General Photography Observations, Instructions, and Information about Vintage Cameras and Photographic Techniques from this Photographer's Unique Historical Perspective Spanning Fifty Years Experience within Various Genres. Includes posts: Vintage camera information, Old cameras, Single Lens Reflex Cameras, Cameras, Twin Lens Reflex Cameras, TLR, Medium Format, 6x6, 4x4, 120 film, 127 Film, Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollieflex, Japanese, German, Super Slides, 4x4, TLR, Medium Format Rangefinder, Range finder, Large Format. Photographer Douglas Patrick Wright Provides an Interesting Personal Slant with his Personal Insight Into Half Century of Personal Photography Experience Including his own Transition from Film to Digital. Although never intended as such this Weblog has become an important Resource in its Own Right Regarding Vintage Cameras--as Consulted by Photographers, Historians, and Collectors, Due in Part to the Photographer's Personal Use and Period Comments.
This Post mostly excepted from my eBay store description of this series of cameras I just listed.
Here is a chance to acquire three collectible Voigtlander Viewfinder Cameras.
Three Wonderful Vintage Cameras from My Personal Collection: These are from the 1950s to 1960s Voightlander Viewfinder 35 mm Cameras
What marvelous old cameras. They are compact yet heavy and made to precision instrument standards not much found anymore. These finely crafted instruments capture a golden era of German design and mechanical manufacturing at its finest. The cameras are made by an associate company of the famous German lens and camera maker and megacorporation--Zeiss-Ikon.. These three models came out of the 1950s and 1960s.
Voigtlander is an ancient optics company (began in the mid 1700s) that was making fine lenses for a hundred years prior to being among the first makers of cameras in the middle of nineteenth Century. The dominate much of the fine camera and lens business during the hundred years leading up to the production of these cameras. Over the years they shared many business arrangements with Zeiss and Zeiss-Ikon; they were finally bought out by Zeiss-Ikon during the mid-fifties. Established photographers when I was just a budding photographer in the sixties revered Voigtlander products. Although I never used their products as a professional, I have admired the workmanship of these cameras I have collected--and the era they represented.
Many of the clever design features are typical of fine-German engineering of the era. The bodies are sleep and ergonomic. You won't just accidentally discover the retractable rewind unless you curiously stumbled upon the in-obvious button that pops it up. You may not easily be able to figure out how to open the film back, and you may not readily understand how the shutter gets wound. These cameras are as amazingly crafted as any fine watch of the era. Fortunately, you can find and download the operator manuals for each. Please note: Before you incorrectly conclude that any of these types of cameras not working via the usual look and listen tests of the shutter and what-not, make sure that you understand how they work. The designers seemed to take joy in making the controls simple, sleek, functional--but not always obvious. One can feel stupid after learning the "tricks" of these cameras. More than a few of these cameras have been discarded as broken because of a failure to understand their nuances. For example, the shutter on some models will not cycle and cock without film tensioning the wind sprocket (or being manually depressed while the back is open). Or, with some models, you will likely never figure out how to release the back and/or realize that a rewind knob pops up to facilitate easy film rewinding. The shutter will not trip even after being cocked unless film is in the camera or the film counter has been manually reset on the bottom. But once you know them, these features become appreciated as pure genius.
The relatively fast 50 mm two.eight Voigtlander lenses used in these cameras are extremely sharp and fine examples of the Prontar shutters in conjunction with the Lanthar lens algorithm of vintage lenses. These algorithms were closely guarded secrets.
Vitomatic I Appears in great shape and passes all the mechanical tests. I am not sure about the selenium light meter which requires matching needles; Selenium has been known lose photo-sensitivity over time, but I don't know what the useful life of Selenium is. Vito C Metal top cover is loose. Look at the pictures carefully. I think all that is missing are the screws, but a black plastic spacer under the front of this cover may also be missing, as the other models have one. I think this camera works, but it needs the screws to be functional.) Vito CL Passes all the mechanical tests. Body is in great shape. The cover is solid, but somewhat discolored.
You can see pictures at this link until I get them posted here.
The claim is true--more or less. After Kyocera gobbled up many companies including Contax and Yashica, the design was shared, but for a few minor differences.
Historical Perspective regarding Yashica--and why this camera is their best model ever.
Yashica ruled a segment of the amateur camera market back in post WWII forward until well into the seventies. Their formula was like a lot of other Japanese companies of the time with everything from fishing reels to consumer goods--that was made possible by mass production techniques that copied the best competitor designs and make them cheaper, but good enough. They did the job and cost the consumer less. Were it not for this, most people would have done without. As time went on, the products got better. The Deming Method of Improvement in Manufacturing, having been rejected by American manufacturers, was embraced by Japanese companies to their advantage. These methods also affected Japanese Camera Companies. Yashica was one of the benefactors and survivors. Cheap and good enough was the formula.
Historical Perspective of this Camera
During the late seventies and early eighties, Japanese business conglomerates were gobbling up smaller companies. Shared resources provide economies of scale and exponential mass-marketing. already efficient companies were maximized for even greater potential. A Japanese electronics imaging company that I worked for at the time was purchased by one of these conglomerates--as were several related camera and optics companies--including the venerable high-end Contax and the lower-end Yashica.
Why this Camera is So Good
In the first part of the 1980s both companies were leveraged for maximum advantage in their respective segments of the photography market. Almost functional identical cameras were released under these two brands--one for the low-end, one for the high-end. Even many parts were interchangeable. Though both offerings were remarkable and good, Yashica buyers got a great value. They got virtually the same camera as Contax was selling minus a couple of professional features. Some less expensive materials were used in areas that did not much affect the function of the cameras. The Yashica FX-D Quartz was one of these cameras. By the way, at the time this camera came out, quartz-timed timepieces were new. Although quartz had been used as an ocillator for precise time-keeping with the first part of the century, it was only around the eighties that electronics were beginning to be minaturized enough to be used in watches and cameras. This was a big deal, then. It is still a very precise method of timiming, although it is fairly standard now.
But even the manufacturers might be surprised to learn, too long after the fact to matter, that they got a batch of inferior imitation leather to use for the Yashica models. After about twenty years, the stuff began to peel and deteriorate and then appear to almost melt. It looks awful, and it must have been used universally for all the Yashica cameras because they all seem subject to this effect so predictably that a user cult of photographers who so enjoy the camera that they buy them and immediately replace the old stuff with new leatherette or even leather. I had intended to do the same with this camera, as I had replaced dry-rotted leather on so many much older relics in my collection in the past. I never got to this, and my camera languished for years in storage until I decided to just sell them all.
Note: I have recently learned that the Contax version of this camera also had the problem with disintegrating letherette.
My Evaluation of this Camera
This Yashica FX-D is a pleasure to use. It is just like the Contax with a few exceptions. Designers intened to meet the competition head-on with a fine camera, under both the Contax and the Yashica label. This was by far the best Yashica 35 ever made. It is as small as the Olympus OM1n and offers feature for feature plus some. In is on a par both in appearance and function of many fine Nikon modelswith many Nikons and was better than the Canon AE1, that put Canon on the map as a viable producer of SLR cameras during same time. I once worked for Canon USA and I liked their products. I have owned three (maybe four) AE1s, which I really liked at the time. But I like the Yashica FX-D Quartz better. After over three decades, the Yashica feels and sounds new in operation. The shutter, though fairly loud, sounds strong and the metering is excellent, even though the TTL flash metering is one advantage the Contax version offers. The Yashica dodel offers many professional features including Shutter Lock-up. Although it lacks big bros Depth of field Preview it still offers features that are usually only included with high-end cameras. It even has an audio warning for unacceptable lighting conditions. The metering is still good. It uses Aperture Priority for the automatics, which was the choice of some of the best cameras of the time. A autowinding film advance was availabe from Yashica. One subsequent FX-SE Quartz Model came with the winder attached. Otherwise it was the same camera.
Both Branded versions have black the bodies prefered by professionals, which stylishly brass with much use. I don't think it was ever availabe any other way. Brassing with use on black camera bodies was regarded as a kind of badge of experience and usage among some Photographers. My camera was apprently used very little because it shows no brassing at all. The camera design overall in black is considered by camera enthusiasts to be among the most beautiful cameras. Except for the funky letherette, I am inlcinded ot agree.
You can order a precut replacement cove in a variety of colors for this camera from Internet third parties. You can also easily cut and replace it yourself, since it requires no angles or fine cut-outs. Rubber cement works fine for this. It is apparently becoming a thing for a cult following of these cameras to replace with bright colors.
My Opinion of this Camera
I got my start in photography when my dad, an accomplished hobby photographer allowed me the use of his Yashica 44 EM Twin Lens Reflex Camera. I have owned a fleet of Yashica Cameras, and know them as a user as well as anyone, including earlier 35s. Had it not been for Yashica's less expensive offerings back then, I likely would have been unable to own anything in the way of viable cameras. But I am telling you without reservation, that the FX-D Model 35 SLR was in a class head and shoulders above all other Yashica cameras.
The Lens
This is an excellent lens that I take to be an aftermarket lens. But the design means that any lens made for this vintage Contax/Yashica mount will work. The Contax version featured a great Carl Zeis lens. The Yashica version lens was also very good. Part of my point, however,is that any of these lenses will fit the body, and they are not hard to find, inexpensively on the used market. The lens show did a good job for me, though I was not doing anything extraordinary with it during these tests. It is clean and provides a good range of zoom 28 to 70, and includes a protective skylight filter, rubber retractable shade, and a lens cap.
Note: I got cameras for my collection from various sources, not the least of which was eBay, but this particular camera was given to me by a dear friend who had owned and babied it over the years. He knew that I enjoyed and collected cameras and that I blogged about them. He got a new digital camera, and very thoughtfully gave it to me. I have enjoyed it as much as anyone can who has his choice of virtually any vintage camera in a digital age. Whatever I get for this camera on eBay will be given back as a surprise to my good friend.
This camera beat the famous Pentax Spotmatic features by Years! But it seldom gets the credit.
My blog has become a widely read resource among camera collectors for a historical "been there, done that" perspective of many vintage cameras. Ebay used to allow links to it, but not now, which is unfortunate because it is a great resource, and the reason I buy and seel these cameras via eBay. I make no attempts to be commercial in any way on my blog. You can find it by an Internet search using the title Photography for Profit or Fun. It is a Typepad Blog.
Historical Perspective
Mamiya is one of the oldest and most successful camera companies of all time. They are best known for their commercial Medium Format 6x6 and 6x7 120 film cameras in Rangefinder and Twin Lens Reflex Cameras that were produced over 70 plus years. Mamiya was known for unique design solutions, as one of their main founders and corporate officers was a gifted camera designer. The Mamiya/Sekor 1000DTL was one of the series that was among the first 35 mm SLR cameras to come to market in the USA. Typical of previous Mamiya cameras, the camera body was relatively heavy. Heavy cameras were not undesirable to many photographers at the time. They were considered durable, and this camera body was much lighter than the medium format Mamiya cameras at that.
The 1000 DTL holds a place in camera history often attributed to the Pentax Spotmatic. The Spotmatic name referenced the on-camera ability to choose a spot metering point to electronically read an exposure. But the Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL camera shown here preceded the Pentax with this feature. The D stands for Dual, meaning dual-metering--either Spot or Average electronic metering through the lens. The TL stands for through the lens; this was all a big deal at the time. It was a very advanced camera in history. There are actually two separate light meter cells incorporated in the body to achieve this. The selection is made by way of the film advance lever position. Camera history has largely obscured this advanced cameras abilities and deferred to the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic instead.
