Tommy Thompson Park - June 2013

We often overlook, or don't spend enough time to seek out the the beauty around us. We get so used to our surroundings that we take everything for granted. Case in point, Tommy Thompson Park. I have been to this park many times, but most of the time just bike there during the day. Occasionally I would get up early and go there and take pictures. The park is a peninsula made from construction debris since the 1950s. Even today, trucks continuously dump building debris to expand it, and for this reason, the park is normally closed on weekdays and is only open to the public on weekends and holidays. It's one of the most successful projects the City of Toronto has created. The park is home to many local plant species, and wild animals such as rabbits have a large population and they can be seen often, and even coyotes have been sighted.

From the park, the Toronto cityscape can be seen, and depending on the time of the day and weather, it can be beautiful. Yesterday was one such day. I am so happy to have witness it.

The iconic CN-Tower - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 inch (75mm) f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Downtown Toronto - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 inch (75mm) f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

City and nature - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 inch (75mm) f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Ducks - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 inch (75mm) f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Rabbit - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 inch (75mm) f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Flare. The purple light you see is actually internal flare. Normally flare is bad to have, but in this situation I kind of like it. I have another shot at a slightly different angle without the flare, and it doesn't look as nice - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 inch (75mm) f2 TV Lens.

Meyer-Optik Telemegor 400mm f5.5 - Photo Set

At one point I was crazy about East German lenses I went nuts buying them. Meyer-Optik and Pentacon lenses were my main focus, and the Telegegor 400mm f5.5 is one of them lenses that I still have. Though I like the lens, but like many of my very long lenses, it never gets used often and the reason I still have it, is because it's not worth much selling it. It's not a rare lenses by any means. I have seen variations of this lens in Exakta and M42 mounts a few times at the camera shows. The price has gone up somewhat but it's still an inexpensive lens.

Optically, it's not the sharpest lens you can find in this focal length, and wide open it's a bit soft and vignettes, as you can see in the first picture. There is a unique quality to this, and some other Meyer lenses. At wider apertures, the image exhibits a blend of sharp and soft quality, which in some pictures, looks really nice. In actual use, this lens, without a tripod, is very difficult. When I used it with my 1Ds or 1D II, it was much easier because I had a cross-split screen installed, but on the 5D II, which as a stock focusing screen, it's hard to tell in focus, or slightly off. Live-in is pretty useless in strong light. Another negative, is that the closest focusing distance is 6 meters (20 ft), so close-ups are out of the question.

So, it's a pretty inexpensive 400mm lens, which has good enough image quality for causal use. If you are a sharpness freak, the Canon EF 400mm f5.6 is your best option, if you shoot Canon, but what fun is that when the camera/lens does everything for you? Besides, there is practically no characters to speak of from images captured with modern lenses. They all look very similar, but not some decades old manual focus lenses :)

Weather Station - Meyer-Optik Telemegor 400mm f5.5. Click for larger.

Bird Dance - Meyer-Optik Telemegor 400mm f5.5. Click for larger.

Love Talk - Meyer-Optik Telemegor 400mm f5.5. Click for larger.

Tree - Meyer-Optik Telemegor 400mm f5.5. Click for larger.

The Giant and the Midget. On the right is a Pentacon 50mm f1.8.

Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6 Shoots Tommy Thompson Park

It took me a while, but I finally got the Visionar 109mm f1.6 mounted on the Yeenon Helicoid. This is one big lens with a non-standard filter thread around 77mm, but not quite 77mm.  The same is true for the rear mount; it's not quite 62mm, more like 63mm. I had to file the inside of the 62mm to 52mm step-down ring, and then use JB Kwik to welded it together, just like the 92mm f1.6 lens.

This lens has uneven illumination. One side is slightly darker than the other. This is more apparent when doing post exposure compensation. Although image circle covers the APS-C sensor (and maybe even 35mm full frame), the edge is very soft. This lens is suitable for certain subjects but not others.

I decided to ride my bike to Tommy Thompson Park (sometimes called Leslie Spit) and shoot with this lens but got up too late and by the time I went there, it was already 9:30. Too much light for a fixed aperture f1.6 lens. Consequently, most of the photos were over exposed. Good thing I shot RAW and was able to recover from the over exposure.

