Mobius Varifocal Zoom IR

[Dashmellow]

not just the personal cost which is not cheap, I take it the government keeping the roads clear must have significant cost that would have to end up as a shared cost to everyone out of the state budget from the taxes you pay

The state handles major roads and highways and that's paid out of my state income taxes but local roads such as the road I live on are maintained by our local town road crew and paid for with my local property taxes. I live in a town with a population of 2000.

 

[Dashmellow]

So, back on topic, I've been continuing to explore what I can do with this varifocal lens now that it is no longer an infrared lens.

Here, I've been experimenting with using the varifocal for macro work. The bezel of the lens in the following images is three inches from the subject. The lens is set to almost it's maximum telephoto magnification. You end up with a very narrow depth of field of just about two and a half inches which is to be expected with such close-up photography. This makes it rather challenging to capture birds or other moving subject matter that may or may not end up within the desired hyperfocal distance but there are a lot of interesting possibilities here. Different lens focal length and focus adjustments should provide more optimal depth of field to work with but I'll need to wait for better conditions to work with. We've had a brief two day period of sunny weather but suddenly winter came back with a vengeance. For capturing birds at close range, I'll probably have to be more careful with how I put out bait for them so that they are more restricted to an area within the measured focal range if they want the food. The bottom three images were made on a bitter cold day and windy day (despite the nice sun) which was a bit of a challenge. Anyway, these are the first results and I'm looking forward to posting more close-up work like this as I refine the technique.



Here the color balance looks cooler because the sun went behind the clouds.
Also, interesting timing when I shot this image two days ago since @TonyM just brought up the subject of using "narrow" mode on the Mobius yesterday in the Telephoto thread. The image below was shot using "narrow" mode experimentally for macro work. It's very slightly less sharp than it could have been because the camera was getting buffeted around by high winds which eventually led me to stop filming.

 

[Lola]

Astounding photos ! that's also one awesome trail mix, you might just get a picture of me, I love all kinds of nuts like the almonds and pumpkin seeds in your pictures. Make one wonder just how good some of the more expensive varifocal lenses would be if any.

 

[Dashmellow]

Astounding photos ! that's also one awesome trail mix, you might just get a picture of me, I love all kinds of nuts like the almonds and pumpkin seeds in your pictures. Make one wonder just how good some of the more expensive varifocal lenses would be if any.

Thanks! Lola, glad you liked the photos. Yeah, I love nuts and seeds too and usually eat them with fruit, yogurt and fresh brewed coffee for breakfast, so that's not trail mix, it's just an assortment of stuff I put out from my personal stash in an attempt to entice different species of birds. The top image also includes some leftover dinner scraps that the Blue jays seem to really like.

There's also another interesting reason for using those particular foods for this macro photo project. Living where I do, out in the countryside adjacent to thousands of acres of untouched forest habitat, this is the time of the season to start winding down bird feeding or else I'll end up with ravenously hungry bears on my deck that have just awakened from winter hibernation. It's happened! So, as of a few days ago my birdfeeders were just about empty, as planned, so I needed to improvise the new bait I put out. Turns out wild birds don't really like Goji berries all that much but I guess the red berries liven up the pictures.

 

[Lola]

Thanks! Lola, glad you liked the photos. Yeah, I love nuts and seeds too and usually eat them with fruit, yogurt and fresh brewed coffee for breakfast, so that's not trail mix, it's just an assortment of stuff I put out from my personal stash in an attempt to entice different species of birds. The top image also includes some leftover dinner scraps that the Blue jays seem to really like.

There's also another interesting reason for using those particular foods for this macro photo project. Living where I do, out in the countryside adjacent to thousands of acres of untouched forest habitat, this is the time of the season to start winding down bird feeding or else I'll end up with ravenously hungry bears on my deck that have just awakened from winter hibernation. It's happened! So, as of a few days ago my birdfeeders were just about empty, as planned, so I needed to improvise the new bait I put out. Turns out wild birds don't really like Goji berries all that much but I guess the red berries liven up the pictures.

Never thought about bears, I see your point , I thought that mix looked a little to good to be trail mix.especially with a piece of bacon in there and what looked like a piece of cashew . Keep the photos coming , totally amazing!

 

[Dashmellow]

Over the weekend I spent some time further exploring the macro photography capabilities of the varifocal 2.8-12mm ƒ/1.4 and refining my focusing technique to optimize the depth of field. The lens is set to its maximum telephoto magnification with the front bezel of the lens three inches from the subject matter and the Mobius set to wide mode. This varifocal keeps amazing me! Best seven and a half bucks I ever spent!

I also used a different camera mounting technique that was much more stable in the windy conditions we've been experiencing which made for better image capture and also made for a less intrusive presence around the birds compared to the previous set-up. The birds barely paid any attention to the camera even though it was right on top of them, although a few of them did perch on it once in a while. All the images below were taken from the perspective of the camera in this position.



Tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)
For reference, the almonds in the images below measure just about 2 1/2 centimeters in length.



