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Building and testing my 3D camera module
ByGarf 2026-05-202026-05-27

[Jump to Gallery] As part of my embryonic GNU/Linux digital camera project, I recently built a 3D camera module. Basically its a ELP board, in an aluminium 1590A type stomp box with a short internal USB3 extension lead. This is a small collection of processed images I created while I was testing my 3D camera…

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Useful online resources for location shoots
ByGarf 2026-05-162026-06-05

I thought it might be handy to make a small collection of web-based resources for outdoor photography and similar activities. Some of these resources are right here on GarfNet. The rest are dotted around the worldwide web. So I thought it would be helpful to list all these links here, all on a single page,…

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Debian Digital pictures Electronics Equipment General Journal Linux Modular Camera Project Photography

A modular Debian GNU/Linux digital camera. Feasible or farcical?
ByGarf 2026-03-172026-05-18

Following on from a discussion on a photographic forum who which I belong, an old hobby horse of mine raised its head again. Namely the possibility of building one’s own Debian GNU/Linux digital camera, using Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, or similar, and one of the camera modules that’s available for it. Or indeed some…

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Zim desktop wiki
ByGarf 2026-01-122026-01-13

I suffer dreadful mental blocks at times. I’m also a tad forgetful. To work around this, I use Jaap Karssenberg’s ‘Zim’. This is an excellent indexed, searchable, cross-linkable, exportable, cross-platform note-taking program. Described by its developer as a ‘desktop wiki’ Zim turns effective note-taking from a tedious chore into a simple and routine task. And…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Infrared pictures Journal Photography Technology Travelogue UK

From Portsdown Hill in Infrared
ByGarf 2026-01-032026-06-07

It was a cold but sunny day today. So I decided to take my “full spectrum” converted camera up to Portsdown Hill for some infrared snaps. I thought it might also be interesting to try it on my 120 year old Bausch & Lomb + Beck 101.6mm lens. Whilst this is not a sharp lens,…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Retrospective Studio Photography Technology

My favourite old lens
ByGarf 2026-01-012026-01-01

End of year tends to make one reflect, and look back over the last year or so. As I did so, my “inner six-year-old’s” mind wandered onto the subject of my favourite camera lens. Problem is that I kinda like them all and I’ve had a lot of fun with them. My favourite lens is…

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Debian Digital pictures Equipment General Infrared pictures Journal Linux Photography Technology

More infrared photography
ByGarf 2025-12-262026-01-20

Well today is Boxing day, and the sun just managed to struggle its way out of the clouds around 14:00. As luck would have it, my variable infrared filter actually arrived from Shenzen late Christmas eve. So, following on from my early IR adventures on Christmas Eve, I thought I’d pop out to our backyard…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Infrared pictures Journal Photography Technology

Infrared with a fairly decent camera
ByGarf 2025-12-242026-05-30

It’s Christmas Eve and my old Lumix DMC-GH2 has just been delivered back, Special Delivery, following its conversion to “full spectrum”, by Protech Photographic in Crowborough. Infrared photography is something I have wanted to do for many years. So this year, as a sort of “Christmas present to self”, I decided to have one of…

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GarfNet DoF Calculator
ByGarf 2025-10-012026-06-05

Skip preamble and launch DoF calculator applet now. Welcome to the latest rework of the GarfNet Depth of Field Calculator. It is based on quite an old JavaScript application that appeared on the web back in the mid 1990s. I rewrote and extended it in the mid 2000’s. Consequently, it was looking rather old and…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Technology Travelogue UK

Around Havant with a Risespray 7.5mm lens
ByGarf 2025-07-192026-06-07

I rather like Micro Four Thirds. Currently I have three µ4/3 bodies and a collection of both dedicated AF (autofocus) and adapted vintage MF (manual focus) lenses. Trouble with µ4/3 is that whilst we are very well catered-for in terms of long lenses, there’s a bit of a vacuum in shorter ones. So I decided…

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Emulating Tungsten lighting with RGB+CCT
ByGarf 2025-05-042025-07-13

Question appeared on a forum to which I belong with regard to emulating tungsten lighting with RGB+CCT. To find out, I fitted a good old fashioned Philips “Photocrescenta” incandescent bulb and a Mi-Light FUT-105 LED into a double E27 double bulb holder and mounted the assembly on a standard studio boom arm. The Mi-Light FUT…

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Electronics Equipment FAQ General Journal Photography Technology

SD cards become read-only on insertion
ByGarf 2024-09-072025-08-18

One of the most annoying features on standard SD cards is the write protect tab. This tab often seems to get caught and pushed into the “read only” position when one inserts an SD card into a card reader or camera. Thus rendering the card “read only”. It seems a particular issue with the slots…

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Digital pictures Equipment FAQ Journal Photography Studio Photography Technology

Arca desk clamp for a heavy smartphone
ByGarf 2024-07-072025-08-18

I’m a clumsy clot and I’m always knocking my phone off my desk. OK it’s ruggedised and the floor is carpeted. Nevertheless, ruggedisation has its limits. Also my phone is a heavy old beast, weighing some 360 grams. That’s around 3/4 lb in “old money“. Which means that those flimsy plastic phone holders you see…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Technology Travelogue UK

