May Milkyway from Hundvag

The first place we headed out to after moving to Hundvag was Lundenesset, a small park with sheep pasture facing the fjords looking out towards Tau/Jorpeland to the East and Amoy to the North. Over several years while living in Hundvag this spot has been a favorite of mine for taking pictures of birds, seascapes and the nightsky. It's fairly quiet on most days except on sunny summer weekends. Flying drones here is also rather safe without having to contend with other people especially early Saturday or weekday mornings and before sunset.

I headed over to Lundenesset for some early morning Spring Milkyway on one clear sky night this week. Though now it is fairly well lit (jogging path all around) I didn't see anybody else except for your's truly. Perhaps the time being rather late and the wind rather crummy and cold explained the situation a little bit.

The night chosen wasn't exactly ideal other than the fact that it was a fairly clear sky night. The temperatures went to as low as 4 deg C and to make it worst the wind was practically howling the whole time I was there!

With difficulty I managed to shoot with the light duty Panasonic LX100 as well as the night time tool Sony A7S paired with a recently purchased (used) Voightlander 35/1,2 for a few shots. The 6xcarbon Gitzo truly couldn't manage to tame the winds, I had to press down the tripod legs with both hands to keep it steady for each shot. Even then only a few shots survived the shakes.

Some of these shots are shown here. 

Reworking Sep 2017 nightsky following Clarkvision (true colorful sky instead of coolblue sky)

Post processing astro photos can be a tiresome business. Depending on the activities of the cosmos during the night of the shot there can be many variations to the outcome. Clarkvision goes against the many conventional wisdom about post processing astro shots that you find in mainstream photography magazines and/or over the numerous sites on the internet.

"30 secs, f/2.8, Iso 6400, cool blue tungsten corrected night sky" are typical recommendations you find. Our man Clark is pretty adamant about how wrong these assumptions are and he's got sound scientific reasoning, detailed workflows and great images he's made himself to back it all up. If you have a resilient mind and strong desire to learn pop over to his domain : www.clarkvision.com

He broke many of my long held vision about how the nightsky should look like and along the way I learnt quite a few nifty things about astro post-processing from his website. Though I've been reading his websites for a couple of years I still have a small headache from trying to digest the points he's putting across. Don't do it in one go and be ready to blow your mind!

For a long time I always have intended to modify my Canon 40D and now 6D to get rid of the IR filter and get true reds from my astro shots just as I have seen them from many others on the forum. Then Clark came along ...

"Modifying digital cameras is not necessary to obtain great astrophotos. Many stock cameras have good hydrogen-alpha response, e.g. recent Canon DSLRs. More important than a modified cameras is proper post processing methods that will bring out and not suppress hydrogen alpha emission, and cameras with good sensitivity and very low thermal dark current. The best digital camera for deep sky astrophotography that I have evaluated has good sensitivity, including hydrogen-alpha, and amazingly low dark current is the Canon 7D Mark II 20-megapixel digital camera. A great full frame digital camera for astrophotography is the Canon 6D 20-megapixel digital camera." - Clark

And what do you do know : I have both the 6D and the 7D Mk2!

Original Raw Shot.

Raw processed in CaptureOne, tweaked in Photoshop.

Key differences (during Raw processing in CaptureOne) from previous post-processing are: 

1. Tweak curves for RGB, Red, Green and Blue individually

2. WB 3800, Tint 1,1

3. Chromatic correction according to lens 20%

4. Highlight 50%, Shadow 50%

6. Luminosity 80%, Detail 20%, Color 20%

Further tweaking in Photoshop (PS12) are for these minor tweaks:
1.  Adjust Colors : Hue 0% Saturation 40-60%, Lightness 0%
2.  Adjust Color Curves : Increase Contrast
3.  Adjust Lighting : Tweak to lighten or darken to taste
4.  Resize Image (no sharpening done)

All these shots were taken with Sony A7S in combination with a Sigma Art 35/1.4 or Canon EF 50/1.2. I have some shots from the Canon 6D as well at the end for comparison. Canon 6D and 7D Mk2 were specifically mentioned by Clark as the best cameras for astrophotography, I didn't notice whether he made a mention of Sony A7S ... apparently Sony is a star eater according to some users.

