A Ping Pong Palace

Many contemporary houses or lofts offer high ceilings and the promise of open space. And the opportunity to explore the flex room concept.

I recently decided to give some thought to organizing my living room so that it could be transformed into a space for playing table tennis (and back again) in a matter of minutes.

The requirements for table tennis are quite simple. Enough space to put a table (9' x 5') and have room to move about (in my opinion, bare minimum playable dimensions should be at least 3 table lengths and 3 table widths: although the width is fine, most two car garages (20' x 20') are therefore not long enough).

[Variety of minimum dimensions for the playing area, from recreational through to international level events.]

The space has to be extremely well lit (beyond typical residential levels): lighting should be well controlled, i.e. even (no shadows, overly bright or dark spots) and glare-free. Floor should be even and durable enough to withstand gym shoe pounding and be easy to clean. And neither be too slippery (as with dusty concrete or ceramic tile) nor have too much friction (as with carpeting or rubber mats). For multiple ball training use, barriers or screens are needed to stop balls from marking walls or disappearing into hard-to-reach areas. Depending on geographical zones, the playing area might need to be completely climate controlled.

Sure you could play in a basement or garage but low ceilings can restrict lighting choices and any support columns can interfere with play. Moreover, those areas are not usually climate controlled and dust can be a major problem. A dedicated, purpose-built gym room would be the gold standard, but let's suppose you want to explore the flex room concept without making your living room look like a garage. Here is what I came up with:

Details are as follows:

• Lighting: Two rows of indirect/direct light fixtures suspended 2' off the ceiling (source: Architectural Indirect Version 4, H.E. Williams Inc). Spaced so you don't see the lights directly when at the table looking up. Each row contains 6 end-to-end interlocking 4ft units. 3 T8 high performance fluorescent 32W tubes are mounted per fixture. Designed for about 700 lumens at the table. Wattage: 1152W total.
• Table: A folding rollaway Butterfly Centrefold 25 table (US Open 2010 model). Color blue. Japan-sourced Butterfly International net set. Color blue.
• Floor: Sealed slate tile floor. (No Gerflor here.)
• Ball barriers:There is a (removable) retractable clotheslines reel (source: Home Depot) hanging across the home entertainment center end of the room. (You can see it just above the sake bottle-styled lamp.) It supports a super-lightweight black (nylon) plastic mesh net (6' high x 20' wide, made of 0.5cm squares, weighing less than 1 lb, source: Tokyu Hands). At the other end of the room is a floor to ceiling screen (12' high x 20' wide) operated via a hand crank, see below.
• Robot: Y&T S-27 from China. Not shown.

A first evening for the facility, inviting friends around to play, eat watermelon and drink chinese tea:

Here is a time-lapse video of the room transformation from living area into ping pong palace.

(All pictures except the first taken using the Panasonic Lumix 8mm f/3.5 micro-4/3rds fisheye lens on my Olympus E-P1.)

E-P1: Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm vs. Olympus Digital Zuiko 8mm fisheye

A hobby of mine is spherical panorama photography.

The ultra wide angle Olympus 4/3rds Zuiko Digital 8mm f/3.5 fisheye lens mounted on my Olympus E-P1 allows 360° in all directions to be captured in just 7 (or 8) shots.

Shown here attached using a 4/3rds to micro-4/3rds adaptor.

As is standard, I shoot one row around using 6 shots (every 60°) in portrait format for maximum vertical coverage, plus 1 zenith and optionally one nadir. This provides decent image overlap for stitching.

The Panasonic Lumix G Vario 7-14mm f/4.0 is a rectilinear zoom lens that is quite compact and light by comparison. It's actually nearly half the weight: 300g vs. 568g = 485g + 83g for the Olympus MMF-1 adaptor. However, the maximum diagonal angle of view is spec'd at 114° vs. a claimed 180° (computed 170.2°).

See http://slash72.club.fr/gurl/Olympus/Copy%20of%20fisheye.htm for the Olympus 8mm fisheye technical details.

Let's compare the true coverage of the Lumix rectilinear lens at 7mm against the Olympus fisheye (8mm).

Pictures below were taken at Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku.

Landscape format

Lumix (@ 7mm): Olympus (fisheye): Olympus Studo (fisheye correction):

Compare the coverage in the above image to the Lumix 7mm image shown earlier. The fisheye is definitely wider. And actually, the fisheye image extends beyond the rectangular portion at the corners. See below.

Olympus (defished): The defished shot above was created using Turk's free defish program with the following parameters:

Seems like the aspect ratio is a bit off. One of my parameters must be a bit wrong. Oh well. But you get the idea about the extra coverage.

In spherical panorama photography, the shots are taken with the camera rotated into portrait position.