The Mamiya/Sekor uses a 42 mm lens mount which was the same as the early Pentax SLR's. At the time this was considered the standard mount and was used by many cameras. There are vast numbers of compatible lenses for this camera body. Although Pentax did not invent the mount, it is often called the Pentax Mount. It is also called the Universal Mount or just M42 Lens mount. It was also known as the Practica Mount. I have used lenses that came on a Pentax Spotmatic with this body. As we can see, even the removable Pentax viewfinder accessory Flash Mount, it interchanges with the Mamiya/Sekor. While some might guess these similarities to be the result of nefarious corporate espionage, the truth is that idea, design, and patent sharing was commonplace in the Japanese manufacturing camera world of this era. It is likely that Mamiya also shared their dual metering mode that inspired the very successful Spotmatic by Pentax.
Personal Experience with in a Historical Context with the Mamiya/Sekor Cameras
The 1000 indicates the top shutter speed. The first 35mm SLR I ever had unfettered access to was a Mamiya/Sekor TL500. It was made available to me as I assisted my High School Annual Staff and Newspaper with their photography needs. I was in Junior Highschool, but was allowed to assist because I was already taking photographs with a Yashica 44 TLR camera that used 127 roll film. I ahd also used Rollie TLRs belonging to my dad. I was enamoured by the mystical 35 mm cameras. I had used an old Argus I had found in some junk, and was not much impressed. but the Mamiya/Sekor opened up a whole new world of 35 mm capabilities to me. I used it with a huge over the shoulder batter pack and a Graphlex Electronic flash that would light up the whole football field at night--and them develop and print 5x7s to submit to the local newspaper. Although I still preferred the forgiving enlargements from the large 120 film, the 35 mm was not that much smaller than those from my 127 film. And wala, it gave me 36 exposures. what a boon! I have owned hundreds of 35 mm SLR cameras since I first had access to my first Mamiya/Sekor camera, but this camera holds a special place both in my own memory and in camera history. This is a must for any camera collector.
My earliest photographs were oriented toward storytelling. My mom was a writer. My dad was an advanced amateur photographer back in a day when photography was the high-tech photography of choice of the technically-inclined. Life Magazine, Look, and the Saturday Evening Post were picture vehicles that told the news in storied form with pictures. I had aspirations of becoming one of those photographers. Little did I understand that that particular medium would be so fleeting. Televison and moving photography supplanted them before I was even an adult. But I had already become a committed photographer for several newspapers. A savvy old newspaper editor taught me the importance of each photograph "telling a story".
I adapted my story pictures to my own stylized portraits of life in snapshots. People liked this style well enough for me to support my family for a good number of years, until I evolved and moved on to another aspect of my career. Still, I almost habitually seek to capture the life stories that unfold around me. The commonplace inevitably becomes cherished memories. Digital technology is especially adaptable for capturing our life stories.
There is something about freezing a moment in time for our later reflection that is lost in video capture. The ease of keeping an ongoing journal as it happens, along with our written thoughts, that makes it seem unimaginable to not participate in this process.
I sometimes fancy that these images and thoughts will mean something to future generations and perhaps help them in some way to not have to repeat the same mistakes that we make--or even give them a leg-up legacy of what did work--a blueprint of sorts for how to live effectively. I think artists have had similar aspirations since it all began. Else, what does it matter? I think we have a good shot now of succeeding in this. But I have always been an optimist.
Here I have inserted one original photograph and then used various effects and automatic one-click adjustments from the Aviary Photo Editor that pops up when you double-click and image. The lite version requires that you resize high resolution images to lower resolution images before these effects will work--which it does for you and then allows you to save the results. The name of each respective effect is noted below each altered image.
As a longptime photographer who has been using and experimenting heartily with image manipulation software from its onset, I have never been much for canned one-click effects, but it is a quick and easy way to add some dazzle to your lack-luster photos. Many non-photographers use Typepad. These bloggers may especially enjoy the feaures of this image editor.I like it for that very feature of resizing images. Cropping, rotating, and resizing to several fixed sizes is also a breeze, as is placing different weigths of borders around images. is easy too.
Night
Original
Clyde
One
day I was walking my dog at the lake when I started taking a few
snapshots of a picturesque scene with unusual lighting. I thought,
wouldn't it be cool if I had a fishing boat in this scene. A little
while later some fishermen trolled their boat over. I took that picture
and then thought, if my brother was painting this, I bet he would put
some ducks or geese in the foreground or in the water. Wala, it was not
that long as I was on my way back when I realized the Canadian honkers
had arrived; could they have heard my thoughts? Pretty sure someone did.
We have average days. We have bad days. But then we also have VERY good
days. You will never convince me that those enumerable "little
coincidences"--merely happen by chance. I know they are little trail
markers provided by Our Maker to let us know that we are not forgotten.
Things always seems to wind up on the plus side of the balance if we are
patient.
Enhance/Backlit
Boardwalk
There
are subtleties that make this picture in the high-resolution hard-copy
print that you may not notice in this low-res screen image without
having them pointed out. First, the geese that appear headless are just
ducking their heads at an angle. The tree is a sweet-gum still loaded
with a ton of those little symmetrical sharp-pointed fruit balls we
threw as kids. The red on the far bank is the red
clay where the waterline is exposed from the low water-levels. The late
afternoon sun is casting long shadows through the trees and is about to
go down. The sky is clear only from that vantage. The otherwise
overcast sky is causing an unusual blue glow contrasting with those
golden rays partially illuminating some of the limbs in the background
and just a few foreground overhangs. This is in the bleak of winter, so
the colors are very unusual in this peculiar light. There is a wood-duck
box house on the side of the tree facing toward me (the camera). About
mid-way up within he space between the two trees are two bright red
objects lighted by the sun.These are the lost floats from hapless bank
fishermen who caught them in the over-hanging limbs while casting. Most
fishermen have shared this fate, so it adds a dose of authenticity to
the scene. My oldest brother was a consummate outdoorsman and a
wonderfully gifted painter. His attention to details of scenes painted
mostly from his own minds-eye would add such detailed minutia that
seldom aligns in real life. It was truly my good fortune that all these
elements came together and I was able to catch such fleeting moments
during this outing. I probably took a hundred or more photos during this
brief outing, all uniquely different.
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I also enjoyed the sense of building something, in this case, building photographs, offered by the craft of photography.
If you've read much from my previous posts or articles or attended any of my classes, you have likely contemplated some of my views and non-method methodology for shooting art photographs. I don't know if it all makes as much sense universally as it does for me. It has so long been a part of my make-up that I don't know how commonplace it is. I suspect that it is at the root of all good photography to one degree or another.
Who knew? Tree of Life--at Herb Parsons Lake.
As this post is another of several wherein I have broached the concept, I will repeat a reference to a photograpehr whose work I have enjoyed, who hinted at this shooting by emotional feel.
Ernest Haas, hinted at it. Paraphrasing closely, he said, Beauty pangs and when it pangs most is when I shoot.
I identified so much with the profundity of this statement, that I still think of it often, although I read it many years ago in a Time Life Photography book, if I recall correctly, alongside of one of Ernest Haas landscape photos. It seemed to give me license to keep doing what I was doing--that is taking pictures as guided by feel as opposed to any real conscious thought.
I long ago mastered many of the technical aspects that go into the science and the craft of photography; some of these techniques are antiquated to the rapidly by-goning days of film--but most are still relevant. I have by now learned if not mastered enough of the digital counterparts to be a competent digital photographer. I got an early start with these technologies as I was involved in the marketing of many digital technologies and products. It did not come as easily to me as it might to some, because my brain/mind has always done a fine balancing act between being technical or being literal.
Mathematicians often make good artists, I suppose because they can more easily can suspend the need for literal understanding in favor of the abstract. I was raised in a family of mathematicians, and they were by-the-way, also all fine artists. But I was never a mathematician. By sheer osmosis, I probably gained a better than average understanding of mathematics and other technical things. I recall as early as the first and second grade thinking that I hated arithmetic--not that I didn't find it useful and even interesting, but because it always seemed to come right after lunch when I was sleepy and I got a headache. It still gives me a headache if I am not in the mood to engage that part of my brain--and over the years in deference to pursuits more stimulating to my brain--I have developed a deep-seated preference for things more literal. And interestingly, I discovered that I am a narcoleptic--so the sleepiness complaint was not contrived.
I referenced pbotographer Ernest Haas. The following is link that
feaures some of his work:
http://www.photographersgallery.com/by_artist.asp?id=43
Writing has always come easy for me. I have never had to think much when I write (and it shows sometimes). Mom was a writer. If she was not a mathmatician, it was lost on me.
But
photography, an interest that I gained early in life owing to Dad's
serious photography hobby in my earliest formative years, has seemed to
serve a different expressive need for me. It was just technical enough
to engage my brain at a challenging level without being so technical
that it gave me a headache. I loved the practical aspects of the
chemistry without having to fully understand all the placement of every
electron in orbit around a nucleus or whatever it is they orbit around.
I also enjoyed the sense of building something, in this case, building photographs, offered by the craft of photography. Maybe it is creativity, or maybe it is something less, but akin to. Regardless, I did not fully realize how important a creative outlet photography was serving for me until once when I had no access to it after it had been a pretty constant for most of my life.
After about a month, I was ready to cry uncle, when I got an opportunity to reengage as a photographer with a reporter who had befriended me as an adjunct to his sports and news stories for a local newspaper. I don't now recall the details of the shoot, but I do recall how good it felt to be back behind the camera.
There
is something about those long cold shadows against golden warmth cast
by the late afternoon sun in winter that pangs my emotions with a
notion of hope--I suppose of Spring.
It was in a marvel to analyze this iceberg of a revelation that I started to be so consciously aware of the deep emotional triggers (or lack of) behind my photographs. And how strung-out I was on photography. That was of a near half-century ago.
Better is subjective. But it is tangible when you lay the pictures out in front of a subject thousands upon thousands of times, and you can predict which pictures they will like best themselves, which pictures their moms will like best, which pictures their boyfriends will like best, which pictures the agencies will like, which picture the newspapers will like, and which pictures get not even gain a second look. So better is also a fairly universal thing.
Let me here make a side note about this phenomenon, which is not really on-topic, but which is worthy of mentioning in a broader context of photography business advice--while I am thinking about it. In business, after a while, I would not even bother to show subjects the proofs that I knew they would not like. If they asked about a particular pose they remembered me taking, which rarely they did, I would just say, it didn't turn out well having indicated in advance that I would not bother them with closed eye shots, etc. (And DO yourself a favor and never show anyone a picture with a fatal defect--which is admittedly more rare today with image-correction software, and do not show anyone any photograph that you have taken of them with their eyes closed and what-not.)
[There is some universal law that dictates that those defective photographs with eyes closed and what-not will be the images your subjects, agencies, families,next-of-kin like best, with the muttering out loud or under-breath, I sure wish my eyes were open in that one--it's the best one! Damn. Learn it the hard way if you must, but learn it you will, as this law is as sure as salt is salty.]
If I were just today learning photography, on my own, as I did back when--which is pretty inconceivable given all the now available resources to be had--I probably would not have gained the technical understanding of photography that I did. I learned this science and craft of photography as a means to an end. Although I found some modicum of enjoyment in the semi-technical aspects of photographer for its own sake, I probably would have gone straight to the chase and skipped it all if I could have. and I could have. Given the immediate feedback of digital cameras--not having to guess and extrapolate and visualize and bracket and then compare the results later, sometimes much later, after the film was processed and prints chosen and printed--I can see that a whole different paradigm of learning could or would be used in today photography environment.
Immediate feedback is awesome! Digital cameras rock! If I miss anything about the old days of photography, it is the passing odor of unhealthy darkroom chemicals and other such silly things. The mystery of seeing images come up in a darkroom tray, although fascinating at first, becomes frustrating as heck after a time--or simply taken as reality. I honestly can say that back in the day, I never anticipated a world without silver halide or acetic acid or fixer. I never even guessed at the wondrous magic of images just being there immediately after they are exposed. Wow! What a great creative tool.
I display this monument to a man for whom the lake was named, Herb Parsons whose hometown is nearby; Herb Parsons hailed from a still-great American era when trick shooters were among our best heroes--when guns were regarded as good things and no one ever considered to use them to go shoot kids in schools. It never crossed our minds. Herb was just as famous for his relevant one-liners including, If you hunt with your boy, you'll never have to hunt for him. Guys with guns were generally regarded as the good guys, not outlaws to be feared and reviled. Evidence that times change. There are still more people in this state who believe Herb's adage than there are photographers who still use film. But in either case, things have changed.
It probably took me thirty years to expose somewhere around three-hundred thousand frames of silver halide, usually in increments of twelve images on film. During the next fifteen years--the last fifteen years, increasing access to digital cameras has greatly accelerated the numbers of pictures I have taken--likely at least doubling the total. And while those pictures have been more out of sheer expressive need with zero emphasis on commercial application as the images have been made, they may now have far greater marketability if and when I choose to market them properly. If these images languish forever on various quickly-expired generations of outdated storage devices--it will be okay. They have served at least my own initial purpose. Sometimes on an optimistic day, I consider that they may offer an expectant time-capsule to be uncovered by deserving posterity turned in curiosity to generations past--or on an optimistic and romantic day perhaps even a a fantasy of finding a pot of gold just in the nick to forestall and hold at bay an evil baron . But prolly not.
And lighting. The rules and the physics of what makes it all work. The inverse square law of light explaining the reverse exponential fall-off of light with distance is still a useful tool. Understanding the effect of a slow shutter or fast shutter or a small or large aperture or a the color temperature of a given or mixed light source or a CMYK color gamut versus a RGB color gamut is still useful to me as a photographer. It probably helps me get there, to the desired end result, a little faster--but given the amount of time required to learn it all--I am not even sure of that. Give an artist an inexpensive automatic digital point and shoot camera that zooms and adjusts, and he will spend his time honing his or her eye for capturing what strikes hers or his fancy and and by trial and error great images will be captured. To Hecter with bokeh and all that other over-analytical bs.
I took these pictures this week on one or two short outings. These are scenics for lack of a better descriptive term. But were I to be among people of animals or motorcycles or wars or families--there would be some counterpart called human interest or news or portraits or celebrity or struggling songwriter or what-not to try to describe the resulting encounter of camera-eye with surroundings.
It has been a serious winter for where I live, and the pleasant reprieve of an afternoon took me to this nearby lake. Lake Herb Parsons is a small and very shallow lake good for most lake stocked fish accept bass. It has a few but it is not deep and clear enough to be great for bass. Even so it is scenic, and I took my old dog with the intention of getting my blood sugar down from the stratosphere near which it has been orbiting of late. Insulin resistance. I cannot inject enough insulin to make a dent. My liver is shot from a genetic crap phenotype. I had planned to walk around the lake. I didn't make it far.
But I did walk a bit and I took about one-hundred fifty photographs--most of them better than average and about ten percent extraordinary. They were all taken by feel. I used a dinky little point and shoot. It was all mostly wham-bam-thank-you-sam. There was no analytical or conscious thoughts of now ya gotta compose this way or that way--although I do acknowledge that every tool easily called upon at an unthinking or not much mental effort level was brought to bear. But my point is that if it felt good I did it--pushed the shutter.
Again, in keeping with the theme of those post I have mae previously,my point is that am complelled to push the shutter release while listening to a feeling that is by now very familiar. When it pangs, I shoot. What makes a pang? I dunno, but I know it when I see/feel it: elements of strong design or texture or subtle pastels or flamboyance or stark contrast or wispy high-key lightness or some undefinable thingy that speaks to me and says click--from a whisper to a scream.
On the left is the Alpha 200 body that stopped working for no good reason, while setting in my climate-controlled and dust-free studio. Everything else except the silver Sony NEX 3 camera body and the adapter is accessories originally obtained fior use with the A 200. With the help of the Sony Alpha Mount to E-Mount adapter will work on the NEX bodies. Although not shown here, the NEX 3 also has a detachable flash which works with metering TTL (Through The Lens) with the lens adapter. Manual focus is necessary but all the other electronics work with this adapter.
Since I also have several other Minolta lenses, it makes sense for me to spring for one of two available adapters. The newer adapter has a motor on board, so it will auto focus with any of the lenses. It is about twice as expensive on the street, because it is much newer and highly desirable by most people who want auto-focus. I found all the components I need on Ebay and I am bidding on one of the new adapters. I have never paid retail for anything, and it simply is not necessary unless you are in a big hurry.
So I have two bodies and an the broken Alpha body. I'll have two adapters--one manual and one auto-focus. I have a good bunch of lenses plus some duplicates and the other accessories you see pictured. Once I get the other adapter, I will decide what goes with what. I will sell the broken Sony for parts and get as much a a hundred-fifty bucks for it with my chargers and batteries and what-not. I may then sell one of the bodies and the manual adapter and a lens or two for fair-market which is about six or seven bills. This amount will more than offset my expense for the new body and the adapter. since I am now only semi-pro status, I will use my point and shoot(s) for back-up. I would keep both NEX3 bodies and both adapters, but given a few more trials, I will probably opt to get a much newer, barely used NEX 7 body and another full-auto lens adapter. Or something better may strike my fancy by then. It changes so fast now.
Dragon flies are not out at this time of year, so here is something about the same size.
I took this from about eight feet, using one of the two new Sony NEX3 bodies, the Alpha to E-Mount Lens adapter LEA A1 on one of my Sony Macro zoom lenses I originally acquired for use with the now-defunked Sony Alpha 200. This was taken from about eight feet away. I am limited to manual focus with THIS adapter, but the NEX3 offers a Manual focus-assist feature which blows the image up so that you can easily see details making the manual focus easy. Manual focus is second nature to me, so even half blind, it is not very hard, especially with this MF assist feature. However, I have been using the little Sony AF and what I am missing is the ability to focus with one hand. With manual focus, I have to use one hand to hold the camera and the other to turn the focus ring. Auto-focus I have found useful when I am taking pictures of a vintage reel that I am holding in one hand as shown. I do this kind of thing a lot while making pictures for blog illustration, which is what the rod and reel photograph is for.
The remainder of the pictures are more macros taken with either the dragonflies in mind or the reels. I am happy with what I am getting, but I think I will go ahead and get the fully auto lens adapter. I am also thinking of my wife and one of my grown daughters who often wind up assisting me when I do a few of my ongoing Celebrity music annual events that I am obligated to cover in Memphis and Nashville. They may not even be aware there is such a thing as manual focus and will likely not be comfortable with it.
Digital camera choices are almost infinite. It can be hard to separate the interesting from the useful. You can also spend a bundle of cash without gaining much advantage if you are not judicious in your acquisitions. Long ago, I made a rule governing my photography equipment acquisitions. I was a working professional photographer when I made this decision. Although you may or may not be a professional, you likely do have spending constraints. My rule was simply, never purchase anything that could not be easily justified by a monetary return on investment. In other words, all acquisitions had to net me some tangible benefit in terms of helping me make money. It is with this strategy in mind that I make a case for my newly acquired equipment in hopes that others may understand and benefit from my frugal thinking.
This strategy is also tempered by a dozen or so years of digital realities that I had previously missed.
The first is that digital products are not nearly as reliable as are mechanical analog products. The second is that anything you buy will be obsolete in a matter of months. So the lessons are, buy features that you need to do what you want to do now. Buy cheap, for the short-term. With conditions being what they are, you can always buy very state-of-the art equipment on the secondhand market. Take good advantage of Pay-Pal and Credit Card protections when acquiring used equipment and buy from recognized and established sources when possible, through Ebay, or Amazon, or similar participating sellers who are held to some degree of accountability. . Read all the fine print about returns.
For example, I am semi-retired as a photographer. My work is driven more as a passive pursuit to other more relationally-oriented activities. I don't take photographs that I have no desire to. And yet every photograph that I take is driven by some previously instilled instinct for making money. I enjoy fishing and a thousand other activities that I mostly put on hold while I was required to earn a living continually during my prime earning years. I live on a rural property where I have a few small fishing lakes nearby.
During the regular pursuit of maintaining and enjoying my little faux farm, I necessarily and voluntarily do a lot of different things. Yes, I do fish, but even this is part of a greater compound pursuit. I am systematically acquiring old spin-cast fishing reels. There is a lack of resource material available regarding these vintage fishing reels. So I am identifying them as to their time and place and brand of origin. I use them, photograph them inside and out, and I review them as to relative quality and usability as they are measured against other old and new fishing reels. Quite a few people collect old fishing reels, so this becomes a sought-after resource for at least enough people to sustain a readership of my blog about them. The golden Age of Spin-casting Reels . . . . is one result of this pursuit.
This leads me to use one or more fishing reels at a time while fishing my ponds and other places regularly. Of course I photograph these activities both with a documentary style for the blog and for the eventual book, but I also take other purposeful and meaningful and artistic photographs as they are presented. Dragonflies seem to have a special fascination for investigating and landing upon the end of fishing rods. Some people also seem to have a special fascination for dragonflies. So I take a host of macro photographs of dragonflies at bank-side, often on the end of my fishing poles for specific and for stock purposes.
I like dragonflies. They are amazing and beautiful little creatures. Photographing them close-up or in mid-air at high resolution presents specific challenges. So for this one specialty photograph I have special needs in a digital camera. I am also often taking sequential how to photographs of various hobby or farm-type things that I am involved in. Sometimes I do small video clips of these activities. I am doing them anyway and they are often unique and interesting, so I often document these efforts with both sequential stills and with video. Lighting conditions for these activities often varies widely. I am also outside after dark quite a bit. These conditions and needs dictate that I need a lot of capability and versatility with cameras and and equipment outdoors and often extreme situations.
I am in boats a lot, mostly small boats, canoes, and kayaks, but sometimes larger motor-driven boats or small sailing vehicles. My wife and I enjoy cruises when health and circumstances permit. We have plans for more travel in general. My camera will always be a part of these activities, so I need equipment that travels well and that does not take up much space. Although I have always traveled a good bit, and I have always incorporated a photographic angle to my travels, never have I done so so coincidentally. I don't want to be dragging around a pile of photographic equipment. Therefore size, probably for the first time in my life, has become a factor. I have always preferred larger and heavier cameras for a lot of reasons. This is no longer the case--except in given rare circumstances. Compact is the rule for my needs now.
