wally626

New shot of marsh grass is from the 1000mm lens mentioned in the last entry. For my birthday I picked up a Sony A3000, mostly for use with old lenses, got a Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8 and a Minolta MC 58mm f/1.4 to play with. The Minolta is real soft at f/1.4 but sharpens up nicely. Image of roses shows the dreamy look you get from this lens wide open.

I have been neglecting this site, most of my pictures are going up on Flickr, wally626v, I just feel I can post more images there and try to limit this site to good images. Latest acquisition is a 1000mm f/8 extreme telephoto. A monster lens, big heavy and vibration prone. I had it out a couple of time and even on a tripod in light wind it would never settle down so I had to use high shutter speeds like it was handheld. I bought a gimbal mount for it and that really helps getting it on target. The lens also has a gun site built in. So you can use the sights to lock onto moving targets but focus is hit or miss, and I cannot transition from the sights to the viewfinder fast enough to keep track and focus. The depth of field for this lens is ridiculous, at 300 ft you only have 5 ft DoF. If you like out-of-focus backgrounds this is the lens for you. I bought some extension tubes so I can focus at 15 ft or so and get face shots. I also get extreme issues with atmospheric turbulence. With 1000mm you can see stuff miles away but the images are pretty fuzzy. I tried a sunrise shot and will post a version of that shot. Went back int eh afternoon and shot the trees the sun rose through and they were still fuzzy, just to far away to be sharp.

More equipment. Just got in a Zeiss Jena 300mm f/4. No good pictures yet, this thing is a beast. Noticed it has 3/8th tripod not 1/4 inch like most newer equipment. Must wait on adaptor before I can use with monopod or tripod. Have a Helios 58mm f/2 on order. This is a Russian clone of the Zeiss Jena designs. Some are very good, some not, so i will have to wait and see but real cheap even compared to the Zeiss Jena lenses let alone compared to modern lenses. Pictures uploaded toady were using my Sony 16-105 on my Alpha 77. This is the lens I picked as a general walk around lens, works OK for that.

Also I am on flicker now wally626v, posting a few more images there.

Taking more pictures with my Zeiss Jena 135mm f/4, I love this lens. New deviations of Daisy and Clematis taken with it. If it had this quality and a f/2 speed it would be perfect, but it would also have been a lot more than $60.

Got new lens, a Zeiss Jena Sonnar 135mm f/4. Pretty old lens in M42 mount, aluminum body. Looks like it take sharp pictures. Cherry tree and geese from today. Need to adjust my adaptor so I can focus at infinity though.