Assorted Geeking Out


Tamron 14mm F2.8, hand-mounted in front of my A700.


The toilet bowl diffuser I bought for fun, mainly because it came with four color gels. FOUR color gels! Of course, all four colors were quite useless for matching flash color to ambient light. The red and yellow gels didn’t match tungsten, and the green didn’t match flourescent. At least they make funky colors.

Also, knowing how I can bounce against walls better has reduced the necessity of this.


Macdude‘s baby carriage.


Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6 at YL Camera, Pudu Plaza. Sharp as heck, but unfortunately not usable on full-frame no matter what focal length.


Sometime back, I tried the Canon 24mm F3.5 Tilt-shift. This was at F3.5. Yes, F3.5!


Scheimpflug! Also at F3.5.

Of course, my Vivitar 24mm F2.0 Tilt-shift is way brighter, and has more flexibility when it comes to tilting as it is not limited to one axis.


Sony 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 DT, taken for a run from the guy who likes to jump.


Big type.


I find it hard to make ultra-wides express the wideness of architecture, but I got lucky this time.


Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 70mm F4.


Minolta 28-70mm F2.8G at 70mm F2.8. Note that the beercan has a ‘drawn’ bokeh while the 28-70mm smears and softens.


Can’t say I like that kind of rendition, but it works great for portraits.


G whiz!

It’s chunky, and way bigger than the Konica Minolta 28-75mm F2.8, whose output I prefer. Its minimum focusing distance is 85cm, while the new Sony Carl Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 SSM does 34cm near (and 1:4 macro while at it!)

It’s also slow on the A700, and even slower on the A100! The CZ 24-70mm meanwhile is the fastest SSM I’ve ever tried, with instant response and focus. Of course, the CZ isn’t reknowned for bokeh but I’d take it any day over the portraitish 28-70mm.

Ironically, a Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 I tried had a similiar portraitish look, but softer and with a touch of minor CA. The Konica Minolta 28-75mm F2.8 was sharp as they come, though!


Then came the extreme geeks. I had met my matches. Ament’s BP-200 wired into the remote shutter release of his A100. Tape on hotshoe to tighten flash fit.


David’s very cool flash bracket.


No wait, it gets even cooler!


Kids do not try this at home unless you’re out of warranty.


I repeat, DO NOT!


These are the three screws that screw with focus.


Left to right: Minolta MD Rokkor 50mm F1.4, Minolta MC 28mm F2.5, Vivitar 24mm F2.0.


Left to right: Minolta MD 35mm F1.8, Minolta MC 28mm F2.5, Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 (whoa, deeply poisoned by this 20cm close-focusing lens I am) and the Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm F3.5.


The Minolta 28-70mm F2.8G is a handsome chunky lens.

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