The electronic viewfinder is just fine for the purpose of the dragonflies. I have learned to like them okay for now. I prefer to also have an optical eye-level simply because that's what I used for so long. the tilt-able viewfinder is a nice feature that I am gaining over the A200 body, but I am losing the optical finder. Taking pix of dragonflies and such, the electronic finder is actually easier on me trying to get into posisiton that an the eye-level optical finder. My eye-sight is also sucking more and more. The ideal focus for me is full-auto spot (with the other optional adjustments) with quick-switch to manual for precision fine-tuning. Although auto-focus has become very sophisticated considering that the status-quo thinking not too long ago was that it would never be any good for pro work--it still cannot read my mind. I like being able to actually see the minute details of a macro shot come in and out of focus real time. I also like being able to see the actual depth of field.
Translucent Mirror Technology also called Mirror-less SLR Technology (a real misnomer)is one feature that has come to the forefront during the past few years. Sony jumped out front early, but almost all players are now offering some of these products. The basic idea is that no mirror has to move in order to allow a picture to be taken. This is huge. The ramifications are many. But the net net benefit for me comes down to three resulting capabilities. One is, that this technology allows much faster shooting speeds. We are talking half-dozen or substantially more frames per second.
Another resulting capability is usable photographs in very low light situations without a flash. This can be expressed a number of ways such as formerly unheard of ISO. A third capability that this technology brings us is increased stability; less movement, less blur at slow shutter speeds. There are several more, but the fourth that is important to me is a smaller physical design. Some of these cameras are so small that it is almost hard for me to take them seriously--until I see the price. In reality the entry-level price is amazingly low for what is offered relative to analog cameras, but I got over that part several years ago. Now my expectation is relative to what else is available. Even so--it is pretty amazing--both on the side of good and bad.
Taken from about eight feet away with a non-macro zoom Sony Alpha lens and no tele-converter. It offers pretty good depth of field in the sunlight and good detail. The NEX 3 body gives me the feel of the little Sony point and shoots that I have been carrying with me everywhere, with a lot more heavy-duty features, when needed.
It also offers a good combo of image formats including RAW and RAW plus jpg, which is what I prefer for serious illustration purposes. The broken Sony Alpha 200 offered this as well, but the point and shoots do not.
Probably the most notable cameras to offer this technology on the low price end of the spectrum are the Sony NEX models. I am not unduly prejudiced toward Sony, so I am merely calling it like it is. I worked for Canon back in the analog-to-digital transition days, so I know a lot about them and I do respect them as a wonderful technology company. They are hard to beat on most everything photographic. Back in the completely analog days, my 35mm cameras of choice were Nikons, and I still like Nikon digital cameras. they are right up there. Just prior to the big swing toward digital cameras, Minolta, then Konica-Minolta was up and coming regarding their electronics and their metering capabilities. I have written several times that during those days, the ideal camera would borrow from each of these manufacturers. There are other good cameras too. But where did Sony come from. Well, they became the heirs of all the combined Konica-Minolta technology hen the former got out of the camera business.
But that's not all. Sony has long been an innovator in the movie electronics business--which early-on translated to digital video technology. This includes optics. So in a way, Sony has been the company best positioned, since the beginning of the digital camera transition. An early semi-professional digital camera was the first of its sophistication to fall into my hands, when my wife bought me one as a gift a few years back. So, it was by hap-stance that I was exposed to the Sony products instead of Nikon, or Canon. It turned out to be a good thing. Otherwise I might not have tried Sony digital cameras until much later. So it is what it is, or was what it was.
I am not thrilled with Sony as a company lately, nor for their support, nor for the reliability of their products over others. I don't think anyone else is doing much better. But I am impressed with their camera features for the buck. Now back to my current needs. Sony NEX cameras were the first cameras to offer this technology at what I considered an affordable price. The first Sony models to offer the MOST combined features for my price-range is the Sony NEX 3 camera. Considering why I decided to get a newer camera in the first place--the irreparable malfunction of my virtually unused and well-cared-for Sony Alpha 200 body.
These are some tired old wookie eyes that don't see much anymore. Close
focus macro lenses left over from my Alpha 200 kit work flawlessly while
using either Alpha to E Mount Sony brand adapters. Only the newer
adapter offers full-auto focus, because it actually has a drive motor
mounted within the adapter. But the manual focus adapter detects and
reads all the other electronics perfectly.
Another shot from about thirty feet. I shot these at low resolution, but the Nex 3 provides over 14 megapixels at max resolution settings. This is less than the point and shoots I've been using but a 4 mp more than the broken Sony SLR that it is replacing. By shooting at the highest resolution, the small lure could be cropped to appear substantially closer without much loss of sharpness. Any loss of sharpness would be from enlarged motion-blur rather than from mosaic pixilization.
My price-range was driven by what would be the minimum charge to me to send my camera to a Sony Service Center just to have them look at it. This offered no assurance that it would be fixed evn at that. The value of a used Sony Alpha 200 camera is a fraction of what it originally cost. The value of a broken Sony Alpha 200 Camera body is zilch. So therein is part of the new digital camera reality that is not so glamorous. I have vintage analog cameras over a hundred years old that still work--fifty years old that work as well as they ever did--just as a comparison.
This image of a hung-up fishing lure was taken from a good thirty feet away with a zoom macro suing the adapter and a 2x tele-converter. The exposure is right on. the image is not real sharp, but this was on a cloudy day while just messing around. The fuzz is not a faulty lens set up, it is a little motion blur. I used the stability feature hand-held. If I was going for perfection, I would be using a tripod or mono-pod to help my stability. I could once hold any lens incredibly well at slow speeds, but older now I shake a bit. Other things I kike about the NEX 3 include the small size. This is counter to my usual preference and if I am shooting something where I feel that I want a larger frame, the grip and off-camera flash holder I used with the Alpha 200 works nicely. But having become used to the idea of being able to carry a camera without much trouble virtually anywhere as I do my point and shoot cameras, I like the idea of using one E Mount lenses on this NEX3 camera and gaining all the additional features if I want them.
The NEX 3 will shoot up to 7 frames per second and will shoot usable images in very low light conditions without any special care taken except a high ISO or a tripod. The NEX 3 gained me a bunch more ISO capability. I can't wait to try some stock-car race pix. Although I haven't even begun to wrap my head completely around the video feature yet, it makes really fine video clips as well. I may be integrating this into my mini-digital video instructional videos.
Over the Alpha 200, I also gained an additional 4 gigabytes of resolution. There are so many potentially helpful settings that I haven't even looked much beyond the surface menus yet, but I know they are there from reading about them. The menus are complicated, and cumbersome to use, but what the heck, everything that I need immediately is right there. Everything else is a bonus.
I have a bunch of Sony Alpha and Sony Alpha-compatible lenses. I could either have this one fixed, buy another Sony Alpha 200 body for what it cost to have it fixed, or I can buy the newer technologies with more features for just a bit more by buying a Sony NEX 3 Camera that theoretically offers the features that I want and need--including higher resolution. For me it is a no-brainier. I merely want my readers to understand the process whereby I arrived at my choice. I have made the choice given my circumstances for the least amount of financial exposure that would provide me the most features. This is sound business thinking.
The digitization of bits of bokeh patterns formed in the out-of-focus foreground image while focused on jet vapros at infinity shows both the sharp focus and the ability to selectively expose while using this lens with the adapter.
Now, in order to make all the features work with my lenses, I will need to acquire a Sony adapter that will enable my existing Sony Alpha lenses to work with the new Sony NEX 3 camera body. Here I have three options (possibly four depending upon how you measure a true solution), each potentially better and each more expensive than the other. The first is to get a generic mount for less than fifty bucks including shipping. I can't get a good answer from anyone regarding how much, if any of the electronics will work. My best guess is that the automatic TTL exposure metering will work in the aperture-priority mode--but maybe not. This pretty much shoots any benefits obtained by using the mirror-less technology. So this is not a valid option.
The second option that I can choose, is to buy the first Sony model LEA-A1 adapter which is assured to work properly with any Sony Alpha lens used on an NEX 3 body. But working properly means that on any older Sony, Konica, or Minolta or other lens not having a built-in lens motor, the focus will be manual only. for me, I would not mind this at all--except that my eyesight is now so lousy.
Just some twigs and leaves dragonflies land on in warmer weather from about seven feet away. I have been pretty limited by the zoom capabilities of the point and shoot Sony cameras I got started shooting those bugs with during the summer. I actually got some nice images, but of course we always want to do better. I was a working pro much of my life, so I know what is possible. This is what prompted me to get my more feature-rich digital Sony out in hopes of getting better dragonfly images while fishing. And my fishing is actually reviewing and blogging about both new and vintage fishing rods and reels, and lures, and other fishing gear--so it warrants doing the best job I can for illustration purposes. When my Sony alpha 200 SLR body would do nothing but fast-blink a red light it spelled trouble. The cost to send the barely-used body to a Sony servicing center to look at it, with that not even ensuring that it would be fixed without additional charges, exceed the cost of buying a good used body. So I decided that I would explore what additional capabilities I could gain for the same amount of money. This is what started me looking at the Sony NEX technology in earnest. I knew I would have to have this technology soon anyway, so this merely precipitated a little acquisitional search to see what I could justify.
So, this leaves the newest LEA-AE2 Sony Alpha Mount to Sony E Mount Adapter. This mount actually has a built-in lens motor--right there in the adapter itself. I am told that this adapter will communicate electronically for all metering and auto-focus functions with any of these lenses. The advantage is obvious, but it may not be readily clear that many of these lenses--very high-quality lenses-- can often be found on the used market with Minolta labels at very reasonable prices. This should more than offset the associated cost of the adapter. BTW, old Minolta glass is pretty hard to beat. Good stuff.
I could also consider selling all my old Alpha lenses and non-functioning Sony Alpha 200 body and reinvesting into E Mount lenses. The reason I am not doing this is that I still like the new features found exclusively on the Sony Alpha bodies even with the bad experience with the Sony Alpha 200's poor reliability. This is just the paradox of all electronics. I should have bought the three-year extended warranty and then renewed it (but probably still won't in the future). I also like the future of the NEX and other E Mount cameras and lenses using Mirror-less Technology. Keeping my old lenses provides the most options for future growth along the lines that I desire.
I'll probably also buy a used E Mount lenses or two in my preferred zoom or fixed ranges and close-up and/or telephoto rings. Then given time, I will make a use-based decision about getting a fancier or more highly featured Mirror-less camera.
In the end, the love you make is equal to the love, you make. Whatever the heck that means--thank you John and Paul. The music was good. No, seriously, in the final analysis, this is where I am at. After a lifetime of the demands of photography, photography lost a lot of the fun for em. I could do it in my sleep and do it well enough, but my images were, at least it seemed to me, lacking the unique vibe they once had and that I was known for. I have a whole thing to write about this and whether it was merely my perception or if the images were actually not as good, but you may look for that in a future post.
What I do know for sure is that using the new digital stuff, primarily the point and shoots, got me again hooked on the fun of photography. When it is fun, you do more of it. When you do more of it, you get more good images. And, more than that, when it is fun, and you have new features offering new capabilities you begin to experiment again. I do. It is when I am experimenting that I really tend to shine. So, the fact that this new camera body offers me so many new things, I am actually getting excited about taking pictures again. So this was a success for me--and I recommend it to anyone who needs a little boost.All the better, the whole transition will wind up not costing me a dime more of out-of-pocket expense. But even if it did, it would be well worth it.
