Playin' with cameras and lenses

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I had collected a some lenses from the US and was playing with them.
After reviewing other conversion attempts on the web, I made a few decisions. The connection had to be all metal and strong - no epoxying plastic lens caps together to make the adapters.It did not have to be permanent but on the other hand, I am pretty sure no one is going to make a FD or M42 lend mount digital camera (would be nice to be proved wrong though!). I would need auto focus confirmation on each lens - my eyesight is not what it used to be. And finally, it had to be wholly achieveable with the few tools I have.
And I believe that I have succeeded on each one of those.
One of the most difficult things to do was to figure out how far from the camera focal plane the lens had to be. We are not talking about ultra precise measurements, just within a 0.5mm or so.
The first thing was to construct a device that would hold the lens perpendicular to the camera and allow the camera to be adjusted back and forth to find the optimum separation distance. The images below show my quick setup and how it works. The device is crudely made from a few strips of wood and a macro focus attachment.
The second and third pictures show how it moves the camera back and forth. A simple ruler can measure the difference needed.

Rain Rain and more rain

This morning was a bit cloudy but by 8:30am, it had all changed.
It started to drizzle and by 10am, we were being rained on.A good, heavy steady downpour. It lasted over n hour and it was badly needed. This was repeated over the next 5 hours accumulating 2 1/2" of rain. However, I know I will be saying something different in a couple weeks when I have to cut the grass every weekend!
After a bit of work on the new house, I went into the garage and started to play with the bike. Just minor things- small adjustment here and there, checking things over before I take the big test ride.
I still have to work on the hydration / cooler system but that will come in time. Here are some pictures for now :-) First we have the cockpit - On the left is a speedometer (maximum, average, instant)/cadence(avg and instant)/ odometer (total, this ride,) timer/clock and a host of other options. The Garmin unit gives location on a map, speed, cadence, heart rate, elevation, clock, timer and more. probably too much information to be honest! In front of this is the handlebar bad that holds snacks, camera or other quick reach items.
Following photos are front rack and tires, then chainwheel and rear end. You can click on each image for a larger picture and to read the writing.

It's getting hotter

It's has been busy the last couple weeks.
It's another long weekend with the Queen's birthday being recognized on Monday. I once again took the Friday off for a 4 day weekend. It gave me a chance to run some needed errands and do a bit of shopping!
First of all, we finally have the last red card for the new house. What happened is that we are building a new home. When you make a major change, you have to get a new red card. The first change was to enlarge the second floor. The final change was to add a third floor. Now, we can proceed with final electrical and plumbing inspections and work on finishing the home. There are still trim to install, closet organizers to build/install, stairs to be covered with the flooring and a host of little things that while not needed to move in, will be easier to do before the furniture and people are there. My guess is that we will be moving in before September. I am sure Janie and others will say otherwise!

Summer is finally here and it's time for the heat to "come on down and stay awhile". We get rains in June and rains once again in September. The period between is hot and humid. Daytime temps are 90-95+. Currently, the outside temp is 90 at 7:00am which is not bad. The problem is the humidity which can be between 75-90%. It definitely makes one live with the AC in both cars and homes.

I have noticed lately that there is quite a local trade in fruit trees going on. Someone will trade you a mango tree for a banana. You will get a free hot pepper plant because they have too many. On Thursday, Janie was given a Otahiti (sp) apple tree because someone had too many. Thankfully, I have a large yard so I can always find a place for them.
Mangoes are ripening across Cayman and there are farmers selling their produce along the roadside. One such person has a small stand across from Public Beach on West Bay Road. He sells mangoes, watermelons, starfruit, and sweet potatoes on a regular basis with bananas and less common fruits infrequently. He makes an absolutely delicious fruit punch with watermelon, mango, guava and tamarind juices.
I was telling him last week that I need to start collecting points since I am stopping almost every afternoon on the way home from work to buy mangoes or watermelons. You do get recognition from people in cars when you are riding home with a whole watermelon strapped to the rear of your bicycle!

