Sigma 30mm f/1.4 Nikon mount APS-C lens on full frame camera--Sony A7

Quite cheaper way to get the f/1.4 lens.

In Korea, secondhand Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM lens was not expensive--about $106 to $130 US dollars, especially Nikon mount. And others like Canon, Alpha mount were more--but not so much.

And secondhand Sigma 30mm f/1.4 for Sony E mount costs around $280.

Other cheap way to get the 1.4 lens is old lens like Takumar 50mm f1.4 or Nikon/Canon 50mm f1.4 which is slightly cheaper than Sigma.

But when put this lens on APS-C camera, it became 75mm lens. Because of crop factor.

According to the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM lens - Wikipedia web page, on APS-C sensor cameras, its filed of view equivalent to a 46mm lens. Or slightly more for other camera like Canon, older Sigma bodies.

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC HSM for Nikon mount lens on Sony A7 camera

It can use more than 46mm lens on full frame camera.

When I try to use Sigma 30mm lens on Sony A7, I felt that I can use slightly more than 46mm.

For example, if I shot for portrait or close up(or macro), out of centre area--or out of focus area, don't need sharp--clear image. I mean most of time, that area was blur area. So this case, I can use more than 46mm.

Technical notes:

These photos were all taken with handheld and I used Nikon G lens to Sony E mount(Nex) adapter so I have no idea about aperture number for the photo.

When I do post-processing the raw image file, I prefer to use Rawtherapee-open source software.

But when I am taking photos with not Sony e mount lens--especially old legacy lens, Sony A7 choose very wrong white balance value.

So this time, I choose to use Sony Imaging Edge software for better white balance value--I don't think it can make better but it probably better than Sony A7 camera's.

Imaging Edge value setting:

 - Brightness: +0.33 ev (1 stop)

 - White balance: Preset to 'Auto'

 - Creative style: Landscape or Standard

 - Jpg compression level: 2 (total 4 level and one level lower than high quality setting)

like this:

screenshot of Imaging Edge - value setting

I didn't do any other editing, especially sharpening the image.  So you can see how Sigma 30mm f1.4 Nikon mount lens performs on Sony A7 camera.

Sony A7 - APS-C Size Capture setting in menu

Sony A7 can automatically crop when the APS-C lens was used. Which can set (on, off or Auto) the APS-C size capture in Sony A7's menu.

So first photo was full frame capture.

And second photo was turn on the APS-C size capture.

full frame image

APS-C Size Capture - On image

You can manually crop the image like this:

screenshot of Faststone Image Viewer's crop board.

Sony A7 can capture 6000 x 4000 = 24MP(MegaPixel).

APS-C size capture - On can capture 3936 x 2624 = 10.33MP

crop the image manually like above - 4401 x 2934 = 12.91MP

But when I crop the image manually, image's edge side won't be very good. Because lens wasn't design for those areas.

crop the image manually from full frame.

Other example:

full frame image

APS-C Size Capture - On image

full frame image

APS-C Size Capture - On image

This photo's out of centre and out of focus area are blur so it can crop the image more than previous image--like this:
4893 x 3262 = 15.96MP - bigger than previous one--3936 x 2624 = 10.33MP.

screenshot of Faststone Image Viewer's crop board.

crop the image manually from full frame.

If I'd like to make more bigger size, I can do like this:

screenshot of Rawtherapee's crop image

5357 x 3356 = 17.98MP.

crop the image manually from full frame.

Corners and edges are very dark and not so great. But I think it was quite usable.

So having a APS-C lens on full frame camera wasn't bad idea, I think.

This lens wasn't design for the full frame so you shouldn't expect better result on corner area though.

Another sample photo from my flickr account:


P.S. If you'd like to read in Korean, you can read it from here--this is my Korean blog.

Capitalism won't dominate this world.... Yet.

I haven't listen the audiobook for quite long time so I've visited LibriVox website--public domain books that people recorded.

And I found this book - The Mysteries of Paris - Volume 1 by Eugène SUE.

When I listen the chapter one, I was very and very intrigued by her lovely voice--Cori Samuel. And I found her website--To Posterity — and Beyond!.

I read a few things from there and I click the Voice services.

She said

At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, I am not accepting commercial recording requests.

Because she was so enjoy recording works for the public domain.



It's not everything is about money--commercialised.

People are so much focused on the making the money--That's how and why capitalism issue came from. Unfortunately, not many people see this side of the world--open source, public domain, wikipedia, creative commons, etc.
You can find so many websites or organisations doing those.


