Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro

sigma

Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm F2 4.5x Super Macro
Reviewed by Editor AL Lee, Guest Reviewer Koh Lye Huat (OldKingKoh)

 

19th June 2021, Singapore – Following our recent interest in China-brand lenses, we did a run with Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm F2 4.5x Super Macro. This lens belongs to Uncle Koh (more fondly known as OldKingKoh), which I invited to co-review the lens. Why? I just can’t seem to shoot anything with this Super Macro from Mitakon.

This Mitakon Super Macro was originally designed for use with DSLR systems however, mirrorless versions were made available and for the review, it’s a Fujifilm X mount. So the 20mm focal range became 30mm (APS-C) on our test cam. So what were we expecting? 20mm is wide angle, but coupled with a 4.5X magnification, this is one confusing lens (at least for me. Specialized super macro lens is designed for working with close-up subjects and provides a maximum magnification of 4.5x and a minimum magnification of 4.0x.

thumbnail_Adobe_Post_20191101_1351520.48030528707501596

Like most China-brand lenses, the Mitakon Super Macro came as a full metal constructed lens – but with a weird twist. The front of the lens are super tiny while the barrel are much larger giving it a weird proportion. It kinda feels like a microscopic lens attached to my camera.

The Super Macro is average-size, measuring at 62 x 60mm with the weird tiny dick-like head, and weighs a mere 230gm. As light as it is, it feels solid and weighty during use, but not heavy enough to tires you out.

Inside the lens, there are 6 elements in 4 groups which apparently does nothing except to magnify the magnification – although Mitakon claimed this optic arrangement is to provide edge to edge sharpness, I will say, this is utter nonsense. This manual Super Macro has a “fine-adjusting” of aperture from F2 to F16 and the focusing is also very fine and sensitive. Having said that, if you have shaky hands, you can forget about shooting anything decent with this lens unless you have a focusing rail and tripod. (I even added a LED light to help out with the exposure).

Small Group Tours gif.gif

The Super Macro has a minimum focusing distance of 0.8 inch (about 2cm) – this means it will be challenging if you are attempting to use this lens to shoot anything that moves – yes, this lens is not friendly for your little insect friends unless they are dead. And the Super Macro does not have an infinity focus so basically this lens is only good for anything that is near and requires a super magnification. While this Super Macro offers a 4X to 4.5X magnification, trust me, more is less, it makes everything super near and the slightest wind or movement will guarantee you a blur image.

 

OSJ Store Banner

And so, before I fucked up the review, I invited Uncle Koh to join me for this review. Let’s check out the images. I had combined images of how close each of the review shots were done.

The lens/camera are mounted on a focusing rail and on a tripod. It is simply impossible to handheld this lens and shoot. Additional lights are useful giving the images an added constrast/ shadows – and since the depth of field is damn shallow, you need to to focus stack. However for this review, I simply fuck care and shot as it is. Because whatever I am getting right out of the camera will be the same if you buy this lens so I will rather show what you will be getting.

 

01 Home Page - Cathay Rewards Card.png  

I never enjoyed this lens throughout the review. I find it terribly hard to use this lens and a lot of patience is required. If you do not have patience, I will suggest NOT getting this lens – as it will drive you crazy starting from your first shot. However, this Super Macro may be a great “in house” lens – where you shoot little stuffs around & inside your house, with little wind movement and probably with a large LED light panel.

 

 

 

anigif

 

 

Well, I won’t say this Super Macro is completely useless, but you have to learn & understand this lens before you bring this out to the field. The 20mm (30mm) wide angle with a 4.5X magnification may sounds interesting, but using it for anything practical is far from easy. Not forgetting that this is a manual-focus lens and it simple makes everything much harder. Buying this Mitakon Super Macro is cheap, but you may end up having to buy 2 x focusing rail, a solid tripod and additional LED lights etc which may adds up to a lot. Now think twice if you want to buy this lens.

Here’s a parting shot from us.

Buying this Lens
If you are feeling adventurous & curious about this Mitakon Zhongyi 20mm f/2 4.5x Super Macro and needed to burn some money, then you go ahead & buy this lens. But I am sure our accredited merchants will rather not sell this lens!