Chickens are still there and the 4 young ones are growing rapidly. Egg production is averaging 4-6 per week. I saw a nice hen with 4 chicks yesterday afternoon. I am now trying to trap the mother and young ones to add to the collection. Of course, it means I have to build a bigger chicken tractor. As I was updating this blog, I took a quick look outside and saw two young hens eating in the trap. I sprung it and now have two new hens in the tractor. I will definitely have to enlarge it now (or eat a chicken)! :-0

I have received the 3 M42-EOS adapters from Hong Kong on Thursday and have begun the conversion of my second lens, a Canon FD 35-105 F3.5-3.5 that I bought specifically for testing. I have to admit that the project was a lot simpler than initially thought. I had to make a small aluminum piece from 1/16" aluminum plate that would allow me to control the F stop setting while still replacing everything else. About 5 minutes taking measurements and another 15 minutes of cutting and filing and I have my part. It is epoxied to the F-stop ring and moves the aperture blades via an existing lever. The epoxy is drying and I will be re-assembling the unit tomorrow morning for lens to focal plane testing. It will be fairly easy to adjust the final measurement as the adapter is screwed on and spacers can be readily added or removed as necessary. Update - June 20 - Further testing showed that I have to change the design of the F-stop adjuster. These are zoom lenses and when one increases the length of the lens (i.e. - go from 35mm to 105mm), the F-stop lever drops down into the lens and is not adjustable. Back to the drawing board!

The next lens will be a 35-105 F3.5 with Macro, a lens I believe I will be using most of the time.
Tools used are a ruler, various screwdrivers, file, hacksaw, lathe and milling machine.

The randonneuring bike is 95% complete for riding. It has been assembled and I did a short test ride. I was plagued by a leak in the rear tire but it was a pinched tube caused by trying to install the Schwalbe Marathons. They are so tight when first installed that one has to use a tire lever . But after a few miles of being under pressure, they become hand installation friendly. The final choice for now is 700x25 Marathons because I have them and need to use them The actual ride tires will be 700x28s which are also in hand. The final items are a insulated water cooler on the front rack and the 2m radio for communications with home/base/support. Pictures and more details to follow.

Even longer delays in updating

Hi Rick & Jelly;
At your request, please find the latest updates below to help you enjoy Cayman.

Cayman
Things have been pretty busy lately. Besides work, there were public and work holidays, meetings on Astronomy, the Ham Radio Club as well as chicken and gardening updates. Some bike work and a bit of experimentation in photography.
I took a few days off work when a unique situation came up. Monday May 18 was a public holiday and Wed May 20 was election day (another full public holiday). The election process is a bit unique down here. Approximately 22,000 people are true Caymanians with 15,000 (local and status holders) being registered voters. These registered voters determine the future of approx 60,000 people.
I live in West Bay where there are 4 positions available as representatives of the people in the Legislative Assembly. Hence (for unknown reasons) every registered West Bay voter gets to vote for 4 people out of the list of wanna be candidates. That's right - 4 votes. Everyone in George Town also has 4 votes, Bodden Town has 3 with East End and North Side each having only 1 vote. Finally, the sister islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman each get 2 votes. A total of 17 elected members. I believe that there were a total of 44 candidates. The winning party was the UDP who got 9 out of 15 seats in Grand Cayman and 1 out of 2 in the Sister Islands.
What does this mean for these islands? Only time will tell!

Astronomy
The Cayman Astronomical Society had a meeting a couple Tuesdays ago. Here, we elected the new committee members as well as made some plans to start a more dedicated user section dealing with astro photography. We will start of the easy objects like the moon and progress to the planets. There ware currently 3 of us interested and keep an eye out for some of our results. This is a learn as you go project.

Cycling
I have just returned from a 5 day break in the US of A. I managed to obtain a few needed items like good tires, handlebars, specialized brake levers and assorted items need to complete the new-to-me randonneuring bike. I will post some photos as items are installed and tested.

