Flowering Dogwoods and Wild Mustard – Carroll County

Mid-April is the time for flowering dogwoods and vast expanses of wild mustard growing in the fields all over Carroll County… later in the year, these fields will be planted with Soya beans or Corn, but for now, they are just a golden mass of flowers, gently swaying in the slightest breeze. The dogwoods are something to look forward to, as they appear just as the Cherry Blossoms and Magnolias are fading, and they are much more durable blossoms. April is also the time of heavy rainfall here in Maryland, and delicate blossoms like the cherry don’t hold up well. Here are some of the pictures I took in Gaithersburg, and along Rte 27 north of Mount Airy, on the road to Westminster, MD. Mostly flowering dogwoods and fields of mustard blossoms – and a few redbuds.

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Dogwood and Mustard	Dogwood and Mustard
Dogwood and Mustard	Dogwood and Mustard
Dogwood and Mustard	Dogwood and Mustard
Redbud	Redbud
Redbud	Dogwood and Mustard
Dogwood and Mustard	Dogwood and Mustard
Pin Oak flower	Birch flower

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Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Redbud

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Thistle

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Dogwood and Mustard

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 and Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom lens. I used a Polarizer. Close-up of Pink dogwood photographed with a Sigma 50mm f/2.8 Macro 1:1 lens with Tiffen 812 warming filter

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olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.

 

More Landscape Photography: Meyer Farm in Carroll County, MD

These were taken on Bachman’s Valley Road – the old Meyer Farmhouse. The owners are in the process of restoring the buildings as much as possible, but it’s going to take a long time. The Farm is over a 100 years old, and all the barns and outbuildings are in fairly good condition, but the exterior could use some preservative and paint. I took these pictures on the way back from Union Mills. The light was tricky, overcast, but with patches of sun shining through.

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Meyer’s Farm

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Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Meyer’s Farm

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700, Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7

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olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.

 

Landscape Photography: Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 and Sony Alpha 700 at Union Mills, MD

A few days ago, I had my Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 lens mounted on the Alpha for some family pictures. (The lens is a 75mm equivalent on the A700, and thus serves as a very fast medium telephoto lens ideal for framing ‘head and shoulders’ shots, especially effective indoors for Available Light photography. I’ll be posting some of the “candid” portraits in another post soon). Anyway, I was out in Carroll County, and driving up on Rte 97 north when I came upon the Union Mills Homestead and Grist Mill.

I’ve documented my use of the Minolta 50mm f1/7 as a landscape lens on my 35mm AF Minolta Dynax 800si elsewhere on this blog since I’ve had great fun with the Minolta 50mm lens in Colorado and other locations. Now that the Minolta is an effective 75mm, its still great for landscape and building photography, especially for capturing architectural detail – it’s a challenge if there isn’t much room, though.

I would recommend a 28mm or 35mm lens on the Sony Alpha for close-up architectural work. For old farmhouses and general scenery where you can step back far enough, the 50mm (75mm) is a fine choice, especially in low light conditions.

These photographs were taken at Union Mills Homestead, just off MD Rte 97 in Carroll County. Union Mills dates back to the 1790’s and has many stories to tell… being on the way to Gettysburg, it saw its share of Union and Confederate activity. You can read all about Union Mills Homestead here. I got to the site late in the afternoon – it was clearing up after a storm, and the post rain sunlight coming through the clearing clouds was bright and clean. Everything had a just-washed clean look.

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Union Mills Homestead	Union Mills Homestead
Union Mills Homestead	Union Mills Homestead
Union Mills Homestead	Union Mills Homestead
Union Mills Homestead	Across the Road from Union Mills
Across the Road from Union Mills	Union Mills Homestead

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Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Union Mills Homestead

Photographed with the Sony Alpha 700 and Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 lens, ISO 200, Skylight filter under a sunny/cloudy/post-rain situation

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olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.

 

Olympus OM mount lens on Sony A700 – Part II: George Washington Masonic Temple with a Zuiko 35-70mm f/4

I finally got around to visiting the GW Masonic temple in Alexandria – it’s a shame that I haven’t been able to get over there, since I work close by – but DC traffic is hard to deal with on any given day. I visited on Martin Luther King Day – since it’s a Holiday, there was very light traffic. However, it was COLD!

It was about 28 F at about 4 pm on Jan 21 – the wind chill must have been much lower, but I was inspired by the previous night’s game between the Giants and the Packers playing in -3F, -24 wind chill. If they can play in such severe weather, I should be able to get out and take a few photographs, right? After all, it would only take about 15 minutes. Brrrr.

This monument has been getting a lot of interest from the tourist crowd since it featured prominently in Nicholas’ Cages thriller “National Treasure” – since then, people have been adding it their itinerary when visiting DC, even though it’s a few miles away. On the bright side, they get to visit old town Alexandria and the cool shops on King Street.

