Angarsk: 16 photo card set from 1986 (and 2023)

Angarsk photos from 1986 (© 1986, 1987): 16 cards. 

По городам Российской Федерации. Ангарск (By cities of the Russian Federation. Angarsk)

It is perhaps the best known set of Angarsk photos. (see also sets of 8 cards 1974, 12 cards 1974, 10 views 1956).

Unfortunately, the print quality is bad. There is a massive color misregistration, which I have corrected a bit. Maybe it's just a problem with my copies (2 з-д 50 0001 - 100 000), because some earlier copies (1-й з-д 1 - 50 000) look much better.

And, as usual, my 2023 (May-June) photos, all taken from the ground.

Disclaimer: My photographs are nothing more than a documentation of reality.

1. Стела "Город, рожденный победой" при въезде в город. 1975 (The stele "City Born of Victory" at an entrance to the town. 1975)

2. Площадь имени В.И.Ленина (Lenin Square)

3. Дом Советов (House of Soviets)

4. Обелиск в честь 50-летия СССР. 1967 (Obelisk in honor of the 50th anniversary of the USSR. 1967)

5. Обелиск в честь революционеров, шедших кандальным трактом. Установлен в 1965 г. (Obelisk in honor of the revolutionaries marching on the fetters. Installed in 1965)

6. Новые жилые микрорайоны (New residential microdistricts)

7. Дворец культуры нефтехимиков (Palace of Culture "Petrochemist")

8. Улица имени В.И.Ленина (Lenin Street)

9. Улица Социалистическая (Sotsialisticheskaya/Socialist street)

10. Дворец культуры "Современник" (Place of culture "Sovremennik"/"Contemporary")

11. Стадион "Ангара" (Stadium "Angara")

Another viewpoint:

12. Широкоформатный кинотеатр "Родина" (Widescreen cinema "Rodina"/"Homeland")

It is possible to recognize the posters. There are two movies: "Тайна острова чудовищ" (Misterio en la isla de los monstruos/Mystery on Monster Island) and "Груз без маркировки" (Unmarked Load). Both were released in USSR cinemas in 1985.

13. Гостиница "Саяны" (Hotel "Sayany"/"Sayan Mountains")

14. Улица Фестивальная (Festivalnaya/Festival Street)

15. Река Китой (The Kitoy River)

This is, of course, the Kitoy River, but I don't know the exact location. The embankment has been somewhat improved since those years.

Maybe this view doesn't exist anymore. Let it be like this, in the same style:

16. Парк культуры и отдыха (Park of Culture and Recreation)

This was the old Ferris wheel, that was disassembled in the 1990s. A new wheel was built in 2019 at about the same place.

See also related notes:

• Angarsk: quality of the 1986-1987 photo card set (2023-11-05)
• Angarsk: 40 years of the Angarsk Construction Department (1948-1988) (2023-09-06)
• Angarsk: 12 photos from 1975 (and 2023) (2023-08-07)
• Angarsk: 10 photo card set from 1969 (and 2023) (2023-07-26)
• Angarsk: 10 panoramic photo set from 1969 (and 2023) (2023-07-13)

Image albums:

• Angarsk

Jikiu CD29002: CV joint boot (44119-79JA0 Replacement)

The Jikiu CD29002 [drive shaft] CV joint boot is claimed to be a replacement for Suzuki 44119-79JA0 and 44119-80JA0, which are used in the rear axle transmission (inner, left and right) of 4WD Suzuki SX-4/S-Cross.

The kit includes one boot and two clamps (ear type).

There is no grease. I use Petro-Canada Precision Synthetic Moly.

The quality is not perfect, but ok. I am not sure if it is made in Japan.

It fits easily as a replacement for 44119-79JA0, but I don't know about 44119-80JA0.

See also related notes:

• Petro-Canada Precision Synthetic Moly (NLGI 1) (2017-04-23)
• Клещи для хомутов ШРУСа (2017-04-21)

Image albums:

• Suzuki

Sony a7c: How to get better results with Gyroflow

I tried to mount the Sony a7c camera on the handlebar of my bike and record a video that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the Gyroflow software stabilization. The lens I used was the Зенитар (Zenitar) 16/2.8 Fisheye, which has the widest field of view available to me.