Portrait format

Lumix (@ 7mm): Olympus (fisheye): Olympus Studo (fisheye correction): Olympus (defished):

Olympus Pen E-P1 part 2: some test shots

I took some random test shots using my new Olympus Pen E-P1 micro-4/3rds camera.

(See previous blog entry here.)

I have four compatible lenses and two adaptors.

1. Shown mounted on camera: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm (f/3.5-5.6) kit zoom (micro-4/3rds mount).
2. Back left: Voigtlander Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 manual focus prime lens (Leica M mount).
3. Back right: Olympus ED Zuiko Digital 8mm (f/3.5) Zuiko fisheye lens (4/3rds mount).
4. Not shown: Olympus ED Zuiko Digital 9-18mm (f/4-5.6) wide-angle zoom (4/3rds mount).

5. Voigtlander VM adaptor (Leica M to micro-4/3rds).
6. Olympus MMF-1 adaptor (4/3rds to micro-4/3rds).

First light with the Nokton (1/100s, f1.4, IS, noise filter: low). Available light, ISO 3200.

Title: Lunch

Checking for noise and detail at the C-clamp area below the Guinness. 100% crop:

Title:焼酎 (Shōchū) [Nokton 35mm/f1.4, 1/100s, ISO 800.]

Soft focus image courtesy of natural means: from condensation on refrigerator in the humidity of summer.

Title:京王線 (Keio Line) [Nokton 35mm/f1.4, hyperfocused 1/30s, ISO 125.]

Taken from a moving train. IS comes in handy. Using Manual mode to explicitly set a slow shutter speed. Normally, one would use a manual aperture lens in Aperture priority mode on the E-P1 (the camera will automatically choose a shutter speed that gives proper exposure).

Title:愛ちゃん (Ai-chan) [Nokton 35mm/f1.4, 1/1000s, f/1.4, ISO 200.]

Outside Tokyo Taiikukan (東京体育館). Notice only subtle blurring of the background despite f1.4 on the 4/3rds sensor and 1/1000s fast shutter speed.

f1.4 on 4/3rds depth-of-field is equivalent to f2.8 (2x) on a full frame sensor. Given that, and subject distance required for framing, perhaps a lens with f1.2 capability or even faster would have been better. But then the it wouldn't be so nice and compact as the 35mm f1.4.

Title: Tokyo back street [14-42mm M.Zuiko kit zoom, 1/125, f/6.3, ISO 200.]

Taken through the window of Ootoya (大戸屋) just behind Yoyogi station (代々木駅). Just a stone's throw but a world away from the severe modernity of the NTT Tower and the hustle and bustle of Shinjuku station (新宿駅).

If one doesn't need shallow depth-of-field from the f1.4, or its low-light capabilities, the slower f3.5-5.6 14-42mm kit zoom is actually much more versatile and less fiddly than the manual focus Voigtlander prime.

Title: Natural lighting

360° spherical panorama: interior.mov (full resolution, 12MB)interior2.mov (low resolution, 1.6MB)

At Tokyo University. Use Quicktime Player to view either of the full panorama .mov files.

This is my first spherical panorama with the E-P1. Taken with the 8mm fisheye lens attached via the MMF-1 adaptor on a special rig. More details next post.

Olympus Pen E-P1

The Olympus Pen E-P1 represents a new generation of compact, interchangeable lens cameras on the micro 4/3rds lens mount.

Here, I have the equivalent of manual transmission on a car. That is a Voigtlander Nokton Classic (35mm, f1.4) manual focus prime lens mounted using a VM (Leica M mount to micro 4/3rds) adaptor. No information is transmitted via the adaptor to the camera. Metering works in stop-down fashion. Manual focus assist is available on the E-P1 using liveview.

The camera came with a neat Olympus standard zoom that collapses for compactness. Here is my 3 lens kit:

These are three different lenses all with different mounts. Two adaptors are used here.

Shown mounted: my general low light and portrait lens. Voigtlander Nokton Classic (35mm, f1.4) Leica M mount. VM Leica M to micro 4/3rds adaptor (no electrical contacts to transmit lens information, so manual use only).

Back left: general purpose mid-range zoom. Olympus micro 4/3rds 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 collapsible kit zoom. No adaptor needed (full range of functions).

Back right: my spherical panorama lens. Olympus 4/3rds 8mm f3.5 fisheye lens. Shown with Olympus 4/3rds to micro 4/3rds adaptor (information about lens communicated to camera, full range of functions).

Lenses made for micro 4/3rds and Leica M mounts are much smaller and lighter than regular DSLR lenses. For example, the regular 4/3rds format fisheye shown above is huge by comparison. I also have a 9-18mm 4/3rds wide-angle zoom lens (not shown here). And that is similarly large.

