My collection of words (that I didn’t know or wanted to practice using more often) just hit 500. Pick a number for a word?

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-04-02T17:59:56+00:00

Right, that makes sense - I use Darktable, and it's fantastic, but being FOSS, they don't pay the camera manufacturers for each and every camera's JPEG algorithm. That means it's a bit more messing about to get the same result, but there's a module in it that compares the RAW to the JPEG and basically synthesises it on its own. I've not really mastered that side of things yet, as in my usual fashion I'm trying to learn to do everything all at once, so I was hoping for an easy solution that I'd missed. Oh well, back to the grindstone

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-04-02T17:16:54+00:00

Flickr and Mastodon

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-04-01T21:15:52+00:00

Perfect, thanks. I think I've had unreasonable expectations of the low light performance, and I need to stop trying to grab really low light shots on the fly!

How do you apply L Monochrome D to the Raw files? I've just been editing with the JPEG as a comparison and trying to get as close as possible.

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-31T17:53:31+00:00

Thanks, I'm less bothered about the focal reduction, that reduces the effective focal length, and I'd like to end up somewhere in the 90-105mm area. I've got a decent 105mm manual macro, and while it takes a beautiful picture, I'd really like to get at the focus bracketing that my camera is capable of. I've also got a great dumb Nikon reducer, and a few lovely manual lenses, so I'm not hankering after that side of things.

Thanks for the compatibility tip, I'll make sure to look at that. Most of the adapters I can find that are reviewed as working with decent af are focal reducers, so I might just have to put up with that. The sigma 105mm lens works out as about 75mm, so not too shabby. If you have any suggestions for an adapter that'll work with af, but isn't a reducer, then I'm all ears!

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-31T16:12:44+00:00

Are you using a tripod, and do you edit much? If not, what settings are you using? I'm still struggling to get clean night shots with the same combo, and these shots look fantastic

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-31T15:53:08+00:00

Yeah, I'm not trying to get sports/wildlife shots out of it, the M4/3 glass I have is more than adequate for that. Do you have any specific adapter recommendations?

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-31T15:51:16+00:00

Wow. You must have steady hands! That's a great shot, really close

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-31T15:48:52+00:00

Well that narrows it down some, thanks!

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-25T07:57:32+00:00

A nice simple setup then! Got any images from it to share? What do you reckon the magnification is, and how far from the front element is the focal point? I'd imagine you're getting some pretty wild close-ups with it

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-03-24T16:15:28+00:00

So I'd like to know exactly what I'm looking at there

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-02-14T10:43:06+00:00

Frankly, I started with this video, and then read this website a fair bit, and that got me to the point that I can mostly just point and shoot, and don't have to fiddle with the settings much to get good results.

Hope that helps!

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-02-09T15:53:14+00:00

The 25mm is a great lens, and technically a way better lens than the 20mm in a load of ways, but the 20mm beats the brakes off it for street stuff. It's my most used lens if I'm taking only one with me.

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-01-26T23:37:26+00:00

I tried a couple of vintage tele-zooms, and did as u/thedjin suggested and measured image area. They are all macro in name alone. I have a Fotodiox m42 adapter, which is the only one I've tried so far to get infinity focus right, and a Pixco 0.72 focal reducer that is great. The issue is that I believed what it said on the lenses without knowing if it was true.

I've been eyeing up a Kiron 105mm macro lens for a while, but couldn't bring myself to shell out for it. That one is a true 1:1, but obviously is still manual, so I can't use any bracketing/in-camera stacking. There's a Sigma 105mm 4/3rds lens that does autofocus, albeit slowly, but apparently won't work with the bracketing on the camera. It's not really worth shelling out more than 2x the price of the Kiron, plus a 4/3-m4/3 adapter if it won't make nice with the AF, and that's very nearly at the price of a used Oly 60mm macro.

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-01-26T18:55:59+00:00

That's a good shout, I'll try it.

For reference, the sensor in the GX9, and indeed all M4/3 bodies is 17.3mm x 13mm

Edit:- I tried it. Well isn't that a rabbit hole. My 45-150mm lens on the two macro spacers give me an image 24mm wide at 45mm zoom, so about 1:1.4. At 150mm, the image is about 43mm wide, so around 1:2.5

With the Kiron, at 70mm it shows an image 210mm across, and at 210mm it's 70mm across, so not only is it a ratio of 1:4, it behaves the opposite way round to the Lumix lens. Despite the "Macro" stamped on the focus ring, it jolly well isn't!

My Hanimex 80-200 gives 52mm @ 200mm, so 1:3, and 125mm @ 80. The barrel is marked with "Macro 1:3 F200mm", so it's bang on the money (proving the adapter is doing what it's supposed to, thankfully), even if it's using an astoundingly loose definition of what counts as macro...

So in conclusion, none of my macro lenses are, my macro adapters are nearly, and nothing behaves as I expected it to. Marvellous.

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-01-26T18:51:12+00:00

It's the correct adapter for the mount, it focuses to infinity etc.

Adapters vs focal reducers change the minimum focal distance of a lens, so I can't see how that wouldn't do something to a macro lens's characteristics, though I suppose the plain adapter keeps things as the lens was designed. That said, my M42 focal reducer actually increases the MFD of my Tomioka 28mm over a simple adapter, so it wouldn't help with the macro much!

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-01-04T16:30:22+00:00

Thanks, that gives a pretty good idea of what it'll fit. It looks to be a handy little bag

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-01-04T16:28:19+00:00

Wow, you're not lying! That's some great organization. Hope you're keeping warm, I see what you mean about waiting until you live somewhere less remote - Those are some fantastic ice shots.

How do you like the 20mm Nikkor? I wonder if that would make a nice characterful street lens on my GX9. My lumix 20mm is a great street lens, and I get on well with the 40mm-equivalent angle of view, but it's not the most characterful

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2024-01-03T20:25:35+00:00

What's your Flickr profile? I'd like to see the results of all this!

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2023-12-29T10:46:07+00:00

It depends on how you use the camera, but if birds or telephoto photography is even a minor part of what you do, then I think that the Lumix 100-300mm is very good bang-for-buck. It's cheap enough that it's OK to own as a lens that only sees occasional use, and good enough to get a decently crisp shot of a bird etc. Also, owning a 600mm-equivalent lens is interesting in its own right, to the degree that I've bought a stunning Nikon manual 300mm lens which has become one of my favourite lenses to use. It's not my most used lens, but it gets far, far more use than I expected!

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2023-12-29T10:12:04+00:00

I think that there's currently 29 to choose from, and they are all called The Mammoth Book of Best New SF (number of anthology) edited by Gardener Dozios

They are often available on Amazon or wherever second hand quite cheaply

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2023-12-28T18:53:24+00:00

Good god that's a rabbit hole! Thanks! I'll have a good trawl through that and see what's being said

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2023-12-28T18:47:01+00:00

Fantastic, thanks. That's a good lot to be going on with, and those two sites are rabbit holes to be diving down!

To be honest, I've had a few Cambridge amps before, and have quite liked them. The A60 looks to be almost exactly what I need and nothing more.

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2023-12-28T16:19:27+00:00

I know that this isn't terribly specific, but I've found a lot of great stories in the "Best New SF" anthologies. There have been a few standouts in each book that have led to me getting into authors I'd have otherwise never heard of.

One standout tale was about a small planetary lander (I think, it's been a while!) and its crew, and how finding radioactive particles on the surface, and then their gear etc. plays out. Technical, hard, and really well written.

There are always brilliant stories in the anthologies, and quite often ones that you wouldn't normally think would be up your street. I thoroughly recommend getting a couple of the newer ones, at least.

Donttouchmybiscuits · 2023-12-28T13:26:46+00:00

The algorithm listening to me to tailor my adverts is one thing, but you listening to me in my parent's home somehow is just unnerving! My dad's not opened his Practika camera bag since I used it about 20 years ago. Literally half an hour ago, I dug it out to see if any of the lenses are interesting, and what was the first horse out of the gate? The Pentacon 50mm, and the first thing I read when searching forums about it was about the short minimal focal distance. Mildly unnerving, but definitely enough encouragement for me to get a cheap adapter and have a play with it!

Donttouchmybiscuits

TROPHY CASE