Lensbaby

Hi

I was just playing around with my pinhole optic and notehave some questions, which is referenced to the attached picture:

1. What is that "X" coming across the middle of the picture, and how is it caused? I managed to get rid of it by tilting my composer away from the centre, or by adjusting the optic closer to the sensor.

2. Also, on detailed inspection, there are black specs all over the picture. How can i remove them? I do not see similar black specks when I try on other optics or with my other lenses. Are these due to dirt particles on my sensor? Quite worried if its my sensor that needs cleaning.. I'm afraid I do not have the right equipment to clean it.

Any helpful tips are much appreciated.

ben



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2011 01:19PM by bentse.

Ben.....the "X" is most likely a reflection caused by a spectral highlight bouncing off either the front of your Lensbaby or some object in the focal plane path.

Dirt particles on my sensor? Yes... that's what shows up with pinhole imaging !


There are kits for cleaning your sensor.....it's part of this new age of digital image making.....with old school film cameras, the film was like getting a new sensor with every package, the problem with film was keeping the negatives clean for printing......so clean has always been a prime requirement for flawless photography.....

Now aRt imaging on the other hand includes the flaws :) .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2011 02:54PM by ranfoto.

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the prompt response!

Will now work on cleaning up the sensor...

And also how to control that reflection for creative purposes.

Cheers!
ben

hi Ben,
I've already observed in some of my pictures at least one part of the X (the bold one) you have in your picture. I was using the composer with the double glass optic (see attachment and one of the picture in my recent upload "frozen passion").
I made some "experiments" and I've found out that:
1) the stronger the source of light (sun is the best!), the bolder is the arch made by this refraction (I'm not sure is a refraction, maybe some of the LB team maybe more precise)
2) to have the arch in your picture, the angle between the axis of the bended lens and the light source should be around 30°
3) the arch is not visible in the pathfinder when you shoot, so if you don't have the live view mode on your camera, you have to shoot first and then look at the LCD.

I think may be an interesting compositional element, once one can control it.

as per the dust, the sensor is really delicate and I would rely on specialized people for its cleaning ( but this is a personal position).

hope this helps

rgrds

francesco

the river flows
and in it I swim

OK, I do not get how to use the pinhole/zone plate at all! I have had great experiences with all the other optics, but with this one, I can't find any information on how to use it, settings (other than how to set it to AV with my Canon EOS. Is there anyone who can point me in the right direction to find better information about how to use this optic? Is it normal to see only black when you look in it? How do you know what when you have something in focus? Switch inside-which is pinhole...which is zone plate? I totally don't get it. Thanks.

I do not have the pinhole optic but:

1. there is no need to focus, as with an aperture this size everything will be in focus.

2. the pinhole is the smallest of the two holes in the slider, the other one is the zone plate.

3. The pinhole is too small to get a good view through the viewfinder.The advice is to create your composition in the zone plate setting, then switch to pinhole and shoot the picture. Alternatively if you have liveview, apparently this will also work.

Hope this helps?

Thanks, hp. I'll give it a try! Drives me crazy when I can't figure something out! :)

I was looking for some topic about the pinhole.

Here are two shots with a pinhole

The first is with the lensbaby (1/50 sec.)
The second is my homemade pinhole (5 sec.)

Could it be the factor kind of camera? I got a fullframe (EOS 5D) camera...

The third shot is my homemade pinhole lens...