Chickens
There has been a couple setbacks and minor improvements in this topic. The setback occurred when a certain person who shall not be called by name (the wife) went to feed the chickens one morning. I was getting ready to ride to work when she called my name. I went to see what the problem was and found that the rooster, 2 hens and a young chick had pushed their way out of the entry door when her back was turned. Needless to say, they took off running. Various attempts to catch them have failed so far and they are probably lost for good. The neighbors have also takes up the hobby of chickens and one has about 30 while the other has about 10.
The good news is that we managed to catch two young ones (one that escaped weeks ago and well as the young one who stepped out) as well as a young rooster and are now back to 7.

Fruits
On the election day holiday, Sarah came and told me that a bunch of bananas were turning yellow and she wanted to cut the down ? I said go ahead and she did. When I arrived yesterday, it was nice to eat ripe bananas from the yard. There are a two more bunches that are very close to getting ready so we will be enjoying more very soon. Nothing like a tree ripened banana!
The mangoes also look like they are getting ripe too. Janie said that while I was away, a guy came into the yard late one evening and was looking over the mango and breadfruit trees. The dogs were in their pen and they were barking loudly which got her attention. Needless to say, she picked the couple mangoes and a breadfruit that were close to being ready. I had a mango last night and this morning when looking the tree over, managed to find one that was ready and added it to the pile. You will notice in the photo that a ripe mango has the same colour as a yellow leaf making it even harder to find visually!
I believe that I have the only grafted mango tree in the whole neighborhood. This could explain all the attention the tree is producing. Just means that I will have to be more vigilant in checking on it.
While in the US, I got some books on chickens and gardening. I really did not know how much effect the economic downturn had had! Many people were at the book store or the gardeninfg centers buying plants, seeds, fertilizer and other items looking at gardening as a way to eat better. There were many more books and magazines than I had ever seen! This can only mean good things for local economies.

Photography
I managed to pick up three camera lenses that I had ordered. I currently use a Canon DSLR and find that all too frequently, I have problems in trying to use the electronic focus on a particular item when it is in a different focal plane than the background. A real pain when you are trying to get that one off, there for a second shot! This really bothers me as you buy auto-focus lenses to solve this problem. The lenses were all manual focus, Japan made (means all metal construction). Two were Canon FD mount (35-105 F3.4-4.5 & 35-105 F3.5) as well as a M42 mount Soligor (35-70 F2.5-3.5) for use with a webcam. Why did I get them? First of all, they were cheap. The Canons were about $50 each and the Soligor was about $20. Secondly, they are from a time when things were made to last. I have a EF telephoto that I bought about 3 years ago. It has stopped working and the quoted cost to fix it is more that I paid for the lens. It is mainly plastic construction. And finally, I get to play with them. The first project is to convert the lenses from FD to EF mount.
I currently have 9 FD mount lenses of various focal lengths. I converted a 400mm F5.6 lens to EF mount about a year ago and all can say it that it works perfectly. Just have to repeat the same thing for the others. The result is quality lenses for a small fraction of the going price. For example, the most I have paid for a lens is $125 for a 85mm 1.8 FD lens. The EF version goes for about $450 and is mainly plastic. The parts for the conversion run around $20. Needless to say, the 85mm will be the last one I convert!
I can use an FD to EF adapter, but it becomes a hassle to swap it back and forth between lenses.
FD lenses can be had from around $10 to $2500with the L series all occupying the higher end. Without the L lenses, it tops out around 550 for an 85mm F1.2. In the EF arena, the range is $150 to $10,000 . Without the L lenses, it tops out at $2500 with the EF 85mm F.12 coming in at around $1,800. And many of the new lenses are zooms which are not as optimized for the whole range as a fixed focal length lens is.
But enough chitter chatter, see you next time.

What's been happening?

