My contribution to One Word Sunday: Round.
Tag: Dandelion
Weekly Prompts: Sepia Dandelion Clock.
This is another contribution to the Weekly Prompts Photo Challenge: Sepia which is running throughout the month of August.
A sepia study of a Dandelion clock taken this summer with a 35mm CCTV lens adapted to fit a mirrorless camera.
Cosmic Photo Challenge: Independent Lenses in Various States.
This is my contribution to the Cosmic Photo Challenge: A State of Independence.
My first thought was a selection of juvenile birds that were independent of the adults when the photos were taken. That idea was quickly followed by the fact that this is the Canada Day long weekend so I considered a Canada Day post.
Then I thought about an ongoing project, testing a variety of lenses on a modern mirrorless camera. Most of the lenses I have tested so far are (or were) made by independent lens makers. Companies that make lenses to fit other makers cameras.
Some of the lenses are in a bit of a state through heavy use or being designed to be almost disposable. Which is why I titled the post “Independent Lenses in Various States” as a rewording of the challenge.
To the lenses.
A Periwinkle flower photographed with a 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens adapted to fit an Olympus mirrorless camera. Shot with the lens wide open at f/1.7.
This was the first CCTV lens I purchased and I found it interesting enough to purchase a couple more. They’re also known as C-mount lenses having a screw mount for attaching to CCTV cameras with the appropriate mount.
Some of these CCTV lens are very cheap. I wonder if they’re designed to be almost disposable, used where or when a lens could get damaged somehow. The lens was $38 CAD including shipping, the adapter to fit it to the camera and two extension tubes to go between the lens and the camera to allow it to focus on closer subjects.
Ivy growing up a tree trunk with a 25mm f/1.4 CCTV lens. This is one of the lenses I ordered after experimenting with the 35mm CCTV lens used for the Periwinkle flower above.
Stopping the lens down from maximum aperture causes severe vignetting so this was shot with the lens wide open at f/1.4. Wide open the lens still vignettes a bit and as the image circle produced by the lens barely covers the sensor there’s some interesting swirling around the edges of the photo.
I have already had to repair the focusing mechanism on the lens after it first jammed and then stopped focussing on distant subjects. That probably explains why the lens cost $36 CAD including shipping and the adapter to fit it to the camera.
Last years seed pods and new leaves with a 50mm f/1.4 CCTV lens. Shot wide open at f/1.4. This was the other CCTV lens I ordered after experimenting with the 35mm CCTV lens.
Surprisingly good performance for $41 CAD including shipping and the adapter to fit it to the camera. So I’m finding it a bit disappointing so far.
A Bracken frond taken with a Vivitar 35mm f/1.9 lens I purchased used in the 1970s. Shot wide open at f/1.9. At the time Vivitar were a U.S. brand who designed lenses that were then manufactured by various Japanese lens makers.
The same design was built with a variety of camera mounts allowing the lens to fit a wide range of camera bodies.
I have given this lens a hard life over the years and it now feels like it could fall apart each time I use it.
Dandelion clocks (seed heads) with a “silvernose” Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens I purchased in 1976. As with the other shots this was taken with the lens wide open, in this case f/1.8.
I don’t know if it can be classed as an independent lens. It wasn’t designed for the camera being used and requires an adapter but both the lens and camera were made by Olympus.
The silvernose refers to a polished aluminium ring on the front of the lens and signifies that it is one of the early Olympus OM Zuiko lenses. This is another lens that has had a hard life. It has been dropped a few times and was once bounced along the gutter of Charing Cross Road while attached to my Olympus OM1 when it slipped from my shoulder as I ran for the last tube train of the night. A few years later it was being dried out in an oven after being submerged in Georgian Bay.
An afternoon walk, 18th June.
I have physiotherapy on Tuesday and Friday mornings. As the weather was nice I decided to go for a walk with the camera on Tuesday afternoon to continue exercising my leg and arm.
For the walk I used my oldest lens, an Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 I purchased with an Olympus OM1 in 1976. I also decided to keep the lens set at its maximum aperture, f/1.8, for all the shots.
The lens is one of the early OM system lenses know as silvernose (or silver nose depending on the reference) because they have a shiny brushed aluminium front on the filter mount. They’re often single coated rather than the multi coating used on modern lenses. My copy of the lens has had a hard life over the years, it was once submerged in Georgian Bay and dried out in an oven.
Some interesting variegated Hosta leaves.
A small group of Dandelion seed heads. I didn’t spot the falling seed until I posted the photo on Instagram a day later.
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Lawn Ornaments
Tuesday Photo Challenge – Trail
This is my contribution to the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Trail.
As my walks around the neighborhood involve a selection of trails I thought I would go with a selection of photos taken when walking them rather than photos of the actual trails.
Some Dandelion clocks taken on a walk after the challenge was posted.
A hodgepodge of tree trunks in the autumn.
A Maple leaf on snow.
Looking up at some autumn colour.
Fresh spring greens and old fungi.
Autumn leaves and a decaying tree trunk in the autumn.
A bunch of red berries spotted on a walk late in the year.
Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Open Topic
This is my contribution to Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Open Topic.
The open topic was rather well timed for me. I’m now getting out and about with a camera for the first time since my accident in late March but I’m having to use a cane (walking stick) and I have very restricted movement in the right shoulder.
This means using a small, light camera and lens. You can’t get much smaller and lighter than a CCTV lens adapted to to fit a small mirrorless camera. I went for a walk last Wednesday afternoon with a tiny 35mm f/1.7 CCTV lens attached to the camera. It was the first time I had used the lens and I was impressed enough to order a couple more CCTV lenses of different focal lengths and apertures. The lens produces some interesting out of focus areas in the backgrounds of some shots.
This Dandelion seed head was the second shot I took with the lens. I added some more blur to the background before adding a weak vignette, a frame and then did a monochrome conversion applying a digital blue filter to darken the background.