I put through these Milkway shots from Maudal taken 23rd Aug 2017 with Canon 6D +EF 24/1.4 through the same paces of Raw post processing in CaptureOne and the remaining tweaks in PS12.

Different nights produce different atmospheric activities, it's great to be able to record these subtle differences in color. Airglows galore especially during those active nights, definitely better than just light pollution!

Metabones Minolta MD to Sony E Mount

The box came from Hong Kong arrived via Fedex today. I immediately put it on the Sony A7S and did a quick test on the Minolta MD ROKKOR-X PG 58/1.2 and Minolta MC ROKKOR PF 85/1.7. These are rather hefty lenses.

Out of focus @f/1.7

In focus @f/16

Stacked of the two

MC ROKKOR-PF 85/1.7 (left) taken with the Mc ROKKOR-X PG 58/1.2 at f/1.2

Both  lenses fit well onto the Metabones adapter. As I was checking the lens I found out that a year or so ago I had bought a NEEWER NEX to Minolta MD adapter.

I think now I have a complete set of Metabones adapter for all of my favorite lenses:
Metabones EF to Sony E mount - all current EF mount lenses both Canonand Sigma
Metabones Leica M to Sony E mount - all vintage Leica M and Leica L39 screwmount lenses
Metabones Leica R to Sony E mount - all Leica R lenses
Metabones Minolta MD/MC to Sony E mount - all Minolta MD and MC lenses

Other than that I also have these from a couple of years ago:
Novoflex Minolta MC MD to NEX/E - use of MD/MC lenses
Novoflex Leica R to NEX/E - use of Leica lenses
Fotodiox FD to NEX/E - use of FD lenses
Neewer MD to NEX/E - use of MD/MC lenses

Other than that I also have these from much older period:
Elphoto Leica R to EOS
Nikon AIS to Leica M - use of AIS, AI Nikon lens
Nikon AIS to Leica Screwmount - use of AIS, AI Nikon lens


As far as lenses and perspectives are concerned I think I am well covered with plenty of overlap especially at about 50mm range due mostly the Leica vintage glass. 

Sensor clean Sony A7S

Sony A7S is a mirrorless camera, so the "sensor" is directly visible when you take off the lens from the mount. I'm not sure of it's tendency to collect dust, however since I first bought it I have never ventured to clean the sensor. Lately I've noticed some blobs on the photos especially those taken at small apertures during the day. Nobody notices these blobs on night time photos.

I decided to clean it. It took two passes of wet swaps and dry swabs each to clean the spots from the "sensor". The before and the after shots are shown below, both shots are stacks of several shots (5) to enhance the spots. Again similar to the Canon 6D (which has sensor cleaning and the sensor actually sits behind the mirror) I believe the spots on the Sony A7S sensor is caused more by evaporated condensation droplets from previous cold night outings.

Before : Spots on stacks of  last night's skyshots taken on 135/2.8 @f/2.8

After : No spots on stacks of bright room taken on 35/2.0 @f/11

After : No spots on stacks of bright room taken on 135/2.8 @f/2.8

After : No spots on stacks of bright room taken on 135/2.8 @f/11

I guess that sorted out the "sensor" cleaning agenda on the two full frame cameras. I haven't seen any  major dust/spots issue on the Canon 7D and 7DMk2 perhaps because both are mostly on daytime duties and have not experience evaporated condensation issues due to drastic warm/cold/warm changes. Rest assured though , if they do exhibit these problems later on, it will be dealt with delay using the Green Clean Wet and Dry Sensor Cleaner.

Summicron 35/2 by the Pale Moonlight

I just couldn't resist it ... the Sony A7S is and has been my main low light night sky shooter since 2016, Summicron 35mm is an f/2 Leica lens I acquired back in 2003. I had to try both outdoors in the dark shooting the night sky. The moon was high up, there were scattered but interesting looking winter clouds about all competing with the bright grandeur of the moon.

