Infrared Digital Photography with a Converted Nikon D800

Infrared Digital Photography with a Converted Nikon D800

April 25, 2021

I am really interested in infrared photography and in the past I have used both colour and black and white Kodak infrared films. So a while ago I managed to get hold of a D800 which was in good condition. So I got it converted to be sensitive up to 720nm in the infrared spectrum and the auto-focus adjusted for infrared. At the same time they fixed up the grips. Works great, takes awesome photographs.

Infrared Digital Photography with a Converted Nikon D800

Black and White / Kit Posts / Technology / Updates

Kodak Anastigmat Camera and Film

March 17, 2021

I bought this old Kodak Anastigmat Camera ages ago and never used it. It takes 620 film which is hard to get hold of. I did eventually find some and try it. What I didn’t realise was that film has a paper back, so I actually had some trouble developing it. I got something out of it but it wasn’t easy. Interesting experiment however. I will try to get some more film!

Kit Posts / Technology / Updates

New Recording Setup For Feb 2021

March 10, 2021

Rather than selling the Panasonic G80(G85) I decided to keep it for recording. Seems to work well, and improve my setup for teaching and YouTube. I will keep the 14mm and 20mm lens, the rest I of the kit I will sell.

Kit Posts / Technology / Updates

Bought a Nikon Z50

March 3, 2021

I bought a used Nikon Z50 with the 16-50mm f/3.5-6.3 kit lens and a FTZ adaptor. It is to replace my Panasonic G80(G85) camera for travel. The idea is that it consolidates my platform, I can focus around Nikon lens. I will probably in the future get a Nikon Z7 II or something, once the used market for those gets going.

So far I really like it but I need to figure out all the menus etc. It is a bit different so I will have invest some more time.

Kit Posts / Photo Projects / Technology

Got an old Dye Sub Printer and a Canon G5

February 24, 2021

I have an old dye sublimation printer, its a Olympus P100. I have a bunch of paper for it and I got an old Canon G5. Together I am going to do a retro photo project. I think I need to boost the exposure on the camera as the pictures look a little dark straight out of the camera when printed, and I don’t want to have to edit them.

Infrared / Photo Projects / Technology / Video

Infrared Nikon D800

June 11, 2020

So I bought a second hand Nikon D800 a little while ago. Why you ask? Well I decided to get it converted to infrared. I managed to find a really nice example and sent it off to get converted and get the grip fixed as well. Linked below is a video of me unpacking the camera when I got it. I will update this project soon, including a few example photos. However you could check out my instagram.

Unboxing a Nikon D800.

Kit Posts / Technology / Tips

Micro Four Thirds Depth of Field

July 28, 2019

So there is a lot of discussion about the conversion of apertures and depth of field between smaller sensors and full frame sensors. The main thing that I remember is that the depth of field doesn’t change during the conversion. What do I mean by that?

So if you have a 150mm lens on the MFT camera at F/2.8 that is the same as a 300mm at F/5.6 on full frame. For both these lenses, for a given focus distance the depth of field is the same. So if you are interested in trying to get a blurred or sharp background then remember that your aperture has doubled with the focal length.

That does make things difficult to get a really blurred background. With a full frame F/1.8 at say 85mm you can get a nice blurred background. To get the same depth of field (blurring) on MFT you would need a something around 42mm at well F/0.7. That’s not going to happen with most lenses.

There are two options on the market that come pretty close! There is the Panasonic 42.5mm F/1.2 ASPH Lieca DG Nocticron OIS lens, which in the UK is currently about £1150. Or there is the Voigtlander 42.5mm F/0.95 Nokton, which is £850. It should not be a surprise to you that these lenses exist for the exact reasons stated above.

Kit Posts / Review / Technology / Updates

Panasonic G80 Travel Kit – Update

April 7, 2019

I have been updating the travel camera kit. I started with the Panasonic G80 that I purchase with a 12-32mm (24-64mm equivalent) lens. I then decided that I would add a 25mm (50mm) as I really like the standard lens length. Finally I decided to try out a 20mm (40mm) lens, bit different but I had heard a lot of good things about that lens so I decided that I would give it a try. It is also like the 35mm length on my full frame and film cameras and is close to that.

I have had the camera for a couple of weeks now and I really like it. The quality is really good and it has a lot of great features. Couple of my favourite features are the onscreen levels and I recently managed to get the Android app working. Importantly I think the quality of the images is really good. They are sharp with good dynamic range, I wonder if the lack of low pass filter improves the image quality. I will have to give the camera a good outing soon. I will be taking to Oxford soon, and the also Greece. So that might be the first to real opportunities to give the whole kit a good test.

The G80 travel kit, 20mm on the camera, 12-32mm on the left, and the 25mm on the right. All purchased second had.

Kit Posts / Review / Technology

Panasonic Lumix G 20mm f/1.7 II ASPH – First Impressions

April 5, 2019

In my quest to put together a really nice travel kit that is much lighter than my D750, grip, and a massive lens I have added a 20mm Lumix G f/1.7 II ASPH. This lens is equivalent of a 40mm in 35mm, and goes well with the 25mm and 12-32mm that I already have. 40mm is a slightly odd length really, but I am a fan of 35mm lenses and also this is the natural length for this sensor size. This apparently makes for some nice pictures that some say are little like that from Leica, but I have no idea about that and probably never will :). The lens is however well known for being really sharp, and compact. True to form I got this lens second hand, pretty much never buy camera stuff new, I payed £185 and it looks never used. Only if I really cannot get something after ages of looking.

I thought this would make a nice lens for street photography, sharp, relatively fast, and unobtrusive. Just want you need. I am visiting London tomorrow and I will be taking this setup with me. See if I can’t try it out a bit.

Couple more pictures of the lens itself. I might get a filter for the front element as this camera will be living in bags a fair bit (I have ordered a thin case to go round it). Onc e I have some sample pictures from this kit I will do a bit more of a review of the different bits.

Review / Software / Technology / Tips

Linux Photo Editors

April 3, 2019

I am a user of the Linux operating systems for my desktop computers, have been for years. I use Mac laptops as they were the closest to having a really good Linux install you could get for a long time, now Linux is fully functional on laptops but I still use Mac Laptops.

This means that I wanted cross platform software for photo editing, something that would work on both Linux (I mostly use Kubuntu and Opensuse, Debian on servers) and Mac OSX. For a long time I used GIMP, well frequently still do. It’s a good piece of software, with a lot of functionality. However I wanted something that was more tailored to photo editing, with clearer menus. Something rather like Lightroom really.

I eventually discovered Aftershot Pro 3 has a Linux version, and I figured it was worth a go. Especially as I saw it fairly heavily discounted in a sale. I will do a more in depth review at some point in the future but the first impressions are good. The import system and file management is what I would call ‘old school’. As in, you have do it yourself really. However it is lightning fast. The RAW file handling and editing is accelerated using OpenCL, with means it can take advantage of modern GPUs (inc Nvidia and AMD). The means that if you don’t mind the odd quirk around menus and file management, and they are easy to get used to, it is a fast and efficient editor. With a lot of features and functionality. So I would recommend you give it a try at least.

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