M CaNikon Part 2 - The Shots

I guess the ultimate way to know if the adapter was worth the $30 or so that I paid it for was to see the actual shots.  I'll go thorugh the lenses I have and shot a few frames with it to test.  Most of them are dirty from the inside due to lack of use over the decades. Just in case you would like to know more about each lens, you can click on each lens title and that will direct you to the specific lens page of the best resource for these lenses which is mir.com.

Just as a full disclaimer, all the photos in this post were unedited, straight out of the camera shots (unless specified).  The shot above was with the Canon 24mm f/2.8 FD lens.  I tried my best to replicate the field of view for each shot below.

The 50mm f/1.4 FD

I was really excited to try out this lens, as I love my Nikon 50mm 1.8 and was looking forward to using this Canon extensively. This lens focuses as close as 8inch from my test, which is a few inches better than my Nikon. My copy of this lens had a lot of fungus inside it, and I didn't really know how that will affect the image.

50mm @ f/1.4 - not good

I guess all that dirt did show up on the image.  This was shot wide open at 1.4, and it really was very soft at that opening.  The softness went away by the time I got to f/2.8 and f/4, but still had some of the ghosting effect, but fortunately that was easy to remove by just adding some contrast and increasing the exposure by just a bit.

50mm 1.4 wide open at 1.4 edited  - still soft but looks better

Same lens at f4 and edited - a lot better

The 70-210mm f/4 

I think this one is the daddy of those popular white tele-zooms of today.  It's a pull-push lens with the same barrel used for focusing.  So this means you really have to push and twist it out to zoom out and pull and twist to zoom in.  This had some dirt inside as well and  I guess affected the photo below.  I only shot at the 20mm end which was the reason for the different perspective.  Like the 50mm, the fogginess went away at the next f/stop or with a little contrast adjustment.  Unlike the 50mm, this lens is not soft wide open or in any aperture setting.   This has a "Macro"setting, which is not really much of a macro, but it does let you focus at around 8inches from the subject when you're at the 70mm focal length.

70-210mm @ f/4 - very foggy

same lens @ f/4 with edit - much much better

The 35-70mm 3.5-4.5 Macro

This lens was the lightest of the group, and I am guessing that back in the day, was the equivalent of a kit lens.  Like the previous lens this has a Macro setting all throughout the zoom range, but it isn't really Macro, as it only focuses as close as 15 inches from the subject.  It was also dirty from the inside, and that also affected the image below.  As with the other 2 lenses, the fogginess went away after applying some contrast adjustments, and it was not soft in any aperture zoom combination,

35-70mm @ 70mm f4.5 - smeared with fungus

same lens and aperture/zoom combination wit hedit - useable, but not the best

The 24mm f/2.8

This is the best lens amongst the 4 I have. It was sharp at all aperture stops and has better color rendition too.  It had dirt inside like the others, but for some reason, it wasn't affecting the photo.  It focuses up to about 12 inches, which was great .  The photo at the top of the post  was an unedited 24mm shot and it was sharp all throughout the frame up to the corners, even when wide open.

24mm @ 2.8 wide open - very useable

Maybe the other lenses will do better when they get some cleaning, but for now I'm happy.  I think  I could really find some good use for these focal lengths and the flexibility they offer me.  Hey, that's four lenses added to my bag, can't say no to that.


rb

My CaNikon Part 1 - How I did it

Trying out a new system is often times exciting and challenging.  But I've got to tell yah', mixing them up is waaaay more fun.  As I blogged a couple of weeks ago, I recently started trying out using Canon lenses with my Nikon camera.  It's been really fun, and I'll be sharing the experience with you on the next few posts.  But first things first, how do you do it?

The Lens

As you might have noticed, I am using a differently looking Canon lens than the ones you Canon users have been using/seeing.  These are Canon F - mount lenses (or FD, great resource link here), the legacy lens mount that Canon dumped back in the early 80's (I think).  All their lenses after that have been EF/EFS mounts, which is what is being used on their digital cameras. Canon FDs are fully manual, aperture ring mount lenses.  They are made of metal and is as heavy as a they come.  They didn't have white versions before and all where shiny black.

Now, Nikon didn't shift lens mounts since the early 50's, why not just use those lenses since you'll be manually focusing anyway? Well I happened to have 4 of these FD lenses and a Canon film camera, so I thought why not use them right?  And from the looks of it, I really like the look and feel of these legacy lenses. I have a 24mm f/2.8, a 50mm f/1.4, a 70-210mm Macro f/4 and a 35-70mm Macro  f/3.5-4.5. I'm a cheapskate, so I basically got 4 "new" lenses for free.  Well not exactly......

