May 17, 2012

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Visiting the Turtleback Factory

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I’d like to share with you about something we did earlier this month. Earlier this month we visited our Turtleback factory. The factory is located in somewhere in the south western China. As I’ve never visited the Turtleback factory before it was a great time for us to sit and connect with those who gave their effort in manufacturing our TurtleJacket. We got a nice tour around the factory to see the process of how the TurtleJacket is made.

For those who are curious or interested here are some pictures I took while I was there.


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Filed Under: factory, featured, Products, travel, TurtleJacket

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May 16, 2012

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The super thin 40mm f2.8 Pentax Lens with our iPhone SLR Jacket

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Recently Pentax released it’s mirror-less digital camera. The merit is that it sports a traditional Pentax K-mount allowing users to use their existing Pentax K-mount lenses.


Many would think that since it incorporates a mirror-less sensor it would be thin and compact. However, due to the flange back of the K-mount lenses, the body is quite thick (not much smaller than the Pentax K-r DSLR camera).  Here is a size comparison between K-01 and the Nikon V1.

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Filed Under: DOF, Experiment, Sample, TurtleJacket

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May 14, 2012

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37mm Conversion Lens

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I’ve recently re-discovered the merit of having a full 37mm mount on my TurtleJacket. This goes to all iPhone SLR Jacket Users (DOF users) and Tri-Eye Users.

Recently I’ve found the joy of shooting pictures with HDR. My favorite app for HDR photo is Pro HDR. It works great and I especially like how you can change the contrast, brightness, etc. It’s great if you’re just using your iPhone camera with or without the conversion lens because you can use it’s built-in camera which analyses 2 different exposures and shoot / combine them for you. If you use an SLR lens, you could manually shoot the picture in two different exposure settings in TurtleJacket and then combine them in Pro HDR (read my entry on HDR photos with DOF).

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Filed Under: Camera App, featured, Sample, Sample Photos, TurtleJacket

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May 10, 2012

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DOF -vibration type- testing

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At this point, there are few issues regarding non mechanical type DOF adapter (focusing screen stays stills). One issue is that the texture of the focusing screen shows up on the picture. As a solution to this problem you can make the texture less visible by adjusting the focus, however, a more aggressive method to really make the texture not visible, is to apply vibration the focusing screen.

There are other methods such as spinning but in order to cover full size image circle, the DOF adapter would end up being too big and it wouldn’t be ideal for using with the iPhone.

This time we used a vibration motor to apply vibration to the focusing screen.

The adapter itself is the same size as the current DOF adapter that comes with the iPhone SLR Jacket.

The lines that are coming out from the DOF adapter is connected to the vibration motor.

This picture is taken without vibration.

You can clearly see the dust on it.

Here is a picture with the vibration.

The bigger dusts looks like a line now.
I think if the dust isn’t too big or obvious, the vibration could make it even less noticeable. As for the texture of the focusing screen, it is not noticeable at all. The effect of the vibration is really effective, however, there is a noticeable noise from the motor. It would be alright if you’re just taking pictures, but it could be a problem when shooting a video.

Filed Under: iPhone4S

May 6, 2012

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Taking HDR with DOF

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One fascinating thing about taking photos on the iPhone is it’s ability to take HDR pictures. HDR photos, unlike normal photos, allows photographers to take pictures that are impossible to take with one selected exposure setting.

(Left: Normal Right: HDR)
stadium by Ventro7

Once I started taking pictures in HDR it was hard for me to take normal pictures. Pictures with HDR came out more dramatic and normal pictures started to look plain and ordinary. I could also use my TriEye with it, hassle-free for optical effects!


During my visit to Xitang (check out my instagram)

I’ve really loved taking pictures with my iPhone SLR Jacket but lately I’ve lost my passion for it. I think the reason mainly is that pictures weren’t as dramatic as the HDR pictures I took on the iPhone. I had to re-kindle that love I had for the iPhone SLR Jacket somehow. I knew I had to find a way to make myself excited about using the DOF adapter with my iPhone.

The simple answer is was to try taking HDR photos with the SLR Jacket.

But how? 

Our Turtlehead App don’t have HDR option. It’s hard use the iPhone SLR Jacket with the built in camera app.

So how?

Basically what most apps do for HDR pictures is that it combines 2 pictures with 2 different exposures (1 dark, 1 light). Of course I could do this on Photoshop no problem but that’s not convenient enough. I wanted a way to do it all on the iPhone.

Solution: Pro HDR

You can let Pro HDR take analyze the exposure, take 2 pictures, and combine them for you or you can choose 2 pictures from your camera-roll and have those combined to make an HDR picture for you. It also let’s you adjust some basic things like brightness, contrast, saturation, warm, and tint. Overall, a great app!

This meant that I could take 2 pictures (with 2 different exposures) with my iPhone SLR Jacket (Turtlehead) and combine them  on the Pro HDR.

First picture with lower exposure


Second picture with higher exposure

After combining the 2 pictures with Pro HDR

Other HDR photos shot with iPhone SLR Jacket

   
   

I recommend using a tripod when doing this! Oh, and make sure you have plenty of fluids if you’re shooting on a hot sunny day.

Stay creative
Tombo

Filed Under: App, Camera App, DOF, Experiment, featured, Sample, Sample Photos, TurtleJacket

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April 10, 2012

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Cleaning the focusing screen – The endless battle

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Getting dust on the focusing screen has been an on-going battle for us DOF / iPhone SLR Jacket users. Today, the boss of one of the friendliest camera shop we know convinced us to try this. Looks legit doesn’t it?

DUST-AID Platinum. He reasoned that since it’s for getting dust off camera sensor, it should work on the focusing screen. Here is what is inside the package.

A plastic case and a user-manual.

Inside the red plastic case you’ll find 2 sheets of silicone cleaning adhesive with 3 white tabs each, and the cleaning wand.

Looks quite promising doesn’t it?

Here’s my attempt at gently applying the silicone flat onto the focusing screen.
Here is the before and after.

BEFORE 

AFTER

Not exactly sure how it is logically possible but I managed to get more dust on it. I might not be doing it right? Any thoughts?

Tombo

 

Filed Under: DOF, Experiment, featured

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