The first and the last, I got!
you might wonder what I write about...
The first and the last smart phone with a pure and honest monochrome camera.
Some years ago, I purchased the Huawei P9, on which some posts are available here. The P9 was my phone ever since. Some coincidence had me looking into yet a more modern smart phone. Again, my preference was to have a monochrome camera available.
It seems, the Huawei P20 pro and P20 mate are the last generation smartphones employing a true monochrome sensor.
Consequently, I got a Huawei P20 pro (less expensive than the P20 mate).
Up to now, I am not convinced if the P20 pro is superior to the P9. I found some pros and cons on both.
Stay tuned, I will do some testing and comparing both phones in the near future.
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
China Ball update
The original China Ball illumination is omni-directional, unless used with a black screen. When using a China ball as a somewhat shine-through umbrella replacement, we wish to add some sort of directivity to the light-source.
The frame of the China ball helps a great deal. Aluminum foil can be fixed to the frame to re-direct light to the "front" of the ball.
The frame of the China ball helps a great deal. Aluminum foil can be fixed to the frame to re-direct light to the "front" of the ball.
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| Simple reflector for the light-source in a China ball |
Sunday, July 21, 2019
China Ball studio light
Lately some brainstorming with a friend lead us to improvise portable China Ball lighting for a small vlogging setup on the cheap, after having discussed the use of lighting stands and soft-boxes.
The basic idea is to use materials as inexpensive and in-obstructive as possible. While hanging China Balls might be the obvious choice, however, this means that the lighting setup is not really portable.
We came to the conclusion that a suitable floor lamp would be able to hold a China Ball in a decent height, enough for a desk to be illuminated with a soft key light.
A first choice fell on an IKEA product called NOT.
The next problem to be solved was to mount a China ball to the lamp, such that the light source is essentially in the center of the ball, while the ball remains easily removable.
Household grade China balls are usually hung with little eyes on hooks.
Having a ball mounted on a stand, it needs to be mounted upside down.
Your regular household China ball comes with a steel wire frame to suspend the ball from the electrical wire. This employs some sort of clamping mechanism. With a little bit of pliers work, this clamp can be re-purposed as a lower stabilizer. Have a look:
The frame of a China ball is created by welding two rods together. This creates a very small lip in the middle of the frame. Here this lip is arranged to abut with the metal cone of the lamp housing.
To fix it all, gaffers' tape can be used. For better visibility, white gaffers' tape is used for demonstration.
Needless to say that in this setup, the China Ball is mounted from the topand clipped in to the little hooks on the lower end of the frame (*).
Gravity holds the lower end down.
In this example, a 90cm China Ball was used. Seen the flimsy wire holding it all up, a somewhat lighter, i.e. smaller, ball should be used. Inside the ball, there is a TRADFRI bulb installed. For the following photo, the color temperature of the bulb was set to warm in order to form a contrast to the bright blue sky shining through the curtains.
(*) Clipping the hooks into the eyes creates tension in the frame and slightly deforms the frame. By doing so, the stability of the frame is compromised. During the first attempt, the ball was clipped to the frame. It turned out to not only be unnecessary, but also detrimental to the setup.
Just as a final remark, NOT, as it comes, provides a maximum height. Using less segments will provide a lower light height. Using more segments, e.g. from a second NOT, could increase the height. The latter option should be taken with great care to stability of the stand. Maybe adding some weight on the food for added stability.
The basic idea is to use materials as inexpensive and in-obstructive as possible. While hanging China Balls might be the obvious choice, however, this means that the lighting setup is not really portable.
We came to the conclusion that a suitable floor lamp would be able to hold a China Ball in a decent height, enough for a desk to be illuminated with a soft key light.
A first choice fell on an IKEA product called NOT.
The next problem to be solved was to mount a China ball to the lamp, such that the light source is essentially in the center of the ball, while the ball remains easily removable.
