Another Look at the Air Ministry 5 Inch f4 Lens

The Air Ministry 5 inch f4 lens is one of the more enjoyable lens to use, partly because it shows no haze or white spot in the picture, often associated with old lenses that are uncoated. Of course the lens needs the proper shade (all lenses should have proper shades). This is quite amazing because the lens itself shows some haze when look through it.

More interesting is the optical characters of the lens. I don't know if it's due to the design, or glass, or other reasons, the rendering of the pictures look markedly different the modern lenses, especially when it comes to out of focus area. Maybe this is part of the allure of old lenses that I enjoy so much.

Can't wait to shoot this lens again.

Tulips - Canon 5D Mark II & Air Ministry 5 inch f4. Click for larger.

Columbine - Canon 5D Mark II & Air Ministry 5 inch f4. Click for larger.

Bokeh- Canon 5D Mark II & Air Ministry 5 inch f4.

Sony A7s Pricing - How Much Will It Cost

By now you have probably guessed I am really interested in the Sony A7s :)

No one knows for sure, except Sony, how much the A7s will cost; it's all but a guessing game by everyone else. Some say it would cost $2500, others say it would be the same price as the A7. Personally, I want it to be priced around the A7, or very slightly above it. No doubt the A7s is a very interesting camera with phenomenon low light capabilities. For all intents and purposes, one may never need to carry, and use a flash again on this camera; it could literally see in the dark. This is its strength, as depicted by the S in the model name. Less so, is the 4K capability. The dependency of an outboard 4K recorder will limit the use of the camera in certain circumstances, and it will add bulk to the system. Video-wise, it certainly is not as indie friendly as the Panasonic GH4, which has internal 4K recording capability.

I think most people will buy this camera for its still picture capabilities. The already mentioned low light capability, the very high dynamic range, the compact size, and finally the small file (depending on your usage, of course), all together makes a perfect carry around camera. This is why I am so interested in it. I believe it would be wrong for Sony to price it at more than $2000, since it does not cost them any more to make than the A7; the only difference is the sensor, which I think should have better yield than the higher density 24MP sensor used in the A7, thus lower in cost.

I look forward to a reasonably priced low density full frame camera, as would many people who are interested in image quality and megapixels. Once people find out how good it is, they will not go back, barring any earth shattering sensor designs that trumps the A7s.

Desk & Chairs - Canon 5D Mark II & Schneider-Kreuznach Componon 80mm f5.6 Enlarging Lens.

2013 - A Year in Review

2013 has been a year of change for me. Some changes are related to photography and some aren't, but indirectly affects my photography hobby. The major change was my career. In May of this year, I left the job of 14 years and it was not without some regret, but mostly for the great people I worked with, and the excellent location, which was very conducive to photography related activities.

I am happy with the new job, but it is a very different culture that I need to get used to slowly. What I am less happy with, is the environment around my new job. It's mostly buildings that don't change much. I am not a street shooter and this created some difficulty for me to find things to photograph. In the old workplace, I could walk around the neighborhood and there is always something worthwhile to click the shutter for. This explains the lack of blog entries after May 2013. Being on a 17th floor of a building does not help either. I have had to motivate myself to get out of the office, wait for the elevator and finally get outside the building.

On the photography front, no new camera gear for me in 2013, with the exception of a used 5D Mark II, which, against my original reasoning, I have not used as much as I thought I would.  This year I have added very few lenses and I see myself coming to the reality that I have had enough lenses, both AF and manual focus. The only I lens I missed so much, and wish I could have it fixed, is my Canon EF 200mm f1.8L. This is especially true when shooting swimming events.  Other than that, I don't feel I have missed much. It is true that I would like to play with new toys, but what I already have is quite adequate for most of my needs.

The camera industry is in a slump as a whole. Some companies, such as Sony, is innovating and giving us fantastic products, like the A7/A7r, RX1, RX10, etc. And Olympus, which I see will do better than most in the mirrorless market, has photographer friendly OM-D series, especially the EM-1, which has won many Camera of the Year awards. The only company caught sleeping is Canon. What a lackluster year, in terms of gear, from Canon. Where is the once innovative company? If all they are going to do is to rehash the old tech and put on a new coat of paint, I see it going the way of Kodak. It's time to wake up, Canon.

Getting ready to rise - Canon 5D Mark II & EF 100mm f2.8L IS Macro.