Testing my cat
ByGarf 2024-06-292026-06-07

By which I mean testing my Tamron 500mm Catadioptric lens. It was a nice warm reasonably clear day today, peaking 24°C. So about an hour before sunset I took my Tamron, fitted on the front of my µ4/3 Lumix DMC-GX7 up to my favourite vantage point on Portsdown Hill, Hampshire. This is a wonderful place…

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Digital pictures Equipment Journal Photography

Pentax 17 – do I really want one?
ByGarf 2024-06-222025-02-06

Quite a lot of noise in the photography press regarding Ricoh Pentax’s new point and shoot film camera, the Pentax 17. And even more noise regarding its somewhat hefty price ticket: £550. Choices However for me it would have to be a choice between one of these (below) Pentax ME SUper, or more likely a…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Studio Photography Technology

Why I still quite like Micro Four Thirds
ByGarf 2024-06-112026-01-20

About a decade ago, I decided to go “mirrorless” – basically abandoning my heavy old Pentax DSLR and going for a system camera that is smaller and lighter. At the time I considered the new Fuji mirrorless offerings and micro four thirds. Problem was that at the time Fuji raw files would not work in…

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Digital pictures Equipment FAQ General Journal Photography Studio Photography

Home-made detachable camera straps
ByGarf 2024-03-012026-01-20

Today I decided to make my own affordable detachable camera and equipment lanyard straps. I used some cheap generic “Peak Design compatible” buckles, bought direct from China via Ali Express, together with some generic anchors from the same source. I also used some 25mm nylon webbing I’ve had kicking round for ages. Granted, perhaps bright…

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Digital pictures Electronics Equipment FAQ General Journal Linux Photography Technology

Testing memory cards
ByGarf 2024-02-072025-08-18

Problem is that memory cards can and do fail – even the expensive ones. And of course the world is littered with fakes. Being a bit of an old skinflint, almost all my memory cards have come from Amazon or similar. But I always add one extra precautionary step to the process between purchase and…

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Digital pictures Equipment FAQ Journal Photography Studio Photography

Preventing cable connectors from falling out of cameras
ByGarf 2024-01-202025-08-18

A couple of months back, a question was raised with regard to how to prevent cable connectors falling out of cameras during tethered shoots. Well my tethered shoots are almost always tethered wirelessly these days. However I do sometimes need to attach a power lead. As my wife reminded me, when we’ve done shoots with…

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Digital pictures Equipment FAQ General Journal Photography Studio Photography Technology

Make your own “monostick”
ByGarf 2024-01-192026-01-20

The subject of monopods was raised recently in a photographic forum to which I belong. As it happens, I was already flirting with the idea of using a walking stick as a monopod, to avoid the need to carry two sticks. I’m a lazy so-and-so at the best of times. I also have a habit…

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Digital pictures Electronics Equipment FAQ Journal Lighting Photography

Repairing a dead YN565EX II speedlight
ByGarf 2024-01-162025-08-18

Photographer pal changed the batteries in his dead YN565EX II speedlight flash gun. Unfortunately when he tried to witch it on, it didn’t work. He tried several sets of batteries. No luck. For those not familiar with the device, the Yongnuo YN565EX II is a relatively affordable battery-powered Chinese flash speedlight for both professional and…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Technology

How I mounted my 120-year-old Bausch & Lomb + Beck lens
ByGarf 2024-01-122026-01-20

Several people have contacted me privately and asked for information regarding how I actually mounted my 120-year-old Bausch & Lomb + Beck lens on my µ4/3 camera. I hope in this article to shed a little light on how one can make such an old lens and seemingly-incompatible lens actually stay on a modern mirrorless…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Technology Travelogue UK

120 year old Bausch & Lomb + Beck lens, in action, on Portsdown Hill
ByGarf 2024-01-052026-06-07

Regular readers may know that my 2023 Christmas project was to make this 120 year old Bausch & Lomb + Beck lens fit on my µ4/3 cameras and actually capture some pictures with it. Unfortunately, at the time, the weather was too wet to take the thing outdoors. Fortunately by early January the weather became…

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Making a 120-year-old Bausch & Lomb + Beck lens work on a modern mirrorless camera
ByGarf 2023-12-292026-01-20

Over Christmas I set myself a little task of trying to make a 120-year- old Bausch & Lomb + Beck lens fit on a fairly modern camera. The lens was given to me in the late 1980’s by one of my very first models. It was a nice thought but to be honest, I came…

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Digital pictures Equipment General Journal Photography Studio Photography Travelogue UK

My new old 500mm Tamron catadioptric lens
ByGarf 2023-11-302026-06-07

I always rather fancied a decent 500mm catadioptric lens. I bought a cheap Korean one off eBay a few years back and frankly it was not very good. But the old Tamron 500mm mirror lens has quite a good reputation. And as luck would have it, one turned up cheap on eBay a few weeks…

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