Adjusting One's Vision

I am behind in posting here -- It's been a very busy month, and I was away on a work-related trip to Minnesota.  Between that and catching up, and scanning many, many rolls of film, I have a lot of posts coming up soon.  However, I am switching gears here for a bit to talk about a bit of a revelation I recently had.
Regulars to this blog probably are familiar with my toy camera work, and my love of trying different lenses that are going to give me a different result than the usual sharp and contrasty perfection we all crave.   I have been using a Nikon 1J1 for several years now as part of my photography toolkit, and it's a perfect small mirrorless system camera for taking on trips.  My recent trip to Minnesota was by car, so I took a few cameras, but not my usual gear.  I packed a bag with my Minolta XG-M and lenses, Olympus Trip 35, Yashica A TLR, and the Nikon 1 bag.   Part-way through the 6 days on the road, the Minolta SLR stopped firing its shutter, making me rely on the other cameras to do the job.  Basically, readjusting my shooting to the tools I had.  The Nikon 1 is a good camera for trip shots, and while I did some shooting with the 28mm and 50mm  35mm equivalent lenses, I wanted something less than perfection, and more along what I wanted from a toy camera.  Thus, I put on the 16mm f/1.6 C-mount lens as shown below. (I also used a 25mm c-mount lens with an adjustable aperture, and while both give me very desirable effects, the 16mm gives me the vignetting.  Examples from both lenses are below.)

There is only the one wide-open aperture setting, and the lens focuses from about 2 feet to infinity. I have to use the 1J1 in totally Manual mode, as well.  This combination gives me exactly the kind of dreamy, slightly vignetted images that are sharp at the center and fall off towards the edges.  No software is involved in making the images I like, and straight out of the camera images look like they were done with a cheap toy camera, but better.

I love this combo so much,  that I may just use it like this most of the time.  Obviously it's not great for every subject, but it makes some deliciously soft images that perfectly (to me, at least) provide the emotive reaction I had when shooting the scenes in Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.    Sometimes it takes a happy accident to point out a direction one should take, and I might not have shot with the 1J1 nearly as much if the SLR had been working reliably.  Adjusting my vision accordingly, the Nikon 1J1 with the c-mount lens provided me with a creative tool that enable me to come back with some different images than I would have shot with the SLR.

Eagle River, WI

Land O' Lakes, WI

what the sign says

grassy dunes at AuTrain Bay, MI

AuTrain beach

AuTrain bay

Vilas Theater, Eagle River, WI

Series Filters on a CCTV lens

In my previous post, I extolled the virtues of the Micro 4/3 system, and my experience thus far with my Olympus Pen E-PL1 camera. Since then, I have been using the 25mm f/1.4 CCTV lens with the c-mount adapter A LOT. The images that I am getting from it have been fun, amazing, and have given me a creative spark that's been a bit lackluster over the past few months. One of the oddities about this c-mount lens is that it exhibits a central spot of flare when wide open, and only when the light is in front of the camera. Second, it doesn't exactly close focus as much as I would like. The solution is to use a lens hood to help with the flare, and diopters to magnify the image, resulting in close-ups. Hmmm. How to attach those things to an odd-sized lens? Solution...I looked into my drawers of Series filters and adapters and ended up finding EXACTLY what I needed. A Kodak Series VI ring with a 31.5mm diam. push-on adapter. No screwing-onto the lens, this adapter just slips right over the outside of it with a fit that is perfect.

A series system consists of a retaining ring, a non-threaded filter, and the adapter. Different types of Series filters can be used with just one pair of adapter and retaining ring, or you can have various adapters for different lenses, and still just use the one set of filters.

The assembled filter. A yellow filter is great for improving the contrast of B&W images under certain conditions, even with a digital camera. Make sure that you set the image capture to Monochrome!

Of course, the diopters and the lens hood are also used with the adapter, and the lens hood simply screws onto the adapter without using the retaining ring.

I am pretty sure many of the series adapters were used with cine lenses in the past. I even have a Series VI gel-holder, which is quite interesting. I could cut colored gels to fit in and achieve all kinds of interesting results. For now, though, the few things I use most are all that I need for the CCTV lens. That is the beauty of using Series filters. A few different filters and the adapters are all you need to use with different camera or lenses. You can also buy Series adapters that fit 49mm and 52mm screw threads, etc., as well as Series VI to VII or V to VI adapters. It's quite old-school, and almost all of these items were made before the 1980s, and almost all in the USA.

Now that I have assembled a kit to go with my CCTV lens, I realized that I have many extras in the boxes of accessories in my basement. After some sorting, I have enough parts to put together 4 sets of Series VI adapters + a set of diopters (+1, +2, +3), and a yellow filter.

Here's the kit. I am offering these kits for $25.00, which includes USA shipping. The adapter is specifically a 31.5 mm diameter push-on for a CCTV lens like the one pictured. I cannot modify the kit for any other size. Payment can be made via Paypal. You can contact me at mfobrien[at]gmail.com. Unfortunately, I have only one other lens hood like the one pictured, so it's not for sale.

No diopter, here, just the lens hood. That 25mm lens is just awesome!

I Have Been Converted

I recently sold off my Canon Powershot G11 and all the accessories that I had for it. Although I really did get some great shots with that camera over the couple of years that I owned it, getting a speck of dust over the sensor convinced me that the tiny sensor P&S was no longer in my future. On that small a sensor, a dust speck can look like a black hole. Part of the reason is also the G-series design, as the lenses are not sealed. What did I replace it with? I have been secretly envious of the folks that have been parading around their micro 4/3 (m4/3) cameras, such as the Olympus Pen E series, and the Panasonic Lumix G series cameras. The compactness, the 4/3 sensor, and the possibility of using all kinds of lenses via adapters opens up new possibilities that I just could not get with a p&s fixed lens camera. Anyone that knows me well can attest to my love of funky lenses and using Lensbabies, Holga, and Diana lenses on my SLRs.

So, I bought a new Olympus Pen E-PL1 body from Cameta camera for $149 with free shipping. I then bought an Olympus OM to m4/3 adapter for about $20, and used some of my OM lenses on the PL1 for a bit. I liked it a lot better once I realized there was focus peeking at the touch of a button, since one has to use the LCD screen for everything. The "Art Filters" are fun - especially the "pinhole" and "diorama" filters. I also enjoy being able to shoot in 6x6 format, and see on the LCD screen exactly the same square framing. I have had the camera for a less than a month now, and I really enjoy it more and more as I get accustomed to it.

My next purchase was the 17mm 2.8 Olympus lens, which I found as a factory demo for $189. A perfect size for this camera, and it is the equivalent FOV of a 34mm lens on a 35mm camera. So far, so good. Next, I bought a 25mm 1.4 CCTV lens from China with a C-mount adapter for $27.00 Now I'm talking cheap here, but I do love the bokeh and the distortion and vignetting of the lens. It has been getting a lot of use, and I really like my results with it.

I see the m4/3 as a wonderful tool for those of us that enjoy experimenting with lenses and filters. In addition, the small, yet well-proportioned camera just feels right in the hand. I am seriously considering selling some gear and buying the Olympus OM-D in the future. The ability to use many different lenses with adapters is very appealing, and I am always looking for a lens that will give me something different -- something that sets my images apart from others. It may not always be to everyone's liking, but it satisfies me, and my vision of what I am trying for, and that's what matters most.

A few shots with the CCTV lens...

Cobblestone Farm.

Bloomin' Onion

Britton Mill