This is the bird migratory season and there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands of birds of all kinds there. In fact, Tommy Thompson Park is one of the largest migratory ground for some of the birds. Talked to a birder and he told me few species of birds that were almost endangered have come back in good quantities, and he even saw egrets this year. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to go near the bird nesting ground, but if you have a very long lens, you can still get some good shots. If you have never been to Tommy Thompson Park, you should pay a visit, and go early in the morning. It's open only on weekends and holidays, though people go on weekdays too.

Sailboat - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Bird Island - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Reflections - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Bird Paradise - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Guarding the nest - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6.

Weird Clouds

Clouds at Tommy Thompson Park -- NEX-5N & Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

I like clouds.  The shapes are always unpredictable; sometimes weird, sometimes majestic, and often leaves me in awe.  When combined with lights, they sometimes look spectacular.  I think clouds are one of natures most beautiful phenomena.


 

Tommy Thompson Park - October 2011

Although Tommy Thompson Park is only about a mile from where I live, I don't visit it often enough.  The last time I went there to take pictures was back in June.  Today we invited Sally, who is a budding photographer, to join me and Dillon.

Sally -- 1D III & EF 70-200mm f2.8 IS. Click for larger.

We made it there before sun rise, and it was always great to see it, but unfortunately there wasn't any clouds today, which made it a bit less spectacular than otherwise.  But, it was Sally's first time seeing a sun rise and I am sure it was a nice experience for her.  I noticed there were lots of snails.  On the road, on the grass and small trees.  Never seen so many of them before.  Possibly because we were there very early and they were still migrating themselves from one side of the road to the other.

Snail in the morning sun -- 1D III & EF 180mm f3.5L Macro. Click for larger.

The part is transforming itself nicely.  A few areas were newly created.  Lots of birds, but not as much as early spring/summer.  As usually, many cyclists and runners were already there before 7am.  It's a great place to bike, walk, run, and of course, take pictures.

The Bridge -- 1D III & EF 16-35mm f2.8L II. Click for larger.

Fall Leaves -- 1D III & EF 180mm f3.5 Macro. Click for larger.

We had a great time.  Can't wait to go back a bit later in the fall for some more colourful shots.

Tommy Thompson Park - June 2011

Went to Tommy Thompson Park with Dillon and my good friend Cliff this morning for a shoot.  Unfortunately we didn't go early enough to catch the sunrise. But it was fun.  Decided to go light so didn't take my 1D IIn, and instead, took along the NEX-5 and a few manual focus lenses, including the Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8 which I have not touched for a little while now.

Lots of birds in Tommy Thompson Park, and we didn't even go to the spot was migratory birds reside. You can actually see more birds on trees than trees there.  Shot some random birds from the main road.  They don't seem to be afraid of people until you get really close.

NEX-5 & Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8. Click to see larger. 

I really like how the Kinoptik lens renders the pictures.  Very pleasing to look at.  But, is it really worth that much money that people are paying for Kinoptik lenses?  I have my doubts.  But, when it comes to lenses, especially niche cine lenses, people seems to become irrational.  I am happy I was able to get most of my lenses relatively cheap, before the crazy price that people now pay.  My motto is that fun is gone if your wallet hurts when it comes to photography.  Enjoy within your limits.

Wide Open -- NEX-5 & Kinoptik Speciale Cine 210mm f2.8. Click to see larger. 

Fortunately, there are so many alternatives to have fun with photography, and often you don't really need to spend too much money either.  Making your own lenses from projection and enlarging lenses certainly is one of the cheap but very rewarding hobbies, and you don't even need any specialized tools!  Seriously, if I could do it, anyone could.  I am not known to be very mechanically inclined and most often am all thumbs.  For people like me, we just need persistence to build up the skills.  Really, they don't even need to look nice, just need to be able to take pictures!

Reborn -- NEX-5 & Astro-Kino 65mm f1.5 Projection Lens. Click to see larger.

My suggestion is to go to used photo equipment shows.  There are at least two of them each year in Toronto and Montreal.  If you have nothing to do on the weekend, shop the second hand stores, sometimes you will be surprised what you can find.

Snail -- NEX-5 & Astro-Kino 65mm f1.5 Projection Lens. Click to see larger.