It took a while for me to suss out the proper infinity mark required to get the stars relatively in focus, I hit the sweet spot on the Summicron at marker "8 m" or "25 feet". Different lenses has a different point where stars focussed perfectly. Samyang 8/3.5 for example hits it right in the middle of infinity. It varies for each lens and manufacturer.

I shot at f/2.8, Iso 2000, at 1sec, WB 3200K.

This last shot is actually a stitchy of 6 individual shots and cropped. Notice the break at the bottom of the image.

On nights like these I'm always reminded of a joker before he became The Joker , "Have you ever danced with the devil by the pale mooonlight?"  I think  I have on several occasions. That time poling down Sg Selungo from Long Siut to Long Tungan braving roaring rapids and evading boulders in the rain in a fully loaded rickety wooden sampan in complete darkness (Dec 2009). Another time, a vertical drop straight into Sg Lawas in the middle of the night resulting from a misstep at the boatlanding (Feb 2011). Or holding on to the helideck perimeter fence when the MV Resolution was bounced up and then down by 25m waves at sea during the Mt Pinatubo explosion (June 1991).

Metabones Leica R to Sony E adapter

After  an enjoyable street outing on Sunday with the Sony A7S coupled with a Leica M Summicron 50/2 lens from 1953 via the Metabones Leica M to Sony E adapter, I started exploring other available Metabones adapters that could put a few more of my vintage lenses to good use.

I have a set of Leica R lenses which I used on my  R3 and R7. The last occasion I heavily used them was on a month long family holiday in Spain back in 2003. I shot with the 180/2.8, 35/2.0, 90/2.8, and 135/2.8. It goes without saying that it took a while to get my left shoulder back to normal after lugging all that Leica mass around. I later also acquired the 100/.28 APO Macro which remains the best macro lens  I ever own.

I'm thinking some of these lenses can be put back to great use via the Metabones adapter, they can be brought back to service again with the Sony A7S. Pretty cool to think that the lenses, some made before I was even born, purchased almost 20 years ago can still be put on active duty today.

Leica R Summicron 35/2.0 @ f/4.5

Leica R Summicron 35/2.0 @ f/2.0

Leica R Summicron 35/2.0 @ f/5.6

Leica R Summicron 35/2.0 @ f/8.0

I also have several wide aperture vintage Minolta MD lenses which I absolutely love. They were used mostly to take portrait shots of my children growing up in Holland. I decided to bring these back into service as well using the Metabones Minolta MD to Sony E adapter.

Today with these Metabones, I'm hoping that there'll be some good images still to be had with these lenses!

Leica R line up:
Elmarit 180/2.8
Elmarit 135/2.8
Elmarit 100/2.8 APO Macro
Elmarit 90/2.8
Summicron 35/2.0

Leica M/screwmount line-up:
Summicron 50/2,
Elmar 50/2.8
Summar 50/2
Summitar 50/2
Summarit 50/1.9
Elmar 50/2.8
Elmar 50/3.5

Non Leica M/screwmount:
Voigtlander Heliar 15/4.5
Voigtlander Color Skopar 28/3.5,
Voigtlander Color Skopar 35/3.5
Canon Serenar 50/1.9

Minolta MD line up:
Rokkor 85/1.7
Rokkor 58/1.2
Rokkor 50/1.4

The Canon FD (135/2.8, 35/2.8) and Olympus OM (100/2.8, 28/2.8) have to stay put for now by the looks of things. I think I'm having optics overdose!

My favorite from Sunday in digital Black and White

Of the bunch  I took last Sunday, I picked these two images as my favorite of the day.

The first image, a crow in backlight near  a flight of granite stairs looking larger than life.

The second, a gentleman traveller from Kurdistan, north of Iraq (he referred to himself as Kurdishi). He's is Norway on a tour with some friends I presumed. I saw him under the gazebo feeding biscuits to the pigeons from his hands. He had this calm kind look on him looking as if he was feeding his regular beloved home kept pigeons back in Kurdistan. Maybe he misses his birds ...