Sears 28mm f2.8 – M42 screwmount

July 24, 2014 by Howard Dale Posted in Lenses Leave a comment

Red Milk Churns (I think)

I came across this lens in a Goodwill store. I’d already developed an interest in older Pentax cameras as well as a yen to try out M42 mount lenses, many of which seem to be good value for money. It was selling for $7.99 (with a nice leather case) so I figured that there was nothing to lose and I bought it. I also bought a nice looking black Spotmatic on ebay and an adaptor so I could use the lens on my NEX 5N.

The adapter came yesterday and I had a chance to try the lens. How do I like it? Frankly I’m astonished! I didn’t expect it to be ask good as it is. Maybe a little soft at f2.8 it’s extremely sharp from f4 onwards. There’s a little barrel distortion but nothing that isn’t easily correctible in post processing. I took a few shots into the sun and didn’t notice much flare. All things considered an extremely nice lens, particularly for what I paid for it.

The Spotmatic is another story. It looks great, but the mirror sticks every few shots and I can’t open the battery compartment (although I haven’t tried very hard yet). Neither of these seem to be insurmountable problems though. It didn’t cost much so I’m not too concerned. I’d like to get it work though.

Wagon Wheels

Canon on the Hudson Waterfront

Chest Detail

Lamps at The Depot

Hudson View

Meter on an abandoned gas station

Winding Path – Rockwood Hall

July 23, 2014 by Howard Dale Posted in Black & White, Places Leave a comment

The old William Rockefeller estate, Rockwood Hall is long gone. Only the foundations and a lot of spectacular trees remain. With its impressive views of the Hudson it’s a great place for walking the dog. This winding path near the foundation ruins caught my eye.

Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and an Industar 61 lens

Buster’s birthday party

July 22, 2014 by Howard Dale Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

Buster, the birthday boy.

Every year our neighbor, Roxana has a birthday party for her dog, Buster. She invites a number of people from around the neighborhood – especially those that have dogs. Here’s a selection of this years’ participants.

Cody

Charlie

Tartine

And last but not least, our very own Jackson

Jackson really wasn’t crazy about the band. Maybe he prefers classical music to jazz. Actually he was fine with the keyboard and the bass. It was the saxophone that drove him nuts.

Large bug: Cicada?

July 22, 2014 by Howard Dale Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment

My wife was gardening when she suddenly called me over. She has a small basket for her gardening implements and clinging to the side of it was a large insect – easily 1 1/2 inches long. I’m not very knowledgeable about insects but it seems to me that this is some kind of cicada. There is a species of cicada that comes out every 17 years – in their millions. They were supposed to appear in New York State in 2013 but apparently didn’t. Maybe they’ll come out in 2014 instead. If so we can look forward to a very large number of extremely noisy cicadas shortly. Fortunately they don’t bite or sting and don’t damage plants (although I believe their grubs can).

It’s a strange mixture of the ugly and the beautiful. It has a thick, stubby body that isn’t very appealing, but the diaphanous wings with the bright green veins are quite spectacular. The wonder is that such fragile looking wings can carry the large body. I’d like to see one flying.

Geneva, Switzerland

July 20, 2014 by Howard Dale Posted in Places Leave a comment

Lake Geneva from Quai du Mont-Blanc with the Jet d’eau in the background.

We lived in (or right next to) Geneva for eight years and yet I seem to have very few pictures from that time. I suppose there are a couple of reasons for this. First I was going through one of my periodic “soured with photography phases” – This was a particularly long one. Second, and probably more significantly we lived there in the pre-digital age. So I actually might have more pictures, but I’d have to go through boxes of old negatives to try to find them. I might do this, but I suspect I would still find very few.

Here are a few though. They were taken later. My younger daughter still lives in Geneva and we still visit from time to time – although not very much in recent years. Hopefully we’ll get there again soon. I have a yen to go up into the mountains.