Jason Hight

Got some new stuff.

I’ve been interested in toying with using old M42 lenses on the Sigma lately. A few weeks back, I found a Vivitar 28mm/2.5 in mint condition for a 20 spot at an antique shop in Ft Collins. Hopped on eBay and purchased an M42-SA adapter, and a set of M42 macro extension tubes.

Took a while for those to get here…the adapter came from Poland and the tubes from China.

The adapter is good, the lens works great. The tubes leave a little something to be desired. They screw into each other just fine, and the lens screws into them just fine, but they don’t want to screw into the adapter very well. Not sure if it’s because they are painted aluminum instead of anodized or what would be causing the threads to have issues. I damn near destroyed the small tube and my M42 adapter trying to remove it last night. They will work with small lenses, as they screw in about halfway, but I wouldn’t trust them with a heavier lens. Once I get a bigger M42 lens I will pick up a better set. So if you see a set of M42 extension tubes on eBay for $12 with free shipping…skip that listing and get something of a little higher quality.

I must say it’s really interesting to be able to get just a couple mm from the front glass and have things be in focus. Makes it a little difficult to light things properly though.

Eventually I’d like to get something in the 70-135mm range to use with tubes for macro work.

Sorry, no pictures yet.

If the site looks stupid, it’s because I’m halfassed trying to work on the layout. Please bare with me…

So I finally was able to order a new camera today. After lots of back-and-forth between a couple cameras, I settled on the Sigma SD14. I had a hard time deciding between that and the Nikon D60, but in the end, I decided I want a good, no-frills camera with superior image quality.

I ordered it this morning, hopefully it ships today so I can get it on Monday. If not, I’ll have to wait till Wednesday or so, which will be disappointing.

I surely need to update this site and make it look better. Also, I think I will start using this site for everything, instead of just photo stuff.

Yep, that’s it.

Well, bad news.

A week or two ago, I picked up a used SB-24 for $40. Seeing that my camera doesn’t have a port to connect an external flash, I set out to make my own, following some plans I found online. My basic intent was to completely block off the in-camera flash and use an optical slave system to fire the external. Well, the other day I was trying to get it working properly…it kept firing on the first flash from the camera instead of the second (darn preflash).

Was doing some tweaking, and all of a sudden it worked! So I figured I’d try again to make sure. Then when I looked at my camera’s LCD I noticed something strange. The last picture taken was all black, with just a bright green streak on the right side. I flip to recording mode, and all I get is black with a little magenta in there.

Bummer.

No amount of changing settings, removing the batteries, etc. has brought it back to life.

No money for a new camera right now, so I guess I’ll have to live without. Maybe that means I need to go buy some 120 film and bust out the 1950’s Brownie Hawkeye.

Oh well.

Welcome to the site. I’m just getting started here.

I set up this site to show my progression in the photography realm, and also to show others any tips, hints, tricks or tutorials I might come up with or run across.

All feedback is welcome, feel free to comment on the posts or contact me.

Also, feel free to take a minute and check out the Photo Gallery.

Thanks,
Jason Hight