Unfortunately, the clamp mount is quite weak for the weight, so the camera was shaking a lot. Any camera stabilization was disabled, but it wouldn't have helped either. But it is even more interesting to test Gyroflow.

Recorded at 4K/25fps.

Warning: YouTube has noticeably degraded the quality of the videos during upload.

Awful result, it's hard to watch (I get carsick watching a video like this). But the Sony a7c recorded motion (gyro) data, which can be used for stabilization with Gyroflow (great free open source software). Lens distortion (this is a fisheye lens) can also be corrected with Gyroflow.

Unlike Sony's Catalyst Browse software (native to the Sony a7c), Gyroflow is able to stabilize and correct video that was shot with a non-electronic lens.

The result of the stabilization (with the "Lock horizon" option enabled) and distortion correction:

It looks much better now. See how the original video footage has to be transformed to stabilize it:

That is why I use a fisheye lens, which has a very wide field of view and reserves for significant cropping. It's noticeable that there's a margin on the left and right, allowing for a wider video: ~21:9 instead of 16:9, for example:

However, the borders look quite blurry as result of the distortion correction.

In my opinion, Gyroflow works very well. 

My experience with Gyroflow (to get better results):

1. Forget the 180° shutter rule. Motion blur will look bad after software stabilization. In this video I used a shutter speed of 1/200 (not 1/50). You could probably shorten the shutter speed even more. And the motion blur will have to be added in the post software processing to make a video look more natural.

2. You need to turn off all stabilization (OIS and IBIS). Gyroflow currently conflicts with Sony's camera stabilization.

3. The lens profile should be used. There are some, but you can build one even for non-electronic lenses. I have created a profile for this Zenitar.

4. Since version 1.5.1 Gyroflow automatically synchronizes gyro data and video from the Sony a7c. Before you had to do synchronization.

5. The Sony a7c sensor readout is quite slow, so it is necessary to enable "Rolling shutter correction" and set the correct "Frame readout time".

6. Theoretically, GPU encoding gives lower quality than using CPU.

7. The default settings work fine with the Sony a7c, but in complicated cases you can control the stabilization options: at least "Smoothness" for "Default" method and "Zooming speed" for "Dynamic zooming".

Generally speaking, post-process software stabilization based on motion (gyro) data is more controlled than software stabilization during video recording.

See also related notes:

• Gyroflow v1.6: Important update for Sony cameras (2024-12-28)
• Zenitar 16/2.8 Fisheye and distortion correction (2023-08-12)

Flowers: by Pentax (2005 and 2022)

For some reason, I thought this flower photo from 2005 was taken with the Зенитар (Zenitar) 50/1.7. But it was the Pentax A 50/1.7 (on the Pentax *ist Ds camera, 1.5x crop factor sensor):

And this is a 2022 flower, also Pentax, but the Pentax K 50/1.4, now on the Sony a7c (FF).

Image albums:

• Pentax A 50/1.7
• Pentax K 50/1.4

Irkutsk, the Volkonsky Mansion (September 2004)

Irkutsk, the Volkonsky Mansion (Manor House) of the Decembrists Museum, September 2004.

Pentax Optio 450 (4MP, 1/1.8").

Image albums:

• Irkutsk

Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2 (K): It's not a triplet

The Riconar aka XR Rikenon 1:2.2 55mm (from Ricoh) is a somewhat strange Pentax K-mount manual focus lens.

Basically it is a budget [kit] lens, made of plastic to reduce the price (but the mount is metal), 55 mm focal length instead of 50 mm, and not a very fast aperture of f/2.2.

52mm filter thread and only 5 aperture blades:

A good copy is acceptable at infinity, but the closer you focus, the more softness is seen. This behavior has led to claims that this is such a "boosted" triplet (a three-element lens).

