The only lenses I have for my 400D are my 50mm 1.8 and 17-40 4.0 L, both great lenses in their own right, but I often find myself wishing for a bit more reach and a bit more macro. My old Minolta SRT 103 is a different story, I have piles of primes for it, including a couple of those lovely 135mms, which is why I often end up staring at them, trying to pull a Uri Geller on the mounts. So far they have refused to bend, so I have devised a more low-tech method.

The big but, and I don’t like big buts, is that the Canon’s sensor plane, at 44mm behind the flange, sits half a millimeter deeper inside the body than the Minolta’s film plane. In short, this means that a Minolta lens on the Canon will never be able to focus to infinity, but it will be able to focus closer than before (this is exactly the same effect as extension tubes).

I ordered a third party Canon body cap (since my original had already been appropriated for a pinhole conversion). I then drew a 45mm diameter circle on it (making sure it was centered) and started to drill out everything inside. After rather a lot of massaging into shape with a Dremel, I have an adaptor with a hole so tight that my Minolta lenses wedge in and stay in without any other support.

The maximum focal distance on the 135mm is dissapointingly close. Probably in the region of 4m, which at an effective focal length of over 200mm is too short for portraits. Close-up is a different story though, focusing may be very tricky, and I miss the SRT’s split prism, but when you get the focus right, the pictures are sharper than glass in your underpants, even at 100% magnification.

The experiment has been fun, and I expect to get some interesting, possibly even some good, pictures out of the setup. It certainly won’t be my walkabout lens, but for R60 (that’s about 101 Maldivian Rufiyaa at the current exchange rate) it sure makes a nice macro lens.

The shots taken with this combo can be seen here, all tagged adaptor.

I haven’t had anything decent to post for a while (or even anything indecent for that matter), and I still don’t. Rather than boring you with some terrible snapshot or other, I share with you two of my favourite phlogs.

Alfie Goodrich, Photographer in Japan is highly inspirational to me, he has an incredible style which is instantly recognisable no matter whether he is doing macro, street or architecture. I find his trademark shallow depth-of-field street photos mindblowing. Shooting strangers is something I find really tricky and he does it in low light too which is a current fascination of mine. On a side note, his website is a pleasure to use.

Brian Matiash exclusively does HDR work, but don’t crucify him yet. I am not a fan of the style in general, but that is like saying I’m not a fan of wax crayons, just because most of the world can’t use them to produce masterpieces doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Brian has way more hits than misses and some of the hits are truly beautiful.

Click on the thumbnails to view large and navigate with the arrow keys.

My 635 doing its best impression of a drunken H.G. Wells critter

Ok, so I was lying, I know exactly what I would do without my simian friend, becuase I used to do it all the time. If you’ve browsed my photos, you will know that I love urban night shots. I’ve used the Gorillapod for almost all of them. It sure beats my old method of balancing Sarah Jane (more about that later, for now you’d know her better as my 400D) on a folded up bit of clothing and hoping desperately that she settled down before the self-timer tripped the shutter.

The Gorrillapod is basically a clever little articulated tripod, with legs that can bend in directions that would suprise a contortionist. The legs have a rubbery coating too, which helps prevent it sliding down poles, fireman-style.

The biggest nuisance for me is that it doesn’t have a movable head (although you can buy one for a bit extra). I often have to level out the horizons in post-production, but this is hardly a deal breaker, since those are normally shots that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

I was concerned that the joints would go loose with time, but I have been using mine heavily for a whole year now, and the legs are still as stiff as when I got it. There is still a little spring in them though, so it is often best to use a self-timer or remote trigger to prevent wobble when you press the shutter.

It may seem pricey, but if you like long exposures when travelling, or find a full tripod too bulky for table-top macros, then get a Gorillapod. Seriously.

P.S. There is a dinky little version for compact cameras too, which I am guessing is pretty cool, but I have never tried it myself. If you have, let me know.