Woodland | Olympus/Zuiko

April 20, 2008

Olympus mount Kitstar 200mm f/3.3 on Sony Alpha 700

Posted by ajoy muralidhar under 35mm SLR, 3rd Party Lens, Bokeh, Cheap Awesome Lens, Color, Digital, Driveby, Flowers, Hand Held, Lens Compatibility, Lenses, Long Focus, Manual Lenses, OM mount on Sony A700, Photo Opportunism, Photography, Prime Lens, Seasons, SLR, Sony A700, Sony Alpha 700, Sony Alpha DSLR, Spring, Super Telephoto, Telephoto, Vintage Lens | Tags: Kits Camera, Kitstar lens, Ritz camera, telephoto lens, Woodland |
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The Kitstar 200mm is a lens that I acquired very cheaply on Ebay last year – it was an impulse purchase, really, since I knew very little about the lens other than it had a OM mount, and I was intrigued by its unusual maximum aperture. My intention was to compare it with my much smaller and lighter Olympus OM 200 f/4 prime lens, which I absolutely love. I had used this lens on a OM body last spring, and then put it away, meaning to get back to it sometime.

The Kitstar 200mm is a distinctive lens, easy to recognize. It’s all metal and the rubber covering of the focusing rings is reticulated, instead of being checkered as is usual. Kitstar was the in-house brand of Kit’s Camera and they had their lenses made on contract by various manufacturers, so its hard to tell who the original maker is. The lens is solidly built and comes with a built in hood.

I don’t know of any lens makers such as Sigma, Tokina or Tamron who made a f/3.3 200mm prime lens, so who knows? Maybe its a f/3.5 rebadged as f/3.3. Kits Cameras was bought by Ritz Camera, and is part of their family of stores. Since Ritz has it’s own in-house camera brand (Quantaray), the Kitstar lenses are no more.

On the Sony Alpha 700, the 200mm f/3.3 lens becomes equivalent to a 300mm f/3.3 lens – that is really fast for a 300mm, and considering the price I paid for it, about $25 or so, it is a bargain. The weight of the lens makes it tricky to handhold, compared with the Sony 18-200mm (also equivalent to 27-300mm, but much slower, since it only goes to f/6.3 at the 200mm focal length).

Anyway, I could easily mount the lens on the Sony Alpha 700 with the Bower-made Minolta AF to OM adapter and took the lens for a spin. Here are the results. The Alpha 700’s anti-shake capabilites makes hand-holding easier, but it was still a challenge to avoid blurring. The Kitstar 200mm (apparent 300mm lens) has nice bokeh.

Kitstar 200mm	Kitstar 200mm
Kitstar 200mm	Kitstar 200mm
Kitstar 200mm	Kitstar 200mm
Kitstar 200mm	Kitstar 200mm
Kitstar 200mm	Kitstar 200mm

Kitstar 200mm

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 camera body and Kitstar 200mm f/3.3 OM Mount lens- I used a Bower Minolta AF-OM adapter and 72mm Polarizer (67-72mm step-up ring)

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.

November 15, 2007

Farm on Field Road, Gaithersburg, MD

Posted by ajoy muralidhar under 35mm SLR, Autofocus, Color, Driveby, Dynax 800si, Fall, Film, Filters, Hand Held, Lenses, Maxxum, Photo Opportunism, Photography, Places, SLR, Trees, Zoom | Tags: 100mm lens, Bennett Cerf Park, Fall, Fuji Film, Gaithersburg, Morris Park, portrait lens, Westminster, Woodland, Zuiko |
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Yes… in Gaithersburg. But not for long. This is probably one of the last pieces of farmland within the municipal limits of Gaithersburg, Field Road intersects Sam Eig road, very close to the I-370 Spur. In fact, Sam Eig road becomes I-370 as it heads towards Rockville. But you know it was too good to last – late this summer, a sign went up saying that Ryan Homes is going to be building a bunch of homes here… if it weren’t for the housing slump, they would already be breaking ground. I expect it will happen by next Spring, and then it’s goodbye to another beautiful farm… I wanted to get a couple of pictures of the site before the terra-forming machines moved in and razed everything. I lugged my Minolta along for this shoot.

Field Road

photographed with a Minolta Dynax 800si, Maxxum AF 35-105mm f/4.5-5.6, Fuji Super 200

October 15, 2007

Close-up Woodland Photography: Yashica Dental Eye

Posted by ajoy muralidhar under 35mm SLR, 50mm, Camera Restoration, Cheap Awesome Lens, Classic Camera, Composition, Dental Eye Macro, Film, Flowers, Hand Held, Hikes, Lenses, Lighting, Macro, Macro Lens, Macrophotography, Manual Cameras, Manual Lenses, Nature, Photo Opportunism, Photo Technique, Photography, Ring Flash, Rivers & Streams, Seasons, SLR, Spring, Woodland, Yashica | Tags: 50mm f/4, Close-up, Exposure, flash, forest floor, leaves, Lighting, Macrophotography, moss, mushrooms, Woodland, Yashica |
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Early Spring and late Fall are my favorite times of the year for woodland photography. It isn’t because it’s cool and pleasant to be in the woods, but because there are no leaves on the trees then, and it’s the only times of the year that the forest floor gets enough light photograph the little critters, mushrooms and other fascinating organisms that live and die in the rich ecosystem of the forest floor.

In spring, before the canopy greens out and cuts off the light, the typical eastern US woodland has lots of tiny flowering plants with exquisite blooms. These are so small that you’d need to use a macro lens to get a decent sized image and see the detail.

Once the dense overhead canopy fills out, the forest floor gets very little light, so there’s not much in the way of flowers, but there are bugs and beetles galore, strange fungi, lichens, molds, mushrooms everywhere. The problem is finding enough light to take the picture. I’ve used a regular flash in the past, but the effect was always weird and unnatural looking.

To use natural light, I needed fast film ISO 400 etc AND a longer exposure, which needs a tripod. That pretty much limits hand-held photography to taking pictures of rocks, rotting leaves and mushrooms. Little forest critters move pretty quickly, vanishing under leaves and twigs like magic.

A few months ago, I found a Yashica Dental Eye camera with a fixed 50mm f/4 macro lens and a built-in ring flash. It was in great condition except for some very minor traces of battery leak corrosion. I took a chance and made the purchase, with the intention of returning it if I could not get it to work.

I cleaned out the battery compartment with a cotton bud dipped in white vinegar, and that was all there was to it. The camera works fine now, and the 50mm f/4 macro lens is a 1:1. This was the original Dental eye camera based on a FX3 body, I think – the later Dental Eye cameras have the suffix Dental Eye II and Dental Eye III, and they have a 100mm Macro lens. Check out the Micro/Macro section for more information on the Dental Eye.

This is a GREAT camera for woodland photography, and the possibilities are endless. The built in ring flash is powered by a battery pack that is fixed on the bottom of the camera (looks like a motor drive, but it’s not). Most of the Yashica cameras from this era have crumbling leatherette covers.

Mine started off fine, but now it looks patchy in a few places. This is purely a cosmetic issue, and should not deter anyone from buying the camera, especially if you can get it in full working condition with case for less than $100. I guess I will be replacing the leatherette soon.

The ring flash provides an even natural looking light. I’d swear it was daylight if I didn’t know better. There is a small supplementary lamp within the flash to provide some light for focusing. I think I will be using this camera a lot. I ran off a roll in the nearby woods along side a small stream. I really didn’t go looking for subject matter, since I was just running a test roll. This camera is a keeper. Here are some of the pictures…