Cat Macro
Today the Cat was sleeping on a brightly coloured quilt that is on our bed – it is made from orange, red and yellow Provençal fabrics with some colours that match well with those in the Cat’s fur. She was also partly on a hand-woven small yellow and brown wool blanket that is one of Her favourite places to lie. She was rewarded in Her choice by a beam of warm sunlight spotlighting Her nap. You can meet more of Her through the cat tab at the top of this post, or here. A lovely feline with lots of personality, and a prodigious ability to sleep.
These shots are mostly crops from the pictures I took. This was really an exercise in testing the focus confirm in the new adapters I have for my Takumar lenses and these images are a happy byproduct.
The m42 to EOS adapters I bought contain an Optix v5+ chip which can be programmed to confirm focus with a red light and beep when a manual focus lens is in focus and mounted on the Canon EOS 5Dii (and presumably other models of DSLR). This is a great feature as my progressive lenses (eyeglasses that is) and aging eyes mean focussing is more of a trial than it used to be. The adapters can also record the focal length of the lens and the aperture number in the exif data, once they are set up for the lens. So far I have found that the focal length feature works, but not the apertuare which is out by at least one f-stop (I think, I did not take notes, yet). I have not played with that feature much and I may have programmed the chip incorrectly. Also, the chip allows changes in focal point – if a lens is confirmed as focussing closer or further than it really is there is some latitude to correct that problem in the chip. For my 100mm macro this was possible but it was at the extreme range of correction. For the 200mm telephoto it was out of range. However, I have not tried the in-camera correction yet, which may bring it to the right place. I suspect that these adaptors are either a tiny bit too thick or thin for the SMC Takumar m42 lenses – it may be that a foil or similar shim might bring it into range, if I need to go there.
For the macro lens focus confirm is going to be really convenient, and since it’s a feature that the original lenses never had it adds value to older glass that for the longest time had almost none. The focus confirmation does not work at lower light levels and thus also only works at f4 and f5.6 in better light. Even so, this is very handy, especially when working with a tripod. Another interesting feature of the adapter is that it can be set so that if you hold down the shutter release it does not take a picture until the instant the focus confirm light flashes. This could be useful in some circumstances.
Anyway, these photographs are some result from my tests. Some are out of focus because they are cropped from a picture that is in focus somewhere else (chosen for their abstract qualities). I am pretty pleased with the adapters so far, and expect to get them into an even more functional mode when I have time to fiddle.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Canon EOS 5D MkII, SMC Takumar 100mm/f4 macro, ISO 400, F4, ranging from 1/80th to 1/1000th second.
burnt embers 
What truly INCREDIBLE details here, my friend! We, too, love our cats, and it sure is wonderful seeing yours here with her special ability to pose and be perfectly beautiful for your photography endeavors! Awesome series!!
LikeLike
Hi Toad – thank you so much.
She is real poser, for sure 😉 Like other cats, She is good at it mostly because it takes very little energy.
LikeLike
What a beautiful cat! Love the images with the third image down, very creative!
LikeLike
Thank you David – that one I was not sure where best to focus, but this worked out pretty well.
LikeLike
Beautiful girl with a pretty pink nose.
LikeLike
Oooh – you can come and pat Her anytime you like. 🙂
LikeLike
That is one awesome adapter (and cat, I might add)! I take it that once the adapter is programed it is only useful for the lens it’s programed to and so you have one adapter for each lens. Yes?
LikeLike
Hi Ken, that is right, I got one for each of the Takumar lenses. Of course, you could re-program it for each one once you knew the settings. It really takes very little time once you have worked them out. But, that is a hassle. They cost just over $30 each, but considering the glass costs were all paid for in the 70’s or 80’s, it seems worth it for the upgrade. The cheap $2 adapter that I had before was getting quite loose with noticeable play in the lens against the body. Probably affected focus too. I am hopeful these ones will be durable.
The Cat is awesome, for sure. Right this moment She is melted into a lap next to the wood stove. Sensible as well.
LikeLike
Wonderful series!
LikeLike
Hi Karen. Thank you!
LikeLike
These are beautiful images. I love the orange, naturally. But the abstracts of the cat are wonderful. Very fine, detailed.
LikeLike
Thanks Ryan. The Cat really performed well on this one 🙂 The quilt and blanket help too – the quilt was made by my mother and my wife and the blanket was woven by my wife. The Cat has excellent taste!
LikeLike
Pingback: Whiskers and Lost Photos « Cahill Photojournalism
Love it! It so cracks me up and amazes me how often we post such similar subjects so closely together. Yesterday I posted a shot of a horse’s whiskers! I think I’ll put a link on my post to this one.
LikeLike
Hi danita – it is a bit odd, this synchronised posting business. I was probably processing these images about the time you were posting yours :). Anyone that wants to see your lovely horse whiskers, the pingback above has a link. I feel for you in losing pictures – it is so annoying. I lost a bunch in the fall with a hard drive failure – a few dozen of thousands were not recoverable, and the most recent and not backed up either.
LikeLike
These are great! I also read your notes on the adaptor with interest—as someone with aging-eye issues myself, it could be very helpful (once I upgrade to a DSLR, at any rate).
LikeLike
Hi skadhu – it is very useful. I think you have to do quite a bit of research when upgrading to ensure that your existing lenses will work on the DSLR body. There are some that won’t (they project too far into the camera) or that need modifying (Pentax K1000 lenses for instance need a piece cut off) and so on. Also, whether the DSLR has a full frame sensor (like my camera) or a smaller sensor will alter the effective focal length of the lens, something to be aware of too. But, there is lots of information on the web about lens compatibility with different cameras. The adapters work on most standard mounts if you have lenses that work on the camera body.
LikeLike
A gorgeous kitty – beautiful aspects of “cat-ness”!
LikeLike
Hi Dawn – thanks so much from Her and me 🙂
LikeLike
Awwwwwwww
LikeLike
And in reply She says purrrrrrrr.
LikeLike
These all have poetry within them. I love the arcs of the whiskers and hair in raking sunlight.
LikeLike
Thank you Douglas – I think that cats have poetry within them – the way they move, and recline. I am glad that I captured some of that in the details too.
LikeLike
You have a beautiful cat!
LikeLike
She loves to be stroked, with words or hands makes little difference.
So on Her behalf I thank you.
LikeLike