But no, f/2.2 is very fast for a triplet, and the quality at infinity would be worse. This lens has 4 elements in 4 groups, as stated in the manuals:

(source)

(source)

This is also confirmed by disassembling the lens. The lens is most likely a Cooke triplet derivative with an additional element.

And the strange behavior is caused by the cheap focusing mechanism. Focusing is done by moving only the front optical element (which rotates). At infinity, the optical design is normal, but at close focusing, the displaced front element "ruins" the optical design, causing softness.

For this reason, apparently, the minimum focusing distance is quite long for an SLR lens (0.8m):

Reducing it would make the image completely unacceptable.

Compare this image at 0.8m at f/2.2 (difficult to focus due to many aberrations):

Soft focus is observed.

At f/8, the image is just fine:

But when I set the focus on the lens to infinity, and use the lens with an extension tube (15 mm), the image no longer has soft focus at f/2.2, even though the focusing distance is less than 0.8m:

This is an extremely strange decision made when designing the lens. A proper focusing by moving the whole optical unit would have resulted in a normal lens, something like the Pentacon Prakticar 50/2.4 (Praktica B-mount, also 4 elements in 4 groups, see 1 and 2). On the other hand, you got a "hybrid" soft-focus lens, which might be even more interesting today.

Also, sometimes this Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2 is considered to be a version of the more expensive Fujinon 55/2.2 (also 4 elements in 4 groups). No, that's not true. They are different lenses that produce different images.

See also related notes:

• Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2: Samples [2] - FF - f/2.2 (2024-07-15)
• ISCO Iscovitar 50/2.8 (M42x1/45.5): Triplet with simple focusing mechanism (2024-05-21)
• Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2: Samples [1] - FF + close focus (helicoid) adapter (2023-12-05)
• Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2: Two types of focusing and background blur (2023-11-27)
• Lenses without cemented elements (2023) (2023-10-12)
• Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2: My experience [2/2] (2023-08-29)
• Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2: My experience [1/2] (2023-08-28)
• Anastigmat Victar 50/2.9 (M40x1): Uncoated triplet from 1940s (2023-07-24)

Image albums:

• Riconar/Rikenon 55/2.2

Petro-Canada Peerless LLG (NLGI 2): application for lenses

The Petro-Canada Peerless LLG (NLGI 2) can be used as a lens thread grease.

I found this grease to be better for lenses than the Febi 31942. But it's still a little worse than the GM Special Lubricant High Temperature grease. But compared to GM, the specific smell goes away much faster.

See also related notes:

• Febi 31942: application for lenses (2023-05-23)
• GM Special Lubricant High Temperature: application for lenses (2023-03-17)
• Petro-Canada Peerless LLG (NLGI 2) (2017-02-08)

Image albums:

• Oil

Angarsk: 10 views from 1956 (and 2023)

A small (138x91 mm) postcard "Виды Ангарска" (Views of Angarsk), 1956 (the town was 5 years old):

The views themselves are tiny, about the size of a postage stamp. But a 1200-2400DPI scan reveals some details.

As far as I know, this is the title card, and the views themselves were available as separate postcards, but I don't have any. So let's take a look at the low-resolution views.

I've also included similar views that I took in 2023.

Disclaimer: My photographs are nothing more than a documentation of reality.

1.

2.

3.

Unfortunately, trams are rare here today, so only the bus is on the photo.

4.

5.

6.

This view definitely exists as a separate postcard (higher resolution, of course):

7.

8.

9.

10.

See also related notes:

• Angarsk: 11 views from 1956 (and 2025) (2025-06-27)
• Angarsk: 40 years of the Angarsk Construction Department (1948-1988) (2023-09-06)
• Angarsk: 12 photos from 1975 (and 2023) (2023-08-07)
• Angarsk: 10 photo card set from 1969 (and 2023) (2023-07-26)
• Angarsk: 10 panoramic photo set from 1969 (and 2023) (2023-07-13)
• Angarsk: 16 photo card set from 1986 (and 2023) (2023-07-01)

Image albums:

• Angarsk