Bought this lens the other day, it’s a Yashica 50mm 1.7.
First thing is it’s a contax mount, so I needed to get an adapter for it off ebay. I go for slightly pricier adapters when using decent glass, as most usually are machined to a closer tolerance, and are generally made to a better standard. The good ones allow you to focus from as close as it says on the focus indicator to infinity. If the lens doesn’t focus to infinity, in this case, it means your lens is not close enough to the film (sensor) plane. In my case, the lens focusses niceley from .5 m to infinity ∞ so I am happy with the adapter.
The second strange thing about the glass, it had yellowed due to the rare earth metals used in the makeup of the lens elements. This problem can be seen on a lot of older lenses from the 60′s to 70′s era cameras. A simple fix is to leave the lens out in direct sunlight for a while, I put mine on the back porch with some cling wrap around the glass to prevent dust. In about 6 hours of sun the lens had de-yellowed to a point where it was indistinguishable from my canon 50mm 1.4. I have read that certain LED lamps and flourescant lamps can work quicker, but as this lens only cost me 20 bucks, I wasn’t prepared to go out and spend about that on reconditioning it.
Third thing I did was open the lens and remove the aperture click ball bearing. This bearing sits just inside the aperture ring and gives you that nice ‘click’ when changing apertures. In the world of video however, its nice to not have those so you can do a smooth iris open. It also allows you to put the lens through non-standard apertures, which again, very useful for video purposes.
So how does it look? Lovely, crisp images, bright colour reproduction, and outstanding flare. The whole image tends to go gold when exposed to direct sunlight. It included a rubber lens hood, which eliminates this flare when it is not desired. For video, its lovely to use, focus is smooth and the ring rotates through 180° which is nice, and makes it easier to focus than the 90° offered on canon lenes.
Not bad for a $20 lens.
So it is finally complete.
The pedal is loosely based on the hermida audio zendrive, which is also similar to the original tube screamers by ibanez. I decided to add the symmetrical/asymmetrical mod to it too, this switch changes the way the pedal clips and with it engaged, the sound really cleans up a lot.
With the switch down it engages a blue led which I used in place of a second bat46 signal diode. This gives a very warm almost fuzzy tone, with loads of sustain and compression.
It doesn’t have a huge amount of gain, particularly for my single coil tele but it does give a great almost SRV tone, which would get a whole lot nicer with a neck pickup strat.
from the source: http://www.canonrumors.com/2010/06/ef-video-camera-specs-cr1/
Canon’s RED?
Received this spec list in regards to a video camera with an EF mount.
Specifications
- Unconventional case, more like a Hasselblad.
- Alloy heatsink for extended shoot times and lower heat related picture noise.
- FF 4k sensor, no line skipping and much reduced jello effect
- ISO 100-1600
- Pellicle Mirror however it can be flipped up if a OVF isn’t required to regain the lost 2/3 stop.
- EF fitment
- AF when pellicle mirror is down
- Digital Follow focus to control lenses electronically
- Twin CF slots
- Add on module with SSD drive for extended shooting, like a virtual film mag.
- 4:4:4 SDI out
- HDMI out
- 3D LUT capacity
This is currently a “skunk works project that was initiated with the 5D video explosion. Designed to be a base body, leveraging the existing EF glass. 3rd parties left to develop rails, matte boxes etc.”
cr
February 6, 2010
Canon & Apple soon to release HDSLR plugin for Final Cut Pro, 1DIV, 7D, 5D
So according to a post on planet5d yesterday, Canon will soon (in participation with apple) be releasing a plugin for final cut systems.
The plugin will allow the final cut pro ‘log and transfer’ utility to open camera cards and import/ingest clips, adding custom meta data etc. For thos of you who have used log and transfer for panasonic p2, or Sony’s XDCAM Ex the interface will be very similar.
With the time it takes my trusty old 4 core mac pro to convert these clips to prores, I should be able to build a better fruit bat.
Apple has not released the download yet, but we are assured it is free.
Will be available here as soon as its released.
French toast, Banana shakes, Lettuce, Fried Cheese and tea at 2am.
So, I’ve decided to Go with the ‘handdrawn’ style that is all the rage, not only for my website but also for the custom Blog theme project.
I made a rough draft type dealy, was mainly just experiementing with the images on a theme that was pre installed on the blog, it looks bit poo at the moment, But soon it will be delicious.
I also got a mention on the ucweb production website.
vis.
So this is what i’ve settled on for my site, It looks a little rough with no content on it, but hopefully it will be ok…
Website design draft.
So yeah, In a little while you’ll see the development stages of this going up on www.wheresmyspaceship.com
Jim out.
We define Website Aesthetics as any aspect of your site that creates either a visual or audible impression. When you break a web page down to its basic components, all you really have is a compilation of text and graphics. It’s the selection and presentation of the text and graphics that determine your website’s aesthetic appeal
Pc World
the Falls Festival
BMA Magazine
Apple Australia
ABC Australia
1. Navbar at the top.
The sites i’ve chosen all feature a navigation system at the top. I found this particularly useful when testing the websites by the trunk method. No matter where I had ‘found’ myself, I was able to navigate my way elsewhere, and more importantly I always knew where I was. Because of this, I believe that it was easy to find the information I needed, without hitting the home button and going from the top down.
2. Search function, clearly visible from home view
Having a search field in the top right corner, allows the user to perform a customised search for the specific information they are after. This I feel, is an important design aesthetic, I found this helpful to find the information I needed quickly, without having to browse too many pages.
Having the Search bar in the top right is a great place, the viewer reads from left to right. So when a page loads, the user will scan quickly from left to right, over the ‘billboard’ space and then see the search bar.
3. Billboard space for latest news
All of the sites under review had a space on the front page that one can see as soon as the page loads (on apple.com.au, it was actually the first loading piece of material). Having this means you can attract the viewers attention quickly, and convey essential information. Apple has an ad for the new ipod, ABC has breaking news, and a what’s on, the falls festival site, has the date for you to see clearly.
4. Home by clicking on the logo
Another navigational device. The logo for the site on all 5 pages takes you back to home. While with careful navigation systems, you may never need to do that, I feel not only does it promote the brand of the website, but it has a function.
5. Minimalistic layout, not perfect, but certainly not cluttered
The website I will redesign will feature a minimalist theme. I feel that the themes of these websites is fairly minimal, ABC does have a bit of clutter, but it is very easy to digest where everything is on first glance. In order to keep your visitors attention, it is often better to make things cleaner looking, so again it is easier to navigate.
6. Effective background use
Some sites I visited had a background behind the actual frame, while some look good, and are very creative, often it made the pages look a little messy. The background certainly makes the page itself more three dimensional, this adds visual appeal, however, the sites I chose, just have a simple solid colour. This also reduces the strain on the eyes if you had to spend a lot of time reading it.
7. Linking to social networking sites, Facebook, Myspace etc.
While only the BMA magazine site had a link to facebook fan page, I feel that it is important to provide links to add friends on facebook, to add the link to your delicious library, to RSS feed your top headlines, not only does your viewer not have to visit the site everyday, but it also generates an enormous amount of free promotion for your site.
References: