Another One

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I spotted this on eBay and figured why not ?

Olympus E-510, purchased from Olympus as a refurb in March 2009 and used for two months for birding. Then the burst speed was determined to be too slow for his taste and he went to a Canon digital. He was selling the body with free shipping for $225.

The registration distance of the E-510 is very short. This simply means that any lens with a registration of a larger value will work with the camera. Most of the lens brands already have adapters for them manufactured and on sale at the bay. See this website for further info on using lenses across brands. Registration Distance Information
Now I have
Canon 300D 6mb
Canon XTi 10mb
Fujifilm S2 6mb – Nikon F mount
Pentax *istD 6mb
Olympus E-510 10mb
(in order of purchase and the XTi being the only one purchased new) They all also use CF cards so that is one thing I don’t have to purchase and duplicate.

That covers about everything. The neat thing about the E-510 is that it doubles the lenses. So, my favorite 300mm 5.6 lens is now a 600mm 5.6 lens at much less than the cost of a new lens. The Fujifilm mated with an ARSAT 20N 2.8/20; the Pentax with the 8mm Peleng fisheye and the XTi with the Sigma 15-30mm zoom take ample care of the wide angle.

Also, the most I paid, except for the new XTi, was $250 on eBay for the rest of the bodies. Shop carefully and bide your time, what you want will come your way.

A Replacement For The Damaged Fujifilm S1

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In a moment of extreme weakness, I bought a Fujifilm S2 on the Bay. It will complement my Canon XTi, and Pentax istD. Now I can use just about any lens made for 35MM format cameras by simply mounting a non-optical adapter to one of the three cameras.

I await its arrival to set up a shootout with my lenses; to be posted here. I have several M42, a couple Nikon and a dozen custom mounted pre-1939 uncoated lenses to try out. I am figuring at least three hours will be needed to finish it all. Perhaps three segments by aperture settings, to keep the lighting somewhat even, on a very clear day. 10:30AM to 1:30PM seems a goal.

Nearby my house is a small park that has a nice section where there are trees, shrubs, buildings, play ground equipment, etc to allow DOF to be apparent. The results will be posted here on separate pages. Maybe within a month I will get it completed.

My Pinhole Day Entry

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Here is my entry taken on April 26, 2009. Canon XTi
If you see another number photo than 789 come up try refreshing. There are three photos named Playground and it seems to be occasionally causing the wrong one to appear.
Playground

Pinhole Day 2009 Website

Spring Is Here ! At Least Until Tomorrow …….

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We got a reprieve today. Last night the forecast was for 1-3 inches of snow and overcast for today. The snow did not fall and the Sun has been out all day. I took the time to take a few pictures with my Canon XTi with a Sears 50/1.4 M42 lens mounted with an adapter.

These were all taken at f1.4 to try out the small depth of field. I guess I am not going to have to spend money on a new EF Canon 50/1.4 lens. The Sears lens had been pushed into the back of a drawer after I compared it to my Canon EF 50/1.8 metal mount in relation to the additional brightness available. I just never considered using it seriously for actual photography. The DOF difference and the brightness have made me a believer, also it is nice to have a metal lens.

Anyone know the years of manufacture/sale for the Sears lens? Also, what company manufactured it ?

Pinhole Update

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CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

Since I have been ‘collecting’ quite a few M42 135mm lenses to use as ‘host bodies’ with the various old Kodak lenses, I find myself with an ‘extra’. I am going to put a pinhole holder inside on the helical focusing section. This will allow me to easily use various size pinholes at different focal lengths with my Canon XTi. The dismal body cap pinhole images I have gotten after several tries at pinhole sizing are making me rethink how best to use a DSLR and a pinhole. I am going to make sure that I use the RAW format in an attempt to circumvent the JPG software gremlin inside.

The very best images from any of my pinhole cameras come from the Yashica A conversion. I am fairly sure this is due to the twin lens system it has. I am able to focus and frame the shot with the top lens. I feel that since both lenses move on the same platform and both lenses are very close to the same distance from the film plane, that the focus does actually work. Using this premise, I will build the above mentioned lens for use on the DSLR’s.

With the upcoming Pinhole Day 2009 on April 26, 2009, I have a month to build and experiment with the concept. How to make the changeable holder for the pinholes seems to be the toughest part of the project.

This pinhole project and putting the Kodak Bimat lens in a 135mm host body are on the ‘to do’ list today.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

HawkEye Lens From Kodak 2A Folder

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I am getting a little out of order I know. The 135mm Soligor was the first one I picked up to modify. It went so well, that I figured I would just go ahead and mount the HawkEye lenses from a Kodak 2A folder before I went on to the Soligor zoom. There is a page for the initial and future images from this lens.

HawkEye Images

I did manage to remove the optics from the Soligor zoom today. Perhaps tomorrow I will begin putting the Kodak Bimat lens inside.

CLICK HERE FOR FURTHER ADAPTER INFORMATION ON MY BLOG

My first pinhole camera

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Actually, I first modified a camera body cover with a pinhole, following the general instructions on the Internet. I tried it out several times on both my Canon 300D and XTi. The results were very disappointing. I did three different sized pinholes with no apparent improvement. I believe the AI in the camera might have had something to do with it. Putting one of these pinholes on a Nikon digital body cap had much better results. I have deleted all of the images taken with it.  

Then I picked up a Yashica A TLR from my favorite camera store and went at it. I removed the taking lens and either unscrewed or destroyed the lenses init. One was cemented in place and was removed with a punch. This left the shutter and the aperture blades intact. I then went to the local auto parts store and bought a set of feeler gauges. Using the thinest, I made a pinhole with a quilting pin. 

The test film came back with some nice images of a local library.

The construction project of the Yashica TLR to pinhole is covered in detail on the photographyhacks page.