More Ice Storm Pictures

Below are some more pictures taken of the ice storm on the 22nd of December. I kind of regretted that I didn't go to Tommy Thompson Park, as I believe there would be more opportunities for pictures, but I had other commitments to fulfill and could only spent about an hour shooting around the area.  Again, the lenses used were the Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm t2.8 and the Canon EF 100mm f2.8L IS. Both lenses produce spectacular pictures, especially the Kinoptik cine lens, but it could not beat the usability and sharpness of the modern Canon 100mm f2.8L macro. It should be noted that the lenses were designed for different purposes. The Kinoptik for smooth and cinematic look while the Canon macro for sharpness.

The first two pictures were taken with the Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8 and the rest were taken with the EF 100mm f2.8L IS on the Canon 5D Mark II. 

Toronto Ice Storm 2013

We have had a pretty severe ice storm since last night. The rain freezes on power lines, trees, and everything else. There are lots of power lines down by the weight of the ice, and consequently, more than 300,000 people households (more than a million people) were without electricity. Bad timing, of course; winter without power is always bad. Inconveniences aside, this is a great opportunity for photography.

I went out around the area and took some pictures of ice on trees. It was spectacular!

All pictures were taken with Canon 5D Mark II & EF 100mm f2.8L IS, except the first three pictures, taken with Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8.

What is Your Biggest Gripe with Camera Makers?

It's inevitable. The greed will drive some companies into making decisions that will benefit them in short term, but ultimately piss off their customers, sometimes to a point where the customer just stop buying their products, for good.

The most common trick the camera makers have done, is to reject or make life difficult for third party accessory makers, through the use of firmware updates. Sony did it, Panasonic did it, and now Nikon has done it. Your perfectly working third party battery suddenly stop working after the firmware update on your camera.

I believe Panasonic was the first to do this. When I updated my G1's firmware, all the third party batteries stopped working. I was mad. There is no reason for them to do this, and they know sooner or later, the third party battery makers will find a way around it, but the existing batteries will no longer be usable. Who loses? The customers. I wouldn't be too mad if the OEM batteries are reasonably priced, but they are not. They cost three to four times more than the non-OEM version and offers little or no advantage. They can argue, that the OEM batteries are safer, but I have never had problem with third party batteries in decades of using them in electronic devices. It was greed, pure and simple. Sony also did this. The non-OEM battery that worked fine on my NEX-5, no longer worked with the NEX-5N or NEX-6; at least Sony did not make the existing model incompatible with third party batteries through firmware, like Panasonic did.

So what to do? I don't want to be a piece of meat on a chopping board and let them slice and dice, so I vote with my wallet. I never did buy another Panasonic battery, nor any Panasonic products after the G1. Still have the G1 but is put on the back burner. I don't foresee myself buying any Panasonic products in the future, unless they have something so unique and great that I have to buy it; there are many choices out there.

Sometimes you have to wonder who makes these stupid and short-sighted decisions; they are just shooting themselves on the foot. In the case of batteries, they can do what Canon has done. Develop a new battery for the new camera models with firmware protection. For the LP-E6 battery, there are many third party batteries that work with the cameras that uses the LP-E6, but can not be charged using the Canon charger, and they usually come with their own charger, which works with both OEM and non-OEM batteries. I know the risk and the shortcomings so I am OK with that. Making existing third party batteries non-functional is just low and greedy.  Of course, Canon could one day have a new firmware that makes all existing LP-E6 clones stop working, but so far, they haven't, and I hope they won't do such as stupid thing.

Big candy cane - Canon 5D Mark II & EF 50mm f1.2L @ f1.2.

Photo Set - Swim Meet

The Canon 1D Mark III is usually my camera of choice when it comes to shooting sports, but since I haven't used it for so long, the charger has gone missing and I have no idea where it went. So, the 5D Mark II will have to be used for shooting the kids' swim meet yesterday. Another problem is the lens. The EF 200mm f1.8L was the lens I used to shoot most of the kids' sports events but of course, it is no longer working, so I had a choice of 135mm f2L or the 70-200mm f4L IS. The 135mm is a tad too short, so I ended up using the slow 70-200mm f4 for the whole event.

It wasn't a total write off. If you time it right, you can get some decent captures. The good high ISO performance of the 5D II helped. I set the camera most of the time to Shutter Speed Priority (AT mode) at 1/320s. As with the 5D classic, the 5D II's auto focus is actually quite accurate and most of my pictures were in focus. The slow frame rate and a small buffer (compared to the 1D III), coupled with a slow lens makes it difficult to get actions in sequence.

