Random Photos

[Point Conception]

Along Jomtien beach rd.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

We visited Exbury Gardens (in Hampshire, UK) a couple of days ago. It's an amazing sight all year round, but in rhododendron and azalea season it's quite overwhelming!

 

[Jonathan Scott]

My Panasonic Lumix TZ200 ("travel zoom" camera, compact with up to 15x optical zoom) is very convenient to carry around and has a viewfinder which is very useful on sunny days. I spotted a butterfly which was too far away for me to identify immediately but this photo clearly identifies it as a green-veined white:

 

[BillTre]

My Panasonic Lumix TZ200 ("travel zoom" camera, compact with up to 15x optical zoom) is very convenient to carry around and has a viewfinder which is very useful on sunny days. I spotted a butterfly which was too far away for me to identify immediately but this photo clearly identifies it as a green-veined white:
View attachment 371168

Shots are a great way to make IDs and to see details of wildlife (if you can get them).

 

[DennisN]

I just read another hilarious photography gear review...

Gear reviewed:

1) LightDow 420-800mm f/8.3-f/16 zoom lens
2) NBD 4K Vlogging Camera

(about the LightDow 420-800mm zoom lens)

Even the act of focusing will cause the lens to fall apart.
...
Worse still is the complete lack of sharpness or optical corrections.
...
I hope you like the color purple because your image will have an overall color cast which is especially egregious anywhere that light meets dark.

The reviewer (I think) using the zoom lens. Source: here.

More funny quotes can be found in the article , source:

Worse Than a Lump of Coal: A Review of Terrible Gear (PetaPixel)
https://petapixel.com/2023/12/23/worse-than-a-lump-of-coal-a-review-of-terrible-gear-from-wish/

 

[pinball1970]

Whitby last weekend doing a gig. North East coast of England.

 

[pinball1970]

It was also Goth weekend.

 

[DennisN]

Time for some more Soviet glas...

Here we have the Soviet Jupiter-37A 135mm f/3.5, which I personally don't think is
a particularly attractive lens...

Jupiter-37A (side).

...but even though it was made behind the Iron Curtain,
it is actually rather well constructed. It's pretty small
too, and a pleasure to use, I have to say.

Jupiter-37A (front), where the 12 aperture blades
forming almost a perfect circle can be seen.

But what's more important is that it can deliver photographically,
and sometimes truly blur the backgrounds into oblivion...

A yellow light bulb in an alley.


Shooting animals with manual lenses like this one can be, let's say, ...challenging ,
but I managed to get a decent shot of this jackdaw since the bird was rather calm.

Western jackdaw.


More flying things...

...the lens can even get an ok shot of an airplane way up in the sky
(but I want to point out I did quite a bit of noise reduction in Photoshop
on this one and the next, and please also note the photos have been heavily cropped; the planes were much smaller on the original photos)...

A flying metal can with wings.

...and one more...

...to be honest, I can't say I enjoy shooting airplanes, but I sometimes do it
when they fly high above me in order to try the resolving capabilities of the
lens I'm using (and myself ).

If the far away airplane is resolved with ok sharpness, the lens is probably
pretty sharp; at least that's my experience.

Another flying metal can with wings.

Flowers outside a store.

Lens used: Jupiter-37AM 135mm MC f/3.5, which I also can warmly recommend .
Note though that it's vintage and fully manual, but it can nevertheless make some quite impressive shots.

 

[collinsmark]

'Took a flight back to flight to midwest (US) last week. 'Passed over (or at least near) the eastern part of the Grand Canyon. Here are a few pics.

After the fact, I had to spend a lot of time on Google Maps trying to figure out what I was looking at. I figured it out. Details in the captions.

All pics in this post taken with the 50mm Summilux-M ASPH. Aperture was around f/5.6 (maybe f/8): just something to put the lens near its sharpest spot. It was bright enough and the flight was smooth enough that I wasn't overly concerned with shutter speed; it was around 1/200 sec. Auto ISO, highlight weighted metering.

Figure 1. "Little Colorado River." The view faces North (-ish). The river flows from the lower right to upper left in the image. The river merges with the actual Colorado River to the extreme left in the image (difficult to see the merging). The central part of the image is an area called "Emerald Pool," according to Google Maps.

Figure 2. "Colorado River." This image was taken a few seconds after the first (see Fig. 1), tilting the camera up to see all the way to the horizon. Here, the "Emerald Pool" is in the lower right. The Colorado River flows from the upper right to lower left. The Little Colorado River flows from the lower right to the lower-mid center, where it merges with the Colorado. According to Google Maps, the image center contains the Nankoweap Mesa, where the "Nankoweap Granaries" can be found.

Figure 3. "Another view of the Little Colorado River." Here, the view faces northwest. The river flows from the bottom left to the top (in the image). The Emerald Pool is up top.

I should have more pics of the trip to come in future posts (mostly pics from Nebraska, not the Grand Canyon).

 

[DennisN]

Spring leaves... it's getting quite lovely over here now...

The first two photos may look like they have been taken with a macro lens, but they have not; they were taken with the Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4, which can do very well in situations like these.
Furthermore I've cropped the photos heavily, but as can be seen the photos are still quite sharp.

New foliage of a linden tree

The budding foliage of a linden tree

English ivy

Lens used: Canon nFD 50mm f/1.4 (my favorite of all lenses I have ).

