Some fun with old manual lenses

[TripleTransAm]

Today's whiz-bang lenses do everything but shoot the image for you (and even then, some new cameras are being developed that will "re-expose" a scene anytime after the initial capture)...

So here was an interesting challenge:
Take a totally manual focus lens, with a fixed F:8 "aperture" (more on that below), and absolutely NO mechanism whatsoever to provide metering information to the camera for auto-exposure (shutter speed OR aperture)... and try to pull the best out of it. Better yet, make it a lens with a stupidly extreme magnification factor, make it weigh a ton, make it ultra-sensitive to focus (ie. any slight movement of the focusing ring would result in a large change in focus point), and give it the depth-of-field of about 2 or 3 slices of regular looseleaf paper. :beer:

And the crowning spec: have that lens be made out of mirrors! (hence the fixed f:8 "aperture" even though there are no "blades" to operate, per se)

So this is what a good 12 megapixel camera was able to output (into a 6 megapixel file, for memory reasons) with one of those "fear factor" type lenses... in this case, a 1000mm mirror-reflex lens sitting about 3/4 miles away shooting up an inclined roadway. The old rusty Volvo had just crested the peak of that gentle hill. The image is slightly noisy/grainy because I had to crank up the ISO on the camera to make up for the lack of light... a combination of the lens itself and the sunset situation.

http://www.stevepereira.com/photo/lens/mirror1000/DSCF5897a.jpg

The weapon in question: (yes, that's the same technology that telescopes use)

http://www.stevepereira.com/photo/lens/mirror1000/IMG_1843.jpg

Possibly a drawback: when you've got small defined points of light way back in your blurred (out of the depth of field) background, they come out as donuts! You need really sharp points of light and really in the background, but when it happens, it's really weird! :D

http://www.stevepereira.com/photo/lens/mirror1000/DSCF5869.jpg

The upshot is that all you have to do is be a kilometer away from the car and you can churn out these brochure-like poses in no time!

http://www.stevepereira.com/photo/lens/mirror1000/DSCF5875.jpg

Takes a lot of effort, but in the end it's sort of like comparing the satisfaction of banging off a great gear shift on a manual tranny versus having a "manumatic" transmission's PCM do it for you.

[ckadiddle]

Awesome! I am glad someone remembers how to do it the "old-fashioned" way. Although I didn't understand the technical camera talk. :) I do appreciate the knowledge and skills that go into it.

[TripleTransAm]

In my opinion, a lot of it is practice and digital cameras really help in this regard. I'm up to over 26000 shots on my camera since May 2003. And too much money in lenses to really want to think about it... (just looking at that $2000 zoom lens on my shelf is making me nervous).

I didn't pay a lot of money for this particular monster I described in the first post, and I was just about ready to give it up even cheaper to help fund a more "integrated" and modern zoom. However, after spending a few afternoons last week really working at it and getting used to handling that monster lens, I am reconsidering. As it stands, I still might eventually get rid of it for a more "modern" lens if it turns out I can get sharper results, but considering the progress I made the last two weeks, I think I have a lot more to learn about the "feel" of these long (ie. far-reaching) lenses.

Not to mention that I have to evaluate just how often I'll need full-frame high-definition images of my neighbour's wife's elbow bone next time she's in the pool. Yes, it would probably magnify things that much...

About the tech talk: most lenses are a set of glass elements much like the eye glasses one wears. These elements are stacked one behind the other to arrive at a certain magnification. Zoom lenses will allow movement of these elements with regards to each other, resulting in a user-controlled variation of the amount of magnification. Focusing is the act of concentrating all the rays from points of light somewhere out in front of you into distinct points on a surface such as a film or a digital sensor... you can decide what distance to have in focus as you manually control the focus ring on the lens.

Depth of field involves how deep the range of in-focus light points would be. For example, a large depth of field is when someone up close is in focus and most of everything behind the person (trees, roads, buildings, clouds) are also in focus. A small depth of field is when the subject is in focus but everything behind or in front is out of focus. Controlling this depth of field can control the 'emotion' in the photo. You can control this depth of field by controlling the aperture of the lens, which is a diaphragm that regulates the amount of light that can come into the camera when the shutter opens and closes. The side effect of the diaphragm is that it can also control the angle of the incoming light rays, so a small opening (small aperture) will allow light rays only more or less parallel to the distance to the subject... an open aperture will allow more light of more random angles to be captured by the camera. Small openings and parallel light rays will mean more of the image in focus, and greater depth of field.

How this applies to the mirror reflex lens: this lens type is a set of glass elements combined with mirrors facing each other that result in the magnification. I think they're all fixed magnification because of the nature of the mirrors... you can't "zoom". There also does not appear to be a diaphragm, so they remain at a fixed equivalent "aperture" (ie. take another lens type at the same magnification and set it to the same aperture equivalent, you'd get the same amount of light intake).

The small depth of field on this mirror reflex lens means that I manually have to nail the focus pretty good otherwise I risk getting one item in the image in focus and the item I actually wanted to shoot will be out of focus. Very frustrating, and you eventually have to develop a feel as to how to "lock-in" on your subject as soon as possible. It's a skill I'll benefit from whether or not I decide to move to an auto-focus conventional lens... big lenses usually are less effective in auto-focusing anyway so a good manual touch is beneficial.

It was pretty cool getting to take as many candid street shots as I wanted without disturbing the subjects (I feel awkward openly photographing pedestrians and passing cars). This way I got more natural looking shots and didn't have to worry about self-conscious photo subjects, making for better photo compositions.

[TripleTransAm]

One more thing: at those magnifications, any little camera shake can actually affect the focus of the image unless you strive for as high a shutter speed as possible. While I've been called a human tripod by some colleagues (alas, not by many women), at these magnifications it's almost impossible to keep still especially if there's the occasional breeze that you suddenly become VERY aware of.

And because of the higher magnification, less overall light will make it into the camera to begin with. So your chances of a quick shutter speed are even less unless you crank up the camera's sensitivity to make up for the lack of available light. On film, you buy a higher ISO film (ISO 800 or higher) made from more sensitive exposure material and on a digital camera, increasing ISO gives a more sensitive sensor. The downside is that the sensitive film will chemically react in a more coarse fashion and digital camera sensors will pick up stray heat and electrical impulses (most often from within their own internal circuitry)... film images become more gritty and grainy and digital images display alternating red/green splotches of grain (which you can often convert to more authentic-looking film grain using Photoshop, etc.). So there is a point of diminishing returns where a super magnification on a dimmer day will result in a noisy image that will sacrifice detail...
The shot of the Volvo above will show the effect of higher ISO on its hood.

[ckadiddle]

This way I got more natural looking shots and didn't have to worry about self-conscious photo subjects, making for better photo compositions.
I bought a digital camera with 10x optical zoom last year. Although it doesn't hold a candle to your equipment, I do love the ability to photograph things and people from a distance.

[Warpath]

...So here was an interesting challenge:
Take a totally manual focus lens, with a fixed F:8 "aperture" (more on that below), and absolutely NO mechanism whatsoever to provide metering information to the camera for auto-exposure (shutter speed OR aperture)... and try to pull the best out of it. Better yet, make it a lens with a stupidly extreme magnification factor, make it weigh a ton, make it ultra-sensitive to focus (ie. any slight movement of the focusing ring would result in a large change in focus point), and give it the depth-of-field of about 2 or 3 slices of regular looseleaf paper...

Uh............huh? A-per-chur? What's aperture?

[MM03MOK]

ap·er·ture (ăp'ər-chər) http://content.answers.com/main/content/img/pron.gif
n.

An opening, such as a hole, gap, or slit.

A usually adjustable opening in an optical instrument, such as a camera or telescope, that limits the amount of light passing through a lens or onto a mirror.
The diameter of such an opening, often expressed as an f-number.
The diameter of the objective of a telescope.
In photography

The aperture stop of a photographic lens (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Photographic+lens&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a) can be adjusted to control the amount of light (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Light&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a) reaching the film (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Photographic+film&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a) or digital sensor (CCD (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Charge-coupled+device&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a) or CMOS (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=CMOS&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a)). In combination with variation of shutter speed (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Shutter+speed&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a) and film speed (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Film+speed&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a), the aperture size will regulate the film's degree of exposure (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Exposure+%28photography% 29&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a) to light. Typically, a fast shutter speed will require a larger aperture to ensure sufficient light exposure, and a slow shutter speed will require a smaller aperture to avoid excessive exposure.

Aperture is usually measured in f-numbers (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=1c20qx7mgqt 9q?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=F-number&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a). A lens will have a set of "f-stops" that represent doublings in the amount of light let through the aperture. A lower f-stop number denotes a greater aperture opening which allows more light to reach the film. A typical lens will have an f-stop range from f/16 (small aperture) to f/2 (large aperture) (these values are approximate and may vary).

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/1/16/Aperture_diagram.png

Your iris works on the same principle. It opens wide when it's dark to let more light in, closes down when it's bright. Ever get your eyes dialated at the eye doctor's? You lose depth of field and focus because your iris can't react to light. (Look at yourself in the mirror next time! Yikes, flying saucers!) Ever squint to try to see a little better? Again, depth of field - like closing down the iris to increase what's in focus.

[TripleTransAm]

Uh............huh? A-per-chur? What's aperture?

This awesome link should explain everything...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture

[MM03MOK]

This awesome link should explain everything...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aperture Great minds think alike!

[TripleTransAm]

This evening I was about to go to bed and couldn't resist trying the lens on tonight's moon...

Forget using this thing without a very sturdy tripod on anything less than a bright sunny day. Even the camera's own internal 'shake' due to the shutter activity was enough to cause slight blurring unless you got faster than 1/250 or so. Contrast is also not the best, but the challenge of pulling out a decent photo makes it fun to use. Heavy as heck, and made of solid metal... not a piece of plastic to be seen except for part of the lens cap, so I'm sure I could do a lot of damage to someone's head if I was ever mugged while carrying this lens.

Focusing is also an art... the slightest twitch of the focus ring and you lose your target.

Was interesting to see the moon occupy almost the entire field of vision in the camera's viewfinder for once.

http://www.stevepereira.com/photo/lens/mirror1000/DSCF6675.jpg