an influx of young people in the last decade or so.  This creates a huge demand of housing around the area, to a point that's hard to find any affordable property.  The prices of most houses here have doubled, or even tripled what they cost ten years ago.  It's insane.

Leslieville Cheese Market -- NEX-5 & Contax Distagon 35mm f2.8.

More Snow

Walking in the snow this morning -- NEX-5 & Contax Distagon 35mm f2.8. Click to see larger.

Compared to other parts of the country, or the United States, Toronto is not getting that much snow, at least not in one shot.  But, it just seems that it snows a couple inches every few days to be annoying.  Everywhere you go, it's slushy and wet.  I hate this kind of weather because riding a bike would mean shoes/boots and pants all wet by the time I get to work.  Spring can't be that far away, can it?

Found Lenses

I was looking for the Astro-Berlin 50mm f1.5 projection lens that I know I have but couldn't find it, yet.  However I "unearthed" four Kodak cine lenses that I didn't know I had.  Unfortunately, they are all relatively slow lenses, and three of them have the Kodak S-Mount, and one has a weird mount that I probably can't use.  Luckily, I do have one S-Mount to C-Mount adapter, so at least I can use three of them.

These lenses must have been bought long before the Micro 4/3 days, from the old Outlet Store.  At least some of the junk I bought turn out to be useful, if not when I bought them, but at a later date.

The four lenses are:

• Anastigmat 63mm f2.7 with close focus capability.  Interestingly, I have the 63mm f2 Kodak cine lens, which does not have the close focus feature.  This lens has an S-Mount.
• Anastigmat 102mm f2.7 with close focus capability. Some cleaning marks on the front element, but shouldn't affect the image much, if any.  Also in S-Mount.
• Cine-Kodak 4 1/2 inch (roughly 114mm) f4.5.  This one has a weird fix mount which I am not sure what it is.
• Cine-Kodak 3 inch (75mm) f4.5.  Very compact lens in S-Mount.

Tried all the S-Mount lenses and they have no vignetting on my G1, but some vignetting on the NEX-5.  Very sharp, as pretty much all of the Kodak cine lenses are.  This surprise find doubles the number of  my Kodak cine lens collection.  

LaBrea TV Clock -- NEX-5 & Kodak 63mm f2.7 @ f2.7. Click to see larger.

Third Party Batteries -- Part II

I have been buying third party batteries for many years, starting with my Panasonic Mini-DV camcorder.  I wrote about it before, and this is an update to the original post.  My experience was that with third party batteries, you pay less for more, because these batteries frequently last longer than OEM batteries.  I have bought third party batteries for all the Canon cameras I have ever owned.  Never a problem and always happy, until the last two batteries.

The first bad one was the battery I bought for my 7D, which I also mention in this post.  That battery lasted about 1/4 of what the OEM battery would.  I got a replacement from the seller, but by the time I received  it, I already sold my 7D, so I didn't get a chance to test it.

The Sony NEX-5 is a battery hog and it doesn't last very long.  It's a far cry from more than a 1000 pictures I could get out of from a Canon camera.  In fact, the third party batteries  in my 1D IIn lasts at least two thousand pictures.  I hardly need to charge them.  So, I bought a NEX-5 compatible battery from eBay, and it arrived in two days, since it was shipped from the same town I live.  Immediately, I had a bad feeling about this battery, as it weigh quite a bit less than the OEM version.  This battery, like the 7D version, never charges to 100%.  Regardless how long you charge it, it always says 99%.  It lasts about 1/3 of what a Sony OEM battery would.  E-mail the seller, and got a rude responds, to the affect that I should not expect OEM performance because I didn't pay OEM price.

My worry is that these are not isolated incidents, but a trend that quality of third party batteries are going down the drain.  Perhaps the seller was right, I didn't pay OEM prices, I should expect OEM performance.  Perhaps I should stick to brand name third party batteries, like Lenmar and Optex.

Canadian Ranger Toronto -- NEX-5 & Carl Zeiss S-Planar 60mm f2.8. Click to see larger.

Graffiti

Graffiti -- NEX-5 & Canon nFD 28mm f2.8. Click to enlarge.

A little west of Spadina on Queen street west, has a very high concentration of graffiti art.  In fact, graffiti artists are invited to create their art on the walls.  I guess that one of the attractions of the area.  It seems, however, that graffiti is migrating eastward.  There is increasingly more graffiti on the east side of Spadina around Queen street.  Building owners have had to battle this trend and clean up, as you can see from this picture where marks are still visible from previous attempts to clean up.

The Blah of Winter

Colour in the winter -- NEX-5 & JML 50mm f0.95 @ f0.95. Click to enlarge.

I normally don't really mind the winter.  After more than 30 years living in Toronto, I thought I got used it. But, this winter really gets to me.  Perhaps I am getting old and can't stand the cold any more.  Perhaps because it's the snow or extreme cold temperatures that is preventing me from riding my bike to work.  Whatever it is, I am looking forward to spring; to warmer weathers, and most of all, colours!

The Winter Storm that Wasn't

We were supposed to have 30cm (~12 inches) of snow in Toronto.  Prior to this day, the radio stations, TVs, and newspapers were all on overdrive about how severe this storm will be, that it would be the worse in three years.  All schools were cancelled, and the kids spent the day at home.  Guess what?  This storm, how should I put it, is like that dog whose bark is worse than it's bite.  Yes, we had some snow, but nowhere near the 30cm of the forecast.  It did make commute a bit hellish but most got home without major problems.  I did leave my bike at home today.

Crossing the street -- NEX-5 & Canon nFD 28mm f2.8. Click to see larger.

Crossing the street II -- NEX-5 & Canon nFD 28mm f2.8. Click to see larger.

Queen & Spadina -- 2011

Queen & Spadina -- NEX-5 & nFD 28mm f2.8

I have been taking a picture of Queen and Spadina intersection for a number of years.  This seemingly never change scene is usually taken from the north west corner, but this particular shot was taken from my car while waiting for the light to change, on my way home.  As I have said it before, I am finding the FD lenses to be excellent, even the cheap 28mm f2.8 is fantastic.