Household grade China balls are usually hung with little eyes on hooks.
 |
| Collapsed China Ball as seen from top, note the eyes to the right and the left |
Your regular household China ball comes with a steel wire frame to suspend the ball from the electrical wire. This employs some sort of clamping mechanism. With a little bit of pliers work, this clamp can be re-purposed as a lower stabilizer. Have a look:
 |
| Only one of the two arms is used, the other is bent out of the way |
 |
| This is how the frame engages with the post of the floor lamp |
The frame of a China ball is created by welding two rods together. This creates a very small lip in the middle of the frame. Here this lip is arranged to abut with the metal cone of the lamp housing.
 |
| Weld of the frame rests on housing cone |
Needless to say that in this setup, the China Ball is mounted from the top
 |
| Top of the China Ball |
Gravity holds the lower end down.
 |
| Bottom of the China Ball |
In this example, a 90cm China Ball was used. Seen the flimsy wire holding it all up, a somewhat lighter, i.e. smaller, ball should be used. Inside the ball, there is a TRADFRI bulb installed. For the following photo, the color temperature of the bulb was set to warm in order to form a contrast to the bright blue sky shining through the curtains.
 |
| NOT and TRADFRI standing China Ball |
(*) Clipping the hooks into the eyes creates tension in the frame and slightly deforms the frame. By doing so, the stability of the frame is compromised. During the first attempt, the ball was clipped to the frame. It turned out to not only be unnecessary, but also detrimental to the setup.
Just as a final remark, NOT, as it comes, provides a maximum height. Using less segments will provide a lower light height. Using more segments, e.g. from a second NOT, could increase the height. The latter option should be taken with great care to stability of the stand. Maybe adding some weight on the food for added stability.
Sunday, May 12, 2019
New Angles - Get a Selfie Stick
Lately, my life took some turns which prevented me from writing unfortunately. So, a lot was going on photography wise, which I did not (yet) document.
First of all, I have decided, early December 2018 actually, to quit my day job. So, my professional activities will certainly get a new angle. I will focus of photography and arts in general. However, this is not what this post is about.
In preparation to my new business, I began to look into stock photography. Some of my pictures already sold, so I am confident that I am on the right path here. Remarkably, about half my sales are pictures shot the my Huawei P9 phone, no kidding!
In stock photography, one needs to find a way to distinguish from millions of other photographers. And smartphone photographer are a real competition out there.
Today, I got a brain fart and solved the problem of being a little different than other smartphone stock photographers. I got myself a selfie-stick with a shutter release button for not even €4. With my arm upright the phone can take photos about 3+ meters from the ground, giving a very different angle, in particular in street scenes.
Here is an example: https://www.eyeem.com/p/141273640
I have to admit, figuring out the timing of such a shot, not seeing the screen of the phone and not knowing what the auto-focus will do and when the shot will be fired, is a bit of a gamble all together. However, this €4 accessory allows me to get photographs that look as they were taken with a €1k photo-drone. Even better, using a selfie-stick is legal, while the photo-drone would already be illegal for such a scene over here in The Netherlands.
In the light of that, I will certainly investigate into more sturdy and sophisticated selfie-sticks.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Oly OM-D E-M5 struggles
For some years, yes, years, my OM-D struggled to start up properly! Once alive, the picture were as good as always. What is going on? Personally, I get a sense of planned obsolesce, in particular since many more appear to be complaining about the same failure my OM-D exhibits.
Some additional searching revealed a solution found by some: set the camera to burst mode. It might fail a couple of times, but will continue in single frame mode eventually.
I can confirm that this will work initially.
However, once the camera is switched on again, the good-ole black-out will return.
By now, I experimented with switching the camera back to high speed burst mode, before turning it off. The next power-up will again lead to a black-out of the camera. Restart yet again appears to be leading to a camera that actually does not shut off immediately... up to now, this appears to be woking, i.e. booting the camera will result in a functioning device.