If you can see this side of world, you can see that we, human being's future is still bright.
We just need more people to involve and promote this open(and sharing) culture.

Warframe. It looks very promising....

Before go further, you should know that this isn't game review or anything. I found this game and I'm trying to figure out what kind of game it is so I can make decision for to play or not to play.
And I'm interesting to know about why so many people like the game.



Impressive game trailer and...

I just found out about Warframe and watched trailer:


and I was like 'wow'.

More surprising thing is this trailer was from 2013.


So I googled about it and found wiki article.

Warframe is a free-to-play cooperative third-person shooter video game developed by Digital Extremes for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
quote from Wikipedia Warframe

Huh? Game trailer was really impressive graphics and story. And it was 'free-to-play' game?


I didn't get what 'third-person shooter' means, at the time. But I am not fan of first-person shooter game so this game probably wasn't for me.
So I just decide to know more about the game.



Interesting story behind the game.

So I read a few things more from that wiki article.

Warframe received mixed reviews by critics, holding the score of 68/100 on Metacritic, based on nine reviews.

but

The game is among one of the most-played games available on Steam.

and

More than 26 million players have played the game upon launch.
quote from Wikipedia Warframe - Reception section.

That's quite interesting so I did check the 26 million players part's original source.

What I like is this:
I will quote some part from The story of Warframe: how a game no publisher wanted found 26 million players @ July 15, 2016 by Tom Marks

Despite its large player base, Warframe's success remains low-key. A lot of people haven't even heard of the game nearly four years later, and Digital Extremes recognizes that.
....
For one, Digital Extremes doesn't do much large-scale marketing for the game

26 millions players are playing. But it still not many people even knew about the game. Because they didn't spend money for marketing.

For example, they held a panel at this year's PAX East but didn't actually have a booth on the floor like many of the game's competitors. "If we had a big booth, would that make it seem like we're more real?" Carter asked. "But that flies in the face of what Steve was talking about before, which is we're not going to spend money there, we're going to put everything we can into the game."

And I love very last part. 'they were going to put everything they can into the game'.
No wonder, game received very and very positive from user reviews.

screenshot - Warframe on Steam, user reviews

Above was screenshot of Warframe on Steam.

Overall: Very Positive - 91% of the 135,616 user reviews for this game are positive.
Recent: Very Positive - 88% of the 4,299 user reviews in the last 30 days are positive.

Not a fan of first-person shooter game. But maybe....

It looks good and user reviews also very positive.
Now I'd like to see what it's like playing in the game. So I googled it and found this.



I already told you that I am not a fan of shooter game and something I felt this game wasn't for me.

But after watching that--this is game's new open world game expansion, I might interest. Because adventure and exploring is my favourite game genre.



Oops. I just realised that I haven't check the game website--Warframe.
It's free. So you can easily try out yourself--available in PC-Windows, PS4 and Xbox.

If you decide to try it out, you can read quick start guide from Warframe website.

back to basics: fell in love with manual focus

When I went to that place for taking photos, I brought Nikon 105mm f2.5 manual lens also but I thought I might try Nikon 50mm f1.4d. And it didn't focus well because auto focus system doesn't focus what I wanted. So I had to control myself.

Take control the scene makes me feel good--actually amazing.

My Nikon D90's viewfinder wasn't bigger so it wasn't easy. It took me very long time to get the result what I want. So it requires so many of trials and errors.
I didn't bother much because I felt it was huge improvement from my previous Nikon D70--especially viewfinder.

And I was having great time with those trials and errors.

I precisely focus the what you see in the photo. I have other 15 photos with same scene and of course, focus was slightly different than this photo.

Of course, you can also take same photo with auto focus system.


But it won't be easy because viewfinder was small and LCD screen was so small to check whether focus the right part or not.
I wrote this at May 30, 2014 and later on, I use manual lens most of the time. And now I prefer to use manual lens only. I even forgot about how to use auto focus lens.


Post processing:
Crop the photo with Nikon ViewNX2.
And then auto white balance with GIMP.

What dinnertime looks like in 36 different homes - interesting idea but...

I've got news from my friends

What dinnertime looks like in 36 different homes @ Jan. 19, 2017, at 1:33 a.m.
"These intimate portraits invite the viewer to take a seat at the table."

These photos were taken by Lois Bielefeld.


Before talk about the thing that bothering me, I am not saying these photos were terrible or it was terrible idea.
It was indeed interesting idea. And photos were very interesting, too.


