Cosmicar 25mm 1.4: a rare bugger...

About 6 months ago I bought a silver, metal little lens. I had just discovered c-mount lenses and was lusting after unusual, old lenses(and preferably a combination of the 2). I found a Cosmicar 25mm 1.4 television lens on a Dutch website for secondhand articles and I bought it for around €80,-
Now recently I've been working on a little project and I've been using this Cosmicar lens in combination with the GH2. It's sharp, colors are nicely saturated but there's some heavy vignetting when stopping this lens down so I have been trying to find out what thread size I need for a ND filter. Turns out that's one tough piece of information to come by..! These lenses are very rare.
Cosmicar has been taken over by Pentax and the new Pentax 25mm 1.4 is a different lens altogether and has different measurements. I found one picture of the exact same lens as mine on Flickr but that account has been inactive for 2 years... Otherwise... nothing on the web. So I contacted Pentax Holland, who referred me to Pentax England. I filled in an online contact form and was called up by Pentax Belgium! Who took my question to Pentax Germany. Pentax Germany told me they weren't sure but the lens was probably from '69. They did not have any records of sizes and advised me to measure the lens diameter by hand. My best bet was 34mm. A stepup ring is on the way.

VERY SMOOTH APERTURE AND FOCUS RING

LOOKS MODERN BUT THIS LENS IS OVER 40 YEARS OLD...

For all wide-angle freaks

In the ongoing evolution of camera's and cameragear it was just a matter of time before the 360 degree lens would hit the market. Because competition is killing, it's important to have a headstart on your competitors. But in this case, I would have told my engineers to keep working at it just a wee bit more before taking it to the stores. This footage is so soft you could use it for pillow stuffing... (Ok, that's the best I could come up with. Better comparisons may be left in the comment box)It's a fun gadget though. Move your mouse over the image and you can view 360 degrees. (there's also a free iphone app from the same company)

Free footage (and music and more...)

Apparently there's so much free footage out there it makes you wonder why you should go out and shoot anything at all..;-) A few days ago I read about Videoblocks giving away 20 clips a day for 7 days to attract new customers. But I lost the link and while trying to retrieve it, I came across a few other sites where cheapo's like us can find free footage. Such as StockFootageForFree. No catch! There's even a Vimeo group that you can join and have access to some quality HD stuff. Now why didn't I know about that before..?! I admit I haven't tried all of them but I'm sure you can find some great material and definitely worth it if you're looking for some special footage, animations or (sound-)tracks.

Mailbox: budget 'Perfect' DSLR viewfinder

DSLR viewfinder comes with strap and sticky frame

Well, I don't know if it's perfect but that's what it says on the box. It's a LCD foldable viewfinder with 3x magnification and +/-3 diopter. At $46,- shipped it doesn't get any cheaper than this.I bought a viewfinder that doesn't have diopter nor is it foldable for €55,- , about than 10 months ago.What particularly bothered me about that design is the sticky metal frames: they kept falling off. And the magnets that were supposed to keep the two elements together weren't strong enough, either...
I've seen some good stuff about this 'perfect' viewfinder and decided to give it a shot. It's all plastic and light; nothing fancy about it. But who needs that, as long as it works? I will write about my experiences with this loupe after I've really used it and tell you how it holds up.

foldaway loupe for easy viewing

Stolen: SmallHD DP4

MY DP4 ONE DAY AFTER I RECEIVED IT

I sent my practically new SmallHD DP4 monitor in for repair a few weeks ago and yesterday I got word from SmallHD that someone along the way from Amsterdam to the USA opened the box, took out the monitor and closed it again in such a way that no one would notice..! Unfortunately SmallHD signed for it without checking the box... And that is very unfortunate, from a legal standpoint.
The only consolation is that the thief has a unit with sunburn spots on the LCD.(the reason my monitor went back for repair.) And because it's such a specialized piece of gear, only SmallHD can repair it. In case you come across a SmallHD DP4 (for sale) and it has serial# DP4-00473, please contact SmallHD.

The good news is that my new replacement monitor is on the way. Let's just hope it doesn't pass the same thieving hands when it travels to Amsterdam. One thing I know for certain: I will check every box I receive before signing for it.

A new&better GoPro HD...

I was so happy with my new GoPro HD camera and now they've released a GoPro HD2 and I feel like I have an outdated camera... The new GoPro is 2x sharper, does 120 fps (albeit lo-res), has all sorts of wireless control and viewing functions (optional) etc. Why do they keep doing this? Can't they just stick with one design for 10 years and make me feel really priviliged...;-)

Panasonic, Pentax, Park

'P' was on the menu today. I should add 'Painter's Palette...'. 'Plant Poetry' perhaps ;-) ? Pardon this presumptuous proposition...

It's just a collection of colors, lightrays and shades I framed in the park today...

Fun with the 15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2

Took my GH2 with Pentax 6mm lens to the voetbal/football/soccer tournament at my son's club. 10 year old boys (plus the occasional girl) playing some incredible voetbal. But with this lens it was much more fun shooting the emotion around the game than shooting the action itself... Some of these kids are so concentrated on the game you can literally stick a camera in their face and they won't notice...
Here's my very short impression of the day.

