Re: Little lens AND Toy cameras

From: PhotoGecko Austin <gecko@photogecko.com>
Subject: Re: Little lens AND Toy cameras
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 19:25:21 -0500

> How, exactly, do you define this "optical assembly". . . . What IS it?
> I don't really give a hoot about its intended application, but I might
> give several hoots for its potential UNintended applications.
>
> Come on. . . . share with the list. . . . What is it?

Sorry, I was interrupted by an unexpected visitor (has nothing to do
with baseball) and just sent it in (and had to grab my bottle from my
desk as well). It's a wide angle, fake fish eye adaptor consisting of
2 elements in 2 groups, plus protecting glass. It may make a decent
fishy eyed image if stopped down to f/16 with a 35mm lens for 35mm
format, but internal reflection, flare, contrast, sharpness, etc. are
terrible. The lenses are coated but not multicoated.

If you put this on a 85mm f/1.8 for 35mm format, it makes really soft
images without fishy eyed look. The image center is acceptably
sharp. I tested some more. This attachment brings the focus closer,
and so if you attach it, you can't focus at far objects! If you really
want to use this for landscape or something, you would have to use a
camera with a bellows, like some MF SLR's, or even view cameras so
that the main lens can focus farther than infinity. This adaptor is
hard to use unless you use an SLR, since focusing scale, rangefinder,
etc. are no longer correct after attaching this camera toifyer.

By the way, you can buy 2 of this adaptor for the price of Lensbaby.

The box says "Titanium super wide high resolution 0.42x AF" and
"deluxe super panoramic" but none of these words seems appropriate.
It's nothing more than a cheap piece of crap that excels in toifying
an expensive camera. (And this is exactly what I bought it for.)

The next thing I should try is to use this with Konica IR 750...

--
Ryuji Suzuki
"You have to realize that junk is not the problem in and of itself.
Junk is the symptom, not the problem."
(Bob Dylan 1971; source: No Direction Home by Robert Shelton)