I am close to discarding the OM-D and abandon Olympus all together, in favour of the new Panasonic cameras employing IBIS.
By now, I can only share positive experiences using the Lumix GX85.
Some additional searching revealed a solution found by some: set the camera to burst mode. It might fail a couple of times, but will continue in single frame mode eventually.
I can confirm that this will work initially.
However, once the camera is switched on again, the good-ole black-out will return.
By now, I experimented with switching the camera back to high speed burst mode, before turning it off. The next power-up will again lead to a black-out of the camera. Restart yet again appears to be leading to a camera that actually does not shut off immediately... up to now, this appears to be woking, i.e. booting the camera will result in a functioning device.
I am close to discarding the OM-D and abandon Olympus all together, in favour of the new Panasonic cameras employing IBIS.
By now, I can only share positive experiences using the Lumix GX85.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
(Semi) Stand Development
Some opinions might make you believe that you need at least 5ml of Rodinal to develop a film in stand development.
To be honest, I never understood that statement.
When doing stand development with 1:200 dilutions, I just eyeballed with what I got, and it turned out alright every single time; mainly for 120 and 135 Foma films. My tanks are using either 590ml or 250ml of liquid. In both scenarios, the amount of Rodinal is obviously less than 5ml for a 1:200 (give or take) dilution.
I have the suspicion that the above statement is more based on the lack of a device being able to provide decent accuracy for measuring small volumes.
While I do not claim this finding for me, I feel it would be a good idea to promote the finding by Will Agar.
While I did not learn about stand development from Will Agar, I was made aware of a cheap measuring device Will is abusing for photography purposes: the medicine (or dosing) spoon.
The dosing spoon is good for 10ml of liquid to be dosed. In my use, that would make about 2 litres of developer. However, the spoon displays sections of 1ml in good distance, such that a measurement in the region of 1/4ml is possible.
And yes, I used that kind of spoon to dose the amount of raw Rodinal required for my JOBO 1510 tank for developing a 135 roll of Fomapan with less than 5ml of Rodinal.
Method for 120 film:
To be honest, I never understood that statement.
When doing stand development with 1:200 dilutions, I just eyeballed with what I got, and it turned out alright every single time; mainly for 120 and 135 Foma films. My tanks are using either 590ml or 250ml of liquid. In both scenarios, the amount of Rodinal is obviously less than 5ml for a 1:200 (give or take) dilution.
I have the suspicion that the above statement is more based on the lack of a device being able to provide decent accuracy for measuring small volumes.
While I do not claim this finding for me, I feel it would be a good idea to promote the finding by Will Agar.
While I did not learn about stand development from Will Agar, I was made aware of a cheap measuring device Will is abusing for photography purposes: the medicine (or dosing) spoon.
 |
| Dosing spoon |
And yes, I used that kind of spoon to dose the amount of raw Rodinal required for my JOBO 1510 tank for developing a 135 roll of Fomapan with less than 5ml of Rodinal.
Method for 120 film:
- pre-soak for 2min
- rinse twice and empty tank
- pour developer in tank and agitate slowly for 1min
- tap tank a few times
- let stand for 90+ min
- empty tank and wash before fixing
Method for 135 film:
- pre-soak for 2min and empty tank
- pour developer in tank and agitate slowly for 1min
- tap tank a few times
- 2 slow agitations every 15min, tap tank after agitations
- after 90min empty tank and wash before fixing
Maybe the agitations for 135 film are not necessary... however, in some experiments, the sprocket holes of the 135 film created streekes of uneven development. The somewhat regular but seldom agitation appears to overcome that problem. However, the agitations will also prevent some of the beneficial effects of stand development to fully appear.
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Agfa Jsolette V Bellows Repair
Some months ago, I decided to enrich my collection of medium format cameras by a model that is literally pocketable.
During a stroll in "de bazaar" I found a Agfa Jsolette V, the most primitive one of the Jsolette family. Just about perfect for what I had in mind. For the looks of it, the camera was in mint condition... sold by a serious collector.
