Random Photos

[jtbell]

We hadn't seen this guy on our front step for a while.

Looks like he's put on even more weight!

 

[DennisN]

Some shots taken today...

Flowering cherry tree #1:

Flowering cherry tree #2:

Flowering bush (or small tree, I don't remember ):

(taken with Jupiter-37AM 135mm f/3.5)

 

[DennisN]

It looks like some crazy person has been out in the sun testing a lot of lenses...
...oh, wait... that must have been me.

A whole bunch of 50mm lenses were tested to see which actually are my favorites of all 50mm lenses I've got (and it's too many , so I'm gonna sell those I don't use).

 

[pinball1970]

Some nice clouds. We have had some fires on the moors, nowhere near as bad as you get in Oz, Greece, US but they do happen and can smoulder for a while and flare up again.
A few people have been asking if it will affect the sky, clouds.

 

[DennisN]

Some nice clouds.

Is that a small slice of the moon I see in the upper center of photo #3, perhaps?

 

[jrmichler]

My favorite cloud photo. I was visiting friends, and those clouds looked a lot more impressive in person than in the photo.

 

[pinball1970]

Is that a small slice of the moon I see in the upper center of photo #3, perhaps?

Yeah when I looked up it was so precise and large against the sky. I made sure it was in there against all the pretty, cloudy, coloured, texture. This will make a lovely shot. I saw the image and it was tiny! It absolutely did not look like that right here, above me, with my eyes!
My camera lies!

 

[pinball1970]

A

My favorite cloud photo. I was visiting friends, and those clouds looked a lot more impressive in person than in the photo.
View attachment 360613

Holy cow, that makes my cloud images look like Katy Perry, yours are Neil Armstrong.

 

[nsaspook]

Race day at the local bar and OTB.

 

[Point Conception]

Seafood soup, seafood salad, fried rice with shrimp. $16.

 

[Point Conception]

Along CA hwy 395 , Eastern Sierras

 

[jtbell]

 

[nsaspook]

 

[nsaspook]

 

[jtbell]

 

[jtbell]

Florida isn't the only place with flamingos... but why are some of them wearing socks over their heads?

 

[jtbell]

“Fatty” is back in front of our door.

 

[DennisN]

I walked by a photographer studio and saw a beautiful old Yashica LM TLR camera in the shop window:

And here's my shadow on the street at night:

(both shot with my smartphone)

 

[gmax137]

Does anyone make a digital camera with a waist-level viewfinder? I might buy one. I hate the screen on the back finders.

 

[DennisN]

Mountain clematis

(Lens: Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 MC) (focus stacked)


Mountain clematis - leaves

(Lens: 7artisans 35mm f/0.95)


Viburnum plicatum

(Lens: 7artisans 35mm f/0.95)

 

[collinsmark]

Does anyone make a digital camera with a waist-level viewfinder? I might buy one. I hate the screen on the back finders.

Many modern mirrorless cameras these days allow their back LCD to flip up, such that you can use it as a waist-level viewfinder in live-view mode ("live-view mode" means you use the LCD as a viewfinder -- it shows what the camera presently sees).

Here's an example showing the Leica SL3. There are many other modern mirrorless cameras (most all different brands) that can do this.

 

[collinsmark]

A whole bunch of 50mm lenses were tested [...]

Speaking of 50 mm lenses (and viewfinders),

Mr. Mittens (my neighbor's kitty) stopped in yesterday [edit: day before yesterday] after a multiple week hiatus ("hiatus," that is, of not stopping over at my place -- not necessarily a hiatus in general). He's fine.

He decided to take a short nap on my open stairwell. I said hello, and gave him some affection, then got the camera out.

Continuing with my rangefinder focus practice, I decided to shoot my 50 mm lens wide open at f/1.4 (or thereabouts). A 50 mm isn't a "long" lens by any means, but it's on the longer side for a rangefiner, and at f/1.4 it's still a good challenge since the depth of field is so thin.

Figure 1. Mr. Mittens saying hello.

Figure 2. Mr. Mittens sporting his regal look.

In the latter picture (see Fig. 2) I switched over to the electronic viewfinder (EVF). My camera's rangefinder mechanism only works down to 0.7 meters. So as I got closer, I switched over to the EVF, where the camera operates quite similarly to a modern mirror-less. Of course I still have to manually focus. The rangefinder camera does not support autofocus in any form.

(I've got nothing against autofocus, btw. I just need to practice on the rangefinder which doesn't support it.)

 

[DennisN]

I'm not really sure where to put this post, but I hope it's ok I put it here...
I got this clip from a friend about a really cool microscope invention; getting dronelike shots in microscopes using a mirror rotating around the subject.

(@Andy Resnick may be interested, but anyone interested in "weird" optics and inventions may be interested too )

This microscope spins - and the shots are insane (Steve Mould)

 

[DennisN]

And some more macro shots taken lately... three flies and a ladybug...
..the light was not that good (partly cloudy), but anyway...

Fly #1

Fly #1, again:

Fly #2:

Fly #3:

And a ladybug taking a rest:

(all shot with Canon nFD 100mm Macro)

 

[nsaspook]

Always missing the one you need.

 

[berkeman]

Always missing the one you need.

After getting burned a couple of times, I made it a habit to always check the code on caps and the color code on resistors that I pulled out of the supply bins like that. Don't ask me why...

(although I guess it's pretty obvious...)

 

[DennisN]

After getting burned a couple of times

Have you ever got burned by a soldering iron?
It's brutal . The pain just keeps coming and coming...
The only good thing about it is it teaches you humility.
And respect for soldering irons.

 

[berkeman]

Have you ever got burned by a soldering iron?

Oh yeah. Once when I was a 10y/o kid who was learning to solder wires with my Dad's Weller iron and I wondered if the big silver things also got hot like the heating element...

https://www.weller-tools.com/us/en/...g-guns/d650-industrial-soldering-gun-200w300w

Or the multiple times that I dropped a Metcal iron in my lap at my EE work (probably trying to work too fast, or the cord caught on my lab chair...)

https://www.productionequipment.com/mcsp200.html

 

[DaveC426913]

Have you ever got burned by a soldering iron?

Not me. But I'm not everyone.

 

[gmax137]

Once when I was a 10y/o kid who was learning to solder wires with my Dad's Weller iron and I wondered if the big silver things also got hot like the heating element...

I have the same memory, with the same Weller iron.