Random Photos

[Andy Resnick]

A couple of days ago I heard a complaint from one of my cupboards.
It was my macro lens which said "You bought me and tried me at home, you liked me, but you have never took me out anywhere. Why?"

So I took the lens out for a walk.

Lens used: Canon nFD Macro 50mm f/3.5.

Nice! I have a very similar lens (an old manual Micro-Nikkor Macro f/3.5) but find the DoF is vanishingly small and the slightest breeze wrecks everything. What f/# were you shooting at, and did you create those photos using a tripod?

 

[morrobay]

The walk up to Foodland supermarket at T21 mall. Framed reflectivity in otherwise boring mallscape.

 

[DennisN]

Nice! I have a very similar lens (an old manual Micro-Nikkor Macro f/3.5) but find the DoF is vanishingly small and the slightest breeze wrecks everything. What f/# were you shooting at, and did you create those photos using a tripod?

Thanks!
It seems it's quite similar (if I checked the correct Nikkor lens).
I checked the Nikkor out on Ken Rockwell's page, where he gave it a good review.

Yes, the depth of field has a tendency to get tiny for me too.

But still, I've found that my dedicated macro lens produces the best macro result compared to the other techniques I've tried (like (1) mounting an extension tube between the camera and a "normal" lens and (2) using one of those small magnifying lenses which are meant to be put in front of "normal" lenses).

By the way, I did a small test of the macro lens in this thread before, with and without extension tubes.

the slightest breeze wrecks everything

Yes . And it was quite calm when I shot outdoors. Shooting macro indoors like I did here is easier.

What f/# were you shooting at

Sorry, I don't remember . I think it was either f/5.6 or f/8, but I'm not sure since I probably experimented with settings during the shoot (and since the lens is manual the f-info isn't stored with the photo). According to the photos info I shot at ISO 200 and with shutter speeds between 1/400 and 1/800 s.

and did you create those photos using a tripod?

For the flowers (incl. the one with an ant) I used this small tripod. The bees were shot handheld with pretty fast shutter speeds, and with one of the "burst" modes enabled on the camera. So I shot multiple photos in sequence of each bee ("Spray and pray" ).

 

[epenguin]

Flypast salute to Queen Elizabeth today..

 

[Andy Resnick]

@DennisN motivated me to take the 55/3.5 Nikon Micro-Nikkor out for a stroll:

image deets: 1:1 crop of all-manual 55mm f/3.5 Nikon Micro-Nikkor shot at f/5.6, 1/1250s ISO 400 hand-held 'lucky' shot on a D810 body.

Good: lens produces fantastic images and can shoot up to a 1:1 reproduction ratio.

Bad: TTL metering doesn't work (for some reason) with this lens, making the process slightly more complicated. Also, lens fits *very* snugly to the body, so the aperture ring is very difficult to rotate. Set it and forget it, as they say...

 

[DennisN]

@DennisN motivated me to take the 55/3.5 Nikon Micro-Nikkor out for a stroll

Very nice shots with great resolution!
Did you shoot with "burst" mode on the camera, I wonder?

 

[Andy Resnick]

Very nice shots with great resolution!
Did you shoot with "burst" mode on the camera, I wonder?

No burst mode, just careful breathing and patience. The fast shutter speed helps, for sure.

 

[DennisN]

Some more experimental photography... this time we go really weird.

I had heard from several sources that if you reverse the front element on various types of lenses you can get a lens that produces peculiar optical effects.

I thought it was time to try this, so I modified a cheap, vintage Tokina 28mm f/2.8 and took it out for testing.

It was a cloudy day, so the colors did not get as warm as they could (the Tokina otherwise gives pretty warm colors, in my opinion).

Here is an original photo of a red flower:
(using science fiction terms you get a sort of "Stargate effect" (or intense swirl) around the center, and further out you get a "Star Wars hyperspace effect", and also some vignetting)

Here is a modified version (with crop, added vibrance and vignette in Photoshop):

Another flower (with similar Photoshop adjustments):

And a dandelion seedhead (with similar Photoshop adjustments):

And last, a bumblebee caught in flight (lens: Helios 44M7):

 

[dlgoff]

A couple photos of my Kansas Skies:

 

[Andy Resnick]

Red-headed woodpecker (M. erythrocephalus, population decreasing) in my backyard today:

[800/8, 1/500s, auto ISO]

 

[Andy Resnick]

Some more experimental photography... this time we go really weird.

