Lost and Found

Megan -- 5D & EF 50mm f1.2 @ f1.6. Larger Picture.

One day after I used the replacement Panasonic G1 charger, and I found the original one that came with the camera. It was, of all the places, in the basket of the paper threader. Well, there is Murphy's Law for ya.

As of late, I have found myself looking for stuff all the time. Must be getting old, or I have too much junk, or both.

A Taste of Winter

Street Crossing -- 5D & Kinoptik 210mm f2.8 Special Cine Lens @ f2.8, ISO 800. Larger Picture.

We in Toronto had the first significant snow fall today, and soon after with rain. The icky and slushy wet snow created a chaotic condition to walk, bike, or drive. On top of all this, we had strong winds to gave us a taste of the winter to come.

Kinoptik Special Cine 210mm T3 Part II

The Kinoptik Special Cine 210mm T3 has a removable mount. It came with a C-Mount which I could only use on the G1. The mount can be unscrewed. The thread size is roughly 55mm. I happened to have a few tubes of the exact same thread size. I gutted a 400mm f5.6 T mount lens a while ago and luckily saved the parts. The mount from the 400mm f5.6 lens goes inside the 55mm tubes almost perfectly. The focusing was adjusted and Gorilla Glue was used to glue the two parts together.


Home Made Mount. Bottom right is the original c-mount; above that is the home made M42 mount. Larger Picture.

Took the lens out today on my lunch around the area where I work, and shot the same scenes I have done so many times. The result, as expected, is fabulous. The pictures have that motion picture quality that I really like. No wonder people pay so much for a lens like this. Come to think of it, this lens reminds me of the Wollensak 209mm f4.5 copy lens. They have the same kind of quality wide open. Sharp, but not "dry", almost like sharp and soft at the same time. I think this lens is perfect as a portrait lens on full frame. Better yet, on a medium format Hasselblad.


Outdoor Lamp -- 5D & Kinoptik 210mm f2.8 (T3). Larger Picture.


Say Cheese -- 5D & Kinoptik 210mm f2.8 (T3). Larger Picture.

Twilight in the City

Victoria Terrace Shopping Centre -- Canon 5D & EF 85mm f1.2L. Larger Picture.

The advantage of having a fast lens and a high ISO capable camera is that you can shoot night scenes hand held.

Kinopik Special Cine 210mm f2.8 C-Mount Lens

Got a new toy on the weekend -- Kinopik Special Cine 210mm T3.  Kinopik lenses are well known for their movie lenses.  They did make some 35mm lenses for the Alpa mount, as well as the Leica LTM mount, if I remember correctly. 

This particular lens is in exceptionally good shape.  Very clean and well taken care of.  The only thing missing is the original hood.  This 210mm f2.8 lens has a large image circle that can cover medium format.  The lens has an interchangeable mount that screws off, and a different mount can be put on.  It came with a c-mount adapter, and unfortunately, the only camera I have that can use c-mount lenses is the Panasonic G1.  This means that the lens will behave like a 420mm f2.8 lens on the G1.  You can imagine what's like hand holding a 400mm lens -- extremely difficult to get good focus due to very narrow angle of view as well as the camera shake.  Using this lens on the G1 is like putting a Ferrari engine in a Yaris.  I can't wait to convert this lens to another mount so that I can use it on full frame.

Shooting Swimming with Canon 5D

Let me say this first: Shooting sports with the Canon 5D is like having your soup with chopsticks.  It's not impossible, but there are better alternatives.

My kids had swim meets today but unfortunately I sold my 1D III three weeks ago.  The only camera I have that's capable of focusing relatively fast is the Canon 5D.  I thought of geting the 1D II again, but thought better of it in the end.  So, with no choice, but to shoot the events with the 5D.

Lighting in community centres are usually horrid.  This one is no exception, although it's already better than some.  Shooting at ISO 1600 @ f1.8 with my EF 200mm f1.8L would give me somewhere between 1/250s to 1/400s.  The real issue is slow frames per second and very small buffer.  Focusing accuracy on the 5D is actually excellent.  In the bursts of frames, the critical frame always seems to be between one of those three frames each second, darn it!  It's a far cry from the 10 frames per second of my now gone 1D III, or the 8 fps 1D II.  Since I always shoot RAW, no exceptions, this makes the buffer smaller still and also making buffer clearing much longer.  For this reason, keeper are relatively few.

In the end, there are few usable frames so I didn't feel too bad.  However, I am dreaming of a 1D Mark IV...

