A barely recognizable night shot from back in the mid-to-late 60s. Converted from color to monochrome in Photoshop. Shot from up in the spectator stands on the west side of the track.
I’ve started posting my shots from Fremont Drag Strip on Instagram > @fremontdragstrip
I was around 15-16 years old when I took these pictures. I’ve shared them in a number of places on the web already, but not Instagram.
I was given this old Argus Autronic I by a friend, who tells me it belonged to to his dad.
It was produced between 1962-65. 50mm ƒ/2.8. For a 35mm camera it is huge. And it’s pretty heavy, weighing in at 2.77 lbs, including the fan-flash, half-case, and strap.
He also gave me the original manual, a bit tattered but intact.
First thing I did was open up the back, crank the film advance and checked to see of the shutter opened. It didn’t. I tried a few more times, could see the the shutter leaves moving, but no light was coming through. Bummer.
I’m gonna make a wooden stand for it, counter-sink a hole on the top of the stand to accomodate the case knob – so the camera sits flatly on top of the stand – and another hole on the bottom of the stand for a short 1/4-20 bolt/washer to secure it.
I’m thinking I’ll decopage/collage the manual pages to the stand and glue a chunk of felt to the bottom.
It’d be cool to find an old, unused M-base flash bulb, as I’d want to open up the fan-flash while on display and having a bulb in it would be a nice touch. I’ll check eBay.
Very cool.
It was quite the experience.
I enjoyed every aspect.
It got me out with film cameras, new and old.
I tried a film new to me.
My skill at loading 35mm and 120 film on the Paterson reels continues to improve.
Developing with D76 yielded excellent results.
I found a groove every week.
Looking through Twitter at the #fp4party hashtag for the past 7 days to see what other party-goers posted was a treat.
Followed some new folks, gained a few followers on Twitter, IG, and Flickr.
Thanks to the FP4 Party hosts.
Here are my 7 submissions, last-to-first…
The gate
Georgetown, TX
Saturday, March 7, 2020
ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 7
Sprinkles
Georgetown, TX
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 6
Used cars
Thorndale, TX
Friday, March 6, 2020
Hasselblad 500c/m, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 5
Bridge to nowhere
Georgetown, TX
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 4
The bucket
Round Rock, TX
Monday, March 2, 2020
Hasselblad 500c/m, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 3
9 right
Georgetown, TX
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Smena 8M, FP4+ 35mm, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 2
Mid-century modern emptiness
Taylor, TX
Friday March 6, 2020
ONDU 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, FP4+ 120, D76
FP4 Party Post Week, Day 1
This was my first time out with the Smena. It’s a quirky little Russian camera. Plastic. Toy-like, if not for the fact that it has apertures and shutter speeds and a cocking shutter.
I put gaffer tape over the seams on the lid to the film compartment just in case of light leaks. The viewfinder is pretty close to useless.
Results…
– 27 shots out of a 24 shot roll. Cool.
– 1 accidental double exposure.
– A few underexposed, a few overexposed.
– A handful of not perfectly exposed.
– Bunches not quite framed up the way I’d intended.
Can’t really tell about focus, but there are probably a few keepers, and I’ll know which to submit next week once I run them through the scanner.
Tomorrow.
This is an iPhone shot of the negs, cut and slipped into a negative preserver, placed on an LED light pad, inverted in Photoshop.
Today I’ll tackle the 120 film development.
Three cameras, loaded and ready for FP4 Plus Party. Starting tomorrow.
I may add one more, the tiny Olympus Stylus Epic.
I have a few shots in mind, but mostly I’ll just try to get out as many days as I can and shoot up all these frames… 6 in the Ondu pinhole, 12 in the Hassy, 24 in the Smena 8M.
42 frames over 7 days. Averages out to 6 shots per day.
Should be interesting.
This’ll be my first FP4 Plus Party, and in more ways than one – I’ve not used the film before.
The plan: 6 shots in the Ondu 6×12 Multiformat pinhole, 12 shots in the Hasselblad 500c/m, 24 shots in the Smena 8M.
I’ll need to mix up a fresh batch of D76.
It seems this is primarily a Twitter thing, but I’ll post a few scans here and eventually post a few faves on @dogbonesoup, too.