Renting this Camera/Lens – (Please check for availability first. CRC sometimes do not carry nonsense gear like this lens)
For those of you who wish to try out this lens before purchase, we are pleased to share that this camera & lens is probably NOT available for rental at our appointed rental merchant:

crclogo-small.jpg
Camera Rental Centre is Conveniently Located at:
50 South Bridge Road, CMO Building,  (very near to Clarke Quay MRT)
#02-18. Singapore 058682
Website: http://sg.camerarental.biz/

=========================
Reviewer: Chief Editor AL Lee
IMG_7567.JPG
Chief Editor & Founder of Ourshutterjourney.com Worldwide and Principal Trainer at Ourshutterjourney Photography Academy. AL is a commercial photographer as well as an educator who believes in the art of digital memories. An ambassador of several photography brands, AL is well versed in many camera systems. Someone once told us AL’s man cave looks more like a camera store than a bedroom.

Guest Reviewer: Koh Lye Huat aka OldKingKoh

Senior Group Member & Outing Trainer of Ourshutterjourney.com – Koh Lye Huat is known to many photographers as “Uncle Koh” or “OldKingKoh”. He loves shooting flowers, macro and street photography especially at heritage area of interests. If you are a photographer in Singapore do not know who is Uncle Koh, you need to know this legend. Follow Uncle Koh at https://oldkingkoh.blogspot.com/

 

========================
About Ourshutterjourney.com
Visit Our Online Store
Join Our Membership.

=========================

apd

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye

sigma

Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye
Reviewed by Editor AL Lee

Image: Editor AL with the new Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye mounted on a Fuji Camera.

 

13th June 2021, Singapore – And so, recently I have been dabbling with quite a number of China-Brand lenses. One of them recently caught my attention – its a diagonal Fisheye eye lens, fixed aperture at F8, tiny Pan cake design and costs only SGD $55.00 via Aliexpress. the construction of the lens are uncannily similar to the Pergear 10mm F8 Fisheye but with a little twist. The distance selector on the Pergear are at the front of the lens bottom facing outwards while the Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye distance selector are on a focusing ring like a regular manual focus lens. Before we deep dive, check out the unbox video below. The review and images will be after the jump.

 

thumbnail_Adobe_Post_20191101_1351520.48030528707501596

 

First and foremost, this new Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye appear on eBay and soon all other online platforms somewhere between Oct-Dec 2020. It was quite costly back when it first came out as from our research, it costs around SGD $120 back in 2020 and today it costs merely SGD $55.00 – and delivered right to your door.

Let’s get to the specs. Not much information was available on the internet about this lens so I have to do a little more work than usual. The Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye is a tiny lens measuring (estimated) 50mm x 12mm buts weights a weighty 80gm (other mount may differ). This little pancake is made from a full metal construction thus explains the weight.


Image: Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye mounted on a Fuji Camera. 

 

Small Group Tours gif.gif 

 

As mentioned in the unbox video above, there isn’t any distance scale on the lens except two markings – left 0.3 to right Infinity. I dismantled the lens to confirm the elements and it turned out to be an exact copy of the Pergear 10mm – there are 5 elements in 4 groups and 2 of the elements looks like special elements (sorry I forgot to take some images of the elements). There are 5 fixed aperture blades which I wondered why wouldn’t they just made it as an aperture ring like Lensbaby.

The lens starts focusing from about 35cm when I set the focusing to the “0.3” marking and there is no filter thread so no screw-on filter can be used. Even the lens cap are the friction-lock type. The front element are tiny, about 1.4cm in diameter and the lens are finished with a red ring that does nothing to the lens except to make it look slightly more special than the Pergear 10mm.

OSJ Store Banner 

 

Let’s take a look at the images!

I noticed that the colors rendered are terribly wrong. My white balance are set to Automatic most of the time and I realised the Rockstar 10mm F8 really screwed me on the color department. There are strange & uneven hues of purple at corners and there is also very visible vignetting (light fall off) on the corners. No choice but to keep changing my white balance settings at the later part. Conveniently I just edit the images to monochrome.

 

Noticing the weird color rendering, I continued with the review and try to use this lens to shoot whatever I came across during the walk.

It is really an unpredictable lens, some of the colors came out correct while some simply looks like they are shot in Pluto.

The Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye gave me 16mm on my camera (crop factor) and I am using it like a distorted ultra wide angle lens rather than a true blue Fisheye. The distortions are mild and not exactly visible unless shooting architectural images from a nearer distance.

