Hans Doddema

Recently, I bought two manual focus Olympus OM lenses on eBay, the 50mm f/1.8 and 28mm f/3.5. Nothing spectacular, but I was impressed with the optical quality, and solid build of these lenses, they’re just good bang for the buck. Yes, the Olympus OM 50mm f/1.8 is perhaps even better than the Canon 50mm f/1.8!

The day after, I ordered some OM to EF mount adapters with focus confirmation from BIG_IS. The focus confirmation works fine, however, I noticed that when I attached the lens to the adapter, the lens was slightly loose on the adapter and could move around a bit while focusing.

I contacted the seller about it and learned this little hack: There are three small grooves on the adapter’s mount, if you use a tiny screwdriver to widen these grooves just a little bit, the OM lens will fit the adapter more tightly. Be careful though, don’t widen them too much or it’ll be very hard to dismount the lens from the adapter again. See the image below, it works!

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

See on Flickr.

Recently, Pantone announced that PANTONE 14-0848 Mimosa is the color of 2009. “In a time of economic uncertainty and political change, optimism is paramount and no other color expresses hope and reassurance more than yellow,” they say. “Mimosa also speaks to enlightenment, as it is a hue that sparks imagination and innovation.” Do you agree?

Like you, I’m usually pretty suspicious about such blah blah and flowery language, even more so in press releases. But last year they predicted that 2008 would be the year of PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris. Now, I believe that color blue closely resembles Obama’s blue, doesn’t it? Interesting…

I had a bit of a scare the other day when I noticed that my photos looked significantly different on the different monitors I use. Of course, no monitor is the same, but this was just too much. I asked myself: Which monitor is accurate and reliable? Were all those hours of post-processing pointless, in vain? How can I solve the problem of inconsistent colors?

It became clear that I needed a color calibration system, which consists of a hardware color calibrator (also called a colorimeter) and a piece of software. From what I understand (and please correct me if I’m wrong), a colorimeter reads the color output from the monitor and compares them against what it knows these colors should be. Consequently, based on this comparison, the software makes the necessary changes to the LUT (Look Up Table) of the graphics card for accurate display of colors.

Brandon, who runs his own excellent photoblog JavaJive, kindly offered his advice and recommended me the X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 (i1Display 2). After some comparisons here and there between the different Huey, Spyder, and X-Rite products, I decided to order myself the Eye-One Display 2. It offers color calibration for CRT, LCD, and laptop monitors through easy wizard-driven functionality.

So, what’s inside the box? Not much really, just the colorimeter with funny octopus-like suction cups, a protective cover/ambient light measurement head, a counterweight for use with LCD monitors, the profiling software, and a quick start guide. Disappointingly, there’s no physical manual inside the bundle, one depends on the annoying Flash tutorials on the software CD-ROM.

Using the system is very, very easy indeed. Just install the software, plug-in the USB colorimeter, attach it to the monitor, and run the software. The software automatically creates a profile and calibrates the monitor for accurate colors. You’re done. It’s wise to repeat the process every few weeks.

Money well spent? The purchase reminds me of the MasterCard commercials you see on TV:

• X-Rite Eye-One Display 2: €140;
• A reasonable monitor: €300+;
• Confidence and ease of mind when post-processing: Priceless.

But, is it really, really worth it? I’m not so sure. First of all, the system is quite expensive. There’s a noticeable difference but I think that one can set-up his or her monitor reasonably well with eyeball measurement tests such as this one. Most viewers of my photos probably don’t have calibrated displays, no matter how carefully I’ve calibrated my own monitor, I won’t be able to tell what they see. And even if their monitors are calibrated, the interpretation of color will remain pretty subjective. There’s absolutely no guarantee you will like that blue, saturated sky in one of my photos the same way as I like it…

Wordles are always fun and very illustrative. Here’s one from Obama’s victory speech last night in Chicago:

Congratulations Barack!

The viewfinder on my Canon 400D digital SLR is just too small. It makes me squint and it’s not big enough to use manual focus comfortably. So I hit the web to see what can be done about it and found out that I needed a magnifying eyepiece. There’s the Olympus ME-1 (1.2x magnification) and Nikon DK-21M (1.15x) which supposedly fit Canon cameras.

But, having read some reviews online, I decided to go with the lesser-known KPS U-13C Magnifying Eyepiece from a Korean company called Seculine, which offers 1.35x magnification. I bought the one with two different eyecups from eBay for some €40 including shipping.

Am I happy with the KPS U-13C? Yes, I am:

• Nice and solid build quality;
• Fits tightly on the camera;
• Noticeable 1.35x magnification;
• Packaged with adapter pads, screws, and screwdriver, there’s no need for any DIY modifications;
• Sharp;
• Reasonably priced.

Any negatives about the KPS U-13C? Well, not really, it’s just a simple eyepiece after all.

As you can see, the eyepiece is compatible with most popular brands (including Fentax!) and camera models through the three different adapter pads that come delivered with it:

Do you use a magnifying eyepiece? What are your experiences? Please share in the comments.

Next up on my wishlist is a focusing screen, any advice?

It’s funny working in the Internet industry, there must have been days I didn’t even write one single word on paper. Therefore, I decided to handwrite a blog post. And to be honest, I didn’t like it very much. It takes a whole lot of time to scan the thing, way much longer than typing a post!

For those of you who are having trouble reading my handwriting (including myself and you search bots!) here you go:

• If I handwrite a blog post, will it rank lower in search engines because the search bot can’t read it?
• When applying for a job before the digital era, did people mention how many words they can write per minute instead of keystrokes?
• I love this Flickr pool about handwritten blogs.
• Life would be easier if companies and government agencies would accept a digital scan of my signature more often!
• Has anyone tried turning their handwriting into a font through Fontifier.com?

So, what about your handwriting?