I had heard from several sources that if you reverse the front element on various types of lenses you can get a lens that produces peculiar optical effects.

For a variety of reasons, I am intensely curious about this- do you have any reference material you could share?

 

[nsaspook]

 

[morrobay]

Low tide with my friend Neng ,39. (post #651

 

[DennisN]

For a variety of reasons, I am intensely curious about this- do you have any reference material you could share?

I'm happy to hear you are interested.

I haven't had a system camera for very long. After I realized I could easily adapt a lot of vintage lenses to my mirrorless Sony (with proper adapters) my interest grew rapidly thanks to a number of good youtube channels and sites.

Regarding opening lenses (& maintenance) and reversing front elements I got my information from the two very good and interesting youtube photography channels Zenography and Simon's utak.

Regarding opening lenses & maintenance, this was the video that got me started:
(the only thing I needed to buy was a lens spanner wrench, the other things I already had like blu tack and lens cleaning fluid)

ESSENTIAL Maintenance Tips For Vintage Lenses! (Zenography)


Regarding reversing front (and/or rear) elements, the following video is probably where I first heard about it. It's about modifying the Russian Helios 44 lens (M42 mount), but I've heard about doing it with other lenses, so that's why I tried it with my Tokina 28mm.

Helios 44-2: How to reverse the front element, with amazing bokeh results (Simon's utak)


And two links:

This is What You Get When You Flip the Front Element of a $45 Soviet [MIR-1B] Lens (PetaPixel)
https://petapixel.com/2016/02/29/get-flip-front-element-45-soviet-lens/

Helios 44 - Flip/Reverse Front or Rear Element or Both ?? (forum.mflenses.com)
http://forum.mflenses.com/helios-44-flip-reverse-front-or-rear-element-or-both-t80736.html

Update edit:

By the way, a word of caution if you or anyone else is going to try it on a lens, I quote user "Lightshow" in the thread I linked to last above:

Just a word of caution about flipping elements without checking clearances can result in elements touching, a little force and damage will occur.
Happy experimenting.

 

[Andy Resnick]

I'm happy to hear you are interested.

Many thanks!

 

[morrobay]

Grainy Moonset 0530

 

[morrobay]

 

[DennisN]

Some more animals...

One of my friends is a birdwatcher so I asked him for advice about good places to go to see birds.
He suggested a particular cemetery in the city which has a number of different species. He was correct .

I first visited the cemetery to have a look around without any plans to take photos, but during a short break I got an unexpected close visit, so I grabbed my camera and managed to get some shots with my manual lens:

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) (1)

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) (2)

(lens used: Helios 44M7 58mm)

This made me hopeful, so a couple of days later I returned to the cemetery on a sunny day and with my zoom lens mounted. I had to spend quite some time listening for bird chirping, looking for birds and then "hunting" them with the camera, but it was very, very enjoyable.

Great tit (Parus major)
- these were fairly easy to get close to, and this one got very close to me on one occasion which I was thankful for

The following two species were more tricky as they seemed very keen on keeping the distance (and that's why the photo quality is lower; I shot them at max zoom (210mm) and then cropped the photos)

European greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
- I personally don't like the bright background here, but it's animals, and this was the best shot I got of it

Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)

And during the cemetery visit I spotted another animal lurking among the graves:

Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus)

(lens used: Sony 55-210mm OSS zoom)

I will definitely return to the cemetery, and I'm thinking about bringing some food to try to get closer to some of the birds next time .

 

[Andy Resnick]

Scenes from a street carnival:

[15/4, various shutter speeds, auto ISO]

 

[morrobay]

Just off boat. Naklua seafood market.

 

[morrobay]

 

[nsaspook]

 

[epenguin]

Some more animals...

One of my friends is a birdwatcher so I asked him for advice about good places to go to see birds.
He suggested a particular cemetery in the city which has a number of different species. He was correct .

I first visited the cemetery to have a look around without any plans to take photos, but during a short break I got an unexpected close visit, so I grabbed my camera and managed to get some shots with my manual lens:

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) (1)
View attachment 302936

Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) (2)
View attachment 302937
(lens used: Helios 44M7 58mm)

This made me hopeful, so a couple of days later I returned to the cemetery on a sunny day and with my zoom lens mounted. I had to spend quite some time listening for bird chirping, looking for birds and then "hunting" them with the camera, but it was very, very enjoyable.

