Spring is coming, even if reluctantly. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow. But meanwhile, the early ducks are returning. Today's treat, visual in person via binoculars if only marginal photographically, is a pair of Wood Ducks, Concord, MA.
300mm f/4.5 AIS
Male Wood Duck, wearing his traditional Star Wars Space Trooper helmet.
They were a loooong ways away to get a good picture. Pair of Wood Ducks and pair of Canada Geese.
@grantgoodes - Actually, this was my 1st Dragon Chaser in about 15 years. I picked up 'Green Tree' from BC Liquor Store (may vary in your province) relaying on Bohemian recipe reviews.
A single shot of 1-3 absinthe/water ratio over a sugar cube, diluted later on by sake at family dinner, so not much to report. Will explore and 'photo document' more over the Easter holidays.
@NightOwl Cat - you know, now days nothing beats a hand written card, in ink to your loved ones and friends, specially during holidays. A simple fountain pen message can melt hearts...
Jim,
Snagging is illegal and I’ve witnessed many fish thrown back into the river because they were snagged. Somehow it all works. When viewed from directly behind they have 3-5’ between each person but with casting and the current sending the lines downstream I’m surprised to see very little entanglements.
James Markus wrote:
Ray, I didn't know Walleye ran like Salmon & Trout. I've only fished for them in the deepest parts of Lake Leelanau - upper and lower lake (approx 20 miles long north to south) using various bait. Remember one time sweet corn worked great. That line of fishermen so close to each other makes me think they are snagging fish - is that what they are doing?
@JaKo, I know that for sure (postal worker) I did some brief searching on Green Dragon/Fairie, and it appears the absinthe up there is claimed to be addictive and hallucinogenic as it contains thujone.
The import, distribution, and sale of absinthe are permitted subject to the following restrictions:
The product must be thujone-free as per TTB guidelines,
The word "absinthe" can neither be the brand name nor stand alone on the label, and
The packaging cannot "project images of hallucinogenic, psychotropic, or mind-altering effects".
.
JaKo wrote:
@grantgoodes@ - Actually, this was my 1st Dragon Chaser in about 15 years. I picked up 'Green Tree' from BC Liquor Store (may vary in your province) relaying on Bohemian recipe reviews.
A single shot of 1-3 absinthe/water ratio over a sugar cube, diluted later on by sake at family dinner, so not much to report. Will explore and 'photo document' more over the Easter holidays.
@NightOwl Cat@ - you know, now days nothing beats a hand written card, in ink to your loved ones and friends, specially during holidays. A simple fountain pen message can melt hearts...
@NightOwl Cat - It seems location/country dependent as absinthe is legal in US since 2007, but only "thujone-free" (less than 10 ppm of thujone), where in Canada it has no thujone content restrictions.
NOT to encourage anyone's latent GAS tendencies, but there's a NIB Bellows-Nikkor 105/4 on the famous auction site right now for BIN $200, which is a total steal. It's the first version (serial number in the 91xxxx range) with lens data on the front. It's mis-labeled as "Nikon Micro Nikkor 105mm F4 AI", with no mention of Bellows, so I wouldn't normally find it, but I was looking for auctions with boxes to see if any paperwork ever came with the lens. You can see that the plastic bubble case has a styrofoam insert to further immobilize the lens, so checks out that it's really NIB.
Just putting it out there, but that's a smoking deal on a possibly brand-new copy of this rare lens.
grantgoodes wrote:
NOT to encourage anyone's latent GAS tendencies, but there's a NIB Bellows-Nikkor 105/4 on the famous auction site right now for BIN $200, which is a total steal. It's the first version (serial number in the 91xxxx range) with lens data on the front. It's mis-labeled as "Nikon Micro Nikkor 105mm F4 AI", with no mention of Bellows, so I wouldn't normally find it, but I was looking for auctions with boxes to see if any paperwork ever came with the lens. You can see that the plastic bubble case has a styrofoam insert to further immobilize the lens, so checks out that it's really NIB.
Just putting it out there, but that's a smoking deal on a possibly brand-new copy of this rare lens....Show more →
grantgoodes wrote:
NOT to encourage anyone's latent GAS tendencies, but there's a NIB Bellows-Nikkor 105/4 on the famous auction site right now for BIN $200, which is a total steal. It's the first version (serial number in the 91xxxx range) with lens data on the front. It's mis-labeled as "Nikon Micro Nikkor 105mm F4 AI", with no mention of Bellows, so I wouldn't normally find it, but I was looking for auctions with boxes to see if any paperwork ever came with the lens. You can see that the plastic bubble case has a styrofoam insert to further immobilize the lens, so checks out that it's really NIB.
Just putting it out there, but that's a smoking deal on a possibly brand-new copy of this rare lens....Show more →
My apologies: I actually thought it was traditional here NOT to appear to be shilling for eBay. Hopefully it was someone here who grabbed it! My offer stands: Anyone wanting a perfectly functional Model II Bellows (in original box) can PM me. I'm in Canada, so shipping will alas not be as cheap as what is commonly available in the US. If you're in Ottawa area, you're welcome to pick it up.
A few weeks ago I received a bunch of lenses from my friend Jim R. Several were focal lengths I already had. I was curious if I could see any consistent difference between them. This comparison is between three different 50mm's:
My 50mm f/1.4 SC-Auto SN 1535211 1973 - June 1974 (w/filter "PRO 1A" from 50 years ago, nominally UV)
Jim's 50mm f/1.4 S-Auto SN 876511 1968 - 1971
Jim's 50mm f/2.0 HC-Auto SN 2204333 Dec 1972 - Oct 1974
I took eight pairs of shots , the first of each pair with viewfinder zoom engaged to enhance focus, then another immediately after, zoom having been turned off by the previous shot. I then shrunk and compared the second of each pair. Lighting was from a 5-bulb fixture with dimmable warm LED's but on full bridghtness. The focus target was about 6 ft away, the thumb-worn older edition of Peterson's Field Guide Eastern Birds (white on blue spine) in the pics below. All shots used ISO 8000, aperture priority, Z5-II w/FTZ. Shutter speeds were set automatically, other settings were my usual defaults, White Balance Auto0, Active D_Lighting Normal, Picture Control Auto, Vignette Control Off. With the two 1.4's I used aperatures f1/.4, f/2.0, and f/4.0, with the 2.0 just f2.0 and f/4.0.
Observations:
All three f/4.0 shots used a longer shutter than expected compared to f/2.0, but they still came out slightly darker than f/2.0 or f/1.4. They also had a color shift towards blue. The faster shutter pics are closer to how the walls looked visually. In daylight the walls look more like the f/4.0 shots, so perhaps White Balance was kicking in. The f/4.0 shots had noticeably less vignetting. The newer multi-coated SC gave consistently brighter results though with slightly longer shutter. The aperture and color effects were consistent across lenses. This may be more a test of how the camera behaves than a test of the lenses. Perhaps I should do this again in full Manual Mode.
To my eyes my SC was generally cleaner but seems happier with a smaller aperture. With both 1.4's the shots with f/2.0 were sharper than those with f/1.4. When shot at f/4.0 Jim's HC seemed the best of all but only slightly so. Perhaps I am being influenced by the relative brightness.
I should do this again at longer distance. The difficulty with outdoor shots is that light can change minute to minute.
NightOwl Cat wrote:
When one assumes the role of the devil in this thread, it is customary to include a direct link to it for others to drool over
...
(it appears to have sold)
It wasn't me! You kind folks trapped me twice already. I was determined not to let it happen again.