Canon 5D Mark III..?

Is it real... or a fata morgana?

Small HD DP4 and Zacuto EVF compared

Nice Lady does it again: nice review of the DP4 vs the Zacuto EVF! She's turning this review into a series with a cliffhanger: part 3 is still to come! I was planning to do my own review but then my DP4 got fried before I got the chance to. I was going to spend a day shooting with soundman Neal McDiarmid -who owns a Zacuto EVF- and compare the two but Nice Lady beat us to it. That's fine: the more, the better, right? We will do our own anyway, so people can make an even more informed decision. Meanwhile, this is what Nice Lady has to say about both EVF's. Nice work, Nice Lady!

The Human Slingshot

This seems to be the week of sickening video's so let me just add one more, to round it all up. This is just the third time this week my stomach turned around!

Canon 5D Mark II or iPhone 4S?

Don't you love it..?

Sick GoPro jump

So you have the day off, you and your two buddies are kinda bored... you decide to go out and buy 6 GoPro HD's and jump off an elevator...

15,- Pentax 6mm 1.2 (succes at last!)

I finally made myself a working Pentax 6mm! It took a lot of time, research, careful scrutiny and frustration and, most recently, the purchase of a Dremel but alas, I have a fast, wide lens that has infinity focus- and beyond! I also finally received my stepup ring so I could use my LCD variable ND-filter and shoot happily outside.

Flycam: they tried this at home...

CONNECTING TO MY NEIGHBOURS BY CABLE: SLIDECAM..?

Once in a while the thought enters my mind that there must be some way to connect to my neighbours balcony via some sort of cable and have a camera hang from it to make some cool overhead shots -or better still- slide that camera like a bird through the sky. Obviously I am not the only one that's thought of this and definitely not the first... (Devices like this are out of reach for the budget-shooter.)
There's many more situations where a setup like that could get you some spectacular shots but to build yourself a reliable, steady device must a real challenge. As is demonstrated by this video...

Mandatory viewing: Inside Job

See how we, the people, are being screwed. Shocking, infuriating, humiliating.

External audio recorder? Use your iPhone!

You can now record professional audio on your iPhone. Sounds pretty good. (What it claims to do, I mean...;-) Apparently it is being used professionally. At $30,- Pro Audio to Go is not cheap but any decent audiorecorder starts at $80,- 

'Pro Audio To Go turns your iPhone into a 48 kHz professional quality recording device for use on location by news reporters, journalists, documentarians, musicians, DSLR videographers, filmmakers, producers and editors. With a single tap on your phone, you can record an AIFF audio file in 48 kHz. Upload the file directly to an FTP server or email it, then download and instantly begin using it in your editing system's Timeline. No conversion necessary!'

• Record at 48 kHz AIFF
• Customize pre-sets for any microphone 
• XLR connection plugs into iPhone with purchasable cable 
• Record 48 kHz easily with built-in iPhone microphone 
• Customize pre-sets for EQ and Gain controls
• Email file or upload directly to FTP to your news bureau or editor
• Drop AIFF audio file directly into your editing Timeline 
• Timer counts down remaining time (memory) on your iPhone in hours, minutes, and seconds

Crashtest: Nature fader ND-filter

I was going to shoot some stuff with my brandnew Nature fader ND filter but before I was even able to take it out of my camerabag, it decided to go all by itself. Followed by my lens, a Carl-Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20/4. I was shooting in the center of town today and while I bent over to check composition on a very low shot, my lens with attached Nature fader ND fell out of my bag.
I was paying attention to everything: my dog, the bums, the ferris wheel, the traffic and the cops. Everything except my bag, which I didn't secure. A warning to all: lock your bag after taking stuff out! Or bring a padded lens-pouch. Luckily the filter took the complete hit and my lens remained unharmed.
Bye bye Nature fader ND! That's another $70,- down the drain. I am having very bad karma-month: first my SmallHD monitor fries, then I lose a 4x4 glass filter and now this...

GH2 hack: testing in the dark

The new Driftwood patch/hack for the Panasonic GH2 achieves an astonishing bitrate of 176 MB. But to be honest, the technical particularities of this accomplishment elude me; you could have told me 2000 MB and what does it say..? Numbers mean nothing.
The only thing I'm interested in is seeing it in applied in the real world. How does this hack translate into picture quality? Better dynamic range? Less noise? More sharpness? I'm looking for a video that does a side by side comparison of the original bitrate and the hacked one. But I mostly get video that is is sterile testing: a rating of noise produced by the camera when shooting at different ISO's with the lenscap on... That's not a real life test?!
Shoot the same scene with this ridiculously high bitrate and shoot the same scene with 'native' settings. That way I can judge whether I really 'need' this patch as long as I'm only publishing my stuff on the internet... and whether or not it's time to 'upgrade'. Can't find such a test. I guess one of these days I'm gonna have to try it myself. Meanwhile, here's the 'test in the dark' and a 250 MB bitrate test.

Shaky camera images? Fix it in post!

A new feature to be expected in the next edition of Photoshop. Unfortunately it doesn't work with video- yet. Hope this feature is released in time before I hand over my images from my photoshoot of a classic car rally last sunday...;-)