I was using the Zuiko 35-70mm f/4 lens on the Sony A700 with the Bower Minolta AF-OM adapter – The lens is an apparent 52mm-105mm lens on the Sony Alpha, and it’s great for general photography and portraits. It’s also a good lens for Architecture as well – but only if you are able to stand back a reasonable distance.

For street architectural photography, I’d still recommend a 35mm lens ( in the case of the A700, it would have to be a 24mm lens to get the apparent 36mm equivalent). In this case, I lucked out since the temple has a lot of open space around it, even beyond the parking lot. It’s easy enough to get far enough back to get a decent full length shot.

At 4pm however, the front of the Masonic Temple is in shade. The rear and side were nicely illuminated. It’s advisable to go there in the morning hours to get a well illuminated front elevation shot.

GW Masonic Temple, Alexandria, VA

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GW Masonic Temple, VA	GW Masonic Temple, VA
GW Masonic Temple, VA	GW Masonic Temple, VA
GW Masonic Temple, VA	GW Masonic Temple, VA
GW Masonic Temple, VA	GW Masonic Temple, VA

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GW Masonic Temple, Alexandria, VA

GW Masonic Temple, Alexandria, VA

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 DSLR and Zuiko 35-70mm f/4 lens with a Bower Minolta AF-OM lens Adapter. ISO 200, 1/125 at f/5.6

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olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.

 

Sony A700 Macrophotography: Spiratone Bellowscope with Hansa 50mm f/3.5

A few weeks ago, I found this vintage Hansa 50mm f3.5 on eBay at a very reasonable price. It was new in the box, and the seller told me that it was an enlarger lens and that I’d have to find some kind of step-up adapter to get it to fit on M42 Pentax thread mount. That was puzzling, but a little bit of research told me that it was probably a M39 mount enlarging lens. This means I would have to find a ring that would step it up to the M42. (The M42 is a 42×1 pitch thread while a T-mount has a 42×0.75 pitch fine thread.)

After a little searching, I found this little aluminum adapter ring from a seller in the Ukraine, so I took a chance. Once I got it, I fitted it on the Hansa lens, and voila, it was just right size to mount on a M42 mount. I figured that it should also fit on a regular T-mount lens, since the pitch is so close. It works, but it wont thread in all the way because of the pitch difference, so don’t force it. As long as it grips a thread or two, it’ll be fine. Besides, the Hansa is so small and light, it does not matter.

Hansa 50mm f/3.5 lens

M39-M42 Adapter Ring

A note regarding macrophotography on the cheap – as an amateur, I cannot spend large amounts of money on specialized equipment, so I am always on the lookout for “cheap awesome lenses” and other accessories. One such example is Spiratone macro equipment. Spiratone sold 2 types of bellows – the single rail rack and pinion bellowscope with T-mount fittings and the double rail Macrobel with camera mount specific fittings.

Spiratone also marketed a tiny 35mm Macrotar lens, a 75mm Flat Field Macro lens (for copying, possibly) and a 150mm Macrotel lens, all with a T-mount, and designed to be used with their bellows and copy systems. They appear with some regularity on eBay, and if one is really interested in real close up macrophotography, it’s possible to put together a macro kit cheaply. It’s possible, with a little bit of luck. I can attest to this.

Patience is key here, and one has to be willing to wait for the right price. My goal was to acquire a full set of bellows macro equipment – bellows, bellows lenses and adapters for less than $200. I was never able to ascertain if Spiratone also sold a 50mm bellows macro, so when I found the Hansa 50mm f/3.5, I was very happy. Check out the Macro section for pictures of the equipment.

I mounted the Hansa to a Spiratone Bellowscope and with a Minolta AF -T mount adapter on the other end, I mounted the Sony Alpha 700. The Bellowscope gives an extension of about 160mm and is pretty light.

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Here’s what the Macro set-up looked like –

bellows setup for Macro

bellows setup for macro

bellows setup for macro

Spiratone 75mm f/3.5 Flat Field Macro

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These are pictures I took with the Sony Alpha 700 and the Hansa 50mm f/3.5. Regarding the macro enlargement – the Sony Alpha 700 has a APS-C size sensor (23.5mm x 15.6mm) so at full extension, I think I was able to get approximately a 4:1 magnification. That’s pretty respectable.

Scale Image 1

Scale Image 2

Sony A700 and Hansa 50mm f/3.5

Sony A700 and Hansa 50mm f/3.5

Sony A700 and Hansa 50mm f/3.5

Sony A700 and Hansa 50mm f/3.5

Sony A700 and Hansa 50mm f/3.5

Sony A700 and Hansa 50mm f/3.5

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I’ve also included a couple of pictures with the Spiratone Flatfield 75mm f/3.5 fitted on the Bellowscope. Again, the magnification is around 4:1 at full extension. Second picture is about 2:1 magnification. I’ll post some pictures soon with the 35mm Macrotar and 150mm Macrotel bellows lenses.

