alden

Here's a couple taken with my D750, Tamron 70-200 VC combo. Moose in a park inside of Anchorage, AK.

 

 

f/5.6

70mm

1/800

ISO 200

 

 

f/5.6

200mm

1/400

ISO 200

 

Here is my best this week. 

 

 

94 slices @ ISO: 200, Aperture: 4, Shutter: 1/40.

Lighting was a big octabox camera left and a sunfire reflector camera right. The watch rests on black Lucite and I used a match as a distance to get the band to hold it's shape. The hands are at 10:09:30 as is usual when shooting clocks and watches to get a nice geometry that balances on the face. Because of the angle, the crown being pulled out isn't disturbing. Had I shot it more straight on, I would have had to shoot the crown pushed in separately and composited it in in post.

Here is a watch from me, not as elegant as Alden's but it didn't cost even close to something with a good mechanical movement.

 

 

94 slices @ ISO: 200, Aperture: 4, Shutter: 1/40.

Lighting was a big octabox camera left and a sunfire reflector camera right. The watch rests on black Lucite and I used a match as a distance to get the band to hold it's shape. The hands are at 10:09:30 as is usual when shooting clocks and watches to get a nice geometry that balances on the face. Because of the angle, the crown being pulled out isn't disturbing. Had I shot it more straight on, I would have had to shoot the crown pushed in separately and composited it in in post.

Thanks Alden. It's just a bar stool - we have six of them round the kitchen table. They're all different - so look out for the rest of the series! The orange bit, to the right, is part of the backrest. The other orange bit is the seat. There is a chromed tube under that bit. The turquoise blur is the lower stretcher of the table. If that doesn't make sense, I'll post a wider shot!

Loving the Seiko shots, by the way. I've always been quite keen on watches - especially mechanical ones.

Well, up to now I'm quite liking this one...

Nikon D610, AF-S Nikkor 50mm f1.4 G

1/50th @ f1.4

ISO 100

 

 

Although I do like the idea of printing the posterized version as a bit of abstract art...

 

Today, I paid my LBS a visit. I spotted a nice Focus road bike with Campagnolo Super Record EPS.

 

 

 

 

There will be no focus stack tonight.

This little pewter donkey is 104 slices and there are some glitches in the masks. I will probably reprocess this at a later date with some other software. PS isn't quite up to such deep stacks.

Here are some from yesterday and today. Note the contrast in the weather!

 

I love fast lenses.

 

Skyline Caverns by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

50/1.1 Nokton, wide-open, on the M Monochrom. Able to shoot Black Bears in Caves at Midnight.

 

Skate and Fun Zone by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

Or my daughter skating lit by the disco lights. Manual focus with a rangefinder under these lighting conditions- takes a little practice.

 

and ...

 

three_Sonnars by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

I LOVE THEM ALL!

Believe it or don't but I actually have one this week. Taken the other day at Shark Valley, the Everglades.

 

D610/AFS70-300VR

 

 

--Ron

 

I am currently experimenting with using PS for focus stacking, just so I know how to do it without expensive specialist tools like Zerene. This is a shallow stack of only 15 slices spaced 1 mm apart.

 

Here is a slice from the middle of the stack that shows the narrow DOF, even @f/11:

 

 

Here is the result:

 

The stack would process even better if I shot it with more steps as 1 mm between slices with 1.5 mm acceptably sharp is pushing it.

Here's mine:

 

Model: NIKON D700

I'll have a go...

D610, AF Nikkor 24/2.8

1/160 @ 5.6

 

I don't understand Leica fascination. It's a well known psychological fact that when things are priced out of reach they become more desirable. To me that's all that is happening here.

I don't understand the fascination that people have with expensive cars.

 

My fascination with Leica is simple: I can use lenses made over the last 85 years on my M9 and M Monochrom in the fashion that they were intended: RF coupled and full-frame. The price of the bodies ran about the same as each of my two D1x bodies. Prices of Nikkor lenses can be high, price of Leica lenses can be high. None cost as much as some of the custom optics that I had made. The M9 and M Monochrom together cost less than the first DSLR that I bought, ~1994. That camera has 1.6MPixels, a Kodak DCS200ir.

 

I have some 70 lenses in Leica mount, many bought when prices were low before the M8 came out. $70 for a Summicron, $95 for a Nikkor 5cm F1.4, etc.

I paid for the M9 and M Monochrom by selling lenses, most of which I custom converted to Leica mount myself. It's fun, and a good break from debugging custom computer hardware and firmware. I could have just written a check for the cameras, way cheaper than what most people spend on cars. 

 

1934 5cm F1.5 Zeiss Sonnar, converted to the Leica Mount. I've done about 50 of these conversions, made enough to pay for the M9 and M Monochrom doing them.

 

sonnar_160 by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

Wide-Open at F1.5.

 

Warm November Day by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

 

If you don't feel any connection to the equipment that you use for your work and your hobbies. you won't get this. When I get into my car, I just don't want to get stuck in traffic, and I want to get where I'm going. When I pick up a camera, I want to setup the shot and have the camera make the images as I see it in my mind. The cameras are way cheaper than an expensive car, and I enjoy using them.