Slate-colored Junco (Junco hyemalis hyemalis)

Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) - female


What really excites me about shooting such close-in macro photos of these birds is the amazing sense of intimacy it provides with these animals. Watching these birds out at the feeder everyday from a distance you just don't get to observe their plumage quite this way. You can just about count every feather here. I can't wait for the warmer weather to arrive so I can turn this camera on other interesting subject matter.

This body of this Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) is only about three inches long.

 

[Dashmellow]

If anyone is interested, Bangood has Visabella UV cement on sale for the next three days for only $4.99 USD. That's 12 grams of cement including the UV light source at half the price you'll find this on Amazon. I just ordered some.
It turns out that Banggood sells a wide range of UV cement products including some of the more professional products like applicator guns, glue tubes and UV curing light sources. Who knew? They even sell UV nail polish in different colors which has interesting alternative uses such as for permanently marking tools, etc. This is frankly one of the reasons why I enjoy Banggood so much. I find them to be the best Chinese vendor for unusual tools, products and parts for the DIYer, always at attractive prices.

 

[lacibaci]

If anyone is interested, Bangood has Visabella UV cement on sale for the next three days for only $4.99 USD. That's 12 grams of cement including the UV light source at half the price you'll find this on Amazon. I just ordered some.
It turns out that Banggood sells a wide range of UV cement products including some of the more professional products like applicator guns, glue tubes and UV curing light sources. Who knew? They even sell UV nail polish in different colors which has interesting alternative uses such as for permanently marking tools, etc. This is frankly one of the reasons why I enjoy Banggood so much. I find them to be the best Chinese vendor for unusual tools, products and parts for the DIYer, always at attractive prices.





View attachment 37731

I've been using this glue for all kinds of projects at home and I like it a lot. The only time I had problems with curing was when joining parts where the bond couldn't be illuminated. Other than that, it is my goto glue for small parts.

 

[Dashmellow]

I've been using this glue for all kinds of projects at home and I like it a lot. The only time I had problems with curing was when joining parts where the bond couldn't be illuminated. Other than that, it is my goto glue for small parts.

Yeah, I've found it very useful too. It's also a very attractive alternative to Super Glue and THE cement for mounting IR-cut filters to lenses.

 

[TonyM]

Yeah, I've found it very useful too. It's also a very attractive alternative to Super Glue and THE cement for mounting IR-cut filters to lenses.

Do you think it would be good for repairing my kids toys? I'm often asked if I can repair a broken arm, leg or wing, and they don't like waiting for superglue to set. A rapid cure solution might be ideal, and I'm sure they would like the novelty of the UV light.

Is it also a good way to fix an M12 lens into its holder, if I'm not planning to change it later? As it's good for IR cut filters I figure it's OK with high temperatures.

 

[Dashmellow]

Do you think it would be good for repairing my kids toys? I'm often asked if I can repair a broken arm, leg or wing, and they don't like waiting for superglue to set. A rapid cure solution might be ideal, and I'm sure they would like the novelty of the UV light.

Is it also a good way to fix an M12 lens into its holder, if I'm not planning to change it later? As it's good for IR cut filters I figure it's OK with high temperatures.

Yes, UV cement should be ideal for repairing small items such as toys. One plus is that unlike other types of cement that require solvent evaporation to work, photopolymer resins crosslink their molecules to make a bond when exposed to UV light so there are no outgassings or chemical residues (like super glue or "airplane" glues) which I think would make them a more attractive substance to use around small children. (That's also why they use fast curing UV resins in dental work.)

This glue probably depends on what you want to repair but from my experience so far it works quite well. As an experiment, I placed two small paper clips end to end and glued them together with a blob of Lazer Bond UV cement. No matter how hard I try to pull the two paper clips apart, I can't. If I bend the glued paper clips back and forth it still holds pretty well, but when I twist them the bond finally breaks. I tried the experiment a second time where I slightly overlapped the two paper clip ends and applied a slightly larger glob of UV glue. I gave it about 10 seconds of UV exposure instead of the three seconds mentioned on the packaging and also let it cure further for a while after irradiating the cement. This time even when I twist the two paper clips, the bond holds and the steel paper clips bend. Remarkable stuff!

Personally, I don't ever permanently glue M12 lenses in place. You never know when you may want to re-purpose a lens somewhere down the line, swap lenses or (heaven forbid) refocus. I always use something secure but reversible. But yes, I guess if you want to glue your lenses permanently into their holders UV cement should work very well.

 

[kamkar]

My 12 mm lens on the joovuu x are just secured with thread tape to make the fit a bit tighter.

 

[TonyM]

Personally, I don't ever permanently glue M12 lenses in place. You never know when you may want to re-purpose a lens somewhere down the line, swap lenses or (heaven forbid) refocus. I always use something secure but reversible. But yes, I guess if you want to glue your lenses permanently into their holders UV cement should work very well.

Thanks. I recently refocused the lens on a wedge style dashcam, that I have no intention of replacing or refocusing again. However it seems like something less permanent than UV cement would be better. There is a slight chance that I might need to move the lens again.

