While shopping around Yodobashi Camera, I accidentally found an end-cap full of filters for cellphones. There were several different types: Polarizer, Wide angle, Haze, Center Spot, Orange, Fog, Star and a bunch of others. At ¥915 a piece.....yeah, a little pricey for a piece of plastic so I only picked up the wide-angle filter. The whole thing attaches to your cellphone like a strap so to have it with you at all times. It has a cord that stretches out further than it needs to. You could probably stretch it out far enough and attach it to the cellphone of the person that's sitting next to you on the train or bus.
Taken with Sony DSC-S650
Anyway, the filter is all plastic (housing and filter). It comes with a rear cap but no front one. The rear cap is there to protect the grey-gummy (kind of reminds me of Slime) adhesive used to attach the filter to the lens. The cap protects it from most dust but I noticed that when it's in my pocket, it collects a lot of pocket dust on the side of the gummy stuff. The good thing is, if it gets too dirty, just wash if off with water and it sticks like new again!
BTW: My cell is a dinosaur (in cellphone age) Hitachi W41H (2.1mega-pixel), AU.
Taken with Sony DSC-S650
Here's a few of my samples that I took this past week.
It is best to stick the filter in the dead-center of the lens. Otherwise, if you're as careless as me, you'll get a heavy vignette on one side and not the other like I did in this sample. Besides the vignette, the quality of the shots kind of suck too. Being only 2.1 and crappy to begin with, the filter just adds to that crap!
Serious flare on the corners and real noticeable in darker places. BTW: I was hungry for sushi but after seeing the prices at this restaurant....ramen was the final choice!
Regardless, it is still the coolest thing I have found so far for my cellphone. I will most likely go back to get different filter and give it a try. That's all I need, is a bunch of cellphone filters attached to my cell phone...making it bulkier than the phone itself.
Oh and also, it works GREAT on the iSight camera that's built-in to the newer Apples!!!!
29 May 2008
Wide-Angle filter (or lens?) for cellphone lens - My cheesy little review.
25 May 2008
22 May 2008
An afternoon at my parents'.
Payed a visit to my parents' house the other day for Mother's day. As usual, mom still does the cooking, even on her day when she should be relaxing and all. So, since I got to lounge around, decided to try out my new lens (70-200mm f/4) in their yard. Their yard is probably one of the nicest in the neighborhood. Too many subjects to shoot: flowers, plants, grass, yard decor, funky bugs, normal bugs, etc., etc. I think my mom picked a good hobby of gardening because she is so good at it....and it shows, with help from my dad too of course. Anyway, her flowers were in full bloom and the weather was perfect! Didn't really get a feel for my new baby but did manage to get a few shots and here are the first few. 
港南台, 鎌倉, 神奈川県, キャノン EOS 5D, キャノン 70-200mm f/4 L, Canon EOS 5D, Canon 70-200mm f/4 L, Konandai, Kamakura, Kanagawa-ken
18 May 2008
Local Bike Gang
Just behind where I live is an open field/park. On weekends, families, children, baseball and soccer teams gather to do their thing. Even though it's so close it is rather quiet...even when the little leaguers have a game. But one day this past week, there was all this ruckus coming from that same direction and started to bother me. It's still very common that bike gangs (bo-so-zoku) come through this area. So with that in mind I knew there was going to be a lot of trouble so I put on my 'fighting clothes', 'kicking-your-ass waffle stomper shoes' and was ready to take on the world as I headed to the noisy group! I brought my camera with me to get "before and after" shots of the gang members before I crushed their skulls.
The second they saw me they sped off while yelling evil things at me! Boy was it a good thing that I brought my camera. Because, I managed to get this shot of them before they took-off for the hills! The cops are still looking for this bunch as they continue to terrorize this beautiful town. But I don't think they will ever be caught.....
