Homing In

When I came out of the local swimming pool the other day I found parked beside my modest plastic fendered scooter a motorcycle of such stunning and immaculate shininess I had to get my camera out. And when I had gorged on the chrome and polished steel I looked up just as this tiny insect was zeroing in on the bright pink blossoms cascading from a hanging container above my head. Photography can be wonderfully satisfying. All these photos were taken with one of my favorite lenses, the Takumar SMC f2.8 105mm, originally made for Pentax film cameras. I have to focus and set the aperture manually but it's worth it for such crisp contrasty photos.

Morning Dew 2

Early this month I posted a photo of morning dew. I didn't mention in the post that it was taken as an experiment in that I used a telephoto lens. It worked well to give the effect I wanted though it is not what a telephoto is generally used for. Today's dew photo is another experiment that used a unique feature of the Sony a55 DSLR Camera - one of Sony's newer models - and a legacy lens - a Takumar SMC 55mm 1.8 lens with an extension tube. Unlike most macros the camera was not mounted on a tripod. This is a handheld photo. Usually the amount of blur due to shakiness would be more noticeable but the Multi Frame Noise Reduction feature of the Sony A55 was used here. The photo was shot using ISO 3200, a setting that would normally produce considerable "noise". However, the Sony A55 enables one to set a high ISO (up to 12,800). With a single press of the shutter release it rapidly takes five exposures and then merges them to reduce the noise. This enables one to shoot relatively fast so that reasonably sharp hand held macros are more possible. The photo above was shot at 1/200 of a second with the lens stopped down to f11. If you look carefully you can see the photographer's head (baseball cap) and shoulders silhouetted in the dewdrop and some clouds in the sky above his head.

Chinatown

Regular visitors here will know I have a penchant for old or legacy lenses. Yesterday I was lucky enough to find (for $15) a lens that some call the best 50mm lens ever made - the Super Takumar f1.4 50mm. I've only just begun to play with it but I like what I've seen so far. It may require a bit of work - there is a slight tinge of yellowness but I know how to cure that. Today's post is just a few shots of Victoria's Chinatown I took to test this lens.