Maybe OT? Photography

[fjk]

Kind of simple but …. I needed a more studly quick release plate for my 600mm telephoto lens - a plastic one actually cracked in cold weather….

so 1 hunk of aluminum, some neoprene, a 1/4-20 machine screw and some quality milking machine time produced this
(more pictures in my Dropbox at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rg3v31rma...XOUMuY3Qa?dl=0)

frank

[RB211]

Sid, I'm glad you got it to "pop" into 3D!

For those that have not mastered parallel viewing, the trick is the look "through" the stereo pair, as if you were looking at a distant object. That makes your binocular vision parallel. If you do this correctly you will see three images; initially all will be out of focus since your are looking at infinity. Concentrate on the middle image. Get it to come into focus without converging your eyes.

You should re-size your window so that the total width of the pair is a little less than six inches. For the pair above it helps to concentrate on the title 1446 E Roosevelt. That will aid in getting the middle image to form as one image from what will initially be two.

Very cool, I am REALLY into Virtual Reality which works on the same principal but computer generated imagery that moves with head tracking. I use it primarily with flight simulators.

[Jerrythepilot]

Allan, it worked for me too, I had a ViewMaster moment! Would you post a pic of your camera?

[aostling]

Allan, it worked for me too, I had a ViewMaster moment! Would you post a pic of your camera?

Jerry, Here is the Belplasca. It was manufactured in 1954 by the Belka-Werk in Dresden. The viewfinder is cloudy, so I have attached a Voigtlander 35mm brightline finder, a close match for the 37.5mm Tessar lenses. The shutter speeds all test to within a 1/3 stop. The aperture dial is very stiff (from congealed grease) but it works; as a consequence I got it on eBay for $150. The lenses are pristine, with no marks on the single coating. it focuses to 1 m.

You can find others on eBay, under Sold Items.

[Jerrythepilot]

That's too cool, it looks pristine! Thanks for the pic, I have never heard of Belplasca before.

[JRouche]

Nice thread, I say not O/T cause I tend to over post photos here

Yeah, I used to take photos with film also. Not even on the level that you guys did. I started with my Moms Pentax she gave me and just carried on.

My last film camera was a Nikon F4. Very nice camera for its time. And on a Sailors budget it was a matter of saving money to get it.

Why I bought it was what I liked about it. Fast shutter, 4000. And at that time it was fast. And the film I used was run of the mill fuji (never liked kodak). I caught some nice photos with that old body. The lens broke my bank lol.

Then came digital... JR

[RB211]

So I once made a stop motion movie with Gumby and Pokey character toys. I won't post it as it does irreparable harm to my image.
The point is, I used Dragon Frame to make it, computer controlled shutter release, etc. It supports motion platforms to move and angle the camera, so when you step back and fourth to reshoot, the camera goes back to where it was. This is the "on topic" part. It's freaking CNC with step and Dir controls, outputted via an Arduino to your standard Stepper controller.

[Doc Nickel]

Going along with that, I just last night watched an episode of the "Slow Mo Guys" on YouTube, where they met up with this group that uses cameras mounted to robots, to film high speed events- typically for things like TV commercials. (The common milk-splashing-into-the-cereal-bowl, fruit being flung through a stream of poured milk, etc.)

It's very cool to see how they worked their way through getting the scene they wanted, and the capabilities of the robots, etc. (And the water-cooled LED lights!)

Doc.

[RB211]

I just discovered software for processing RAW's that uses AI to remove noise, apply lens corrections, and sharpen photos. I am blown away by what DXO Pure Raw can do.

[The Artful Bodger]

Can digital post processing do much to reduce the blue atmospheric effects that prevent good telephoto shots? I have a stack of ancient telephoto lenses up to 1200mm but they are of limited use now that I have exhausted my interest in moon photos.

[RB211]

Can digital post processing do much to reduce the blue atmospheric effects that prevent good telephoto shots? I have a stack of ancient telephoto lenses up to 1200mm but they are of limited use now that I have exhausted my interest in moon photos.

You'd have to play with the software to see. They offer 30 day free trials.

[aostling]

Can digital post processing do much to reduce the blue atmospheric effects that prevent good telephoto shots? . . .

Adobe Lightroom has recently introduced a "Dehaze" slider, which might be what your long lenses need.

[The Artful Bodger]

Thanks Allan, I will look into that.

John

[fjk]

Adobe Lightroom has recently introduced a "Dehaze" slider, which might be what your long lenses need.

DxO’s Photolab also has Clearview which does a great job too.

I use both Lightroom & Photolab quite regularly and love them.

frank

[fjk]

I just discovered software for processing RAW's that uses AI to remove noise, apply lens corrections, and sharpen photos. I am blown away by what DXO Pure Raw can do.

indeed. I’ve been using DxO’s tools for years and really like them.
My current workflow now is that immediately after importing into Lightroom, any picture that looks like a keeper gets sent through pure raw 2 (the latest version - its well integrated with Lightroom as an extension) for correction and sharpening.

the only downside is that they generate .dng file as output that is something like 3x the size of the original RAW file - so my 45MB file becomes ~120MB. Oh well. That’s why we invented multi-terabyte disks :-/

Topazlabs tools are also supposed to be excellent for this. I’ve never used them though.