mukul_dube

Delhi too said "Thank you" to its doctors and nurses: in the manner specified by none other than the Prime Minister. He told all of us to go on to our balconies and clap our hands and bang thalis with spoons. Apparently he considers an unholy racket to be the best way to express gratitude. And it is a terrific kind of gratitude. Strangely, this Prime Minister does not know that doctors, nurses and others who have anything to do with victims of the latest corona virus are being thrown out of rented accommodation because they may carry the infection.

 

This photo has nothing to do with any kind of infection. It was taken some years before I acquired a Sony camera, but my late father had a Minolta X-700 which came to me.

Bird and beast both excellent, David. I offer Kaveri, who's called me a variant of Grand-dad for years and her boy friend Shantanu, whom I met only a few months ago.

 

Both with Nikkor 50/1.4 on Sony A7

 

Two more of the same kids, outdoors and with a different lens.

Nikkor 85/2 on Sony A7

Two girls visited me on Saturday; or perhaps I should be Politically Correct and call them young women. They are now working, having earned M.A. degrees, but I still use the names I used when they were first year undergraduates.

Nikkor 50/1.4 on Sony A7

Two mothers, each with a daughter.

Nikkor 50/1.4 on Sony A7

Are graduate students no longer permitted to breathe?

 

No windows in 11th century towers, plenty in the 19th and apparently airless construction returns in the 21st,

 

Kaveri, photos of whom I have posted earlier, arrived on Friday evening with her boy friend Shantanu. Comfortable dinner and company. Photos were possible only with a flash-gun, which I dislike but which is sometimes essential. A simple white thing goes around the head of the flash-gun and is fairly effective in softening the light it reflects,

 

Nikkor 85/2 on Sony A7

Nick, let me try to explain why you see what may not be bad focus. The first photo is a quite small crop of what the 35mm lens recorded at f/2 from 10 or 12 feet. The second was taken with a 50mm lens at f/1.4., Narrow depth of field inevitable, more so in the second. Slow shutter speed in both. Possible camera shake. One of my nieces, who teaches surgery in a medical college, says that a fellow only a few months short of 70, and blessed with Parkinson's Disease, has no business messing with cameras. Only her younger daughter, now 12, defends my right to take photos.

If you mean the photo appearing twice, I had the same experience (Sony/Minolta forum) a while back: and that was not the first time.

One of these chaps lives in the US and was visiting India. When he got to Delhi, he phoned the other one, who lives in a suburb of Delhi. I was told to expect both at lunch time. They arrived and we had a fine time talking about old days. One brought two excellent dishes which his wife prepares. "Old" means well over half a century: we will have been together in the same class for some years until we finished with high school in 1967. Both with Sony A7 and 35mm and 50mm Nikkors.

Thank you, Arthur. I have no faith that might be offended. I might tell you, though, that "Hey Ram" is not exactly a greeting. It is what Gandhi said after he was shot.

 

Brian, please see what Richard Williams says. There never was a Summitar f/1.5.

A filter of any kind cannot eliminate or reduce flare. What will reduce it, as others have said, is a hood. Be aware that lenses of different focal lengths need hoods of different lengths. Thus "longest, blackest" is only half correct.

The Summitar was good for its time but was surpassed by the Summicron. As Arthur says, it needs a hood more than other lenses do.

It's been a while since I took a picture. This boy delivers to me what I order from the grocer. In winter, many people in India tie a woollen scarf (called a "muffler") around their heads.

Nikkor 85/2 on Sony A7

Your Eminence, what did the subject of your photo think of it? I'm assuming he saw it.

 

To all others: WD-40 and a bit of muscle fixed the ball head. To be honest, as my hands now have little gripping strength. I used a pair of pliers on the locking key/control/handle -- with a small piece cut from the discarded tube of a bicycle tyre. The FOOMI now works well and is unmarked.

Arthur, I have been in Delhi since I came here in 1970 to earn a master's degree.

Thank you. I shall keep that as my last alternative.

Thank you, Conrad and Christopher. I should be able to get someone to do the heating. If that does not work, I can manage the freezing and the boiling water. I shall search for Kroil but in all probability shall not find it in my country.

I found that WD-40 is now made in India, presumably under licence. This means that I have something in addition to acetone.

Thank you, all. I shall try those which I can try. I do not know if WD40 is to be had in India. I have no hair dryer. The biggest problem is that I can no longer go about to look for things like liquid nitrogen. Sandy, I did remove the screw on the other side from the locking control; but I couldn't see where it led.

My small Leitz ball head, which is named FOOMI or 14105, is jammed. Nothing moves. It has not been used for a couple of years and has sat on the dining table all along. Attached is a photo (found on the Net) which shows a unit identical to the one I have. Any ideas on getting it free? All I can think of is acetone.

 

Kaveri is no longer a student but a working woman, which means that she cannot visit me as often as she used to. I had little time to prepare for this photo, which was taken with a wide angle lens, at relatively near range, in the light of two CFL lamps.

Nikkor 35/2 on Sony A7

Kaveri had not come to see me since June, when she earned her M.A. degree and got a job. This is a crop of a badly composed photo taken in artificial light.

Nikkor 50/1.4 on Sony A7

Janya, my current Chief Sweetheart, visited after far too long. She sat at the dining table and began to paint my face (a portrait). The sleeper is her mother Aruna, who works at a television channel. Two lenses were used with a Sony A7 for these photos: Nikkor 50/1.4 and Nikkor 85/2.

"First come, first served" is not true here, Howard. I checked a couple of times, and jumped in only when it was long past your usual posting time.

 

Mark, those tusks are really remarkable. I am in India, a country known for elephants: but never have I seen such tusks.

Howard does not appear to be at a computer, so here goes. The girl (young woman, to be Politically Correct) in the photo, Vinerjeet Kaur, is studying for a Master's degree in law.

Micro-Nikkor 55/2.8 on Sony A7