But when I looked those photos, I felt quite bad and after half way through those photos, I felt so borded to see already.
It was interesting idea and photos looked nice. But why I felt bored already.

That's why I started thinking about it. And in the comments section, people already talked about it.

Here is some of it:

Ann Smith said "There seems to be so much stress behind these pictures. Several looked like walking in on the middle of an argument or just a loveless home."

Taylor Elizabeth Salmon said "Did the photographer tell everyone to not smile? Because everyone has such a straight, sad face."

Cia Macleod Marsh said "everyone is staring at the camera like a wax model, which they definitely don't do when they usually eat dinner..."

quoted from article's comment section.

And here is what I thought:

I think I might be right that what I thought--it was all terrible set-up scene. Photographer intentionally capture the very depressing scene--after half way, I felt so bored to see the photos.

I don't know about you. But many times, I am enjoy eating. Why you want to crying while you eat very delicious food--of course, we usually eat quite similar thing in daily so it can become a usual thing.

Almost all the people (in the photos) aren't natural and some houses looked as it is. But I felt that almost half of houses, I felt they cleaned up (and set-up) for taking photos.

So I checked photographer's website and then I found that it was a bit better. It didn't say anything about "What dinnertime looks like in 36 different homes".

Photographer said

The focus of Weeknight Dinners is the typical evening meal, when food and space often become secondary to the busy workday.

in Weeknight Dinners — Lois Bielefeld.

This is how human beings are thinking nowadays. -- to facebook timeline

If you know me, I always suggest to do the blogging. And I was totally right, after trying to find something from old post in facebook group. It was not just taking forever to load(extremely slow)--because most of them were useless news articles, photos, etc.
There has almost zero creative(or innovative) thought in it.

This is how human beings are thinking nowadays. Don't care about old post. Just always looking for trend.

Everyday we trashed things to this timeline. And completely remove from your memory. And hopping for someone to understand your (or my) trashed thoughts.


My facebook timeline probably also like trash but I'm trying to put some information--something useful, at least.
-- Several years later, I realised that it was useless. Because facebook was useless for searching anything. This is the reason I am quite rarely visiting there.


--
This is actually not only about facebook timeline. Twitter timeline also same as well.

And recently I spent sometime at discord channels. And I realised it was very similar happening there. And telegram, too.

* I thought about write it in my timeline in facebook but I didn't. Not only because my friends will not understand.
Because I'd like to keep this thought in public so some people can read and think about it.

** Changed some word and added some to make better reading at April 10, 2024.

This is why Wikidpad has so much potential in it.

WikidPad - wiki notebook for Windows/Linux/Mac OS http://wikidpad.sourceforge.net/

wikidPad is a Wiki-like notebook for storing your thoughts, ideas, todo lists, contacts, or anything else you can think of to write down.

What makes wikidPad different from other notepad applications is the ease with which you can cross-link your information. Links in a wiki are created by typing in WikiWords.


Donationcoder forum's user CWuestefeld explained about Wikidpad http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=1kppjej0pqm1ov2flckeqqjan2&topic=12062.msg99469#msg99469 @ January 31, 2008

I would suggest to read from the link.

These are the quotes from CWuestefeld:

"... its parent. But a wiki allows any node (page) that relates to another to offer a link to it, leading eventually to a very densely packed structure."

"if you're consistent about the way you name things in a wiki, you'll find that the interconnectedness arises all on its own. You don't need to intentionally create a link; the link manifests itself based on the usage of similar terms."

"It's very gratifying when working in a wiki to discover that you've already done something that you forgot about. As you're describing a related concept leading up to another page, you find that the link is already populated; simply by thinking descriptively and consistently, you've created a knowledge web that not only holds together, but reinforces itself."

When I read about it, I also understand why wikipedia made whole different internet-era.


It's an idea that matters most. Isn't it?

This is reason I don't much upload photos to flickr.

I know many people seeing my photos in flickr. Photos that older than one year ago were mainly related to the society issues. So it's understandable.
Because I don't shy about what I am writing.

But recent photos are quite different. Because I am trying to learn about the photography.
And I was quite shocked because some of those photos also have 300 to 1,000 views. You can see it from here.

And my self-portrait photo also got more than 1,000 views.

So I felt quite shy about many people have seen my photos.
It made me happy? Not really.
Because many Koreans read some of my writings so I don't much care about the fame-ness or something.
It's good feeling, of course.