The Adapter

So since these are 2 different brands and systems, how did I manage to attach them?  The answer is through the help of a Canon FD to Nikon Body adapter.  Now this is not a common adapter, mind you.  You normally see people using old Nikon lenses on their Canon, Olympus, Panasonic etc. cameras, but seldom do you see it the other way around.  As a matter of fact, the product list here (scroll way down) shows that they only have a few adapters for Nikon bodies.  I first saw this adapter 2 years ago on a site that sells them in the US.  So when I saw this available here locally, I ordered at once.

The adapter is all metal and looks like is durable enough to take some abuse from yours truly.  It comes with a box and nothing else. Don't expect for a manual with this one.  Basically one side (black) is the Nikon side (attach that to your camera) and the other (silver) is the Canon FD side.  No electronics on this baby.  It does have a piece of glass in the middle to compensate for the separation from the sensor, the adapter and the lens.  If you weren't familiar with how the lens attaches to the front, you'll have a really hard time attaching them. You should here a click when you attach them correctly.

 The adapter also has a locking mechanism which when placed on "lock"  the lens will go to its widest aperture available.  So when you want to adjust the aperture, you'll have to make sure it's in the "open" setting.  I don't have a photo of that,  unfortunately.  The glass in the middle adds about .2x to your focal length, which made my 24mm to a 28mm from my very unscientific observations.

So before we talk about how the output photos are, I could say that to me, this is already a very good investment since I could use some paper weights on a digital camera.  There's about 20-30 years of "age-gap" between lens and camera, which I find really interesting.

On our next post, we'll talk about how to use the lenses on the camera.



rb

Hollys Coffee

About a month or two ago, I was commissioned by Hollys Coffee to shoot the interiors/exterior of their newly opened shop along Taft, Manila. Hollys Coffee is a well known coffee shop chain in Korea.  This is their first store in the Philippines and the photo above will be used as an ad for their 2nd store.  I also shot some product shots that they have been using for in-store menus and and features.

Hollys was a really nice client and was very easy to talk to.  Plus their beverages have been the best ones I've had in recent memory.  Maybe because I've only had either Starbucks or Coffee Bean most of my life, and that Hollys offers unique drinks like the Sweet Potato latte, which is by far my favorite.  I encourage you to try it, and I bet you'll fall in love with it.  Here are some more photos:

Hollys facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hollyscoffeephilippines


rb

The Nostalgia of Shooting Film

It's been a while since I last posted here.  I blame it on a piece of $*&+ desktop (I really really need to switch to a Mac this Christmas) and a very busy family life.  I'm on the last day of a very long weekend and finally got to cleanup my laptop files and saw the album where the  photo above was in.  This was from June of last year, on a retro-themed party that my day job had to celebrate our first year celebration.  Everyone was dressed up and I didn't really know what to wear (and I didn't really care too much).  So I just dug some of my dad's old clothes and found an old-school styled corduroy jacket, got some old sunglasses and thought I'll wear that and bring my 80's film camera and hopefully look like an  80's photojournalist.  Then I had the idea of loading the camera up with film and see what kind of shots I get.

I brought a Canon A-1 with a 24mm f/2.8 lens.  I also had a Canon  166A flash from the 70's.  I loaded it up with roll of Kodak ASA 400 and a roll of ASA 200.  I chose the 400 since I knew it was going to be really dark inside and the 200 is for photos outside the function room.  The 24mm was wide enough to get the group performance in my frame, but the flash wasn't as powerful as I thought, as the light didn't reach far back.  The flash was full auto, but had an aperture calculator at the back.  So what you do is you input what ASA you're using and how far the subject is (from the camera), then it gives you 2 aperture/shutter speed combination to choose from, 2.8 for some nice depth of field, and a 5.6 for focus on more areas.

I really like the shots that I got.  There's a different feel when you see the results from a film, fully manual camera. You won't understand it unless you have shot film. Focusing in low light was really difficult but as you get used to where a subject falls on an area of focus, you just shoot away.  I love the grain on these, and can never be matched by your usual photoshop grain.

I thought it was a perfect way of capturing the images for the given theme.  It was a great night as I remembered.


Now, let's try to get that look in digital.....

rb