The Jsolette V was build between 1950 and 1952. So, consequently, I had to assume that the bellows were probably not a light tight as they should be any longer. And, guess what, when sending photons off some semi-conductor device inside the camera, while being in a dark room, the bellows gave a preview of a Christmas tree all along the folded edges. No surprise, really.
Before I put any film into the camera, I figured it would be a good idea to fix the bellows first. And yes, one can order replacement bellows... while the replacement process is well documented, combined with time of shipment to arrive... this is just not worth the effort.
When browsing for bellows repairs, one finds strange methods using pins and needles combined with dyed glue... not sure about this! Well, this might just work, who am I to judge, but for now long?
Further, one finds comment like "electrical tape is for electricians, not photographers". Hmmm, OK! I remember that in photography, gaffers' tape is commonly used... however, I never came across the comment that "gaffer's tape is for gaffers, not photographers". Something seemed wrong with that electricians tape statement...
And guess what, I grabbed a roll of black electricians tape and put a generous amount along the edges of my camera's bellows. Using about 30% more than the actual length of the edge fives sufficient material to fold the tape into the undulations of the bellows. Too long, and there might be too much tape to squeeze in, too short and the tape might just peel off every time you open the camera.
With the tape applied, I noted that the camera folds open a lot slower, i.e. with a lot less force. What I am trying to say here, you should never just let the thing snap open (as many folks show in Jsolette videos). Push the release and let the camera gently open by holding the front mechanism.
And here is the reason why: the atmospheric pressure against the bellows will weaken the most agile parts of the bellows by airflow. Once a hole was created, the airflow when opening or closing the camera will weaken that particular spot, thereby creating a light leak and/or pinhole.
While the bellows of the Jsolette are made of a material that appears to call for electricians tape, that solution might be valid for other cameras using bellows, e.g. large format.
During a stroll in "de bazaar" I found a Agfa Jsolette V, the most primitive one of the Jsolette family. Just about perfect for what I had in mind. For the looks of it, the camera was in mint condition... sold by a serious collector.
The Jsolette V was build between 1950 and 1952. So, consequently, I had to assume that the bellows were probably not a light tight as they should be any longer. And, guess what, when sending photons off some semi-conductor device inside the camera, while being in a dark room, the bellows gave a preview of a Christmas tree all along the folded edges. No surprise, really.
Before I put any film into the camera, I figured it would be a good idea to fix the bellows first. And yes, one can order replacement bellows... while the replacement process is well documented, combined with time of shipment to arrive... this is just not worth the effort.
When browsing for bellows repairs, one finds strange methods using pins and needles combined with dyed glue... not sure about this! Well, this might just work, who am I to judge, but for now long?
Further, one finds comment like "electrical tape is for electricians, not photographers". Hmmm, OK! I remember that in photography, gaffers' tape is commonly used... however, I never came across the comment that "gaffer's tape is for gaffers, not photographers". Something seemed wrong with that electricians tape statement...
And guess what, I grabbed a roll of black electricians tape and put a generous amount along the edges of my camera's bellows. Using about 30% more than the actual length of the edge fives sufficient material to fold the tape into the undulations of the bellows. Too long, and there might be too much tape to squeeze in, too short and the tape might just peel off every time you open the camera.
With the tape applied, I noted that the camera folds open a lot slower, i.e. with a lot less force. What I am trying to say here, you should never just let the thing snap open (as many folks show in Jsolette videos). Push the release and let the camera gently open by holding the front mechanism.
And here is the reason why: the atmospheric pressure against the bellows will weaken the most agile parts of the bellows by airflow. Once a hole was created, the airflow when opening or closing the camera will weaken that particular spot, thereby creating a light leak and/or pinhole.
While the bellows of the Jsolette are made of a material that appears to call for electricians tape, that solution might be valid for other cameras using bellows, e.g. large format.
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