Accident at Spadina & Queen

Minor accident this morning at the Spadina & Queen intersection.  Two cars kissed each other.  I didn't see any damages to the cars, but one of the drivers seemed either in shock, or was injured.  The driver was not able to get out of the car, and consequently fire trucks and ambulance were called in.  Firefighters helped the driver out of the seat and into the ambulance.  All was fine, luckily.

Accident Scene -- G1 & Sicor 23mm f3.5.

Helping Hands -- G1 & Voigtlander Skopar 8.3cm f4.5.

Yesterday the battery charge for the Panasonic G1 came.  Very fast delivery from the states, considering it's a holiday season and usually a busy time for the post office.  As half expected, the battery does not work with the G1, which has the firm version 1.3 installed.  Third party batteries no longer works on the G1 after firmware version 1.3.  Another greedy act by the Panasonic.  I am a bit pissed off because the seller did not indicate that the battery does not work with new firmware on the G1, and the fact that Panasonic disable third party battery support.

The good news is that the charger works wonderfully.  Although it seems to charge a bit slower than the original Panasonic battery charger.  Not a big deal.  Charged up the drained battery and tried a new toy I got -- the unusual Minolta MD mount Sicor 23mm f3.5.  Yes, it's not a typo.  It's 23mm.  I believe Soligor also sold one of these lenses under their name.

From the dozen or so pictures I have taken, the lens itself seems to perform as well as most of the wide angle lenses from the 80s, at least in the center of the image circle.  Can't conclude about the image quality or another in that matter about the lens, with only one day of use.  I am sure I will use it a bit more and have an update on it.

Yamato - Drummers from Japan

Dillon, Ryan and I went to see the Yamato - Drummers of Japan in Massey Hall last night.  I have always liked drums, and can resonate with the heart pounding drum music.   I have owned the 鬼太鼓座 (sorry I don't know what the English translation is) CD since the mid 80s and it has been one of my favourite drum music CDs.  This CD was (still is?) used frequently to test out audio systems since it's dynamic range and the quality recording was exceptional.  The CD was manufactured by JVC.

The show used a wide variety of Taiko drums from very small to humongous ones. Through out the 90 minute performance, the energy, lighting, music and skills of the drummers are truly excellent.  The sound of the o-daiko drum was earth shaking!  The flow of the show was very well choreographed and lots of interaction with the audience.  The lighting created the mood that draws the audience into the performance.  Over all, we enjoyed the show tremendously.  Even Ryan liked it a lot.

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed.  I asked if I could take a picture of the stage, and was given permission to do so, but 30 seconds later, I was told that I could not take pictures at all.  A shame, as there are so many photo opportunities during the show with the great lighting.

If you like Taiko drums, don't miss their next show.  You can visit their web site here.

The stage -- Canon 5D & EF 50mm f1.2L

High Prices of OEM Camera Accessories -- the G1 Charger

Last time I whined about the high price of the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 pancake lens.  This time, it's the G1 charger.

I have not shot with the G1 for more than a month, why?  Well, this is an embarrassing question to answer.  For the life of me, I can not find the charger for the G1.  It's at home somewhere, but it's just nowhere to be found.

About a week ago, I decided to buy a replacement charger.

First, of course, was to check out the prices of the OEM Panasonic charger.  $95CAD plus taxes ($107.35CAD) at Vistek.  A small shock not unlike the time I wanted to buy the charger for my Canon 1Ds, which was $600CAD + taxes.  Personally, I think it's rediculous. A more reasonable price for the G1 charger would be something like $30 to $50.  I would buy one at that price.  Since I am cheap, and don't want to be ripped off, off to eBay.

Not looking very hard, I found one charger + a spare battery for $18.99USD, plus $2.00 shipping to Canada from USA.  OK, so they don't have the "Panasonic" name printed on the items, and the battery probably won't last as long as the OEM version, but by Joe, look at the price differences! 

The charger and battery is still on the way to me but I just can't help but think, who in their right mind will spend 5 times the amount of money to buy an OEM charger?  I have used cheap, generic camera battery chargers before, and never had any problems.  I have used generic camera batteries for my Canon G1, 5D, 1D/1D II/1Ds and never a problem.  In fact, the generic batteries lasted longer than the Canon equivalent.

Is there an advantage buying an OEM charger?  Sure.  Warranty, possibly better made and possibly safer.  You would have to weigh the pros and cons and decide.

In the meantime, I will have to play with my 5D until the charger arrives.   Will update on the charger/battery once I get to use it a bit.

Junk Food -- 5D & EF 85mm f1.2L @ f1.2.

Church in Silhouette

Sunset in Markham -- Canon 5D & Leica-R 90mm f2 Summicron

Was driving out of the Pacific Mall in the evening and saw this magnificent sunset.   Shot from the car at the stop sign.