It's been a while since I have added anything so here goes.
Last weekend, Janie and I went for a drive around the eastern end of Grand Cayman to get some pictures for a request made by Richard. Hope these images help you Richard! The second view is from the cabana! What a rough life we live!
The chicken population has increased. Dorothy managed to catch and rooster and hen early last week. Then I managed to catch another hen and then 3 pullets over the weekend, bringing
our population up to 9. It's more than I planned but we can always let the ones we don't want go. There were actually 4 pullets caught but one managed to sneak out from the tractor when we were rolling it to a new location. On the other hand, the escaped pullet and another hen are now following the tractor around, gleaning the food remainders when we shift location. And the answer to the big question - YES! We did manage to have 4 eggs last week. And the taste is by far superior to the store bought eggs. None this week but we are not concerned. The chickens are still getting settled in their new location.
Home Grown eggs on the left, store bought on the right.
We have been experimenting with different foods to give them - ranging from kitchen scraps to bird feed and cracked corn. They seem to enjoy it all so we are happy.
My niece has seen the tractor and has requested that I make her one too. She lives besides a large wooded areas and has many chickens in her yard. She too likes the idea of free-range eggs.
A neighbor two doors down has begun to build what looks like a portable chicken coop. I'm keeping an eye on his construction to see what happens. I also noticed that he has made a chicken trap too! Could be catching on!
Janie was talking to one of her co-workers about our new venture and the co-worker said that she had built a chicken coop and began trapping chickens. She now has over 80 in her possession! I'm impressed! Makes my little project seem like child's play!
Well, with that little item completed and successful, time to start something else.
We already have a few fruit trees in the yard. Here are mangoes and guavas - both are green but will ripen. There is nothing like picking a ripe fruit from the tree and eating it. You can smell both the ripe mangoes and guavas before even seeing them. Many times I can be found searching the tree for a ripe mango. Smelling, yet not seeing.














I have been looking at constructing a raised garden bed. While we have a year round growing climate, we are unfortunate to be a coral island with very little topsoil. There are good area with 2-3' of soil depth and other areas (like where I live) with the topsoil depth being 2"-3" or less. There are pockets of soil but they are few and far between.
The reasons are that it gives me something to pass the time on, allows me to tinker with something else and provides a food resource on an island where probably 95% of the food we eat comes from or through the USA. Countries like Australia are recommending their inhabitants to stockpile some basic food for when there are shortages. In Cayman's case, a shortage in the US will mean that there will be less to sell and if it is there, a higher price! It is already recommended that locals stock extra supplies in the event of a hurricane and most people do. I'm just taking it a bit further!
We had a bit of a joke last week. Dorothy and Janie said that it was time to cut down two bunches of bananas that had matured and were ready for cooking (yes - there are cooking and eating bananas). The plants were about 10' high so I did as requested.
In one bunch, there was a frog hiding between the hands. Dorothy saw it first and the next thing we knew was she had placed herself far away from the critter on the top of the wall !

Easter long weekend plus

Well, we just finished a 4 day Easter Weekend and I also took Tues and Wed off. Gave me time to catch up on some chores around the house and further some projects.
The wife was gone to visit our son, daughter and her family in Canada so I was enjoying some freedom as a part-time bachelor (with one kid).
The first thing was to finish the chicken tractor off. This was completed by Sunday along with a chicken trap.
Sarah partially painted the tractor and will be finishing it this week as she is off school.
The first view is with the top open. You can see the steps going to the "loft" and roost. There is another loft hidden towards the viewer. It will be a few months until the top is opened like this.
The lofts are for laying eggs and roosting. Straw and shredded paper will be used for bedding. It has the capacity to comfortably hold 8 chickens but I will probably stop at 5 or 6.
We have small doors on the top and bottom to allow access to the eggs and to feed them without opening the top. Sarah had caught a wild chicken a little while ago and put it in there as a test. When she opened the top to feed it, it flew away. Lesson learned.
The little stairway is to allow the smaller birds to get up to the roost - especially if they are young ones. On Tuesday afternoon, we set the trap with some food, not trying to catch anything but to get the chickens used to it.
Today, as I was taking the pictures of the tractor, I saw some activity at the trap. Sure enough, there was a mother and 7 young chicks eating. I pulled the trip cord and the support came down. This was great as the young ones would get used to the tractor very easily and make life a lot nicer for us. Dorothy, Sarah and I went there and viewed our catch. The mother was trying to fly away but was confined by the mesh. The chicks were running around trying to find a way out. The only way to get them out was to lift one side and catch them individually. No problem with the mother and the first two chicks. In trying to catch the third, two of them slipped out at once. I got one but the other ran away. Down to six chicks. When transporting a chick from the trap to the tractor, Sarah dropped one and it flew away. Down to 5. When the rest were safe in the new home, two managed to slip out under the edge of the tractor. The ground is rough and while the fit is generally close, the small guys can squeeze through any hole while the mother cannot. Final count is 3 chicks and 1 hen. But the trap is baited and ready for the other small ones. They will come around when the mother calls and we will try to reunite the family.
Here is the trap and a small meter long iguana who was snooping around it.


















