Wallace Koopmans Artlog

I did a test of the Interval Movie mode of the Pentax K-3.  This is where you set the camera to record for a set period of time taking pictures at intervals you also set and then it automatically builds them into a movie file.  In this case I set it to record in full HD, even though 4K is an option but I don’t actually have anything to view a 4K file on and I’m not sure if my current software can handle them.  It was an interesting test and I learned a few things I will share.

Narcissus Timelapse from Wallace Ross on Vimeo.

Things I learned:

1.  One image every 30 seconds is unnecessarily often for flowers.  (the video is sped up) maybe 1 every 2 minutes would have worked here even 1 every 5min for a longer period.

2. Even though most of the light was from the fluorescent lights in the room there was a lot of variation from the light coming from a small window.

3. A fully charged battery with the 3 second review set can run the set up for about 5 hours.  (Next time I will turn the rear display completely off)

4. If you don’t want the flowers to open up before you even begin don’t bring them into a warm house.

5. While the top LCD provides some basic shooting parameters and battery level a count down timer or frame counter would be a great addition if possible.

I look forward to trying this again its a very different process than taking a single still image but it is made very easy by the Pentax K-3.  And if you’re wondering I put the music together using Sony Acid Express.

I was looking for a picture in my Lightroom gallery when I came across an image of the moon I had taken late last year with the Pentax Q a lens adapter and what must have been a fairly long lens, the particulars of which I don’t recall.  Having also just recently taken a picture of the moon with my K-3 and new DA55-300 ED WR lens I thought it would be interesting to compare them seeing as one is a tiny little camera with a tiny little sensor and the other is a large DSLR with a sensor many times larger.

To make this comparison as ridiculous as it sounds I also cropped and displayed the images so they are the same size and this is the result.

Proving the point that no one cares about the size of your camera in space.

This camera seems to be identical to the Fuji ‘Cardman’ 3500 with the key difference that the control panel is permanently screwed to the back. Otherwise the controls and the lens are the same. While the round Monochrome LCD and all those buttons look impressive it really has the same basic controls as most cameras of the time including the Canon Elph or the Pentax Efina T. It does have a wider angle zoom at 21mm than most though and that is particularly nice with the 16×9 aspect ratio. The camera seems to have a propensity to use flash all the time so I did need to turn it off each time I fired up the camera. Another oddity is that when it focuses it changes the framing in the viewfinder considerably. This has the effect that after carefully composing a shot it completely changes in the viewfinder at the time you capture it, I’m not sure what is actually captured the before or the after.

E   X   T   R   A      W   I   D   E

Eww what terrible distorion you have.  Ewww what a slow lens you have.  Ewwwwwww why would you use this camera?  My answer ’24mm’

More can be seen and read here The Ewwwwwww

It’s only becoming clear now in the year 2013 that Nikon had a plan to turn people against APS-c, in order to sell digital “full frame” cameras, all the way back in 1998 why else would they have created this photographic abomination. I tend to be forgiving of many cameras some with operational quirks and some with questionable design but on the scale of aesthetics this rates a 7  (the scale I just made up goes to 100). It does take pictures and has many controls so for that reason I like it.

If I haven’t said it before I will say it now, the Olympus Stylus Epic is the best small 35mm camera that is readily available.  They can be found in all kinds of different places because Olympus sold them by the millions.  It’s the perfect carry anywhere camera because of its size and that you can turn it on without looking at it or fumbling for a button, just slide the clamshell open and you are good to go.  It also has a great little 35mm f2.8 lens.  You don’t have to take my word for it, A quick browse through a Flickr Stylus Epic group will show the versatility of this little pocket wonder.  A search of my blog turns up many more examples from this camera Stylus Epic

Mamiya is best known for their medium format cameras but they also produced 35mm rangefinders and SLR’s although they stopped manufacturing those nearly 40 years ago. I wrote briefly about this camera a couple of years ago Mamiya Ruby Rangefinder and thought that it would be a good time to pull it off the shelf and give it another go. It’s an enjoyable camera to use because of its great build. The lens is made from a very simple three element design but has little distortion or vingetting even in the extreme corners.

Some ideas are better in theory than in practice. For instance despite the seeming awesomeness of mounting a lens and shutter on a camera that already has a shutter it proved to be less awesome than anticipated. The problem is if I use the camera’s shutter then I have to set the other shutter to bulb and keep it open and if I want to use the lenses shutter then I need to put the camera on bulb and trip the shutter on the lens. It’s all too much trouble and the fact that to get the focus right I would need to do some fine tuning of the lens to sensor distance I’ve decided to quit while I’m only slightly behind.

Q: Are the images sharp? 

A: Like a razor left in the rain for two years

Q: Are they free of camera shake? 

A: No I drink a lot of coffee

Q. Is the lens distortion free?

A: Like a Salvidor Dali painting

Q: Why do you use it then?

A: Because it was there, it’s a beautiful camera, it requires thought to use and I like the look of the results.

A significant difference with this camera is that the shutter release is operated with your left hand. That may sound awkward if your right-handed like me but it’s so good where it is that it’s hard to imagine it on the other, more common, side.

I’ve written about this camera on occasion so a search of my blog will provide some more examples and writings  Voigtlander Bessa 46

The Olympus Trip AF mini is the third Amigo amoung my Leica Mini and the Minolta Freedom Escort. As I outlined before the three cameras share a lot of internal components Fraternal Twins. In fact when you look at the three with there backs open they are nearly idestinguishable. The Olympus and the Minolta appear to share the same 34mm lens while the Leica has a 35mm lens that has a different coating (Leica fairy dust)

Now more specifically this camera, the Olympus Trip AF mini has a 34mm f3.5 lens. I found it to produce vignetting on the order of one stop limited to the extreme corners. The lens is quite sharp though and without much distortion. The camera is incredibly light weight but easy to hold with its molded grip area. It has the same flash override as the others and suffers from the same slow startup where the lens extends out in a noisy slow motion mating display. Like the others though it produces results that are much beyond what their plastic shells would have you think.