It made me very serious about uploading the photos. Because I would prefer worth to see kind of photos rather than just one time seeing photo.
So I hope that people felt something from my photos-It won't probably happen because my writing is always my main priority so….


p.s. Most of my photos in flickr were taken with Nokia phone. I don't think anyone noticed it.

You are glad to limit your imagination!?

You shouldn't limit your imagination. But you are happy to limit your imagination to 3.5 to 10 inch iPhone, smartphone or tabletPC screen.

Flickr in Seoul meetup at the Eungbongsan for night shoot

This is what it looked like in up there.

Night in Seoul, view from the Eungbongsan with sepia tone

You can also check out some of panorama photos from Emre Kanik–Sunset at the Han River and Enjoying the View of the Han River.


Some of FIS(Flickr in Seoul) members are trying to do night shoot this Saturday, November 9 at 5:00pm-ish. And we can do night walk, too, if you want to.

We will meet at the Oksu station line 3 exit 2. And then we will walk to the Eungbongsan. This mountain is like hill so you don't have to worry about the going up.
And it should better to buy things or eat before go up.

If the weather is going to bad, I will probably postpone the meetup but it probably wasn't going to raining heavily in Autumn so very unlikely.

There has other possibilities such as go down to the river for taking photo of bridge or night hiking through '서울 산책로'. Or go to the Donghodaegyo '동호대교'.
Or if you have more time and want some more, we can go to the other scenic viewpoint, too.

Anyway, I think this scenic viewpoint is one of most spectacular cityscape viewpoint in Seoul.
If you can imagine the location from google map, you will get the idea.


* the night bus information near area
If your home is Gangnam, Daechi, Gaepo, Seongnam or Bundang area, there has night buses such N37, 402 at the '순천향대학병원' Soonchunhyang university hospital bus station.
And some of red buses such as 1005-1, 5500 still going to Sooji or Jeongja area until 1:00am (or 1:50am or possibly 2:00am) because their last bus' departure time is around 12:30am.

** I forgot to mention that this is weekday bus schedule for red bus so last red bus could be more earlier than what I mentioned.

Why Google Chromebook doesn't much attract?

I am using the catch website which can keep personal memos and notes. Mostly, I am using this app from Android phone.

And I just thought that this app might have Chrome browser's app so I can make notes without internet connection, I thought.

This is a screen shot of catch app in Google Chrome's webstore.

What this app does is just open the website of catch. Nothing more.

So this is an app or just a bookmark?

I know some people might need bookmark as app but if Chromebook can't use with internet connection, how can you sell the product to the country with not-so-good internet connection and people who living in outside city-I don't think most country has very good internet infrastructure in countryside.

Oh, I forgot to mention that not only catch app did this.

I have seen a number of apps did this, too. And even google apps.

Anyway, that's why I wrote review with this comment:

Nowadays, bookmark became app. How clever!

Created Equal: A Study of Social and Cultural Clashes by Mark Laita – interesting idea but…

I've got news from Black+White photography facebook page. Here is their introduction:

Exploring the differences and clashes between social groups, Mark Laita's book Born Equal presents a series of thought provoking diptychs: http://ow.ly/lxhE5
/via Black+White photography@fb
quoted from here

Original post is this: Created Equal: A Study of Social and Cultural Clashes by Mark Laita @ May 6, 2013 3:55pm by IEVA


I think it was very interesting idea. Of course, he took photos very nicely and some of the photos looked like came from real world.
But when I look at the some of the photos, I felt it doesn't look like real. Or I think someone coordinate the clothes and props. Or he purposefully choose look very ugly(or too nice) one for comparison's sake.
It was just how I feel. It doesn't mean I was right.

your only limitation is imagination, not equipment. by Bruce Barnbaum

"Let's proceed with the assumption that your only limitation is imagination, not equipment."

quote from the book "The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression" by Bruce Barnbaum

I know he was trying to explain about how light will affect a photograph so what I am saying here isn't really against what he says.

"Your only limitation is imagination." That is truth. So it doesn't need any assumption.

So I googled with that sentence and I can find so many quotes there. If you think that equipment need to assumption, you have to think about it again.

Think about this: What is equipment? It's a tool. So what you can do with a tool? Yes, you can use it for whatever you desire. So how can I use the tool is my problem. Isn't it?

So it doesn't need any assumption. You can just say "Let's remember that your only limitation is imagination, not equipment."



p.s. I thought about this to my other blog thinking differently but I changed my mind. Because so many people believe (not just think) that equipment or tool matters for their creativity and artistic skills. This is the thing that I will write about here.