Wallace Koopmans Artlog

In the image above the lenses on the right side are all homebrew lenses I made for the Pentax Q.  I purchased three Q mount to C mount adapters, took them apart and used only the part that mounts to the camera.  The lenses themselves are a 12mm pancake distortion creator a 35mm f2.8 and the newest one a 40mm f1.9 from a Canon AF35ML which is currently set to a fixed focus point and aperture and works like a macro lens.  They are of course manual focus and with the conversion factor the 40mm has a field of view similar to a 220mm lens on a ‘full frame’ sensor or 35mm film.  Each one of these lenses has limitations in the quality of the image they produce but are a fun way of experimenting.

This is the start of a series of digital paintings based on Google street views.
The way we interact helps to define us as humans. These interactions can be fleeting and no more so than those captured by chance. I wanted to separate the final images from being simple screen captures and so have recreated them as digital paintings on my iPad. I hope with this context the images will speak for themselves.

It’s sometimes odd how as photographers we seek out places from the past to create images for the present.  It’s a common theme to capture something that is on the cusp of disappearing.  From the very beginning photographers have tried to stem the tide of time going to great lengths, even recreating pseudo realities of times already gone.  It’s as if we can’t wait for our images to evoke a sense of nostalgia.  If we take pictures of the ‘right now’ it seems too mundane it doesn’t spark the same thing in the viewer.  That sense of this is something different because it is no longer here.  It takes time to make many things interesting.  An early cell phone didn’t seem interesting beyond its technological function at the time say 20 years ago but its sure a ‘huge’ source of amusement now.   Think of a portrait viewed at the time it was taken. It’s generally appreciated as a likeness of the person and not necessarily more but fast forward 30 years and that portrait now speaks to the passage of time, to fashion to aging.   What does all this have to do with pictures I took around the grounds of the now closed Riverview hospital complex?  Well I took these pictures now because I’m almost certain it won’t be there in the future, I’m hedging my nostalgia bet.   There is a lot of history here and in the future when we think back to how we handle the issues around mental illness perhaps a few photographs could be illustrative.  I would love to take more with greater access but that seems unlikely.  I do wonder how many photographs were taken around the site over its operating history. I suspect that it may be less than imagined do to the stigma that has always surrounded mental health and the societal norm of secrecy.

This post serves a dual purpose: one as an ode to spring 2014 and the other as a test of the Pentax M Macro 1:4 100mm lens on my Pentax K-01.  I am happy with the performance of this lens even when used at its widest aperture.  It only remains to be tested with 35mm film but I suspect it will do just as well with the added benefit of allowing me to share the lens between film and digital.  It’s slightly more compact than the DFA 100 Macro  WR and is manual focus but it actually seems better suited to the K-01 and the way that this mirrorless camera is used.  In fact with its focus peeking the K-01 is an ideal manual focus camera.

I like to take advantage of opportunities to photograph when presented with them.  I had reason to be in North Vancouver recently and having wanted to get some pictures of the bulk and coal terminal there I packed appropriately  (I brought a tripod and my Pentax K-3).  I also took pictures here with some Cinestill film but I haven’t finished the roll yet so there may be so overlap in pictures when that is developed.   I like the complexity of industrial scenes and the fact that they are nocturnal makes it all the more interesting as if things are lit not for the benefit of those there but to add drama and simplify the scene.  My original idea was to bring back some imagery as source material for painting but at this point I just like these as photographs.

Images taken with the Pentax K-3 in challenging light, higher ISO settings and all hand-held. The point being that I would not have been able to capture these images in this way previous to having this camera. It simply is better than anything I’ve ever had before both in image quality and general camera performance.  In this situation in the low light of this antique store it’s the ability of the sensor to capture fine details without digital noise interfering that impressed me.  That coupled with the shake reduction system that seems improved but is difficult to quantify allowed me to just walk around taking pictures without need of the tripod I had brought.

Even Ricoh have a hard time saying how well the shake reduction works as it depends so much on the method of testing. From their own website they suggust Type: Sensor-Shift Shake Reduction with rotational compensation (3.5EV TBD)  so 3.5 stops is the difference between shooting something at ISO 280 vs 3200 that is no small deal and is true for any lens you mount on the K-3.

After a week with the new Pentax K-3 DSLR there is one thing that really stands out for me and that is the amount of detail it is able to capture.  There are other things that I think are  genuine improvements over my previous cameras but when zooming into an image on the back of the camera or looking at it on the computer its striking what it renders.

Downsizing images for the web does not convey this well so I’ve created several zoom-able images shot in the last week to demonstrate as best I can my point.  Just click on the thumbnails below to see the zoomable version.  I suggest toggling full screen by clicking on the button at the lower right of the player to maximize the effect.  The zoom is not limited to 100% pixel for pixel view but goes beyond that.

Pentax K-3 ISO 200 f13,   1/200sec

Pentax K-3 ISO 100 f18, 15sec

Here is an image that can be seen as a full size JPEG without zooming, it’s around 11 Mbytes

Pentax K-3 ISO 100 f16, 2.5sec

These images were shot using a very fine lens as well the SMC Pentax- DFA Macro 1:2.8 100mm WR.

The Pentax K-3 is showing itself to be an incredible photographic tool and I find myself looking forward to every opportunity to test its abilities with the ultimate goal being able to create the images I want.

The K-01 is an excellent camera for using manual focus lenses especially because of its focus peaking feature. On a recent outing with a friend I took a selection of M42 lenses, primarily using the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.4 35mm with a little bit from the SMC Takumar 1.4 50mm and the Takumar 3.5 200mm aka the Bokehmon I would describe focus peaking as looking like the image is severely over sharpened within the plane of focus with a white halo around areas of high contrast. It is best seen when actually focusing as it sweeps across the image. I also used these lenses with my Pentax Z1p and Portra 400 film and I will update this post with a link to those as well.

The addition of the Q to K-mount adapter adds quite a bit of functionality to this Pentax system.  Like many people I have a hard time pinning down what the Pentax Q cameras are supposed to by, maybe it’s easier to say what they are not.  They are not a replacement for a DSLR and they are not necessarily a replacement for a point and shoot.  Yet they can do a bit of both and more. With the adapter the Q does something neither of the others can and that is to provide a fast and extreme telephoto in a tiny package.  As an owner of Pentax lenses it becomes an inexpensive extension of what I already have.  If you toss in the 03 fish eye then it makes it even more versatile and unique system.

More Pentax Q adapter posts Pentax Q K-mount adapter  Pentax Adapter Q for K Mount

While the latest Pentax camera in this line the Q7 is available in many different colours I really like the original Q in black.  It is so well-built and does not look like a toy despite how tiny it is.

This is a mix of images from either the Canon G2 or the Canon Sure Shot Classic 120.  I compared the two cameras outputs in Digital vs Film 2001 edition.  I cropped the film images to match the aspect ratio of the digital cameras 1.333x 1 to make distinguishing the two a little harder.  At these sizes it’s not always obvious which is which.    I did my first exploration for the difference between film and digital in a post here The battle of 2001 and came to a similar conclusion so I will move forward in time next to see if I can find that illusive moment when digital photography exceeded film in its abilities for the average photographer free of all the marketing.