When I was in the fifth or sixth grade, I used to delight in making explosives with my chemistry set. Smoke, fire, and loud noises; what could be better that that? The man is just an older boy, so when I saw this: Objects which appear dark absorb light and dissipate this energy in the… [Read More]

Yesterday, I published a post showing unusual behavior of out of focus point spread functions (OOF PSFs)  using the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 on a Sony a7RIII. In a PM, Brandon Dube had some interesting things to say about the effect. I don’t know why it happens. It could be genuine apodization caused by poor… [Read More]

This is the third post in a short series about using the Ansel Adams’ Zone System with digital cameras. The series starts here.  Warning: this post assumes at least a nodding familiarity with the Zone System, as described in Ansel Adams’ The Negative (do yourself a favor and get at least the 1981 edition), and in many… [Read More]

Warning: this post assumes at least a nodding familiarity with the Zone System, as described in Ansel Adams’ The Negative (do yourself a favor and get at least the 1981 edition), and in many other places. I recently participated in a discussion about whether Ansel Adam’s Zone System applied to digital cameras. I said that, in AA’s… [Read More]