With the 2x tele-converter on this particular zoom macro Minolta lens, the nearest focus is a smidgen too far for my purposes product illustration purposes, but any number of shorter lenses or leaving the tele-convertor off is fine. On the other-hand, I love the reach provided by this set-up for catching dragonflies. I have bunches of macro images of dragonflies as they are prone to land on the end of fishing poles. Any movement or waive of a lure has them flying over to inspect and challenge the lure, the rod, and sometime seven me. They will actually pause in mid-flight a few feet in front of my face and size me up, before buzzing off. I usually wait for them to land somewhere--which is on the fishing rod tip more often than not. But I also catch them in midair. The gains of the NEX 3 body and adapter will put me in great shape for catching these critters at greater distances, and greater resolutions than I have yet been able to catch them previously. But the exposure and imaging quality as well as much faster imaging speeds will assist greatly too while tracking these guys in flight. These old Sony and Minolta lenses are hard to beat for sharpness as well. I say this combo is a winner.
Most everyone knows the historocity of the recent weather events. Huricane Sandy and his wake are big news. The civil athorities are rightly requesting for cooperation in staying out of the way. Genuine photographers (you decide if that what you are) have not only an opportunity, but an obligation to record this event. With the availability of imaging technology aqvailable to virtually anyone who wants it today, photographers can make a huge contribution to history by recording anything that seems worthwhile to record.
Use your head, use your eyes, use your cameras. Be sensible and careful. don't endanger yourself and others. Don't get into peoples faces--especially the civil athorities. Don't invade hurting people's privacy. Be sensitive. But record what you can. I am not saying to not take people, pet, and human-interest photos. But if you are ask not to--don't.
These are the times and events that award-winning photos are born of. If you are there--go for it. Only one bit of advice--take gobs of pix.
Which are the specific principles of Goebbels’ propaganda that make him stand apart?
There are lots of them, but what he will be remembered by is the famous, almost apocryphal statement: “Repeat a lie a thousand times and it becomes the truth”. This is what modern mass communication is based on. Although, I would like to paraphrase Dr Goebbels and say: Repeat a message a thousand times and it becomes the truth. Hence a very clear conclusion – there is no truth. All information is irrelevant. History and all media messages are mere narratives. Truth is what you choose to believe in. Such mechanism works in 99 percent of the cases. No one ever bothers to think whether the toothpaste that is advertised as most efficient during the night really is such. No, we choose to believe what the advertisement says and cannot check the validity of the claims. This is what the power of media relies heavily on. The thick layer around the planet made of interwoven media that send messages to the receiver every day. “
As photographers we have the responsibility to tell the truth. It is easy to lie or mislead through digital image manipulation or improper context. I am not saying that we can't use the tools available to us in order to say what we want to say via photography. But there is an ethical line that should not be crossed. We each know what that line looks like. It ain't rocket science. Just sayin.
Most of us at least learned a bit about propaganda in school. So why are so many still falling for this stuff. Propaganda is alive and well in the good ole USA.
Politics is the very worst. ALL media uses it to their own biased ends. even YOU use it--whether wittingly or unwittingly.
Still, I am amazed at just how effective it is. Goebbels' certainly did not event propaganda. Progressives shortly after the turn of the century, such as a few of our Presidents. They were such masters of propaganda that they are often cited as having inspired Hitler's best (worst) propaganda.
I see it used hugely by Liberals, but it is also used by Conservatives. This is the first Presidential Election where I personally have seen it used so blatantly and blamelessly. Sure, I am a victim too. I live on this planet.
But it really astonishes me to see long-time friends so vehemently caught-up by such bogus lies. Doesn't anyone try to root out the facts for themselves? Not many. Most Americans search for quasi-information to help them feel better about the things they find most convenient to believe. I do. I try not to, but I still do. Do you?
I both Liked and Shared this photograher's image on Face Book. If you are coming from some other link, you can go to the link above to see it. I don't want to post it here because someone might think I took the picture. I did not. I don't even know this photographer. But he does have some nice images. This feathery flowing water effect is often seen to enhance waterfalls and whitewater streams. It is something that you can dovery easily.
You should use a tripod, but any way you can brace your camera to avoid motion blur from the camera movement. You want to use a low ISO setting as well as a high f/stop if shooting this during full daylight. If you don't have the adjustability to allow a time exposure with your camera you can possibly do it on automatic. It won't hurt to try.
But the whole effect relies on a second or more time exposure to allow the steadied camera to blur the moving water as it flows. The longer you can leave the shutter open, the more fluffy it will appear. However, you will be limited in how long of a time exposure you can use by the brightness of the scene. It does not take long for the water to blur sufficiently for a nice look.
This used to be a lttle dicey when using film. The best method then was to bracket your exposure times and take lots of them. With digital cameras, you can merely look at each frame until you get what you want. Still, I do recommend taking several variant exposures as it will provide more digital data to manipulate within the camera after-exposures controls or within PhotoShop, if you so decide.
This is all there is to it. There are a limited number of ways in which I suggest using controlled motion blur toenhance your cameras, but this is on eof the. If you have no stream readily available to practice on, you can use anything from the bathroom tub water tap to a hose outside. While you are at it, maybe I'll write another post within the next day or so about some other kitchen intrigue to photograph.
A taxi 42nd Street at Times Square in New York as rain falls before hurricane Irene hit. The city was shut down as millions of Americans sought shelter from a huge storm that closed transport systems and caused widespread power blackoutsPhotograph: Peter Jones/Reuters
Manufactured: 1963-65 Lens: Schneider Xenar f/2.8, 38 mm 4-element Shutter: Compur 1/30 - 1/500, B Quantity Made: 158,283+ Original List Price: $94.50 Country of Origin: Germany
This was one of the best cameras made for the 126 format. Its host of features include match-needle exposure setting, scale focusing to 2.5 feet, parallax correction marks in the bright-line finder, and automatic film speed sensing (25 to 800 ASA). Flash provision is by hot shoe and PC connector. The collapsible lens mount accepts 32 mm Retina filters and lens hoods. Cable release and tripod sockets are also provided, as is a depth-of-field indicator. The fit and finish are outstanding.
Famous Model Camera from a historical maker of American film cameras, primarily the during last century. I am still working on this listing. I will provide the blog link that covers the history and working review of this camera. This camera, as with all of my cameras posted here on ebay, are cameras that I have had professional exposure to or experience with, or which occupy an unusual place in photography history; the Kodak 500 is among the latter--as I would never have relied on a 126 Instamatic camera for professional use. My reviews are largely anecdotal in nature, although I do provide additional outside links that I feel are well-founded concerning my cameras. My camera collection was exhibited as the D.Patrick Wright Museum of Cameras at my home in Tennessee. It has now been more than half liquidated as I deal with health issues. I hope to get them all sold soon. I will be listing many others in the near future.
This Camera is considered the best 126 Instamatic format camera that Kodak made. The lens is very sharp and the other controls are as good as they got for this vintage camera. It used a built-in Cds (Cadmium Sulfide) light meter. It was introduced by Kodak in 1970- of my memory serves me correctly. Kodak followed shortly with a SLR version, but the 500 is the model that was most popular. Both models were relatively expensive, which was something of an oxymoron in the world of cartridge film photography. The Instamatic cartridge, first issued in the 126 format was not a very large negative. Nor did the cartridge hold nearly as many frames as did standard 35 mm cameras.
Of course, it was about the same size as the image portion from the 35 mm cameras taking hold during this same era, but keep in mind that even 35 mm cameras were not taken very seriously for quality photography then. The Kodak 500 was taken no more seriously. It's appeal was mostly to quality-conscious amateurs who wanted the ease of operation, but who also wanted a sharp image and proper exposure. The Kodak 500 delievered on this promise very well. However, using their typical tried and proven formula that they had successfully used to sell many cameras and supplies for over a century. They made this fancy camera to fit their own proprietary cartridge, thereby ensuring that they'd be the ones selling the film for the 500. Although the jury may have still been out regarding who would win the war of film formats, for most of us, the writing was on the wall by the late sixties. Kodak's old formula would not win this time.
Only the Rollei SL26 Instamatic Camera boasted better and more expensive features--and it would not come out for a couple of more years. Both of these cameras are must-haves for the serious camera collector. The 500 shown here is very well-designed and made of quality materials. This is Kodak craftsmanship at its finest. The "mod" design was every bit as space-aged as the Apollo spacecrafts that landed on the moon during this same era.
I received this information as follows. If I was ever aware of this, I have forgotten it. Thanks you for your information.
Actually there were at least four 126 SLR cameras. Besides the Rollei SL26, there was the Contaflex 126, Kodak Instamatic Reflex, and a Ricoh 126 SLR. I own one of each; the Rollei is my favorite. LW
I guess I should not say that, but this camera has-over kill for a cage, but little in the cage to talk about. It is not much more than a glorified Brownie.
I have owned several of these types of cameras, but their primetime precedes my professional involvement with them. They were still in wide use when I was a kid. And I have used them occasionally when offered by various newspapers back in the day. Most of what I have learned about these cameras has actually come since I have been a collector. I have had a blast mastering medium and large format cameras, but I can't really say that I fully appreciated them as I could have had I lived a decade or so earlier. The Graflex brand was a mainstay in the photography field for the first half of the last century, when the great news magazines and newspapers were in their glory days. Of course this was a time before television and radio stole the show.
The big Graflex flash units should be mentioned here as well, as they were usually attached to a camera of this kind. The first flash units powerful enough to use for outdoor sports coverage at night, such as football games and stock-car races, were monsters by today's standards. Whether they used flashbulbs or electronic flash tubes, they required a heavy battery carried in a big grey battery pack over the shoulder. I think I developed back problems as a result of lugging these things around. But they worked well and recycled fast. These large flash units, the kind they made the Star-Wars sabers from, were usually attached to a camera--or more correctly I supposed, the camera was attached to the flash unit. It made a nice handle for aiming and steadying the camera.
I used the Graflex flash system routinely with TLR and 35 mm cameras, but only a few times with a Graflex 4x5. As a pair thse products were actually quite well-made for one another and they seemed to balance each others heft out. Both were well thought out. The flash was unrivaled for fast cycle time and output power. But as I have said, the 4x5's were not what I started with.
Many field photographers were beginning to scale down during my formative photographic years. I went the way of most--which was to adopt medium format--then defined as the 6x6 or 6x7 camera varieties. Medium format technically included 4x5, but the leap in negative size as well as equipment size was huge, going from 120 roll film to 4x5 cut film. Negatives larger than 6x7 require a different size condenser for darkroom enlarger (often a different enlarger), a bigger negative carrier, and each sheet of film needs metal frames to soup the halide acetates with. The 4x5 required larger rectangular processing tanks in multiples.
The specific operator handling techniques were also very different when it came to 4x5 equipment, besides the cumbersome size and relatively greater difficulty handling cut film. Film and transparencies were expensive and left little room for mistakes or experimentation on a whim. Their size and weight never put me off. But I tend to prefer large cameras because they often can be held steadier.
Once you familiarize yourself with these cameras, you see that by the time myCrown Graphic came along, Graflex had a tried-and-true formula. The design was brilliant but fairly simple. The evolution of the Crown Graphic came from years of trial and perfection.
