Pinhole no. 1

Not Quite Zeiss.

I made a pinhole in a bit of metal cut from a can of coke, stuck it on a body cap and had daughter #1 hold still for 15 seconds. What did this prove?

1. It's hard to get a small pinhole. I used a pin, but I should have used a needle. A smaller hole would have produced a sharper image.

2. Any dirt on the CCD shows up after a 30 second exposure. I had to clean up at least 20 spots in lightroom.

3. The irregular bokeh (especially visible in the white background) means that my hole must be irregular.

Helios 44M gets a repreive

I've never been thrilled with my Helios 44M. Focus isn't smooth, the body creaks... not a patch on my Takumars and Rokkors. I have two copies, one with a 6 blade aperture and one with a 10 blade aperture. I've been considering selling them on eBay.



Then I take a picture like this.

Morning shade, 58mm at F/4, 10 blade version.



Nice Sharpness (note the 10 blade diffraction in the reflection)...Nice Bokeh...

I guess I won't be getting rid of it too soon.