Megan on Butterfly Style - Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4

Ryan on Butterfly Style - Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4

William on Back Crawl - Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4

Megan after the race - Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4

Coach of Team Tridents -Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4 

Sign of the times - Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4

Life guard - Canon 5D II & EF 70-200mm f4

Redpapth Sugar Refinery

The Redpath Sugar Refinery is just a stone's throw away from where I work. I pass it at least twice on my bike, everyday during the week. The unmistaken smell of burned sugar that often lingers around the area reminds people of its presence. Some like the smell, others find it very offensive. I am neutral. It does not bother me.

Redpath Sugar has been around since 1854. Originally started in Montreal, Quebec, but later merged with Canada Sugar Refining Company in the 1930s. In 1958, Redpath Sugar opened the current refinery in Toronto's Waterfront, where it is still operating today. Sadly, like many Canadian companies with heritage, the Redpath is now owned by an American company.

The Redpath refinery has a museum inside the plant. I haven't been to it, yet. Perhaps it's worth a visit.

Redpath, taken from 17th floor -- Canon 5D Mark II & EF 50mm f1.2L

Tamron 90mm f2.8 Macro -- Non-Macro Photo Set

I am a big sucker for macro lenses.  At current count, I have three autofocus ones: Canon 180mm f3.5L, Canon 100mm f2.8L IS, and the Tamron 90mm f2.8, and there is a half dozen or so manual focus macro lenses.  I actually don't shoot a lot of pictures at macro range (1:1), but I like the very close focus capabilities of these lenses.  Besides, I haven't seen a really bad macro lens, yet!

I traded a few manual focus lenses that I hadn't used for this Tamron SP 90mm f2.8.  I used (and still have a broken one) one of the first version of Adaptall 90mm f2.5 briefly, also a fine lens, but the modern AF version is simply much better.  Extremely sharp, even at f2.8, and even at infinity, which the lens was not optimized for. No, it's not as good as the Canon 100mm f2.8L IS.  The sharpness of that lens is legendary, but the Tamron holds its own quite well, especially at less than half the price of the Canon.  True, the 100mm f2.8 has image stabilization, and is much better built.

One of the things I don't like about his lens is the focusing.  It's nothing like the EF 100mm f2.8L with its UltraSonic Motor (USM) for lightning fast and silent focus.  The Tamron is a lot noisier, slower, and less accurate.  Once in a while, I would get a picture not critically focused.  Not ruling out user error, though.

I think this lens is an excellent value, offering versatility from macro to portraiture, and 90mm is a very comfortable focal length for full frame as a short telephoto.  In fact, I am quite impressed by its image quality. If you overlook its plastic construction, occasional mis-focus (or user error, not sure), it's a great value.

All pictures below were taken with the Tamron SP 90mm f2.8 and Canon 5D Mark II.

The Nikon Df - A Take from a Non-Nikon User

The retro looking Nikon Df has generated a lot of interest, especially among Nikon users. As usual, some love it, some hate it, and some are indifferent. My feeling of the Df is that it's ugly. I had a few Nikon film bodies before, the cheap EM, the fabulous Nikomat FTM, and the controversial Nikon FA, but I like the look of the Nikon F3 the best.  Aesthetically, the Df to me is kind of a botched job, especially when view directly from the front. The proportion looks like someone put it on a vise and squeezed it from the sides, but it looks better from the top. The back looks just like any other digital SLR on the market.

I know the old timers love manual controls on the camera, and the Df has lots of it. I do question if the ISO dial is necessary. In the age of auto ISO, how useful is it to have a dedicated ISO dial? Personally, I set my ISO to Auto and never have to change it. Perhaps, the purpose is to slow you down and force you to take your time; same thing can be said about the shutter speed dial. This camera is definitely not created for operation speed. In a way, I guess it makes sense if it's targeted at the group of people who like to shoot their digital camera like a 1980s film camera.

The pricing of the camera is a surprise to me. Nikon has a tendency to price new niche cameras way too high. The Nikon 1 series comes to mind, and I think this one is overpriced for what it offers. No doubt many will pay for it purely for the look, but a D800 or a D610 is a better value.

I like the sensor in the Df. 16MP is a sensible solution that satisfies the majority of needs. I wish others will create a 16MP full frame sensor using today's technology. The low light performance would be phenomenal.

For me, I feel no love for the Df. Your mileage may vary.

Drums - Canon 5D Mark II & EF 135mm f2L @ f2. Click for larger.

Bokehlicious

Autumn is my favourite season and I usually take a lot of pictures, but not this year.  Seeing that the colours of the trees are quickly changing, and the weather is getting colder, I know if I don't go out and take some pictures of fall colours, that would be it this year.