The 2-mode (near or far) focusing does allows me to quickly change focus distance to shoot random subject easily though.

 

01 Home Page - Cathay Rewards Card.png  

Using the Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye, I used it as a mild-distorted-Ultra-Wide-angle lens. Kinda have the love-hate feeling. It is a competent lens as an UWA but I cannot accept the surprises from the unpredictable color rendering. Gave myself a mental note that I should never use this lens for any serious assignment but as a leisure lens or for days that I am drunk.

 

 

 

I was trying to “like” this lens through the whole review process and it had been hard. I was not able to resonate with it no matter how I tried. The only thing that I enjoyed was the tiny size and the curious look of other photographers whom I met on the streets. They kept staring at my camera. 

The color rendering was so unpredictable to the point that I simply try to concentrate on the framing and composition rather than checking on the colors or sharpness. Yes I was very irritated and frustrated at that point.

 

anigif

 


Image: Bon Jovi was here.

In summary, the Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye is a Nonsense-lens. Yes, it may be cheap (SGD $55.00), small pancake design which you can put in your pocket, a futuristic looking external design, but, the “surprise” color rendering which 80% of the time are inaccurate, the not-so-easy to focus which may get your subject blur even with focus peaking, the crazy vignette, which I almost wanted to throw this lens into the Singapore River.  I will say, don’t waste your f**king time with this lens. Save your money or check out the better China-Brand lenses here.

Buying this Lens
If you are feeling adventurous & curious about this Rockstar 10mm F8 Fisheye and needed a good spank on your butt, then you buy this lens. But I am sure our accredited merchants will rather not sell this lens!

Renting this Camera/Lens – (Please check for availability first.)
For those of you who wish to try out this lens before purchase, we are pleased to share that this camera & lens is probably NOT available for rental at our appointed rental merchant:

crclogo-small.jpg
Camera Rental Centre is Conveniently Located at:
50 South Bridge Road, CMO Building,  (very near to Clarke Quay MRT)
#02-18. Singapore 058682
Website: http://sg.camerarental.biz/

=========================
Reviewer: Chief Editor AL Lee
IMG_7567.JPG
Chief Editor & Founder of Ourshutterjourney.com Worldwide and Principal Trainer at Ourshutterjourney Photography Academy. AL is a commercial photographer as well as an educator who believes in the art of digital memories. An ambassador of several photography brands, AL is well versed in many camera systems. Someone once told us AL’s man cave looks more like a camera store than a bedroom. 

========================
About Ourshutterjourney.com
Visit Our Online Store
Join Our Membership.

=========================

apd

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Hawkers v.2021

sigma

Hawkers v.2021
Text by AL Lee
Contributing Photographers: Audrey Wong, Nash Teh Peng Wee, Peggy Teo & Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts).  

Image: Pasir Panjang Food Centre by AL Lee

 

30th May 2021, Singapore – Due to an increase of unlinked cases, Singapore announced the Covid-19 Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) which takes effect from Sunday, 16 May 2021 through to Sunday, 13 June 2021. One of the restrictions includes “No Dining In” to which we saw all the tables and chairs are (once again) sealed/blocked just like our Phase 1 in May 2020. On 19th May 2021, I announced to our Telegram group that I am intending to do a project on Hawker Centres without the actual brief then I was informed that the idea had been plagiarized by other photographers. I cannot imagine what would have been if I had shared the full project brief.

Back to the project, there are many things that will definitely go down in Singapore’s image history, one of them will definitely be how our Food Centres looks like right now. Already the businesses are suffering due to the restrictions, and our hardworking hawkers have to take another blow due to the recent increased cases. It is akin to what we saw during Phase 1, tables & chairs are sealed up/ cordoned off or blocked. And so, I decided to combine a few elements together for this project.

