The Omniscope - 10-Bolt Self Portrait

I like to unroll things with the Abelson Scopeworks Omniscope pinhole camera.

This is the wheel from a firetruck. The camera was aligned with the center axis of the wheel. The Omniscope 'sees' a donut shape, just shy of a 360º circle. The image captured by the film is an unrolled version of the donut - in effect, a polar to rectangular conversion. For this image, I used Kodak E100GX, now discontinued.

In the image, there are 10 little reflections of me making the exposure - on the 10 bolts. To the right of the 6th bolt, there is a person (horizontal), as well as my tripod at the center of the image.

Exposure was in the range of two to three seconds. There is no viewfinder. I have used this enough to ray-trace the approximate view. There are always surprises - in this case the beautiful lighting artifacts, due to internal camera reflections. The lighting upon the tire brand with the little highlight was purely unexpected.

Click for a larger view.

Ten-Bolt Self Portrait

MM

Waiting for a few parts...

From a recent road trip through rural Illinois...

Scratch and dent sale

Beechcraft Model 18 or variant. Imaged with Hasselblad 501 CM, 50mm CB lens, Kodak Ektar film. Post-processing with Adobe Elements 11, Orton effect and vignette.

Furnace

From the Joliet Iron Works Historic site.

Echo Chamber

And you thought Fort Dodge lacked amusements...

Amusements. Sadly, this one has been dismantled.

Fun Time

Uplifting

Rust Belt

A recent foray into the area around Joliet Iron Works. The textures and features are intriguing. These images were taken with the Hasselblad 501 CM, the Planar f/2.8 80mm CB  and Arista EDU film (100 ASA). Part of this trip was to test the Mutar - an extension for C-series lenses that doubles the focal length. It will cost 2 stops of light. I am impressed with its optical performance.

Corrosion

Heavy Industry

Planar f/2.8 80mm CB

Heavy Industry II

80mm CB and 2X Mutar

I will post more images from this excursion soon.

Leica IIIf

Here are a few images of my Leica IIIf. There are various sites that list manufacturing data. This camera was manufactured circa 1952. I purchased the body from KEH Camera, and sent it to DAG Camera for a CLA. The shutter curtain that was in the camera was not a Leica part, and the viewfinder mirror was dim. Both parts were replaced with NOS parts. The camera was cleaned and adjusted, and has worked beautifully for the decade that I have had it.

Click each image for a larger view.

With the Summarit 50mm 1.5, and a Voigtlander  accessory viewfinder

The yellow filter for black and white film... pops the contrast of the clouds!

Yellow filter and lens shade

I found a manual for this camera here, if you wish to explore the various knobs, levers, and buttons. This is a spectacular example of mechanical art and design.

Flying

With Kodak BW400CN film and the Leica IIIf, a few selected images from the trip to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

35

Tagging along

36

The next post will feature the Leica IIIf in detail.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2014

Here are images from the Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day excursion - see the previous post for details.

Chapel

The image on the WPPD site...

Alternate view

Click for larger view

Overlay - zone plate and 40mm Distagon lens

Click for larger view

Next: I'll be getting the Omniscope out again soon...

World Wide Pinhole Photography Day

For World Wide Pinhole Photography Day, I made exposures on film at the Peabody Estate, and at a nearby train station. My last submission was in 2005 - of a moving freight train.

The following images show the setup. Once the film is developed, I'll post several images, and provide a link to the one selected for the WPPD website.

Zone Plate on Hasselblad body cap.

I was using Kodak TMax 400 film. The zone plate, pictured above, has an effective f/stop of 65. Various body caps are available at the Pinhole Resource.

Luna-Pro

It's always a good idea to have a meter available. This older Luna-Pro S has a scale that includes apertures to f/128. The math is quite simple, it's just handy to have a quick reference. With the T-Max 400 film, an aperture of f/65, the exposure for this sunny day was in the range of 1/30th of a second. The film has a wide exposure latitude, so there is no need to get too hung-up about exposure times - just get close.

Since there is no conventional shutter with this setup, you simply flop the Hasselblad's curtains open and shut. On a sunny day, I simply trip the curtains, and release them as soon as I can. I'll post a video  soon to show this process.

Hasselblad with zone plate for exposure

The view through the zone plate is dim. There is no focusing - just frame your composition.

Zone Plate replaced with 40mm Distagon

 After the exposures with the zone plate, I used a conventional lens to provide a comparison of the images. This lens is slightly wider than the plate's field of view.

Secondary low angle setup

Exposures were made from this lower perspective, in addition to a few other views. I'll post the variations when the film gets back.

San Francisco - 2012

Three images from 2012. The Hasselblad and some Ilford film.

Martin wisely chose art over math for a career.

Mysterious door #1 at Alcatraz.

Mysterious door #2 at Alcatraz.

The Rabbit is Back

A toy made in the 1970s that I like to use for experiments - in this case trying out Arista EDU Ultra film.

Leporidae

Click for larger view

From the left and the right...

This structure is at the Mayslake Peabody Estate. This was my first photographic scouting mission - I will return when lighting is more favorable. The shadows were appealing, although I will return when the shadows are in a different position. I like the distortion from the Hasselblad 40mm Distagon when it is tilted. 

Creeping Shadows I

Creeping Shadows II

Arista EDU 100 film, Hasselblad 501CM.

Zone Plate

A favorite sculpture, dismantled a few years back in the name of progress. Photographed with a Hasselblad 501CM, using a zone plate, in place of a lens.

Dustin Shuler's Spindle

More of Dustin Shuler's art here....