One of the most notable design features was the ease with which the long belows slid back into the box. If you've never seen one both ways, it is hard to imagine that this camera with bellows, lens, rail, and rear folding ground glass viewfinder rolls out of that much smaller body. It is unfortunate that in this specific camera from my camera museum, that someone has mishandled it and bent the linkage to where it no longer engages as it could. It works, but it IS broken.
This defect is easily enough fixed. I would straighten and reinforce with a drop of solder to each pick-up (pictured where I am pointing to it in one of these images) for functionality, but the next owner may be picker about this, so I'll leave it as it. I also tend to be a perfectionist, but this is one of my second-round back-ups to my collection I had early-on. [This is often the way a collection is aquired; you find the best example of a particular camera of interest at a fair price and latch hold of it. Then you are always on the look-out for an even morepristine example if you find one at the right price. This one was good enough, but fifteen years ago they were all over the place. I actually paid more for this camera than I will ever exect to get out of it--although I could have found one five years ago for a better price. Although still very much availabe, the price of these cameras reflects their increasing popularity as collectables.]For full restoration, some collectors will prefer to find the correct parts. These parts can still be ordered from a number of places listedat thebottom of this post. There are also abundant supplies of parts available for this camera all over the Internet that have been stripped from junked cameras. If one is patient, she might hobble one together out of junked parts for a bit of nothing. This is not the preferred method for a collectable, but is okay for just a fun user.
These old-timers are large enough and simple enough that the old adage I have been known to repeat regarding fools and repairing cameras really does not apply, although one must take care when messing with the lenses. Even the lenses are not so intimidating if good sense and gentle hands are used. The expectation during vintage photography days gone by was for any good field photographer to be half mechanic anyway. Professionals, knowing that their livlihoods depended upon a no excuses approach to capturing every available shot, would often carry replacement parts in the event that his camera cratered in the field. However, for this very reason, these industiral-grade cameras could take a lot of hard use or a major accident to crater a Graflex 4x5 of this vintage. [Today, the same formula for getting the shot should be observed, except instead of carrying extra parts, you should carry extra cameras and whatever other gear you need. I have always taught, two of everything and three of some things.] Getting run over by a linebacker while photographing from the sidelines could then and still will crater both the camera and the hotographer. (It happened. It still does. But if it happens more than once to the same person, he/she is regarded as a slow learner.)
Sometimes standard habits that make sense out there on the job--like using duct/duck tape (It was originally developed for the armed forces and was called "duck-tape" because it was waterproof, but smart people used it for virtually everything including central AC ducts. Here in the South we can fix ANYTHING with WD-40 and duck/tape orit ain't worth fixin a-tall .) This measure, no doubt provided an extra measure of security from having the box open and the bellows with lens fom falling out and getting mangled. I have never had a problem of this kind, but I've seen enough taped-up doors on this style of cameras to know that it was a frequent fear at least. Unfortunately the mar to this otherwise fine specimen may be permanent )I actually don't think it is however).
Permanent is a misnomer to those who restore cameras. Some collectors would appreciate this battle-scar as an example of the real thing. Others would fix it. I have removed a number of these kinds of blemishes from various leather-bound cameras by using solvents such as acetone (even carbon-tet, as this camera has zero plastic parts.There is a product that has been around for decades now called Goof-Off that comes in a can like like cigarette lighter fluid used too (I don't know if lighter-fluid is still available like that, so this may be a vintage reference as well, but if it does, lighter fluid might work too.) Goof-Off removed chewing gum, various greasy residues and other such stuff. It has also removed tape residue in every case I recall.
For that matter, I can't readily tell if this is actual tape residue or if the tape has actually removed some of the finish off of the black leather. The leather feels uniform on this area--so who knows. It would also be dyed with leather dye if this is the case. This kind of leather is treated to become harder with age as opposed to brittle, so there is a good chance that the blemish is just tape residue. At any rate, it can be fixed one way or another. Otherwise than this place, the leather is in remarkable shape on this camera. The bellows are perfect still.
The camera comes with an add-on length of focus rail for the purpose of accommodating different focal length lenses. You release the bellows rail lock and slide it into position for a given lens, and then lock it back securely. The inside piece of rail is designed to be removed easily enough by the user if it is not desired. This camera has the "normal" lens with it, but you can find others on-line quite easily.
The viewfinder was not made by Graflex. There was a long-standing relationship between the finder maker and a number of vintage camera manufacturers. They had both the best/most cost-effect solution to the need for a split-image rangefinder focusing mechanism as well as a patent. There are other makes of finders that you could upgrade too if you so desired. But this one is considered good and it still works. Graflex played with top-mounted finders for a few years but decided that this side-mount finder was the best.
Paint does not usually come off of Graflex cameras. You can see that this rangefinder, which is NOT a Graflex product, has lost a lot of cosmetic surface paint.
I have long held that this was intentionally designed to promote paint wear with use--much as the Nikons, Leicas, and Canons of the film camera days were designed to around strategic use areas. This was regarded in all cases as a sort of seasoned pro's badge of honor and for this it was a desirable thing. I don't know the reality of this in the case of the Graflex or if it arose from a smart salesman turning a design flaw into a positive.
In any case, most of these rangefinders are found this way. The residual paint is easily removed and a good black enamel can be applied to restore it as good as new. Personally, I am of the school of collectors who tens to like old things to look authentically old. This Graflex is in good enough shape that a good wipe-down is all it needs cosmetically for a collection. I believe that I am correct in saying that "as is" is more valuable too. However, this is not a rare Leica. I see these cameras way over-priced on ebay. I also see them not selling until the price is reduced.
This camera means a lot to me, although it is not one of my favorites. I never got too much into folding field cameras as I have explained. But this iks a good one. the lens, as you can see in the pictures, is cean, clar and it is a very sharp agorythm lens of the kind seldom found today. You may have to play with filters when using it for color pictures. It is assured to provide razor sharp images and even a desirable bokeh, as it were. But the lenses were designed for black and white news photography. Not correct color rendition.
If you get a camera like this that uses cut-film, make sure that you understand how the film-holders work. They are designed to be used with minimal handling and the fewest steps. Sometimes they will out-think you if you are not aware of how they work. Also, if you try black and white cut film, I warn you--you are dangerously close to investing into an entire vinatge black and white 4x5 capable darkroom. It truely is a lot of fun though for those so-minded. It certainly served me well.
April 6, 2011 – In today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, Nick Wingfield, features GoPro in his story on the company’s rise and adoption by the professional production market. The featured photo in the article is that of Dan Moore, a GoPro customer and previous “Photo of the Day” winner!
Camcorder Popular With Surfers Looks to Ride Professional Market
April 6, 2011
By NICK WINGFIELD
Even as cellphones put video cameras into pockets everywhere, one company is seeing brisk sales of a rugged video camera that turns ordinary people into the stars of their own self-shot action movies.
GoPro’s trick: a collection of mounts that allow its inexpensive cameras to be attached to everything from the tips of surfboards to ski helmets. The cameras have also started winning converts among professional cameramen, who have used the gadgets to burrow into cobra dens and shoot the insides of shark’s mouths for television nature shows.
Now GoPro’s closely held parent company, Woodman Labs Inc., is receiving its first round of funding from outside investors, including Steamboat Ventures, a venture capital fund backed by Walt Disney Co. GoPro declined to disclose the size of the investment.
GoPro is part of a category of products known as pocket camcorders that is thriving despite the prevalence of video cameras inside devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone. The simple-to-operate cameras are more portable than traditional camcorders but lack many of their bells-and-whistles, like powerful zoom lenses.
In 2009, sales of all pocket camcorders were just over $2 billion world-wide, growing 21% in unit sales to 13.6 million in 2010 from the prior year, according to research firm
I know absolutely nothing about this company or its services. I know it is one of many that I have seen advertised. I book-marked this one some time ago as possible blog content when I ran across it while surfing for anther subject. I have intended to get back to regular posts regarding both Vintage Cameras and How-To/Gallery content. I have forever been updating my website, which I have maintained since before most people knew what websites were.
You may or may not know that I have hada series of health problems that have had me virtually out of commision for the most part for a couple of years. My vintage camera photos barely even qualify as snap-shots, but i have been systematically "snapping them" for my vintage camera posts as I have had time to list my huge collection for sale individually on eBay. I stil have a good half of them left.
I also have comparison photo examples for comparable vintage cameras which I have mostly shot, but have not yet processed and developed. I can do this in a couple of days when I feel well-enough to do so. And I am getting there, slowly but slowly. I truly expect to back on these projects very soon. I am gratified that those vintage camera posts still get a lot of hits and are apparently meanngful to a niche of people out there.
For future reference, my website is www.wrightplace.com, but don't bother going their yet, as I have the entry page frozen without any links until I get my galleries and other facets in order once again.
Austrian Super Circuit - Competition based in Hasselblad, Austria. Includes a list of previous contest winners, photos of previous top winners and contact information.
Black River Publishing - Annual outdoor photo competition with a $1,000 first prize and winning images published in a national calendar.
CDS Awards - Information on the Honickman First Book Prize in Photography, Dorothea Lange–Paul Taylor Prize, CDS Filmmaker Award, and the John Hope Franklin Student Documentary Awards.
Go to this link for a list of a bunch of photography contests. I used to enter, and sometimes win photography contests, when I was much younger. I gues I have become far less teachable.
I have my style(s) which I continue to develop. I have proven myself in the real world of buyers, which is the ultimate vote, in a variety of categories. It is too much for my pride to take to have some wannabe critique my photos now. It just makes me want to beat them up, but I can't even do that anymore. But to each his own
During the sixties, I observed and read about medium format press cameras. Although I never felt that it was a good choice for me during those early days, primarily due to fairly hefty prices, I was well aware of them, and would have liked to have had one. Larger format press cameras had been around for a long time, I even used a Crown Graphic 4x5 camera at some point. Graflex was one of the big names in photography; they made a 6x7 Press camera too.
I am not sure if I owned that 4x5 press camera, or if it belonged to the local newspaper or some employee there. Maybe I did own it. It was a long time ago and I am often amazed at how much detail I can pull out of these old crevices between my ears. But the details are definitely getting a bit foggy now.
Two Camera Company's offering very similar camera designs particularly caught my attention back then. I wasn't too far along in my career before I did find justification for both models of these cameras. I don't think I realized the close relationship that Mamiya and Simon-Omega cameras shared. They looked and functioned a lot alike, but that's really where their early offering split.
Koni-Omega Rapid Press Camera Vs. Mamiya Super 23
The year I was born, one of these early camera designs was born. It was the Omega Press Camera. The company behind it was Simon Brothers, an American Company known for their line of Omega photographic products. They had had an exclusive supply arrangement with the military during WWII, for their simple, reliable design for combat cameras. It was called the Omega Combat Camera. The company also produced an excellent line of photographic enlargers during those days. All of these products used excellent Wollensak lenses, produced in New york.
That first Omega Press Camera was derived from the Combat Camera Simon Brothers company was so famous for, as used by all of the US Armed forces. The basic design of the Press cameras was not much different. It was a rangefinder camera which used 120 film to image 6x7 cm negatives. It was a pretty serious two-hands full, but actually, a fairly manageble camera.
