New Sigma lens can be connected to a Computer!
Bit of a geek-out post this!
Sigma have announced a new 35mm f/1.4 lens. Priced at $899
Nothing massively interesting there – although I would have hoped it would be cheaper – mind you – Nikon 35mm f/1.4G is £1299!
BUT the funky-doo-dah thing is that you can buy an optional part that allows you to connect the lens to a computer! Not to take photos of course ,as this would need an imaging chip – but to update the lens itself! i.e. adjust the internal lenses, updating firmware etc! Some cameras have micro-adjustment settings to fine-tune them per lens – but this means you can do it directly to the lens without including the camera – which I guess should mean that it will be optimized for all cameras. I didn’t even know lenses had firmware! Updating is done via the software Sigma optimization Pro.
(Via PetaPixel)
Focus on imaging – Jacob prices
Some prices for you. Hope this WordPress app uploads the full images. Edit: It didn’t but they’ve been uploaded. Clicm on picture for the full size.
Leica Lenses
Just another random tit-bit.
Came across this video of Leica Lens manufacturing online.
If you’re not a camera Buff – Leica’s are essentially the Roll’s Royce of the camera world. They may not be the biggest, quickest, or most functional of their market (i.e. cameras) but they do have that significant element of prestige and quality about them. However – you also pay for that!
Their current flag-ship I think is the M9 digital camera (BTW they’re not “SLR”s but instead Range-finders. If you don’t know what this is doesn’t really matter but google it if interested) which is a 18Mpx camera is a £5,000 camera! And what’s more – only does manual Focus!
But from this video you’ll probably see why there’s such a price-tag on their equipment.
I was interested in the possibility of a Leica a while ago as I was keen to get into street photography, possibly candid stuff (e.g. Henri Cartier Bresson was a famous Leica shooter). Leica’s are fairly compact especially their lenses. So I went along to their Mayfair shop. Wow did I feel like I was trespassing! one of these kind of shops where you need to ring the bell to get in and they will offer you a drink! Perfectly courteous towards me but I was most definitely out of my price-range depth.
In addition to the price though the big-turn off for me was the fact that even the modern Digital cameras were manual focus only was a significant no-go for me. I’ve come to rely on AutoFocus really – but even if I hadn’t – I could see that part of candid street stuff might be shooting from the hip – which would need some form of focusing….
Maybe one of these dew breed of mirror-less compacts, ot the Fuji X100. But first I’m going to upgrade my main camera (when Nikon get around to announcing one I want!) and then I’ll see about a carry-me-everywhere-camera.
Funky Bokeh
For those that don’t know:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bokeh
| Main Entry: | bokeh |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | a Japanese term for the subjective aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photographic image |
So some of you probably thought that out of focus was just out of focus – but that isn’t the case. The construction makeup of a lens (and other factors – I’ll get into this in a mo) can influence how this “out of focusness” looks.
For the most part it’s not always obvious since many items blur into each other – but where it comes to effect most or when it’s most noticeable is when there’s a single point of light that is small enough but strong enough to be blurred as one unique area.
An example can be found on the Wiki page on Bokeh :
This image would be an out of focus picture of lots of minute dots of light.
If you really want to get into the technicalities of this dot of light turning into a blurred circle – look up “The Circle of confusion“.
Aaaaanyway – getting to the point – the factors that influence the characteristics of this blur/bokeh are the glass in the lens but more so the shape of the iris within the lens. Not all irises are the same as they will have various numbers of sliding metal plates.
The funky stuff, and the point of this post – is that you can cheat and place something in front of the lens – making a fake iris so to speak. I’ve seen it done a few times but just saw this music video where it’s used to clever effect – keep an eye out on the Circle of confusion turning into a “OH” of confusion or notes, walk sign, stops sign of confusion etc 
I originally found this on here :
http://www.diyphotography.net/bokeh-masters-kit-used-to-create-boekhlicious-clip
And if you want to play around with this with a ready-made kit they sell one :
http://www.bokehmasterskit.com/