1. Silence of the Night – This project was carried out after 11pm at night and all images are shot between 11pm through 3am. A busy place in the day that turns creepily quiet and solemn in the cover of the night.
2. Tables & Chairs – Different Food Centres uses different ways, different methods, different materials to enforce the restriction. We noted the use of Safety Tapes, White Tapes, Cling Wraps, Black Trash Bags, Cloth Tapes and many others. And these were utilized in many ways and patterns.
3. Heritage Food Centres – While there are certainly many hawker centres/ food centres in Singapore, these hawker centres made it to this project list for several reasons. Many are famous food centres, some dating back to the 1970s, some are popular due to the offerings and some are places that holds dearly to my heart.

thumbnail_Adobe_Post_20191101_1351520.48030528707501596

The selected Food Centres/ Hawker Centres as below;

  1. Pasir Panjang Food Centre
  2. Maxwell Food Centre
  3. Amoy Street Food Centre
  4. People’s Park Food Centre
  5. Jurong West Hawker Centre & Market
  6. Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre
  7. Seah Imm Food Centre
  8. Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre
  9. Hong Lim Market & Food Centre
  10. Boon Lay Place Market & Food Village
  11. Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre (Jurong East)
  12. West Coast Market Square
  13. Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre (Clementi Central)
  14. Tanglin Halt Food Centre
  15. Redhill Food Centre
  16. ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre
  17. Holland Village Market & Food Centre
  18. Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre
  19. Chong Pang City Wet Market & Food Centre, (Yishun)
  20. Ang Mo Kio Central Market & Food Centre
  21. Toa Payoh Lorong 5 Food Centre
  22. Circuit Road Market & Food Centre
  23. Bendemeer Food Centre
  24. Old Airport Road Food Centre & Shopping Mall
  25. Eunos Crescent Market and Food Centre
  26. Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre (Bedok Central)
  27. East Coast Lagoon Food Village
  28. Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre
  29. Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre
  30. Changi Village Hawker Centre

Small Group Tours gif.gif

That’s 30 Food Centres/Hawker Centres to cover! So I decided to rope in some help from a few photographers. The project team was formed with Audrey Wong, Nash Teh, Peggy Teo, Serene Ong from Serene Digital Crafts & myself.

So each of us will visit 6 locations (total 30) after 11pm at night and try to capture the current situation with the above theme at these locations.

Let’s Start!

Pasir Panjang Hawker Centre – by AL Lee
121 Pasir Panjang Rd, Singapore 118543

 


OSJ Store Banner

 

Boon Lay Place Market and Food Village – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
 221A Boon Lay Pl, Singapore 641221

Chong Pang City Wet Market & Food Centre, (Yishun) – by Peggy Teo
105 Yishun Ring Rd, Singapore 760105

 

01 Home Page - Cathay Rewards Card.png 

Ang Mo Kio Central Market & Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6, Singapore 560724

ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
6 Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore 150006

anigif

Maxwell Food Centre – by AL Lee
1 Kadayanallur St, Singapore 069184



Seah Imm Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)

2 Seah Im Rd, Singapore 099114

Old Airport Road Food Centre & Shopping Mall – by Peggy Teo
51 Old Airport Rd, Singapore 390051


OSJ Store Banner

 

Circuit Road Market & Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
80 Circuit Rd, Singapore 370080

anigif

Bukit Timah Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
51 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 588215

anigif

Amoy Street Food Centre – by AL Lee
7 Maxwell Rd, Singapore 069111

 

apd

 

Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market & Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, Singapore 081006

apd


Toa Payoh Lorong 5 Food Centre – by Peggy Teo

75 Lrg. 5 Toa Payoh, Singapore 310075

 

Eunos Crescent Market and Food Centre – by Audrey Wong
4A Eunos Cres, Singapore 402004

thumbnail_Adobe_Post_20191101_1351520.48030528707501596

 

Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
448 Clementi Ave 3, Singapore 120448

OSJ Store Banner

 

People’s Park Food Centre – by AL Lee
32 New Market Rd, Singapore 050032


 

sigma

 

Hong Lim Market & Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
531A Upper Cross St, Singapore 051531

 

sigma

 

Changi Village Hawker Centre – by Peggy Teo
2 Changi Village Rd, Singapore 500002



Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre (Bedok Central) – by Audrey Wong

208B New Upper Changi Rd, 462208

anigif

Holland Village Market & Food Centre – by Nash Teh Peng Wee
 1 Lor Mambong, Singapore 277700


 

OSJ Store Banner

 

Jurong West 505 Market & Food Centre – by AL Lee
505 Jurong West Street 52, Singapore 640505

thumbnail_Adobe_Post_20191101_1351520.48030528707501596

 

Yuhua Village Market and Food Centre – by Serene Ong (Serene Digital Crafts)
254 Jurong East St 24, Singapore 600254

OSJ Store Banner

Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre – by Peggy Teo
84 Marine Parade Central, Singapore 440084