The Last Days of Summer

It’s been eight months since I started this blog, and I must say I’ve enjoyed sharing my experiences with the rest of the photographic world. Being a teacher as well as a photographer, I find it’s been a useful venue for helping those who want to become better photographers, which includes myself. One of my mantras has always been, “I teach in order to learn, and learn in order to teach; the two go hand in hand”.

So, I’ve decided to take the leap, and spruce up the design of “Against the Grain” with Blogger’s pretty cool design templates, and add content pages that are not timeline specific. As one who has spent a fair amount of time designing for web media, I find using Blogger quite liberating; I can concentrate on the content, without getting all caught up in the design. I just have to learn to work with Blogger’s rather primitive HTML editor.

Looking ahead, the fall colors should provide many photographic opportunities, especially for my new Didymium filter, which seems destined for such use by design. I’m looking forward to experimenting with it so I can give it the write-up it deserves.

Time is running out for Infrared work, which seems less spectacular once the foliage leaves us. It should be interesting to see if fall foliage, with all its reds, oranges and yellows, registers any differently. After all, it’s not about the color green, but how the leaves reflect infrared light, and perhaps autumn leaves do it a little differently.

I’ve come pretty far, and yet there’s so much further to go. When compact discs first came out, I was motivated to acquire all those albums I had held off buying until they were available in a more permanent format. So it is with photography. Each new purchase seems like it has more value, now that photography is in the digital domain. So, I’m working hard to catch up on all those accessories I’ve always wanted.

Photography is as alive as ever, even more so now that it’s digital. Working in the Times Square area of New York, you see a lot of people with all types of cameras, taking all types of pictures. Everyone has a different MO, and there’s a camera for just about every one. With so many people taking and sharing photos, and an infinite amount of subject matter, it seems I have my work cut out for me.

Collateral Damage

Collateral Damage

The favorite neighborhood posting place for Garage Sale signs.

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Move Over, Holga; a New Hobby is Born

Lavec LT-002 35mm Plastic “Toy” Camera

During Sunday’s outing in Cold Spring Harbor, I purchased this little gem for five dollars. There it was, sitting on a shelf with more sophisticated but forgotten cameras, digital and film alike. None of them appealed to me, not even the historically significant Kodak Disc camera, the “Edsel” of Instamatics. None of them except this one.

It features four aperture settings, a frame counter, a hot shoe and came in a zippered vinyl case. The back opens just like the typical 35mm camera, by pulling up on the rewind crank. Internally it sports a curved film plane and pressure plate. The construction is quite robust, and yet retains that wonderful, creaky plasticky feel of a holga.

What hooked me were the four color-coded aperture settings denoted by both icons and f designations, and the positive feel of the click stops of the rotating lens barrel used to set them.
The variable aperture is achieved using by “waterhouse stops”, in this case a tapered opening which slides from side to side when the lens barrel is rotated. This should make for a very interesting bokeh, which will be in the shape of a lopsided trapezoid.

So, with the acquisition of this camera, I realize that “camera collecting” is now an official hobby for me. It gives me something to look for when my wife and I go antiquing. Over the years, I’ve acquired some interesting cameras, mostly by accident. But for the first time, I actually see myself seeking out specific, collectible camera models, like this one:

The Timeless Rolleiflex 3.5 M-X Synch TLR

This is actually a camera that I sought out for many years, but not as a collectible camera, as a working camera. I was fortunate to find an example in very good, working condition. I have shot with this camera, and it takes wonderful pictures. But even if it didn’t, it would be valuable as a collectible.

Auto White Balance -NO! …well, Maybe

Having lunch today at Whistling Willy’s (formerly Henry’s on the Hudson) in Cold Spring Harbor, I have come to realize that auto white balance is not necessarily the scary monster I had previously thought.

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Canon FD-Nikon Extension Tube

It was easier than I thought it would be. With the help of some scrap metal, tin snips and a Radio Shack notching tool, I fashioned a tool to remove the corrective optic from the Fotodiox FD-Nikon Lens Mount Adapter, effectively creating a 13mm extension tube that will mount Canon lenses to Nikon bodies. The added benefit of which is that it also serves as a Canon Macro Hood/Diaphram adapter.


Infinity focus is way, way off, but then so would it be if I used an extension tube with a Nikon Lens.

So now, I can consider that the $39.95 was well-spent, and I can actually recommend this product to anyone who is, like myself, handy and a little on the adventurous side.

But what exactly does this give me?

A compact, fast, high power macro lens based on the Canon FD 24mm f/2.8
This lens, when reverse mounted with a Fotodiox 52mm Reverse Lens Mount and fitted with the FD-Nikon adapter becomes a high-power manual macro lens with full aperture control. This setup has extreme magnification and a short working distance. With the Nikon BR-6 installed on the FD-Nikon adapter, I can attach any 52mm filter of my choice.

A compact, fast, macro lens based on the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8
This lens, when conventionally mounted to the camera body with the Fotodiox FD-Nikon adapter, becomes a moderate-power closeup lens with full aperture control and a longer working distance. It’s the equivalent of using a 50mm Nikon AI-S lens with a 13mm extension tube. Interestingly, I have slight control over the degree of magnifcation by adjusting the focus and working distance. Reverse-mounting it would give me a speed advantage over the 24mm, but the magnification would not be as great. The wider the lens, the greater the magnification.

A moderately fast, zoom macro lens based on the Canon FD 35-105mm f3.5
This lens, when conventionally mounted to the camera body with the Fotodiox FD-Nikon adapter, becomes a macro lens with a versatile zoom range and variable working distance. This of course comes at the expense of speed, but an added benefit is that this lens has a constant aperture of f/3.5 unlike my Nikon AF-S 16-85mm f3.5-5.6. With the Canon, I can achieve 157.5mm @ f/3.5, whereas with the Nikon I can only get 127.5 @ F/5.6. So the magnification is 24% greater and the aperture is 1-2/3 stops faster. But, we do have to take into consideration the 13mm extension, so the effective magnification is even greater, and the speed a little slower. At 35mm, I have high magnification with a short working distance. At 105mm, I have moderate magnification with close focusing and a longer, very comfortable working distance. At any working distance between these two points, the zoom acts like a focus ring, so it’s extremely easy to find the optimal scale and simply focus to it. Since this lens isn’t wider than the 24mm, there isn’t an advantage to reverse-mounting it, even if I could find a 72mm reverse lens mount adapter.

A moderately fast, zoom macro lens based on the Canon FD 70-210mm f4
This lens, when conventionally mounted to the camera body with the Fotodiox FD-Nikon adapter, has a less useful range than the 35-105mm, but then I can get closer while being further away. Again, the widest angle of view gives the greatest magnification, so I can fill the frame with a flower at about 6" away and achieve about half that magnification at 210mm. At that zoom level, the maximum lens-to-subject distance is about 128", a little over ten feet, so it almost feels like using a normal lens at close range. Again, the continuous aperture is a benefit here, but this setup doesn’t seem to offer as great an advantage over using my Nikon 70-300mm.

I can add extension tubes to any of these setups to increase magnification by reducing the minimum focusing distances. For example, if I add a 36mm extension tube to the 50mm f/1.4 lens, I'll increase the magnification by almost 75% (0.72). To determine this, I divided the extension distance by the focal length of the lens. This amount is then added to the original magnification of the lens.

I could also add my Canon FD 2x-B teleconverter to increase magnification by a factor of two while increasing the maximum focusing distance. However, this comes at the expense of adding two stops of exposure.

Finally, I can simply reinstall the optic and accept its qualities for what they are, using it as…

A Soft-focus Effect Canon FD to Nikon Lens Adapter
Used for the purpose it was originally designed, I was initially disappointed. Now, knowing it has additional purpose hidden within, I can judge it less harshly. I’m not going to achieve the 36mm, f/2.8, reasonably sharp images I originally thought. But the question is, can I achieve an image with a pleasing aesthetic quality? Since the answer is a definite yes, it’s worth pursuing.

Canon FD 24mm f/2.8 + Fotodiox FD-Nikon adapter

The down side to all of this? Now I have to unpack and keep accessible all the Canon FD lenses that I’d squirreled away since I made the transition to Nikon, because I’m going to be using them.

A Lot.

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not.”

— Georgia O’Keefe

for my wife, Heidi

Bee on Echinacea

Bee on Echinacea

One year ago today, this was taken with the Nikon Coolpix P5100 fitted with Nikon FC-E8 0.21x Fisheye Converter Lens. I had just received this lens, and was experimenting with it in my partner’s garden.

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They Make Teleconverters, Don’t They?

What’s wrong with this picture?

Look closely. Isn’t that a Canon FD Lens on a Nikon body? Isn’t that impossible?

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Why Is a Fast Lens a High Resolution Lens?

Because high-ISO noise robs your images of resolution, that’s why. It’s also the reason that a high-resolution sensor does not necessarily yield a better image than one with less resolution but more sensitivity.

A faster lens means shooting with a lower ISO, and a lower ISO means less noise. Noise robs your images of resolution, just as a lower resolution sensor does. Only noise is not really part of the image, and can degrade an otherwise acceptable image very quickly.

So, if your camera uses interchangeable lenses, before you go hunting for a camera with a higher resolution sensor, consider purchasing a faster prime lens. Not only will your images have less noise, but they’ll be sharper as well, as dollar for dollar, prime lenses typically have higher resolving power and less chromatic aberration. Plus, their compact size and reduced weight make them much more portable.

Wide lenses are ideal candidates, as their enormous depth of field make focusing a snap, and if you need a tighter shot you can always crop the image in post. Because the images will contain less noise, they will also enlarge much better.

Film vs. Sensor: Opposite Worlds Colliding

Whether transitioning from film to digital, or just getting started in the challenging digital domain, it’s important to understand what you’re up against.

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Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who’s the Cheapest of Them All?

Samyang 500mm f/8 Reflex “Mirror” Lens, marketed under the Phoenix brand name.

I just can’t seem to pass up a good bargain...

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Gas Pumps, Cold Spring Harbor NY