Eight years later Simon Omega company had been bought-out by Konica, a very old and successful Japanese Camera Company, known early for their excellent Lieca-like 35 mm rangefinder cameras, and their very fine Hexanon lenses. I still have a Konica II which is in remarkably good shape. It takes great pictures. I've several Konica 35 mm cameras of later vintage since then. In fact, Konica has been one of the main-stay graphics company that has seemed to shadow my career.
Most recently, Konica, having merged with another great vintage camera company, offered some of the first digital cameras under the name of Konica-Minolta. But finally the company bailed out of the camera business in 2005, or thereabouts
Under the label of Konica-Minolta,this company is still among the very most aggressive surviving graphics and business copier builders, and their connected laser printers are second to none. It's odd how things go full-circle sometimes. My second son, was voted employee-of-the-year for his superior sales achievement during Konica-Minolta's 2007-2008 fiscal year.
The 6x7 press cameras of this vintage that I know best are the various Koni-Omega Rapidcameras. I had already started selling off pieces of my camera collection when I had the idea, bright or otherwise, to document here all the cameras I had ever owned and used. But I do still have one complete functional Koni-Omega Rapid press camera left.
At this time an d even during the fifties, German Camera Companies were pairing with Japanese companies to produce a variety of cooperative products. In the case of Koni-Omega, it was a cooperative effort between an American Company and Japanese company that perpetuated the original Simon Brothers design.
Read more about this phenomenon at my post at this link:
I grew to love these cameras for what they can do best--make big 6x7 negatives using extremely good optics--with a minimum of expense and difficulty, now. Because, there is a fairly high demand for these cult cameras. They have their admirers, and I have long been one of them. The early design is really quite remarkable and I like these better than the early Mamiya competitor--the Standard 23 Press camera.
The design of the Koni-Omega Rapid Press Camera had already gone through an evolution, ever since WWII, when they came out in fifty-seven. The product was well thought out and remarkably easy to use, with changeable backs and lenses of superb optical qualities--whether bearing the label Omega or Hexenon (Konica). The lenses could be changed faster than most SLR's. The ingenious rapid-wind mechanism, which oddly, has never been employed in cameras before or since (that I am aware of), allowed quick sequences even for the big format camera.
I recently read from one of the popular vintage camera review webs, the pros and cons of the Koni-Omega Rapid. A subjective user observation was the the reviewer on the web site regarding the seeming lack of anything to hold ontoon the users right hand side of the Koni-Omega Rapid. I just happened to note that the user/reviewer was a Japanese female. I am intending nothing either racist nor sexist, but I also considered that these factors may have affected her analysis; I am merely supposing that her frame and hands may be somewhat slighter than American male hands, for which the original camera upon which it was based was intended.
I also would like to point out for those with similar feelings regarding the lack of convenient handles on the Rapid--that it was almost always paired with a large flash-bracket. The default flash that we used during those vintage years was the G, mounted by way of a Graflex quick-release mechanism onto the flash handle;these flash units or strobes, as we incorrectly called them, were known for their large chrome tubular handles. Some models used four D-size batteries inside the tubular handle.
My point for mentioning this is that the flash tube served as the right-hand handle by design. I recommend for users of these vintage cameras today, acquiring one of the old flash units, keeping the quick-release clamps, after discarding the flash head, to serve as a handle for the Konica-Omega Rapid Press Camera. BTW, the camera, by the time the Rapid original model came out, was not really a press camera per se. This is what they were originally used for, but news photographers had long since opted for the smaller 120 TLR or SLR and even 35 mm designs.
The Koni-Omega Rapid Press Cameraquickly evolved through a series of additional fast and liberating changes. Each models that came out at the rate of every year or two offered useful new features.The camera became a system, with interchangeable backs, and with backs, even formats could be changed, 6x7, 6x6, 6x9, cut film, Polaroid film. Shutter-release-weilding handles for easier . . . well . . . handling.
A contingent of fine lenses for various fields of view and focus, and close up rings, greatly increased the appeal far beyond what the camera was first intended for. The camera now appealed to everyone from magazine and advertising photographers--owing to its superb lenses and sufficiently large format for such purposes.
When the evolution had almost ripened, starting with the Konica-Omega 200, my old friend Mamiya, whose line of competing cameras had been paralleling the Konica-Omega for some time, began producing the lenses for this line. Mamiya was already a major player in this medium format, so-called Press Camera market.
Mamiya Press Cameras
As mentioned earlier, the Mamiya Press Camera, and its evolving models had been on my mind and awareness from the earliest days of serious involvement in photography--beginning in the late sixties. It wasn't until much later that I owned any of these Mamiya version of the press camera models. I do feel that early-on the Konica-Omega Rapidmodels were clearly more manageable than were the Mamiya equivalents. But this changed.
Mamiya had two mainstay models of the Press camera from the sixties, the Mamiya Standard 23, and the Mamiya Universal 23 Cameras. Although much the same as the Standard, the sister Universal 23 camera was designed to not only change backs, but allowed an adapter to accept many other competitive backs, and other accessories including a ground glass. A short bellows, moving uniquely toward the back, also enabled tilts to adjust the film plane to straighten lines of perspective. This was great for architectural and advertising applications. It works something like a mini-view camera. The moving back belows also enabled macro photography because the unique back bellows feature would shrink the subject by half. If you are familiar with Mamiya's first camera design, the Mamiya Six (of old) used a similar bellows concept.
The Mamiya Super 23 Camera was an Apex in Full-use Camera Design
Two revolving keys on the back of the body allow for the attachment or removal of roll-film holders and other attachments. The four knobs on the sides of the camera are what make the Super 23 so unique. Loosening these knobs allows you to extend the bellows back mount 13/16” and then apply up to 15Þ of swing or tilt for perspective correction or depth of field control making the Super 23 something of a mini-view camera. The additional back extension was also useful when shooting close-ups as it provided an ability to get just under 1/2 life size with the standard 100mm lens.
The Lenses Mamiya offered a wider range of lenses for the Super 23 than any of the competitive systems. Ten different lenses in eight different focal lengths were available to Mamiya users, all rangefinder coupled in helical focusing mounts. The lenses used the reliable Seikosha #0 shutter and provided for flash sync at all speeds.
Among the functioning cameras in my collection, I have both a Mamiya 23 Standard, and a Koni-Omega Rapid--which I will soon show pictures of and taken by, within this post. I will now make a recommendation for what I consider one of the best uses for these old classic cameras is today, aside from merely indulging in the wanderlust of going vintage. And there certainly IS that.
Because of the exceptional acuteness of these lenses--especially the wide-angle lenses, paired with the capapability to take 6x7 and 6x9 backs imaging on roll film--these cameras make very good landscape and scenic cameras. They are more portable view cameras--which are considered the ultimate in image quality for scenics for use in magazines, displays, wall-hangings owing mainly to the 4x5 and larger film that can be used. But photographers who desire to access the best scenery in the world, may need to backpack out among the birds and the bears and the trapping of wilderness. While these just-discussed cameras are not the smallest cameras, they are smaller that 4x5 view cameras.
Note: Although we are not going to review the newer vintage Mamiya medium-format rangefinder cameras, I will say that one of these models--namely, the Mamiya 6, Mamiya 7, and Mamiya 7II cameras are known to be the very best cameras for Landscape Photography.
I own an early Mamiya Standard 23. Had I not been initially used to the Omega Rapid model, I would have little to want for in this model. I retained one of this basic model because I found that someone had done the thinking that I had not yet gotten around to, of using the Standard 23to make a 6x12 camera for scenics. I bought the plans for ten bucks from eBay.
I even have a design for converting one of these bodies to accept a homemade 6x12 film back, using 120 roll-film and the wide 75 mm lens on the one hand, or the 58/60mm wide lens on the otherhand. BTW, as alluded to earlier, my understanding is, that the Omegon-labeled 58mm lens and the Konica Hexanon 60 mm lens, are in fact, the exact same lens. These are highly sought after lenses.
Oddly, on eBay they often bring a higher price when told singularly than as an entire kit containing the lens and a whole camera system. I guess you just have to know what to look for. Some people may be looking for the lens for another camera, or project camera they are building or modifying--never realizing what camera the lenses were made in the first place.
(Continue to the next post to learn more about the Mamiya RB 67 Camera System.)
This is a product review that I wrote for eBay, but didn't have room to complete. I have since updated and expanded it somewhat.
The Haselblad 500C (the model 500CM is merely a slightly updated version of this camera), was the first successful 6x6 negative camera Single Lens Reflex System Camera ever devised that used leaf Compur shutter, synchonizing shutter with electronic flash at all shutter speeds. From the onset,It was intended to fill a void that Victor Hasselblad and company saw in the camera market during the late fifties the last century.It was also intended to be quite simply, "the best Camera ever produced".
Many photographers would agree that 500C achieved this goal. It changed photography forever. It was also the clear choice of the astronuats and the 500C as well as subsequent models were used during the Appolo Moon Mission. An electricly-driven model, and another sister model was even used on the moon's surface itself.=The things I like most about the Hasselblad 500C are as follows:1)It was engineered by Hasselblad, with the help of the famous car makers at Porche, to be very ergonomic.In my hands,it has always felt very natural, with all the controls falling exactly in place, or within easy reach. For those who may feel differently, I submit that they may not be using it as intended.
For so many things times have changed greatly since 1958, but most of the mechanics of film cameras are still the same. However some of the routine techniques used then, have been lost on later generations.
2) The camera, as a system, allows the user to select from a vast array of lenses, backs, film formats, finders, filters, lens-shades, adapters, releases, and assessories designed to fill virtually any need.
Although relatively expensive, the 500C can even be fitted with a digital back to become one of the finest digital cameras available). You'll find that many of these lenses still sell for a premium. With adapters widely available to make manual use of these superior optics with virtually any advance model of any major make of new digital cameras.
Using your digital camera iun the manual mode should be something that every serious photographer knows how to do. It's more than a drill in the use of historical film cameras. It opens a wide range of control over your new camera, which tries very hard to anticipate your needs and allow for them. New digital SLR's are designed to satisfy as many needs a possible in the Auto mode. Anyt one who can aim a camera and push a button can get decent photographs in the Auto mode.
Next, the new digital cameras allow, for those who are willing to take the time to read their camera's Operation Manual for a half hour or more (or who already understands and knows how to use the concepts represented by the Preset Icons, and actually try each pre-set function to visually compare the results against the same subject with the picture taken on Auto, can gain a lot more versatility toward making better photographs.
And for those who are willing to become serious students of photography and to learn how to both use their cameras manually AND how to understand and use all of the new digital functions on a camera are in photographic heaven! This is why I am adamant with all of my students that they should early-on learn to use a manual camera. this is actually best done with a vintage film camera, which was designed ONLY to be used manually, because that's the only way they could be used.
Before I return directly to the 500C specifically as an excellent choice when selecting a vintage manual film camera for the historical education and cllector value, for the benefit of learning how to use a manual camera, AND for the actual final delivery of some of the best photographs technically achievable, let me quickly relate how this process of using a hi-bred manual/digital features skill set can enhance their flexibiliity to the max.
I immediately see that I need to make a new and sperate post from the beginnings of the next paragraph or two that I am now going to relate now: but that will come later, and this is for now:
Without sounding either too dramatic or too boring, "Let's Take an Enlightened Photographic Walk Through the park", with an advanced new digital SLR camera , taking pictures of this and that, in order to show how the hi-bred knowledge of manual and digital features can work in helping us, "Convert the Mundane, into The Sublime", or "How to find precious Photographic Gems, Literally in our Backyards". There--now have three new posts to add to this Weblog soon. I can't do this justise in a couple of paragraphs, so when I write these new blog posts, I will fill the links in here.