March 2-8: shoot week
March 9-15: dev/scan week
March 16-22: post week
March 23-29: lamentation week
Should be fun.
This little guy arrived in the mail last week. It’s a Smena 8M. A Russian viewfinder camera.
An eBay purchase, it’s New Old Stock. Seriously. The box that showed up in the mail was sealed and unopened. They were manufactured from 1952 until the late 80s, but a little internet research reveals this one’s likely closer to the late 80s.
To call this thing quirky would be an understatement.
Full manual. 35mm. No battery. The shutter needs to be cocked before each shot.
The aperture ring – ƒ/16 to ƒ/4 – is inconvenient as hell, and loading and unloading film will be interesting because the rewind is a smaller-than-a-dime button with a serrated edge on top of the camera. No crank. The film take-up spool is loose.
It has shutter speeds from 1/8 to 1/250 second, or one can go by sunny to cloudy icons at the top of the lens barrel.
There are videos aplenty on YouTube, if you’re the curious type.
So, besides the Smena 8M, I’m down to about 20 cameras to document:
It’ll take a while to go through them all since they’re mostly old film cameras, but it’ll give me a chance – and excuse – to use up my film stash.
I’m pretty sure I’ll keep adding cameras to the list – because GAS – but putting these cameras through their paces will be my main focus for 2020-2021.
Take a few seconds and check out what I’ve put together so far over on @rustyshutters.
I know I bought this camera new, but I can’t recall where I got it. I could find no evidence of purchases online at the usual vendors. I may have bought this at a brick and mortar store in Silicon Valley, likely San Jose Camera or Keeble and Schucat.
It’s a fun little 35mm film camera. So compact, it’ll fit in a shirt pocket. And with the ƒ/2.8 lens and high ISO capability, it performs well in all types of light.
The only bother with this camera is that every time the cover is opened/closed the camera resets to default settings and the flash is enabled.
Other than that, it’s a pretty cool little shooter.
Film type: 35mm
Weight: 4.7 oz
Lens: E. Zuiko 35mm
Aperture: ƒ/11 – ƒ2.8
Focus: 13.8in – infinity
Shutter speeds: 4 – 1/1000sec
Film advance: Automatic
Viewfinder: Real image rangefinder
ISO: DX-coded, 50 – 3200
Dimensions WHD: 4.3in x 2.3in x 1.5in
Battery: CR123A 3V Lithium
A good looking little rangefinder, the GIII is the last, high-end version of Canon’s famous Canonet compact cameras.
Mine was yet another eBay find. It had been CLAd and came with new seals at the time of purchase.
Great glass, fast ƒ/1.7, and the quick load feature all add up to an awesome camera.
This nearly 50 year old camera is still working. Nice little shooter.
Film type: 35mm
ISO: 25 – 800
Lens: 40mm f/1.7
Shutter speeds: 1/4 to 1/500sec and B
Focus: 2.6ft to infinity
Viewfinder: Coupled rangefinder with auto parallax correction
Battery: Originally powered by one 1.35V M20 (#625) mercury battery. Battery checker built-in.
Flash: Hot shoe
Size HWD 2.9in x 4.7in x 2.3in
Weight: 22.4oz
Canon Quick Load (QL) film loading system
My recollection is shaky, but I believe my wife and I bought this little guy to replace the original One•Touch we owned. We’re talkin’ right around the time I got my first digital camera, 1999-2000.
Sadly, this Z90AFQD apparently didn’t get a whole lot of use – one of the pictures on the roll of Kodak Gold 200 that was in it I recently had processed/prints made from revealed a shot from close to 10 years ago.
It still works and is a really cool little shooter, though. Easy to use, nice viewfinder. Zoom is useful. I like it. I’ve already run a couple of rolls through it.
Lens: 38-90mm (f/4.8-10.5) with macro capability as close as 12 inches
Flash: Built-in with 5 modes, including slow-synch
LCD: Frame counter, modes and date function
Viewfinder: Zooming with LEDs and dioptre correction
Film: 35mm auto-loading, winding and rewinding of DX-coded film 50-3200 ISO
Timer: Built-in 10 second self timer
Power: 3V CR123A lithium battery
Russ Morris. Slightly Obsessed With Photography since 1964. 