Great tit (Parus major)
- these were fairly easy to get close to, and this one got very close to me on one occasion which I was thankful for

View attachment 302938

The following two species were more tricky as they seemed very keen on keeping the distance (and that's why the photo quality is lower; I shot them at max zoom (210mm) and then cropped the photos)

European greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
- I personally don't like the bright background here, but it's animals, and this was the best shot I got of it
View attachment 302939

Common redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus)
View attachment 302940

And during the cemetery visit I spotted another animal lurking among the graves:

Brown rat (Rattus norvegicus)
View attachment 302941
(lens used: Sony 55-210mm OSS zoom)

I will definitely return to the cemetery, and I'm thinking about bringing some food to try to get closer to some of the birds next time .

Your trouble with birds is that most of them are not good sitters, too small, nervous and twitchy. You need the large, patient type who knows how to be still.

 

[morrobay]

Just asked my massage girl,post #624,

for massage. After she says her birthday,41, and wants a glass of wine. What are you going to do.

 

[DennisN]

You need the large, patient type who knows how to be still.

Amazing photo!

 

[DennisN]

I returned to the park to shoot some flowers and bees with my macro lens, and during the shoot I got the idea of actively trying to shoot bees in flight. This was of course very challenging, but also very fun.

I set my camera to the fastest burst mode (continous shooting), which is 11 fps (frames per second)
and let it loose on the bees. The camera sounded like a small machine gun in the small park.

Only a few photos got good of course, and this was the best one:

Caught in flight

(Settings: 11 fps continuous shooting, ISO 800, 1/500s shutter speed, lens: Canon FD 50mm f/3.5 Macro)

 

[Andy Resnick]

Your trouble with birds is that most of them are not good sitters, too small, nervous and twitchy. You need the large, patient type who knows how to be still.

Wow! Is this yours? My 'birder' wife is super-mega-jealous :)

 

[epenguin]

Wow! Is this yours? My 'birder' wife is super-mega-jealous :)

Well yes, I told you the secret.

Since we got onto bird photos, I can't resist posting my luckiest photo ever. This bird (which I think is a seabird but here is on a rivulet some tens of miles inland, as they also tend to get, in Yorkshire) I saw had a fishing technique I had not known of, seems very energy-, not to mention skill-demanding. From sitting on the water it was leaping maybe a foot up into the air, somersaulting and diving beakfirst into the water. I tried to photograph it without much hope or even seeing what I was doing (was into the sun) and only time later when I had the photos on a computer screen did I see I had chanced to capture it capturing its fish!

I did already show it on the PF photo competition where it had no success, but I have been able unable to find it now, so I show another copy; also a cropped enlargement, I don't know which is best.

 

[morrobay]

 

[morrobay]

This ship got hit with every wave going through the ugly storm. Actually it's part of the Jomtien beach sand replacement project.

8<

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[morrobay]

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[Andy Resnick]

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, clearly showing the depleted water level:

At the top right, you can see how they had to move the boat dock.

And Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, about 100 miles away (1:1 crop):

Both images taken with Micro-Nikkor 55mm from an airplane.

 

[collinsmark]

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, clearly showing the depleted water level:

View attachment 303915

At the top right, you can see how they had to move the boat dock.

And Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, about 100 miles away (1:1 crop):

View attachment 303916

Both images taken with Micro-Nikkor 55mm from an airplane.

Yes, the low water level of Lake Mead should probably be getting more news attention than it is. This could be a really serious issue. There's a lot of people who rely on this source of water.

That, and some other disheartening news lately has pushed me to indulge in some of my escapist tendencies and start another playthough of Fallout: New Vegas, of which Lake Mead plays a pretty prominent role.

[Post edited by a Mentor]

 

[pinball1970]

What is that?

 

[collinsmark]

What is that?

Fallout: New Vegas is an old video game. I've played it several times before, but it's worth replaying.

If you were asking about the thing on the right side of the picture, that's Veronica, who happens to be wearing power armor, and just happens to be hanging around Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at the moment. If it helps, here's another picture with maybe a little better perspective.

US House Representative Ilhan Omar next to power armor wearing Veronica, standing near the edge of Lake Mead (Fallout: New Vegas).