 

[BillTre]

 

[symbolipoint]

#3641, from @BillTre
Big large sized post field with nothing in it.
Placing mouse pointer on the field indicates a caption floater of "...2026-5-7 at 7.1.31PM.wbp" approximately.

AAHHH! A browser page refresh and image of a willowy tree is shown. White leaves or something.

 

[berkeman]

White leaves or something.

Cherry blossoms.

 

[Zaciekawiony]

Rural landscape near my mother's home, last weekend

 

[collinsmark]

View attachment 371469

Cherry blossoms are cool, but I think this image might be AI generated.

 

[Point Conception]

Cherry blossoms are cool, but I think this image might be AI generated.

ChatGPT agrees with you

 

[Jonathan Scott]

More rhododendrons today, this time at Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, near Romsey, Hampshire, UK.

(All taken with my Panasonic Lumix TZ200 "Travel Zoom" camera).

 

[symbolipoint]

Cherry blossoms are cool, but I think this image might be AI generated.

@BillTre, tell us! Was the image AI generated or AI enhanced or AI something? Or did you actually use a camera to directly photograph what is shown?

 

[BillTre]

@BillTre, tell us! Was the image AI generated or AI enhanced or AI something? Or did you actually use a camera to directly photograph what is shown?

@symbolipoint , tell us! Do you actually read a post before you comment on it?
Or was your post from an AI?
Its obviously from a bluesky post.

 

[Zaciekawiony]

Warszaw city center at night near Wisła River. Photo from 2020 yr.

 

[symbolipoint]

@symbolipoint , tell us! Do you actually read a post before you comment on it?
Or was your post from an AI?
Its obviously from a bluesky post.

I sometimes look at some of these 'photo' posts very quickly, and do not always read everything word by word. I thought, without careful read, that you photographed the picture using your camera.

 

[Andy Resnick]

A brief macrophoto essay: first 2 images are micro nikkor 55mm, the remaining also use the M2 extender, to shoot at 1:1 reproduction @ f/11, auto ISO.

Started out on a wooded trail, hoping to take photos of bugs:

But then

So, no bug photos. But that's ok- tree bark in sidelight produces dramatic textures:

So it was a quick walk. But then, as soon as I exited the woods, look what wandered by:

Photographing this dude was trickier than I expected; while it seems to be walking slowly at human scale, at 1:1 it's quite zippy! The head is a specular reflecting surface:

The black blob is a reflection of the lens and adjacent to it, I think my hand (which I used to steady the lens).

So in the end, a short but enjoyable stroll :)

 

[jtbell]

Commencement at the college is tomorrow, oops, today. I walked past the site as it was being prepared a couple of days ago.

The three rows of seats set off slightly at the front are for faculty, in their regalia and ordered by seniority. I sat there for > 25 years, but didn't quite make it to the front row before I retired.

 

[Point Conception]

What i miss state side: Getty images Arizona

q

 

[DennisN]

I am myself not looking for a new camera, but I saw a good and informational video by the youtuber Mark Wiemels about his suggested top camera for every budget ranging from under $300 to under $2500.

I share it in case someone here is interested.
Note though, it's only system cameras, i.e. no compact cameras.

Another thing I want to point out that he mentioned at least one camera without an electronic viewfinder (EVF). And an EVF on the camera is something I personally think is absolutely necessary, because without an EVF you are forced to use the screen when focusing/composing and that can become an obstacle, particularly when it's sunny outside. I myself almost never use the screen, unless I for one reason or another can't reach the EVF with my eye (e.g. when I'm shooting close to the ground).

In the video Mark Wiemels covers both photo and video capabilities of cameras, and the cameras are from various brands like Sony, Olympus, Canon, Panasonic, Fujifilm and Nikon.

At the end he also mentions an "If money is no object " camera, the medium format 100MP Fujifilm GFX 100 II, at 34:47. Note though, it's quite expensive .

Top Cameras for Every Budget: Best Picks for 2026


Another good video by Mark Wiemels is this one:

Adapting Vintage Lenses: Why I Do It and You Should Too (Mark Wiemels)

 

[DennisN]

I went out the other day with a 40mm lens and the Jupiter-37A 135mm, but ended up shooting mostly with the 135mm, because it's so much fun .

As described before, it can really blur out the backgrounds, and when you shoot subjects with a clear blue sky as the background you get a complete subject isolation...

Japanese cherry tree.

Flowers on an empress tree.

A flowering crabapple tree.


Two more shots, but not with the sky as background...

The flowering stage of a walnut tree.

English ivy.

(all shot with Jupiter-37AM 135mm MC f/3.5)

 

[jtbell]

Some white critters today:

 

[DennisN]

Scenes from an underground platform at Malmö Central Station:
(shot with my smartphone)

 

[Borg]

Looking south from Pier 57 in New York.

 

[jtbell]

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Mimms Museum of Technology and Art in Roswell GA, near Atlanta.

I was there for the stamp and postcard show, and spent more time in the museum afterward. Just inside the entrance is a cow sculpture made of recycled computer chips.

The first thing I saw after entering the museum proper was an Enigma machine, used by the German military to encrypt communications during WWII.

Here's a Jaquard loom from the early 1800s, which used punched cards to control the production of patterned textiles. At the left is a card-punching machine.

A sorting machine for 80-column "IBM cards" and a keypunch machine. I wrote my first FORTRAN programs using one of these.