For now, may it suffice to know that I did this very exercise yesterday just for grins, without planning on writing about it, and I am even more excited than ever about both conveying this information to you, and the actual process of the Hi-bred approach which you can and should learn. The Hasselblad 500C provides among the best ways to learn this, AND you can adapt the lenses for it to your new cameras, using them manually, by simply purchasing adapters to attach these superb glass optics to your new camera bodies.
[Links to be added. As this part is an updated and expanded older post written for eBay--I promise (Today's date 1/25/2011)--to write this series of posts above referenced within the next fw days.]
Now on the used market, in a new generation of fewer vintage-camera-informed digital camera buyers, it is not always immediately apparent that these prices are turly outstandling bargains, at a fraction of their original prices, especially with inflation allowed for. This camera was once beyound the financial means of many if not most photograpehrs. There were reasons for this. It was worth it then, and it is worth it now.
The 500C, as it is came from the factory used a medium format 6x6 (2-1/4 inch square) medium format negative.This format, much misunderstood today, provided the real "ideal format", because cropping could be done within the viewfinder either horizontally, or verticaloly, or left square, without having to turn the camera sideways. Then the cropping was done in the lab or darkroom. Today it is done in the computer software.
4) Single Lens Reflex cameras have become very much the norm today, but at the time the 500C was made, SLR's were just coming into their own. In the larger (than 35 mm) format they were virtually
unheard of. This provided a highly-enlargable negative that totally out-classed the 35 mm format. It still does today for big enlargements. This was largely due to the technological and economical limits of technology at the time.
So a Single Lens Reflex, with a Leaf Shutter resident in each lens, in medium format caused about as much stir as did America's answer to the Russia Sputnik space satellite: that 500C is the TELSTAR! But unlike the Telstar, we BEAT the USSR on this. These were parallell historical events of the time. Let me be clear when I say WE, I mean the free world as the 500C originated in Sweden and is one of Sweden's and the Free World's finest moments during the Cold War.
The Telstar inspired the Ventures electric guitar led hit of the time--heard all over the world. The 500C camera inspired phographers to greater heights of creative photography all over the world. Yes, it really WAS that big a deal.
In truth, one is very hard-pressed to get as good an image made from a digital camera of "standard" sizes today, as one gets by using good modern films, processing, and quality digital scanning.
5) SLR cameras also enable the user to see exactly what is seen through the viewfinder, and therefore exactly what will transfer to the film, right up to the moment that the mirror blacks out the image for the length of the exposure, as with any SLR . This is an advantage over rangefinder or electronic display cameras. [with the recent advent of the new Digital Sony Alpha 55? and 35? this problem has been overcome. AND THIS IS ALSO A REALLY BIFG DEAL!]
6) The camera can take a variety of different film sizes by simply changing the backs, including digital, and/or Polaroid-type instant picture films.
7) The large negatives can be more easily seen on a light-table or even just held up to the light, in order to quickly select for final images for scanning. Even at this late time in the process, there is more image to choose from for an ideal crop, if it is cropped at all.8)In my opinion, there are no finer optics than those made for the Haselblad camera (out of room) try here for nuetral non-ad on the 500C: Jump to here for more:
Duke was on my most willing subject during the summer of '68. His photo was taken with Sears 125 ASA (ISO) B&W film in 1967. I used a Yashica 44 LM TLR.
I was fifteen years old and having a good summer. I had a physically demanding construction job building a golf course at a nearby country club. The work was hard, the summer hot. My skin and hands stayed blistered, but I was pleased to have money. I was under-paid but didn't know it, nor did I care. It was more money, off the books, than most kids made. It fueled my several hobbies.
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Actual photographs taken on the surface of the moon with a Hasselblad camera, which inspired the similarities seen in the design of the EL/M Ten-Year Commemorative Models, have been seen the world over.
"Something I was not fully aware of when I bought my EL/M is that this camera is the highly collectible '10 years on the Moon' anniversary model which has been produced from 1979 to 1980. Of course I knew it to be a special version but since only 1500 of them were built, it's very special indeed. My camera has the number 0549 and came in its original box with the original booklet. The camera itself is very much the same as the standard EL/M but has a different front on the motor part und the lens. It includes a stylished picture of the moon and has the special edition number engraved. Original price in 1979 was 4500 Deutsche Mark. But even though this item is highly collectable, it was bought by me to be used, not to spend its life as a show piece in a glass box."
Too young to drive, I was still precocious enough to save 300 bucks and buy a 1963 baby-blue Ford Falcon sedan with home-made red pin-stripes. It was nice except for the stupid stripes. I took dozens of pictures of my car, and of my willing beagle-hound, and of garden vegetables, and golfers and girls at the pool adjoining the golf course where I worked. I quickly learned that the camera (given showing up later with good prints a few times) transformed an undesirably grimy construction kid, sunburned in all the wrong places, into a teenie-bopper magnet.
Dad had allowed me to use and eventually stake permanent claim on my first decent camera. It was a Yashica 44 LM he had acquired toward the waning days of his photography interest; he got it to take color scenic 127 "super-slides" with while we were still in Alaska. Even so, it was better than 35 for most things.
I was allowed to drive the couple and half rural miles to and from work without a license. I took liberties with the arrangement until Dad found out. Although he was unhappy with me, he couldn't stay too stern when I invited him to play golf for free the following week-end on the finished holes of the new course--that and the pool were good perks.
I learned for the first time, that my ever-modest dad was a scratch golfer and I should have learned more technique from him. But I spent most of my time and money on photography equipment and cheap Sears film (Ilford, I think, and very good at that). Dad was also an excellent photographer, and he taught me a lot. I quickly soaked up all he took time to offer.
My two brothers were in Viet Nam. I thought little about going myself, although I just assumed that if I did it would be living a dream doing combat photography. The war was not popular, but you wouldn't have guessed it in our small Southern town. Nor would you have guessed that latent sexuality had been liberated, poetically dubbed "free love" by the free-press(The Pill was legal and AIDS had not been invented yet.) Laugh-In was a big TV hit. Goldie Hawn dancing in a bikini and body paint was the main attraction for to me. The age of micro-skirts was grand, but you became immune after a while. They photographed well.
Music was acid. Politics was politic. But the whole world stopped on July 20, 1969, to witness Apollo 11 land on the surface of the moon. Neil Armstrong took one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Armstrong, Collins, mand Aldrin were everyone's best heroes. The world was not yet cynical enough to invent landing fraud conspiracy stories. Had they been, I was still enough boy-scientist to explain that the signals received on my home-made short-wave radio easily confirmed the event beyound doubt, by calculating speed of RF waves (as well as by the triangulation of signals by other hams--to calculate location, but which also afirmed distance by default. My log books show the calculations).
Who would want to steal this great moment in history, anyway? Certainly, only those who didn't experience it firsthand.
I wept when I learned that the Hasselblad cameras used to take those wonderful moon photos, had been left there on the surface of the moon. I still occasionally pause to think how I might retrieve them. The following spring, I would land a job as a flunky for a cool-creative-photographer-hero-role-model. HE had a Hasselblad--the first one I was ever allowed to use. I did so reverently.
It would be several years before I owned my own Hasselblad camera, and a few more before I had my own ten-year anniversary edition of the famous "Moon Camera" dubbed the EL/M. There were only a thousand made in silver trim (500 in black). The motor-drive has a small gold emblem of the moon, against the gray finish. It looks very much like the ones first used during the Apollo 11 Mission, except for the finish. The actual moon cameras had a special reflective surface designed deflect rays that could have added heat and contributed to unwanted solar lens flares--such as the one in the fifth picture below, intentionally induced for effect and to illustrate this phenomenon. Such a finish would not wear well for everyday use. The serial number of mine is 0301 of 1000.
Here are a few images of MY moon camera. Notice the similarities to the actual EL/M camera left on the moon, which is also pictured below. The differences are [mostly cosmetic] ;the design of my camera was clearly inspired by the original. The finder is very low profile--a small "Sport-finder" mounted where the flash accessory mount usually is, and the dark-slide is oversized to accomodate the heavy space gloves. I have a Hasselblad sport-finder attachment, which works the same way and I have considered making an over-sized darkslide handle for cold weather gloved use.
A distinctive, though supprisingly unpretentious gold emblem and serial number plate, marks each of the rare Ten-year Moon-landing Annaversay Edition of the Hasselblad EL/M . You find this on the front of the drive just below the lens mount.
Mine was/is a working camera, but it is/was generally cared for better than it's owner. My joy, yeah, and my pride. Today it still resonates a tangible energy in my hands. That same reverence, multiplied by history.
As the flag-ship in what remains of my world-class vintage camera collection outlasts me, I will unflinchingly pass the legacy on to one who appreciates all ... some...of what my old hassie represents. Someone who snorts at the conspiracy crowd, "They've too much time on their hands, lacking brains". Someone who knows the diff between film grain and 0101010101010101, even with 16.7 million colors--or more with RAW. We can see the difference, as we can hear it in vacuum tubes. Or can we?
Original Ten Year Anniversary models EL/M included special packaging, a gold(ish)-covered Moon Picture Book, a gold-plated dark slide, as well as a heavy bronze token, as pictured below, compliments of moon-camera original owner Glenn Nakamichi [email protected]>. I am told that not all of the 1500 1979 Editions came with these tokens. I at first suspected that they were separated by those having the opportunity, before they reached the retail customer, but Glenn explained that it was provided after-market, as an incentive for registering the camera. It was then mailed to the owner. This token is awesome, and quite rare. I didn't even know these existed until Glenn sent me the pix. I think he had forgotten about it himself for about thirty years. Nice touch.
Maybe even someone who knows a bit about fine glass algorithms and the finest mechanical engineering. Knows what a slide rule is, and maybe even how to use one. Perhaps someone who still turns the pages of Shakespeare's Greatest Works, without thinking such a man never really existed. Someone who believes that Men really did walk on the moon one fine summer day.
I now stand advised to have my affairs in order. My kids have no interest in vintage cameras. My wife has no need, nor even a guess of their values. Therefore I have been divesting myself of all such belongings. You can catch what's left on eBay.
Please note that I have a large number of photographic images that I have make available exclusively for use at no-charge without restrictions other than a proper credit byline. This gallery includes some of my most recent photographs. These images are both copyrighted and discretely watermarked. They may not be reproduced in any form for any purpose without my express written permission. A nominal fee may be charged for using these photographs for any purpose, commercial or otherwise; however, I often authorize and encourage their use for noncommercial purposes at no charge--for merely adding my credit or formal byline as my own form of advertisement.
Until automatic ordering is in place, please email me with your request for written permission and/or prices for using these images. Include your Company or Personal Name under which images will be used and a brief but full description of how you wish to use photograph(s)--listed by the image number. If you are in need of a particularly themed photograph, please contact me with a description of your needs, as I have several million photographs that remain unlisted and unpublished.
Please DO ask for my very reasonable prices and send special requests for photographs to meet your needs. I also have Themed Posters and LTD Edition and Original Images (Includes Negative and/or Only Digital File), and One-of-a-Kind Photographs available for Collectors. Regards, D. Patrick Wright
