Within the box were an AC adaptor, 2 plastic dome covers, a textured glass disc and the laserpod itself, a sleek metal cylinder with a button on the front and a powerjack on the back. And unfortunatly detracting from its appearence, the laser safety sticker maring its simplicity, why it could not be put on the bottom I do not know. But none the less I plugged it in and put one of the plastic domes ontop of it to get a lavalamp like and turned it on and well, I was quite impressed. It didnt take long before the cover was removed and I was laying on the floor staring at the patterns on the ceiling.  Many a night was spent drinking with just this as illuminiation at is very relaxing and easy on the eyes. Unfortunatly however, its a bit repetitive with zero chaos involved. Unlike the lava lamp who now gets more use as the laserpod sits around waiting for an occasion to be projected.

Now with regards to the lens’s that get used, most of my shooting has been done with my favourite lens I own which is a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 prime. Not the best lens for IR photography for its troublesome with Hotspotting and backfocus issues, but shes got nice weight to her and a damn fine lens for visible work. However I have added a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II to my collection in the very recent past and she will get a good workout once my camera is back together as she is alot more usable in relations to hotspots and backfocus. However if someone wishes to purchase me a Coastal Optics UV-VIS-IR 60mm Apo Macro lens they are most welcome to as it would become my main lens for almost everything (its only about $4500 US.) With these lens considerations out of the way, the reason why all my filters are of 58mm size is because most of my lenses use that thread, a 52-58mm stepping ring for the f/1.8 however is used. And now the filters themselves.

For my standard filters I carry with me when out the run of the mill workhorse is a simple HOYA R72 Filter (58mm.) A common fitler for IR work and is cheap compared to some of hoyas darker glass. It lets through some deep red light and tends to give quite nice false color images. This filter I also own in a variety of sizes, a 37mm and a 52mm as well. [Images will go here]

The next filter I am going to start carrying now that I own the f/1.8 is my more expensive HOYA RM90 Filter (52mm.) A less common filter in many respects compared to say the B+W 093 which is definatly cheaper and due to its cost it will usually be seen with more serious IR photographers. A monochromatic IR lens as the dye on the bayermask of the CCD had become transparent to IR light by this point so false color images are not as simple. Most work ive done with this lens has been via an Imaging Source DMK 31BF03 monochrome video camera using CS mount lenses. So I cant really say too much about it at the moment until I put her through her paces with a color camera.

In the IR spectra, there is also a set of 3 25mm filters at 750nm, 820nm, 955nm (I think are the wavelengths) which were ordered due to a screwup on my part of what size glass I needed for my pinhole setup. Cheap chinese filters I really cant say to much about as Ive had little to no reason to use them. But they pass IR light I know that much by holding them up in front of the video cam and seeing throught them.

Now on to the more esoteric filters. For my threaded filters there is a B+W 403 filter using Schott UG-1 glass in conjucntion with a Tiffen Hot Mirror. Cant honestly say too much about it tbh, Its got a very short workout so far since my lenses arent the best to pass UV (damn glass lenses, need fluoride lenses.) Which is a little disapointing cause it wasnt cheap. Ill have to test it with the f/1.8 which has less elements. I’d like to get a Baader Planaterium Venus filter for UV which has less IR passing that what I have currently, but doesnt come in a 58mm mounted filter so not so useful. However UV in this case isnt so important as I cant effectivly take pictures in that waveband yet.

This isnt my only UV filter though, there is also an unmounted (as in no screw fitting) 25mm disc of HOYA U-340 glass to go with my pinhole lens assembly (rather complex tbh, EOS to T mount adaptor, then a T mount lens holder holding a precision pinhole of either 300um or 400um and the glass. Doesnt work too bad if I say so myself, but have to figure out a way to mount a hotmirror/IR block on it so its straight UV.

Now onto filters I want/need. The top of the need list is a MaxMax CC1 Color Correcting filter. Due to the surgery my camera is undertaking, her ability to take normal photos has been hurt, as too much IR is now seen (and deep red at that.) The CC1 will correct this problem but I have yet to order it as their international ordering is screwed up with calculating shipping.

The Top of the Want list is all of the MaxMax filters. In particular their bandpass filter set. Mmm gorgeous false color images purely in the IR band. I also wouldnt mind a set of visible light Band Pass filters to use with my monochrome camera as well. Hell, what Id really love is the coastal optics lens, a monochromatic DSLR and a large filterwheel full of bandpass filters. Yay for hyperspectral images.

Links to where I bought things:

Photo & Video Accessories
Hoya R72
Hoya RM90
B+W 403 (Schott UG-1)
Tiffen Hot Mirror

Edmund Optics
Pinholes (300um and 400um)
Hoya U-340 25mm

MaxMax
X-Nite Color Correcting Filter #1
X-Nite Band Pass 660nm-750nm
X-Nite Band Pass 710nm-855nm
X-Nite Band Pass 835nm-955nm

Coastal Optics
Coastal Optics UV-VIS-IR 60mm Apo Macro

Now onto the orange eyewear I own is technically for protection from UV light and increased visibilty of fluorescence of various items/fluids. If you’ve ever watched CSI or any of the other forensic/crime tv shows (I know I’ve seen them on NCIS), you probably will of seen them before. And here they are. [Put Image Here] These lovely glasses were purchsed from Crime Scene Evidence Files (specifically here,) and are now also avaliable in yellow and red (these will have to be purchased at some point in the future.) They fit as comfortably as any of these protective wrap around eyewear usually does, and tints everything nice and orange. They do filter out the excess blue light from UV light sources and make things that faintly fluorece stand out more clearly. I cant tell you how well they filter out uv light from getting to your eyes, but based on the fact they fluorece strongly when UV light is applied to them, I have to assume they are pretty good at absorbing it. They also have one of those little certification stickers on them, so im pretty sure there up to spec.

The other glasses that are being covered today are red and blue as in Anaglyphic 3D. In particular Anaglyph Pro X Glasses (purchased from 3Dstereo.com.) [Insert Picture Here] You may ask why I would purchase said glasses, and its for multiple reasons. One of my hobbies is photography, particualry more non standard stuff, like infrared, ultraviolet and 3d (whose lens which I shall write something on at a later date) and at some point I’ll add bandpass false color infrared to the list. Another is the z-buffer driver hooks that nvidia and iz3d have released to convert 3d programs (such as games) into anaglyphic 3d. And yet another is Ive been meaning to get some old 3d movies to watch. Now these glasses are more like sunglasses than the protective UV glasses mentioned before and as such are alot easier to wear from a comfort point of view for long durations. On the other hand your utterly screwing with your eyes and that can get pretty uncomfortable after awhile, with your vision flickering between red/blue/purpley mix. If youve ever used the cardboard red/blue ones you may of gotten with a magazine/book as a kid you will know the effect that they give. So theres not really that much to say about them beyond that. My personal preference on 3d images is still the cross eyed variety as I can do that without hassle or strain. But these make viewing anaglyphs a hell of alot easier than the cheap hacked together red and blue celophane glasses I was using before.

The mold arrived this morning on the same day the package tracking said it would, much to my delight as my general feelings towards the accuracy of most package tracking can be summed up as scathing. Within the wrapping of the EMS bag a nicely bubble wrapped box with some japanese writing on it that I cannot read even if I tried. But it probally says someting about it being a Taisin Ice Ball Mold if I had to take an educated guess. Within the box however, one of my problems was solved. Since the resulting spheres are 30mm in diameter, an ice cube with all dimensions being greater than 30mm is required. This is an icecube size I do not own, as most of my ice cubes are either tiny, or long, or just a fraction to small, but with the mould, 2 large Ice Trays were supplied. With no mention of this item of information on the product page, joy was evident as it means I shall be able to test the mold tomorrow night after some ice has been frozen tonight. Within a smaller box the gold anodized aluminium slug sat within a protective bag of bubblewrap. This slug was made up of two smaller slugs sitting on top of each other with a hemisphere cut out of each side and guide rods to keep it all aligned.

Unfortunatly at this point I had to put the mold back into its box as the lack of Ice at work stopped any further testing. Until tonight that is.

ICE. Suprisingly reasonable quantity of it in the freezer, more than I expected and plenty enough to test the mold out tonight with some ice cubes that may be a bit on the small side, so I would end up with ice spheres with a flat side. But none the less, the mold was heated up, Ice was placed on the bottom half, the top half was applied and presto, ice melts, mold closes, mold is opened and sphere of ice is removed. At this point I realise I’m going to need somewhere to put the ice, so a tall glass is got, and the ice ball is dropped in it. Looking at the pile of ice cubes that I have left the path comes clear. About 10 minutes later I’m out of ice cubes and have a glass overflowing with balls. With a bit of a largish puddle of water covering the benchtop.

There we have it, from my own personal opinion, I feel that the cost of it was a bit on the expensive side for what it does. But for what it does to ice it was well worth getting it. More so than some other things I have purchased in the past which have had little more than decorative value. This at least has a practical purpose, to make spheres of ice to put into beverages, and I like refreshing beverages. Whether this fact would be enough to cause you to get one of your own is arguable, but it is rather fun as the lack of ice I now have shows.

Pictures coming soon.

However, since this germ of an idea formed in my head, the lovely thing called apathy and the sheer amount of time I don’t have to search for these items of fetish. So techF sat unloved and unused on the internet. However one thing did happen during this period of time, my collection of things that would be called toys, gadgets, dohickeys and so forth has grown, and grown… and grown yet again. A friend of mine suggested I should create a site to show all these things, with my personal reviews and where to get them. And thus, techF was reborn into this new version of itself.

So Welcome One and All to the first post on techF. Where the reviewing of gadgets owned and others that are lusted over will happen as frequently as time allows.