The next item on my list was preparation for hurricanes. While we are still a couple months from the official start in June, it was time to check communications. My wife and I as well as my parents are all licensed to use 2m radio equipment (144 - 148 MHz). During Hurricane Ivan, we were able to talk to each other when both land lines and cell phones were down. I got the equipment out and began operational and well as physical checks.

All was well with the exception of the coax between the radio and antenna. this was replaced as water had gotten in and shorted it out. This coming weekend, I will do scheduled maintenance on the battery pack that powers the whole thing. It is showing some signs of corrosion on the terminals. With the radio, I can reach across the whole island directly on high power or via the repeater on both high and low power. A repeater is an amplified re transmitter that receives the signal on one frequency and transmits on another at higher output - allowing greater coverage. The ham club repeater is based in Northward and transmits high up on the 250' Government tower.



Finally, the request for pictures of people camping over the Easter holiday. I hope you like this one Richard! No snow down here!

Back to work

I was told to get some pictures in here. Soon come!

Well, it's Monday and after a day's work, it's back to the garage. It's a 4-day work week due to both Good Friday and Easter Monday being public holidays. The only other time this happens is at Christmas and Boxing day!

For Caymanians, Easter is the time to return to the beach. Staking out of "your spot on the beach" begins the weekend before and the choice areas are quickly roped off and labeled. Most people camp out on the beach over the holiday and have BBQ or other parties and invite friends to come and have a drink or a meal. Some of the camp sites will have fans, TVs, stereos and other comforts from home. Generators run the whole thing.
For those who either don't go or were not quick enough to get a spot, you are always welcome to visit someone's site.
Another favorite pastime over the weekend is shopping or touring another country. Many head off to Miami or Tampa. Others do 5 day tours of Costa Rica, Columbia, Panama or Honduras. Still others go to Jamaica to see their families.

I had a problem with the bike yesterday. When trying to remove the right pedal arm, the tool stripped and just would not do the job. I tried other pullers but no luck. Today at lunch, I quick trip to the store and I have a new remover. The job was completed in 30 seconds.
Tried to make a decision on tires today. I am swaying between 700x28 and 700x35. What is the difference? The 700x28 are a harsher riding because they require more pressure to support a give weight when compared to the 700x35s. This means that a lot of vibration from riding over the rough road is transmitted through the tires, frame and eventually to the rider. This can result in various problems for the rider over a long ride (24hrs or more on the bike)
The 35s will take less pressure and ride softer. The problem is that the 35's available here are junk - cost about $20. I get between 300-600 miles out of them before the casing begins to split and separate due to riding over gravel in the road. I thought the first time it was a fluke but the same problem has happened to me for 4 times now. Enough testing.
Last year, I bought a pair of 700x28 Schwable Marathon Plus to test their resistance to flats and I have had none to date after 1700 miles on them. The ride is rougher than the 35s as expected. Guess I will have to order some good ones and test them. Another item on the shopping list for the US of A!