This stuff sounds good for toy repairs though.

 

[Dashmellow]

For the price this stuff is certainly worth experimenting with.

BTW, Bangood seems to have come a long way in addressing some of the shortcomings that some of use have run into previously where they would offer items for sale they didn't actually have in stock or one would simply encounter long unexpected delays until their items shipped even though they charged you on first placing the order. I ended up even having to file a PayPal dispute a couple of years ago after months of BS and back and forth wrangling over a Mobius camera and other items they claimed were in stock or had even already shipped, but hadn't.

Somewhere along the line I decided to give them another try and I've been quite pleased with how things go with them now. Yesterday, at about 2PM I ordered four items from Banggood including the aforementioned Visabella UV cement. Between 11PM and 2AM I received four separate emails informing me that each item had shipped.

 

[Dashmellow]

You know @kamkar1 (& @TonyM). This is a thread all about exploring the interesting possibilities of the Varifocal IR 2.8-12mm ƒ/1.4 lens I've been experimenting with on a Mobius for the last eight months. It's not a thread about bird watching (or
Denmark or other specific lenses that already have their own dedicated thread). Kindly post this off topic stuff elsewhere, maybe start your very own bird thread if you like, OK? Thanks.

Edit: @kamkar1, I see you've deleted your post I was responding to. Thanks.

 

[TonyM]

I've moved my bird photos to my own Mobius Telephoto thread

 

[TonyM]

Back on topic, I'd like to add one of these varifocal lenses to my Mobius collection. As discussed earlier in this thread there are a few models available.

Since I've had such good service from Treeye I'm likely to go for one of theirs, with an IR cut filter already installed. I can see two options:

5MP 6-22mm F1.6 1/2.5"
5.0Megapixel Varifocal Lens 6-22mm CCTV Camera Lens 1/2.5" 650nm IR Filter For Action Camera Sports Cameras F1.6 M12 Mount

3MP 2.8-12mm F1.4 1/2.7" (same as @Dashmellow)
3.0Megapixel Fixed Iris M12 HD 2.8-12mm Varifocal IR Filter Lens for action cameras F1.4,manual focus zoom,with 650nm IR filter

I'm not sure which one to go for. Maybe I'll try both

 

[Dashmellow]

I've moved my bird photos to my own Mobius Telephoto thread

Thanks, wasn't really necessary but nevertheless much appreciated. My interest is in keeping the thread more or less on topic going forward.

 

[Dashmellow]

Back on topic, I'd like to add one of these varifocal lenses to my Mobius collection. As discussed earlier in this thread there are a few models available.

Since I've had such good service from Treeye I'm likely to go for one of theirs, with an IR cut filter already installed. I can see two options:

5MP 6-22mm F1.6 1/2.5"
5.0Megapixel Varifocal Lens 6-22mm CCTV Camera Lens 1/2.5" 650nm IR Filter For Action Camera Sports Cameras F1.6 M12 Mount

3MP 2.8-12mm F1.4 1/2.7" (same as @Dashmellow)
3.0Megapixel Fixed Iris M12 HD 2.8-12mm Varifocal IR Filter Lens for action cameras F1.4,manual focus zoom,with 650nm IR filter

I'm not sure which one to go for. Maybe I'll try both

I've actually had my eye on that 6-22mm varifocal myself and in fact recently placed an order for one from Treeye. I plan to experiment with it as a dash cam lens but primarily feel it will be better suited to wildlife observation and am looking forward to sharing it with my environmental center students.

One thing to keep in mind with these varifocals for dash cam use is the aperture. With a zoom lens, the default aperture becomes smaller and smaller the more you rack the lens out to the maximum telephoto focal length so that what starts out as ƒ/1.4 or ƒ/1.6 lets much less light through the greater the magnification. The starlight lenses might be better suited for extreme telephoto use if you want good low light imaging.

It depends on one's needs I guess but for my purposes I'm finding that 12mm is more or less about the maximum focal length that is practical for dash cam use. Too much more can be overkill, so I'm not sure how the 6-22mm lens will work out. In some situations slightly more than 12mm may be useful but too much magnification may have diminishing returns and a greater likelihood of vibration susceptibility in the images if on an uneven road surface. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the 6-22mm lens at any rate.

The aiming of the camera on this image is slightly askew but it's an example of the 2.8-12mm varifocal at its maximum magnification in traffic and I'm not sure yet if I want to go too much more than this.

 

[Harsh]

It depends on ones needs I guess but for my purposes I'm finding that 12mm is more or less about the maximum focal length that is practical for dash cam use. Too much more can be overkill, so I'm not sure how the 6-22mm lens will work out. In some situations slightly more than 12mm may be used full but too much magnification may have diminishing returns and a greater likelihood of vibrations susceptibility in the images if on an uneven road surface. I'm looking forward to experimenting with the 6-22mm lens at any rate.

I agree. Really want to try a 10mm but is only available in the pinhole variety. Sometimes even the 12 looks a bit much, especially during a panning motion.