I like to use long lenses to shoot the fall and the at wide apertures, because I like the look of the bokeh. The Canon 200mm f1.8L would have been great for this, but it's semi-dead; I can take pictures with it, but it would not focus. Then I thought about the Kinoptik 210mm f2.8 Speciale Cine and it's beautiful rendering, I thought it would be a good lens to use.  I was not disappointed.

There is something about the cinematic lenses that renders pictures so beautifully that I like a lot. If it were not so large and heavy, I would have used it far more often.

All pictures below were taken with the Canon 5D Mark II & Kinoptik 210mm f2.8 Speciale Cine.

The Other Hektor

This one is actually a projection lens - Hektor 120mm f2.5. As usual, it's mounted on a focusing helicoid, this time on the Vivitar 2x Macro Teleconverter that I made into a helicoid. This lens is actually pretty sharp, as good as the Hektor 13.5cm f4.5 that I used yesterday. The only negative is the contrast being pretty low. Being a relatively fast lens without aperture, this is expected. It also shows quite a bit of purple fringing on high contrast, backlit scenes. The bokeh is not bad at all, and the lens is quite a bit easier to focus than the other Hektor.

Well, another fun lens to shoot with :)

City of Toronto - 5D Mark II & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens.

The fountain - 5D Mark II & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens.

Scooter - 5D Mark II & Leitz Hektor 120mm f2.5 Projection lens.

Leitz Hektor 13.5cm f4.5 on Canon 5D Markk II

I know what you are thinking - how can you use an M-mount lens on the Canon?  Strictly speaking, it's no longer an M-mount lens. I got this one from the photo show that came on an Visoflex extension tube. The Hektor's lens group can be detached from its focusing tube. I mounted it on the Yeenon 18-32mm focusing helicoid plus a couple of thin 52mm filter rings and it's slightly past infinity focus on the 5D II. The tiny lens looks funny on a big camera like the 5D II, as you can see below.

Hektor 13.5cm f4.5 on Canon 5D II. Click for larger.

This is probably one of the cheapest Leica M-mount lenses you can buy, and for a good reason; it's not the sharpest lens, especially in the corners. I do have another Hektor that is a complete lens and I used it on the NEX and the result is similar. This one is probably much worse, the way I mounted it on the 5D II, with glue, filter rings, and all. But, it's how much fun you have shooting it that matters!

Fall Colours - Canon 5D II & Leitz Hektor 13.5cm f4.5. Click for larger.

One thing that I notice is that the Canon has a much stronger, more vibrant colours without much processing. I kind of like it as I prefer vibrant colours; much more pleasing to my eyes. One advantage of mounting the lens on a helicoid, is that it lets me focus much closer than otherwise possible. Being able to focus close is one of the attractions for me, as I do a fair bit of close up pictures.

Seagull - Canon 5D II & Leitz Hektor 13.5cm f4.5 @ f4.5. Click for larger.

I certainly enjoyed shooting this lens, and was nice not having to worry about adapter tolerance, as I am sure mine is way off the chart. There are times when sharp corners are needed, but many pictures are simply enhanced by the lack of sharp corners.

Sign of Autumn - Canon 5D II & Leitz Hektor 13.5cm f4.5 @ f4.5. 

Texting - Canon 5D II & Leitz Hektor 13.5cm f4.5

Ultimate Precision Adapter Material - Duct Tape

I am joking about the duct tape having the ultimate precision, but while many people are debating the merits of adapters on the Sony A7/A7r, and how a few microns of tolerance could affect the edge sharpness, I was having a blast shooting the S.F.O.M 100mm f3.2 projection lens held together to the focusing helicoid by duct tape. I used this lens on the Sony NEX-6 a few times (here and here) and really like the way the pictures were rendered, but I want to see how it looks on full frame. I mounted the lens the opposite of how I did it on the NEX; I mounted it on the 5D II with the front of the lens toward the sensor because it's the only way it can focus to infinity.  Maybe I will try it again on a shorter helicoid next time.

I had high hopes, but the pictures didn't turn out as good as when shot with the NEX-6. It seems to have more internal flare, and less sharp. I think the inversion of the lens makes the difference, or the focusing using optical viewfinder makes it much harder to get critical focus. I definitely enjoy using the NEX-6 over the 5D II when it comes to shooting with manual focus lenses, and that's why I eagerly await the arrival of the Sony A7/A7r. The bokeh is still interesting with a bit of weirdness though today I did some torture test on bokeh (see last picture). Naturally, all pictures were shot wide open at f3.2 since there is no aperture control on the lens.

All the pictures below were shot using the S.F.O.M projection lens mounted on the Vivitar 2x Teleconverter converted to a focusing helicoid.