As more lenses get released in micro 4/3rds mount, there will be concomitant weight and size saving to be had without loss of image quality. There is a Panasonic 7-14mm wide angle zoom available now. Plus a 45-200mm telephoto zoom. (Double those focal lengths to get the 35mm equivalent values.) And rumor has it a pricey Leica Summilux 30mm f1.4 in micro 4/3rds native mount is coming.

The camera body is much smaller than my year-old Olympus E-520 DSLR yet has superior image quality. It's a breakthrough in terms of technology and versatility for cameras of this size.

[Unfortunately, my E-520 has a busted LCD display. That's my excuse for getting the Pen E-P1.]

In fact, it's not much bigger than my point-and-shoot (P&S) Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5.

It's pictured here with the collapsible Olympus kit zoom (14-42mm, f3.5-5.6) mounted (collapsed).

Given the 2x crop factor over full frame 35mm, it actually has the same maximum wide angle as the Lumix lens (4.7-47mm, f3.3-4.9) but does not reach anywhere near as far in terms of telephoto ability. The Lumix has a tiny image sensor by comparison, which allows for lens miniaturization but has other tradeoffs in terms of image quality.

In short, normalizing focal lengths to 35mm equivalent sizing, the Olympus kit zoom would be equivalent to a 28-84mm zoom, and the Lumix to a whopping 28-280mm zoom.

(According to the specifications, Olympus kit zoom also slightly slower in terms of max aperture than the Lumix lens, though that not a meaningful parameter here given the difference in image sensor size.)

As a hiker, I've been looking for lightweight but versatile equipment for taking landscape and 360° spherical panoramas. In terms of portability, I will carry on a belt the 3 lens kit setup shown previously:

Shown here is a tiny Kata DF 408 case surrounded by a pair of Lowepro lens cases.

One holds the 8mm fisheye. The other holds the Nokton 35mm/f1.4 and Olympus kit zoom. Padded belt not shown.

Going modular is the most versatile solution for me. For example, when hiking I will leave the Nokton behind but carry a lightweight Gitzo carbon/magnesium tripod and panohead.

I've re-organized and expanded the test shots that were here to a separate blog entry...

Nodal Ninja 3 Mk II setup

See previous blog entry where I described my first spherical panorama project.

This entry is about setting up the panorama head to rotate about the entrance pupil point on the lens to avoid parallax errors. The panorama head is a Nodal Ninja 3 Mk II. Costs about $200. The setup described here is specific to the camera body (Olympus E-510) and lens (Olympus Digital Zuiko 8mm fisheye) shown.

Since we're shooting with a fisheye, it's not necessary to get things pixel perfect accurate to give good stitching. However, the closer one can get, obviously the less work software has to do. One can spend over $1000 to get a custom-made precision head designed for a specific camera/lens combination. However, I don't think the $200 panohead is capable of repeatable (sub-)pixel accuracy when repeatedly assembled and disassembled (without calibrating afresh each time).

Step 1

The first step involves pointing the lens straight down at the rotation point on the panorama head. We try to get the center of the camera sensor on the center of rotation.

For this, there is only one adjustment, sliding the vertical arm along the horizonal piece.

This means one must hope the tripod socket is properly (left-right) centered over the camera sensor. On the E-510, I eyeballed all of this using the 10x liveview mode on the lcd display. To check: took a picture. Rotated the pano head 180° and took another picture. Download and paste one picture (rotated 180°) with 50% transparency over the other one to check how closely they match. Overlay shown:

Close-up of previous picture: Pretty good registration: about a pixel or so difference. Not bad for liveview eyeballing. Not much point in trying to do better, each time the apparatus is set up, there could be easily that much variation in it.

Note the value on the scale on the horizontal arm. (Washer/bolts are supplied for setting stops.) Or never diassemble it.

I also secure the rubber-backed plate that mounts to the camera tripod. And leave it attached to the camera.

(I settled on having the plate rotated 180° from what is shown above.)

Since the tripod socket is a single mounting point, there's no way to determine if the plate is truly parallel to the camera body/sensor. This is a potential setup problem.

(There'd have to be a grid printed on the bottom of the camera in order to have a reference point for the marking on the plate.)

Step 2

Next part involves setting the position of the camera body along the vertical arm to make sure we're rotating about the entrance pupil.

This can be determined by various methods to the pixel level, some involving grids, other laser beams at proposed stitching angles. Fortunately, someone has done this for the Olympus Fisheye already.

From Georges Lagarde's webpage on the lens: "Using the focusing ring external groove location gives excellent results for six shots panos." So I borrowed his setting.

(I've added a red horizontal line to this picture to indicate the position.)

Seems to give good enough results for me even when tested in a small room (smaller distances = bigger parallax errors). Again, note the value from the mark on the camera plate on the scale printed on the arm. For minimum setup time, I carry the camera body with plate attached, and the Nodal Ninja 3 Mk II assembled as shown below: