Nokia Lumia 720, At The Car Wash

Mobile Photography: Image making with a Nokia Lumia 720, sights and scenes, converted to black-and-white.

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A little bit of fun here, images of a scene at the carwash, captured on my almost obsolete smartphone. The images were taken from the driver's seat of the car I was driving with the camera held steady atop the steering wheel.

They are slightly wider and taller than the images displayed here, which have been cropped to eliminate image edge and top and bottom distractions for a more panoramic view when compared to the original 16:9 image aspect ratios.

While good at wide-angle vistas, landscapes, and on occasions, still life, portraiture, and group shots, I do find that the 26mm. The focal length equivalent lens of my smartphone is always slightly wider than I would like it to be, making cropping a certainty in many of the shots.

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Konica Hexanon AR 50mm 1:1.8, First Impression

The Vintage Enthusiast: Image making with the Konica Hexanon AR 50mm 1:1.8, first impression shots on the Olympus E-P5.

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I did a digital moments session on the Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1:1.8 a couple of weeks ago, and now it is the turn of the 50mm f/1.8, both of which were fitted to my digital Pen E-P5 with an aftermarket Konica-M43 mount adapter.

Both are manual focus primes that you might take a while to get used to. One thing you find about both of these lenses is that the aperture ring locks the lens into the AE setting just past the f/22 stop, which can be a bit annoying to find the lock and unlock it again.

Konica Hexanon AR 50mm 1:1.8

Images rendered by this 50mm are softer and are less contrasty when compared to the AR 40mm pancake, and when shot at less than wide open, bokeh tends to have a more pronounced hexagonal shape by the Hexanon's six-bladed iris.

Olympus E-5, Konica Hexanon AR 50mm 1:1.8

I shoot in RAW, post-process the images on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3), and have recently begun experimenting with Sharpener Pro from Google Nik Collection for final sharpening.

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Olympus Pen FT, Nighthawk

Half Frames: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus Pen FT, on a night out with the F.Zuiko Auto-S 38mm F1.8.

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This is my take on Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, interpreted on an Olympus Pen FT with an F.Zuiko Auto-S 38mm F1.8 lens. The images here are nothing close to the painting though, it was never meant to be. The whole point here is the fact that using film and film cameras for night photography may have more advantages than doing so with digital. All you need is a mechanical film camera with a cable release for B(bulb) exposure and a stable surface or a tripod will do.

The choice of film type (color negatives, slide film) is yours to decide, and the ASA film speed will determine the graininess of the image.

Olympus Pen FT, F.Zuiko 38mm 1:1.8

The next best thing is to use a fast, prime lens, such as a 35mm F2 for night shots. These here were taken with the F.Zuiko 38mm F1.8. It might be possible to use an f/4 lens in brighter areas, but the idea of having a good depth of field control and expanded opportunities shooting at f/2.8, f/2, or even at f/1.8 is the way to go.

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Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1:1.8, First Impression

The Vintage Enthusiast: First impression images with the Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1:1.8 mounted on an Olympus Pen E-P5.

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A digital moment session with a vintage film camera lens that will not burn a hole in your pocket, the pancake Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1:1.8, a standard lens shipped with some Konica SLRs starting in 1979 and produced throughout the early 80s.

The lens seems to be rather popular with mirrorless digital camera enthusiasts. The Konica AR mount has the shortest flange focal distance of any 35mm SLR system, and together with the M4/3 adapter that I use, the combo turns out to be a very compact package. The lens itself is a 6-element 5-group design, fairly light at 140g (5oz), with a minimum focus distance is 0.45m (1.5ft). The diaphragm has 6, slightly curved, blades.

Olympus E-P5, Konica Hexanon AR 40mm 1:1.8

Another acknowledgment about the lens is that its build quality is rather good for such a low-cost lens. On the E-P5, the lens has an effective focal length of 80mm, which is well-suited for portrait shooters.

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Olympus LT Zoom 105, Highway R&R Stops

Analog Diary: Image making along the highway R&R stops with an Olympus LT Zoom 105 Panorama QD.

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A category of 35mm film cameras capable of taking panoramas are cameras with the crop-frame feature. These are normally full-frame 35mms cameras with a switch or lever that activates a pair of blind or crop film gates that will reduce the 24 x 36 mm frame size to about 14mm x 36mm.

The Olympus LT Zoom 105 QP is one of these cameras. The panorama switch lever is located at the back of the top plate, towards the left side of the body. When activated, the lever will not only set the film gate to the panoramic shooting position but will also activate another pair within the viewfinder window, making the viewfinder panoramic as well.

Olympus LT Zoom 105 Panorama QD

As all images are still captured on the 24mm x 36mm film frame, you are free to switch between the two shooting modes - full-frame and cropped-frame panorama - on any frame you wish to do so. Aside from the diminutive viewfinder, the autofocus and fully automatic retro-style LT Zoom 105 with the Zuiko 38-105mm F4.5-8.9 zoom lens are quite fun to use.

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