Yashica ML 28mm f/2.8, Excellent By Any Standard

Digital Moments: The Yashica ML 28mm f/2.8 is an excellent lens for adaptation to your digital SLR or mirrorless cameras.

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An excellent lens by any standards, the Yashica ML 28mm f/2.8 lens is part of the Yashica ML series, pro-line multicoated lenses developed and produced by Yashica (Kyocera) to bridge between their consumer-grade DSB line and the state-of-the-art Zeiss T* within the Contax/Yashica system.

These lenses were made in Japan, at the same factory where the legendary Zeiss Contax T* lenses were made. Finished with a different coating, while image rendition is slightly less contrasty, colors and contrast are great. While not of Zeiss standards, these lenses do have their moments with acknowledgment of being of high quality.

Olympus E-P5, Yashica ML 28mm f/2.8

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Nokia Asha 300, A Bright Sunny Day

Mobile Photography: Image making with a vintage candy-bar Nokia Asha 300, a look across a maritime construction yard, and the bay at sunset.

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As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was quite disappointed with the early images from the consumer-grade smartphone, and I am quite reluctant to use the camera further, for a while at least. Having said that, and because of the need for another camera to keep up with my Mobile Photography posts, I went for a dig back and managed to salvage a stack of images captured with the Nokia Asha 300 feature phone, which I was using quite a while back.

The stack of images includes this set of views taken on an outstation trip to a huge oil and gas fabrication facility. It was a very bright and sunny day, and we were looking across the ground from the 7th-floor rooftop of the administration building.

Later in the evening, the golden hour was another joyous moment as I enjoyed the sunset from the hotel balcony, looking over to the cove and the island across the bay, which became a perfect stage for the setting. It looks like the Nokia Asha 300 is just as capable of capturing the essence of the scene as well.

What is most interesting to me is that the fixed focus F2.4 5MP camera on the Nokia Asha 300 is very capable of doing a very good job with images in bright daylight situations. For images, otherwise, the cable connectivity of the phone is an easy path for connectivity and uploads to post-processing apps, an idea to look forward to.

Together with the interest in analog and film cameras, and now a bit with the digital past (maybe only momentarily), it should be fun to see how things play out and add to the strength of this blog.

Nokia Asha 300

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Olympus XA4 Macro, Take Your Pick

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with an Olympus XA4 Macro, plenty to choose from at the stalls of the Ramadan Bazaar.

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The final post on a mini-series with images from the Olympus XA4 at the Ramadan Bazaar, a series which took off with Squaring the 28mm, All Set and Ready, The Ladies Are All Smiles, and finally, this post. Though captured on a street-smart 28mm F3.5 lens of the Olympus XA4 on a single roll of negative film during a single outing, the images were squared off to the 1:1 aspect ratio from their original 3:2 via the desktop image post-processor.

The square format, or images in the 1:1 aspect ratio, is a beautiful format to work with. It works well when you are trying to simplify the composition when eliminating superfluous elements or empty spaces. The composition itself can do away with the much-vaunted one-third rule, placing the subject in the center of a square frame, for example, or close to the edge, works just as well.

Olympus XA4 Macro

As a street photographer's camera goes by, the capsule-style Olympus XA4 35mm film camera might be just the right choice for you. The camera is fitted with a 28mm F3.5 super sharp focal length lens and is highly recommended for landscapes, people at work, at play, or for when and where you can get right into their midst.

Olympus XA4 Macro

The camera reverts the focus distance back to the optimum 3 meters when you close and re-open the capsule cover, sets the AE system on automatically, and you are ready to shoot the instant you slide back the capsule cover.

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Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8, Catching the Essence

Digital Moments: Image making with a Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8, catching the essence of the garden.

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My first post on digital images captured with the Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8 was titled Five Frames with a Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8, Tagging On RawTherapee 5.4, as it was more about the RAW image processor rather than the lens itself. Let's hope that this post will do more justice to the lens itself.

The Canon FD 50mm f/1.8, first introduced in 1971, was the smallest, lightest, and cheapest of Canon's 50mm primes. The first version sports chrome filter threads and a silver breech-lock ring. The model was replaced in 1983 by a version with black plastic filter threads. The 'New FD' range, where the breech lock mount was replaced with an internal locking device, was introduced in 1978, and this series is commonly recognized as the 'nFD' lenses.

The update saw the minimum aperture of the lens lowered from ƒ/16 to ƒ/22, a reduction in the number of aperture blades from 6 to 5, and with more plastic components incorporated, a decrease in weight from 255g to 170g. Mounting the lens with the new lock mechanism is much easier and can be done using only one hand.

Olympus E-P5, Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8

Except for the 50mm f/1.8, all other lenses in the 'nFD' series were given the S.S.C. (Super Spectra Coating) treatment. Image quality, as can be seen from these images, may not augur much if you are thinking about this lens as the top prime of your collection.

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Nokia Asha 300, The Classic

Mobile Photography: Image making with a vintage candy-bar Nokia Asha 300, looking up the archive for images worth presenting.

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I wasn't too happy at all with the images from an early outing with the Nokia 3.1, which came with a camera, as they say, is just another run-of-the-mill product with not much more to add to it. Though the camera's HDR function may help to boost the dynamic range and contrast, and give you slightly better images, let alone be I'd rather leave it aside for the moment.

Luck was with me as I came across a selection of images that were previously recorded on the Nokia Asha 300, a candy-bar cellular phone model introduced way back in 2011, which I was using then.

Small and diminutive when compared to today's smartphones, the cell is really compact, and it sits comfortably in your hands. This may prove, however, to be a bit of a trifle when used as a camera with your fingers fumbling all over the camera control interface. On image capture, the Nokia Asha 300 came with a 5MP fixed-focus rear camera, capturing images with a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944.

These initial groups of images, which I referred to as 'classic', not for any reason at all, were from around the office where I was previously working. While the first image is a good example of the capability of the camera, the others are a bit muddled as they have been edited and re-edited again away from their original pixel size.

Nokia Asha 300

I did, however, find more images in the archive, including a small batch of images that are quite beyond what I had expected. Surprisingly, these include a batch of pretty sharp and clear images, with a good color rendition, which I will polish up and post in the next post of the Mobile Photography series.

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