Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

It sure is but you need to use a Minolta MD - m4/3 adapter of course before it will fit a micro four thirds camera.

I didn't know what an APS-C was until I googled it. You never know though. One day you may just pick one up on a whim. Either that or put the lens on to Yahoo.

 

Hi!, I've been out the forum for a long time, but think that the photo deserves his own OST:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNd4eocq2K0

:smile-new:

 

Well, I should have clarified. A Canon EOS APS_C. It works on a 5D, but you can only focus to about 20 feet or the mirror whacks the rear element (unless in live view). More of a pain in the ass than it's worth IMHO. Those old lenses are the bee's knees for video though. Fuck that plastic focus ring bullshit.

 

I hear you on old lenses for video but I do find an issue with image stabilization on long shots. Great image quality if using a tripod mind you.

The new lens arrived yesterday so I had a quick play with it in photo and video mode. It's far superior than the lens I was using not to mention weighs 3 times as much. I'm very happy with it so far but I'll get some real use out of it tomorrow when I go to Fukuoka City to see the Christmas lights with the family.

Here's a quick video test I did and a photo test. Everything is in manual mode.




Cute Ren by Yakum01975, on Flickr

 

I hope to be in right section.
Some time ago I made these slides of my pictures taken in Japan with the Mushishi anime soundtrack, I'll share them with you:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL215B3FA99FC239AA&feature=viewall

Currently collecting material for a new series to combine with the second volume of the OST.

 

Looks like quite sharp -- nice lens.

 

It does a great job for the body it's on. Just check out this photo of Shimonoseki Kamon Tower I took yesterday from 800 odd meters away in Kita Kyushu! I used auto focus because it was bitterly cold outside and couldn't be arsed setting up a manual shot however it came out pretty well. Quite a lot of detail for such a distance.


Shimonoseki Tower by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Here's a quick shot taken from inside the car without any zoom at the same point the above photo was taken, just to give you an idea of how far away the tower was.


Shimonoseki Tower-car by Yakum01975, on Flickr

You've got to love Japanese toilet signs. I think this one is aimed directly at the Chinese and Koreans.


toilet by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Nice Neon Coca-Cola sign


coke-neon by Yakum01975, on Flickr

 

Yeah, that looks like a beaut. Nice nice shots -- really like the coke sign too.

 

Thanks. That Coke sign is pretty big and sits atop of Canal City shopping center in Hakata, Fukuoka City over looking a river.

 

And it's got that gay freedom flag thing going!

 

hehe, it sure has but what I didn't get in that photo was the LED style graphic equalizer that pumps away when sound is being played. It appears in dark sections above the gay flag.

 

I have this lens, and even though it cost me an arm and a leg, it is my go to lens for filming.

BTW, if you do alot of video with your GF2, and, more importantly, do alot of post–production, one of the things you can do, is use a PTool firmware editor (Changelog), and tweak the bitrate of the video. As you know, the higher the bitrate, the less compression artifacts, and PTool lets you up the bitrate of the AVCHD streams, that the camera saves onto the SD card. Camera is capable of much higher bitrate, however, in order to support crappy SD cards, Panasonic cranked the stream compression up. So if you have a quality high speed SD card, it's worth tweaking the settings.

One of the other tools that you'll need, if you decide to tweak the video bitrates, is StreamParser, to verify that the video stream is still OK. Not really a big deal with the premade settings, but nice tool for peace of mind.

Some basic instructions to get you started are here.

Hope this helps!

P.S. I am now kind of lusting after DMC-GH3. I don't *need* it right now, but I will in about 5 months, as my next big filming project will start. So hoping that the price will drop a bit before then.

 

Magic Lantern does that, but I've not experimented enough with my card to see how high I can take it before it introduces problems. I don't take enough video, and to be honest, the videos on the 5d2 are pretty fucking dope to begin with!

Thinking of getting myself the DSC-RX1 for my Bday in Feb. I fucking hate Sony, but they've upped the game, there's no question.

 

Some night shots. All these were taken w/ my Zeiss 35mm.


Shibuya Kaikan 1 by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Litter by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Scramble Kousaten 2 by gaijin_punch, on Flickr


Fixing Hose by gaijin_punch, on Flickr

 

What ISO are you using in those shots? Also, what is your priority setting if you don't mind me asking? Aperture or shutter? The reason I ask is I have problems with blur either from the subject moving or if I get it sharp its under exposed due to the shutter opening and closing too fast.

@cypherpunk - Yeah, it is a great lens. I'm pretty happy with it so far. I hear you on the GF2 video hack. Mine is currently recording at 44mbps in 720p but has issues in 1080p due to the SD card. I'm using a SP 16GB Micro SD HC class 6 card in a Panasonic adaptor. I guess the card isn't fast enough to record 1080p at 44mbps. I should use the 32GB micro SD card that's in my phone since that's a Toshiba HC class 10 certified high speed card.

 

Pretty sure 3200 on all of them except maybe the gal fixing her panty hose, as that was under a very well-light building in Shibuya. As a rule of thumb, moving targets at night are going to introduce blur for the most part. Someone walking parallel to you is going to be a minimum of 1/60th.... getting that even in well light at night places like Shibuya can be a bitch. It's no doubt easier with a really fast prime (F1.2 or so) to get that, but if you don't have autofocus (and good autofocus) you're kind of fucked. Those are all F2 I think, but the subjects were still enough for me to focus. (Zeiss only has Manual lenses for Canon). Even if I had the 50mm F1.2 (which I'm in the market for, but not for many months... don't need it until summer) my Camera, the Canon 5d2, is known for having awful auto-focus when you consider the cost. Especially at night.

I almost always shoot aperture priority b/c I know what DOF & ISO I want. AFAIK most DLSR street guys shoot like this. A lot I know, anyway. Sometimes at night the exposure meter can be very misleading due to many sources of light (car headlights, neon signs, etc.) and not ambient light. So, every now and again I go full manual, but it will take me a while to find a good exposure.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll make note of that in my file of photo tips. My camera on 3200 ISO can be a bit noisy due to the smaller sensor but not bad enough that a little DNR can't fix. I took a shot at 6800 ISO the other day just as an experiment. man, it looked as if someone had opened up a packet of skittles on the fucker, Coloured dots as far as the eye could see.

 

Yeah. I try to keep mine at 1600, but will go 3200 if I have to and 6400 is only in rare occasions. However, my camera is known for bringing high ISO performance into the hands of non-professionals. It was quite a costly body until pretty recently when it was updated. It was just discontinued, but will still run you 120,000 used I would say.

Adobe Camera Raw 7 or whatever they're on is pretty good at noise reduction. Nice you don't have to buy a 3rd party tool!

 

Ey guys, why not registering and posting your pictures on www.fotopedia.com ?
It would be nice to enrich articles regarding Japan and its places with your shots.

 

Took this with my phone today while going to the bento shop.


dump by Yakum01975, on Flickr