Tag: Nex 5N

Life on a Twig

Life on a TwigWork found me at Butterfly Creek today for an all staff meeting. After the meeting, myself and a few other staff took the opportunity to go through their butterfly enclosure (and small farmyard). I’ve been once before, so in preparation brought along my Nex 5N with a few different lens’. Unfortunately, whether due to the time of day, or time of week, it was not as full of butterflies as the other time I went, but I did manage to get a few shots I will share over the next day or so none the less.

Some butterfly facts:

  • The earliest fossils of butterflies date back 40-50million years!
  • Depending on the species, they live from a week to a year (a week sounds pretty sort aye!)
  • Traditional Japanese see the butterfly as the personification of a persons soul. One definition of the Greek work for butterfly means soul.  
  • They cant fly if their body temp is lower than 30c degrees(86f)

Shot on the Sony Nex with 16-50mm lens. Cropped in Gimp.

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Smash

Smash

My M42 to Nex adaptor arrived today, allowing me to use the Rikenon 50 1.7 lens from the Ricoh Singlex TLS on digital. Unfortunately with winter closing in, and work being busy, I had lost the light for the day. Opening the fridge, a bottle of water had frozen and shattered, so became todays subject.

Shot on the 5N, Rikenon 50/1.7 and edited in CS5. 

 

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Tree in Still Water

Tree in the Still Water

 

Sony Nex and Jupiter 8 lens in hand, we headed out for a walk after a long day at work, to catch the last of the days light. In stark contrast to the heavy rain and wind yesterday, today was clear blue and still. I was amazed how still it was on the water, mirror clear and still. Looking down the cliff from where we walked, I captured the fallen tree, sitting so softly in the water, it almost looked like the sky.

 

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Under The Bridge

Under the Bridge

 

Under The Bridge

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry

I drive on her streets cause she’s my companion
I walk through her hills cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses the windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie

I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
But take me to the place I love, take me all the way
I don’t ever wanna feel like I did that day
But take me to the place I love, take me all the way

It’s hard to believe that there’s nobody out there
It’s hard to believe that I’m all alone
At least I have her love, the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry

Under the bridge downtown
Is where I drew some blood
Under the bridge downtown
I could not get enough

Under the bridge downtown
Forgot about my love
Under the bridge downtown
I gave my life away

Where I stay

Anthony Kiedis

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Shore Archery and the missed eclipse

Today marked a once in 16 year Solar Eclipse for New Zealand. I had taken my Nex and filters along to work, aiming to capture some form of it at about 10.20am. As my schedule would have it I had back to back meetings from 10am to midday, emerging out from the meeting room well too late and to be told by some others that it was great… oh well, I have plenty of time to book the next one into my diary!

Taking a stroll after work I came upon the Shore Archery Club. The weather was starting to pack in, with clouds spitting their collections of water, so I took a few shots before making my way back to the car. Shooting both at zoom stepped back, and wide angle up close, I wanted to make the targets visible, but not to sharp. I settled on the wide angle version in the end.

In post processing using Gimp I adjusted the contrast and then applied the national geographic filter. After that I removed some of the sharpening layers the filter applies, and finally added my name onto the targets – just to be a bit different than my usual sig style.

I’m Still(!) trying to finish off the roll of B&W film in my Rollei 35. Its funny how even now, after predominantly shooting digital for an age, I don’t waste shots on film so much. Being a totally manual camera, including guessing the focus distance, one has a lot more time to think and decide if the shot is not quite right. I’m sure if it had been in my Ricoh GR1 I would be developing it by now. Still, that’s part of the film appeal to me.

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Outside the PumpHouse

Back at Lake Pupuke for a walk with the Nex 5N and kit lens, I captured The PumpHouse up a little closer than I have before in a previous post. Once used, unsurprisingly, to pump water to the local suburbs, the PumpHouse is now home to a cafe, and hosts regular stage shows and art works.

Image wise, using Gimp, I played around with some of the film grain simulators. They are fairly customizable, and although nothing is real film grain, I think they can do a pretty good job if that is the look you are going for. I also applied a sharp filter and played with the levels a little until I got the look I was after.

Tomorrow morning is the Auckland Marathon. I’ll be in the half marathon, so don’t think I will get the opportunity to take any action shots, but will see if I can get something themed around it…assuming my low-to-no training allows me to walk after!

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Air Brakes

We had some more great weather today, so after some tidying around the house I managed to go for a several hour walk. I brought along my Nex 5N and two of my old legacy lenses – the Industar 61 and Jupiter 11. Todays image ‘Air Brakes’ was captured on the Jupiter 11, a 135mm soviet lens, which equates to about a 200mm lens when coupled with a APS-C sensor like that on the Nex. For the price, its a nice old lens that I have spoke about before. I think I will take it apart and re-lube when I get some time as its a bit stiff to focus, which makes all the difference when focusing on moving targets.

In post editing, I did crop the photo, both to remove a branch in the left, and also to give a larger shot of the bird. Shot in .jpg, I wish I had been also saving in raw as it would have given me some more detail to play with.

I have a Juipter-8 on the way from Ukraine also and cant wait to give it a run on the Nex (and some 35mm rangefinders) as I have read some positive things about it, most suggesting its a better lens then the Industar 61 (which I like anyway).

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Sundown at the Marina

Today was mostly made up of being ill in bed and torrential rain that flooded the region. However, at the end of the day the rain subsided and I felt the need to get out for some fresh air (cold air really). Armed with the Nex 5N and Industar 61 lens I took a walk around the Bayswater Marina. The Clouds were particularly dramatic this evening with the sun setting and shining out about them. I wanted to catch their natural colors (from the Russian lens’ perspective) and set the exposure to the clouds, allowing the foreground to silhouette. A gull decided to head off towards the sun also, so I captured it in the center of the frame. A beautiful end to a not so beautiful day.

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