3D Printed Pinhole Camera

 Here is version II of my 3d printed camera with the telephoto extension.

Here is the 50mm front piece. It uses a Skink pinhole.

Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II Lens Review

Originally submitted at Adorama

Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGI

Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75-300mm F4.8-6.7 II Lens

Good Reach, Sharp Images

By HWPhoto from Greenville, SC on 8/15/2014

 

4out of 5

Pros: Fast / accurate auto-focus, Lightweight, Nice Bokeh, Easily Interchangeable

Cons: Poor in Low Light, Not Waterproof, Weaker Construction

Best Uses: Wildlife Photos, Macro Photography

Describe Yourself: Semi-pro Photographer

I am having good success with photographing butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects with this lens.

(legalese)

Review: SMC Pentax-FA 80-320mm F4.5-5.6 Teleoto Lens

I recently picked up this lens on eBay for $80. I got the silver version. I use it on my K30. I already had a Tamron 70-300mm telephoto lens. So basically, I am comparing the two. The autofocus is similar to the Tamron, slow and imprecise at times. The sharpness of the Pentax lens is much better than the Tamron. I find the sharpness suitable wide open. The color reproduction is excellent. I do not get the CA on the Pentax that I easily get on the Tamron. I have just had this lens for one day and I think I no longer need the Tamron 70-300. Sadly, I paid more for the Tamron than the Pentax lens. Very good lens for the price. Here is an image taken with the Pentax SMC FA 80-320mm lens:

Spicebush Swallowtail

Better Beamer for Metz 48 Flash

I use a Metz 48 flash for my Olympus DSLRs. I recently purchased a Better Beamer FX-6 for the flash. This will give me some more flash range when using the telephoto lenses. The FX-6 fits the Metz 48 pretty well. Here are some photos.

Set Zoom in Olympus E30 Live View

I have trouble seeing to focus my camera. Using live view helps. However, even with live view I would still mis the focus at times. I remember reading about magnifying the image in live view but didn't know how to do it. I fiddled around with the menus, buttons and dials but nothing seemed to magnify the image in live view. Time to read the manual.

After consulting the manual. After looking at the manual, it is really easy to do, albeit not very intuitive. Here are the steps:

1) Select Live View

2) Press the INFO button multiple times until a green square appears in the center of the image.

3) Press the OK button.

Live View should now be magnified. For me it's difficult to use handheld because the image is moving around so much. With practice, it might work allright. With the camera on a tripod, it works great.

Lens Support for Olympus 70-300mm on E510

Olympus doesn't make a lens mounting ring for the 70-300mm telephoto lens. It can be quite unstable on a camera when only the camera is anchored to a tripod. I built the mount shown below.

It is built from aluminum flat bar, a small piece of an aluminum extrusion, and some misc hardware. I added the quick release plate to fit my tripod. Works very well.