Jupiter-9 85mm f/2, In Dark Mode

Cameras and Lenses: Images with a legacy Jupiter-9 85mm f/2, one of the most famous and beloved vintage Soviet lenses, on an Olympus E-510, with images post-processed to the 'dark mode.'

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Time Lapse Photography, Getting Started

There's not much in terms of hardware and equipment, just my age-old mobile and time to spare.

I had the time-lapse photography bug recently and decided to start learning the technique by doing a few on a trial basis. There is not much in terms of hardware and equipment, just my age-old 2018 version Nokia 3.1, and a low-cost Universal Mobile Phone Holder Tripod Stand. For the apps, I used Framelapse, which is available as a free download, and on my desktop, an installed version of OpenShot Video Editor.

HMD Nokia 3.1

Nothing much to show off here as yet, just the first few initial frames shot mainly from the front of the house with the camera perched on top of the car, or on the gatepost. The main virtue of this early learning curve is the time it takes for each sequence to be shot.

Mine was one hour and fifteen minutes, shooting a frame every five seconds for a 30-second time-lapse sequence. Final edits, if done straight on the phone, do not take more than a few extra minutes, and all is done.

Helios 44-2 58mm f/2, First Impression

Cameras and Lenses: Images with a vintage Helios 44-2 58mm f/2, a legendary Soviet-era lens known for its iconic swirly bokeh and distinct vintage character, a 116mm full-frame equivalent on the Olympus PEN E-P5.

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The Helios 44-2 58mm 1:2, a copy of the Zeiss Biotar 2/58, is one of the most popular lenses produced for the Zenit-E series cameras. The lens is single-coated, has 6 elements in 4-group construction with an aperture range from 1:2 to 1:16 (1:22 later), comes with an M42 mount, and is fully manual with the added advantage of being a preset lens.

Despite its mass-produced and low-cost construction, the Helios 44-2 58mm is a much sought-after lens by photo enthusiasts and experimental cinematographers as a 'bokeh master', a lens with good swirling bokeh, and remarkable and unmatched color retention. Admittedly, these first-impression images are short of these accolades.

Olympus PEN E-P5, Helios 44-2 58mm 1:2

The lens was produced in several variations, which include the Helios-44-2, Helios 44-3, Helios 44-3M, Helios-44M, Helios-44M-4, and Helios-44M-6, which are known to have different characteristics from each other. And, like a lot of vintage lenses, where quality standards are not inherent in the production process, you always have to be aware of the choices you are making with the purchase.

Nokia Asha 300, Kaleidoscopic

Mobile Photography: Image making with a vintage candy-bar Nokia Asha 300, kaleidoscopic reflections.

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Still having fun with my come-back-to-life candy-bar Nokia Asha 300, while trying out a newfound genre that mobile phones are good at, close-up photography. Mobile phones, as we know, have lenses with incredible minimum focus distances which can be used effectively as a close-up camera, or when fitted with an auxiliary close-up attachment, as a macro monster.

When you have the camera held at arm's length, however, or with the camera pushed far forward and angled away from your eyes, using the camera at its closest autofocus distance, even without supplementary lens add-ons, is a guessing game. The best you can do in this situation is to take multiple shots, or a burst mode sequence, while moving the camera slightly forward or backward from your practiced distance.

Nokia Asha 300

The archaic Nokia Asha 300, like the one I was using here, does not have the close-up capability as later or more expensive camera models, but sufficient to say that it handles itself well as a learning or starter camera, which can be said of other lower-end mobile cameras as well. The subject of my curiosity here was a water-filled upturned cover of a garden bin that had collected a bunch of fallen leaves, captured against the reflected backdrop of the sky and covering foliage.