Around Stretham Old Pumping Station

 Around Stretham Old Pumping Station.

We had a very pleasant walk near Stretham Old Pumping Station after Brunch on Sunday. Yes I do mean Brunch - We got up late and it was too late for Breakfast and too early for Lunch. 

The Pumping station was built in 1831 and replaced 4 windmills. It was built by Butterleys of Derbyshire for a cost of £4950. Powered by steam it lifted water from the Fen and into the Old Wes River. It was operational for about 100 years. 

This Engin is the last surviving engine in southern England, there was over a 100. The building is now managed by a Preservation Trust and is open to the public, or at least will be when we get back to normal.

A Few more shots from Wicken Fen

A Few more shots from Wicken Fen

 

Early Morning Hose Baby

Early Morning Hose Baby

Some beautify light in the bedroom this morning just before 8. So I trotted downstairs to get my camera with the new Hose Baby contraption. I initially played with out of focus boke and then started moving the focus point around the image.  After taking a few shots of various items on Sue's dressing table I noticed me in the mirror. Could not resist a selfie

Hose Baby

 Hose Baby.

Just before Christmas I bought off eBay and old Olympus 50mm f/1.8 lens with the idea of creating a DIY Lens Baby. I originally got the idea from my friend Ann who coined the expression 'Hose Baby'. She used a vintage lens (I think hers was an Olympus too) and a short length of  flexible plastic tube. Coincidentally in an issue of PhotoPlus for Canon users a guy did the same with the innertube of a mountain bike. 

I finally got round to giving it a go today. I already had an inner tube and some long Ty-Raps. I decided to use the Olympus OMD E-M10 mkii my wife gave me in exchange for my OMD E-M1 mkii when I switched to Canon Mirrorless and I have borrowed her 10mm extension tube to connect to the camera. 

I cut a length  of the cycle tube, split it  length ways  and wrapped it around the back of the Olympus 50mm lens making sure the Ty-Rap, when tightened,  activated the depth of field stop down switch on the side of the lens. This means I can adjust the aperture ring to use different apertures. Having said that it looks like a lot of people using these DIY Lenses shoot wide open to get the beautiful soft feel to the final image. 

I connected the extension tube using the same method to the other end  of the cycle tube giving about 50mm extension. I have only had a quick play today and it should be fun to play with. 

There is quite a bit of info on the web / YouTube on doing this. Most of them are using legacy lenses and quite few use the Russian Helios 50mm f/2. 

Garden Birds

Birds at the garden feeding station yesterday morning. I just love the enthusiasm of Starlings, so noisy and so very busy.