Merry Christmas 2017
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Author: Garf
The Big Russian – my MTO 1000 mm catadioptric lens
This is by far my largest and longest focal-length lens. Rumour has it that the MTO 1000 mm catadioptric lens was “standard issue” to KGB surveillance operatives during the Cold War Era. MTO itself also has an interesting history. Seems it started out by making the huge glass reflectors for Russian anti-aircraft arc-lights. It made…
Drunken bumblebees in our garden…
Drunken bumblebees working the lavender in our garden. Seems Bumblebees have longer tongues than ordinary worker bees and can reach to the bottom of the lavender flowers in order to get to the nectar. Moreover nectar can ferment, when mixed with rainfall and natural yeast. Consequently these incredible little creatures can become quite tipsy, especially…
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Nematodes Microscopy
Today I had to spread some nematodes around our recently planted Portuguese laurel trees. But before I put the nematodes in water, I thought it would be fun to look at them under the microscope, and possibly take some photos with my recently acquired 26mm eyepiece to µ4/3 camera adaptor. The camera is my little…
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Experimenting with Fujian 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens
Experimenting with Fujian 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens. This is a cheap £10.00 lens off eBay. It is designed for CCTV. However with a simple £1.00 “C” to µ4/3 adaptor it fits nicely and works well with my little Lumix DMC GX7. These are some of the results… Actually, I’m a big fan of the…
Portsmouth from Portsdown Hill
Testing out my new old MTO 1000mm lens that I recently found cheap on eBay… You can find out more about the massive MTO 1000mm that I used to take these shots, here. Related Images:
A few close-ups with my Fujian 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens
I treated myelf to a new lens the other day, a Fjujian 35mm F/1.7. This thing has no stop clicks. But it’s astonishingly well-made, of all metal/glass construction and behaves very much like a Victorian Petzval lens. It’s a “C” mount and fits nicely (and fills the frame) on my µ4/3 cameras with a simple…
Old photo kit
A couple of odds and sods I rediscovered when I tidied up the studio earlier this month… Related Images:
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Cheap but effective continuous studio lighting
For continuous lighting, one needs a light source that has good colour balance, uses power efficiently, is reasonably robust and does not present a health or fire risk. I am also a tightwad – interested primarily in “bangs per buck”. Whilst I love new technology, I am not prepared to pay silly money for it….
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Setting up a home studio
Editors note: this article is a few years old and there are a few are updates and related posts that some readers may find helpful… 2016 – Converting inexpensive LED flood lights for use in the studio 2017 – Cheap but effective continuous studio lighting 2018 – Cheap and cheerful overhead camera mount for mirrorless…
Silver mannequins
I was given a pair of broken but usable silver-painted mannequins by a photographer pal. Here are a few snaps of them as they arrived in their new home and saw their first tours of duty in my studio… Related Images:
Merry Christmas 2016
Geese lament over Brexit and Trump. Painted by Zusannah Dora Majlati, 2016. Related Images:
Converting inexpensive LED flood lights for use in the studio.
This is how I converted three left-over cheapie (£60 for a box of ten, delivered) 20 watt daylight LED flood lights for use in the studio. The basic tools you need:- Vernier or digital caliper, M10 ISO metric taps. Suitable spanner (17mm AF). Bench vice. Electrician’s screwdriver and wire strippers, to make the electrical connections….
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Romanesco – alien food
I have always been rather fascinated by the fractal-like properties of the romanesco. It really does look like it is not of this planet. SO I thought it would be fun to team up a romanesco, some cheap RGB LED lighting and a couple of broken silver coloured mannequins. Just in case anyone is wondering:…
My cheap new Amazon Basics photographic rucksack
A couple of days ago, I purchased an “amazon basics” camera+laptop rucksack, for the princely sum of £ £35.49. delivered. Well it just arrived. So time to check it out, and move in. I have to say I’m actually quite impressed. This model also has a built-in laptop carrier too that comfortably holds a 40…
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Aliens ate my shed
Slightly off-the-wall experiment with a pair of broken mannequins and some cheap but effective RGB LED lighting. Related Images:
Alien prank
I thought I’d play a tick on my girlfriend, such that when she came home from work, she’s find it filled with aliens. As it happens I messed it up and fell over something in the hall bruising my leg and spoiling the surprise. Which she thought was all rather silly anyway. But I did…
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Studio lit by LED
I rather like LED lighting. I never cease to be amazed what one can do with it – and do very cheaply. So I decided to have a bit of fun in the studio, with some of the latest budget RGB LED and a couple of Cokin starburst filters. Related Images:
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Repairing my vintage Tannoy Monitor Golds
I decided to have a go at repairing the HF tweeters unit in my vintage Tannoy Monitor Golds. It was a tricky old job. More pictures to follow. Related Images:
Hedgehog in the garden
For some time now, this little fellow has frequented our garden. We have a sort of hedgehog highway behind the shed. And because we have no cats or dogs, they hedgehogs are free to pretty much come and go as they please. Related Images:
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My studio at night
More LED experiments – this time using some small daylight LED and a 12 volt DC power supply to light the Dexion racking. Related Images:
Repairing an elderly Tamron 80-210mm lens (103A)
I’ve had this old but very chunky Tamron 80-210mm Adaptall 2 telephoto zoom lens since the mid 1980s. Only I noticed that the overall image quality had become rather poor. I wanted to find out why. When I shone a small torch through it, I noticed what appeared to be a haze. Despite several cleans…
Macro with a 58mm 44-m4 Helios lens and a 10 mm macro ring
Macro shots using an elderly Soviet era 58mm 44-m4 Helios lens and a 10 mm macro ring. Much to my surprise, it seems to work remarkably well, certainly on my little µ4/3 camera. Related Images:
Fifty shades of shed
This little project was intended to capture colour-cycling RGB lighting. One of these days I must get around to doing it again and making a rather better job of it. Related Images:
Southsea in the rain
I was fortunate to be given a rather nice 20mm f/1.7 Lumix prime lens. So obviously I needed to test it. A 20 mm with a nice wide aperture is particularly good for street photography. So I braved the awful weather and made my way to Southsea one wet and windy Sunday afternoon, and grabbed…