Sony A700 and 75mm Flat field Macro

Sony A700 and 75mm Flat field Macro

Sony A700 and 75mm Flat field Macro

Sony A700 and 75mm Flat field Macro

Sony A700 and 75mm Flat field Macro

Sony A700 and 75mm Flat field Macro

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 DSLR, Hansa 50mm f/3.5 and Spiratone Flatfield 75m f/3.5 on Spiratone Bellowscope.

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olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.

 

Backyard Macrophotography – Sigma macro lens on the Sony A700

Early January isn’t the best time for macro-photography – the usual subjects, flowers, insects, ferns, lichens, mosses are mostly absent and there isn’t much greenery anywhere. There’s usually a lot of bright winter sunshine in Maryland around this time, even if there isn’t much snow. It’s cold, and that adds to the challenge. Bright colors are conspicuous by their absence… one has to be imaginative, and look for interesting patterns, textures etc that might be good macro subjects.

Indoor macro-photography is another matter altogether, there’s a wealth of interesting subject matter around the house to photograph – coins, food, grains, spices, toys, gadgets, fabrics, clothing details, you name it…. However, indoor macrophotography has another problem – that of lighting. It’s hard to get enough lighting for hand-held macro photographs, unless a Flash unit is utilized. For the most part, shooting near a sunny window takes care of the lighting issue. Here are some pictures that I took of everyday objects – shoe brush bristles, fruit, a crossword puzzle, brooms etc.

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Shoe brush bristles

Crossword Puzzle

Orange

Orange

Broom

Broom

A note about camera care – Using any camera outdoors when it is cold requires a bit of care, but digital cameras need some extra precautions… handling the little buttons is a little more difficult since numb fingers lose their dexterity. Make sure you have the camera strap securely around the neck to ensure against dropping the camera. If that’s not convenient, wrap the strap around the wrist a couple of times.

Keep the camera dry, and warm as possible. Keep it close to the body, covered with a jacket when you’re not shooting. Batteries don’t like cold conditions, and who knows what the cold does to the electronic innards? Most cameras have an “operating” temperature range specified, but I always take that with a grain of salt. Better to exercise extra care than to be sorry. Moreover, when going back inside from very cold conditions, make sure you put the camera and lens inside a large zip-lock bag so that moisture does not condense on the camera. Keep it in the bag until it reaches room temperature – at least ½ hour, if not more.

The Sony Alpha 700 has environmental sealing, but it’s not weather-proof. The seals can only prevent accidental entry of dust, sand and moisture, but I don’t think ANY camera is designed for prolonged use in adverse conditions (maybe they make special cameras to MIL specifications for the armed forces, but I haven’t come across any yet).

Enough digression – Anyway, here I was, out in the backyard, looking for interesting things to photograph… it was late afternoon, and the winter sun was already low in the sky – the light was yellowish-white and the shadows were getting longer by the minute. Here are some of the objects I found around the yard… leaves, bark, mulch, some green shoots on potted plants etc.

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Tender leaves

Jasmine tendril

Blue Atlas Pine

Cedar Pine

Decayed mulch

Lichen on Dogwood

Electric Meter

Electric Meter

Leaf at Sunset

Leaf, in shade

I used the Sigma 50mm f/2.8 macro lens… it’s one of my favorites, I love it as much as I love my Panagor 90mm f/2.8 (that’s another superb 1:1 macro lens by Kino Precision. I can mount it on the Sony Alpha 700 with the Bower Minolta AF-Olympus OM adapter).

The Sigma 50mm is a true macro lens, and it goes up to a 1:1 magnification. The Sony A700’s crop factor of 1.5x gives the Sigma an apparent 75mm focal length, allowing it to be used from further away. This additional stand-off distance can be an advantage when it’s not possible to get too close to the subject for whatever reason… especially if they are skittish bugs…

Which brings us to this little fellow – this tree shield (stink) bug somehow made its way into the house and was wandering around. My daughter Sunayana found it and convinced her cousin Vasudev to capture it for her. We took a few pictures of the critter before letting it loose outside in the late afternoon when it was a little warmer.

I looked him up on the ‘What’s that Bug?’ site and on the Bug Guide. It’s a Stink Bug, belonging to the order Hemiptera, family Pentatomidae, and genus Euschistus. Pretty complicated name for a little bug. It’s common to see stink bugs during the summer months when there is plenty of greenery around to feed on, but what was it doing running around in mid-winter? I used the Sigma 50mm for this as well. Here are the pictures of him on the kitchen counter, and later on the deck railing. I took the last picture as he was scuttling away to find a corner.

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Shield Bug

Shield Bug

Shield Bug

Shield Bug

Shield Bug

Shield Bug

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 dSLR and a Sigma 50mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

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olympus/zuiko by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.text and images © 2008 ajoy muralidhar. all names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting olympus/zuiko.