Rusty shutters #17.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1.

July 2013.

The only reason this camera is in my collection is because I spotted it on Amazon – body only – for $199, and even though it’d been released a year earlier, that price was just too good to pass up. I added the DMW-LVF2.

I mostly use the Panasonic Lumix G 14mm f/2.5 ASPH Lens on this camera, but also use the 20mm and the Thingyfy Pinhole Pro S11.

Great little camera.

Resolution: 16 megapixels
Max image size – 4592 x 3448
Display: Fixed 3in LCD @ 460,000 pixels
ISO: Auto, 160, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, 12800
Shutter Speeds: 60 sec – 1/4000 sec
Metering: Multi-segment, center-weighted, spot
Dimensions WHD: 4.58in x 2.67in x 1.55in
Weight: 11.2 oz
Power: Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
Memory card: SD/SDHC/SDXC

Tiny white rose

Sky

Headphones

Love Noir

Fruit bowl

Austin streets.

 

A Thursday morning photowalk.

I got out for a film-shooters photowalk in Austin this morning with Chris Ullrich and Amy Jasek.

The only digital camera I had with me was my iPhone 8.

I brought a bunch of film cameras, but mostly used my recently rediscovered Nikon One•Touch Zoom 90 loaded with a 24 exposure roll of 35mm Ilford XP2 Super and my little Olympus Stylus Epic loaded with a 36 exposure roll of Kodak Ektar 100.

Chris had his awesome Leica M6, and Amy had a really slick black Contax G2.

Chris and I walked from the new-ish Austin Library to Intelligentsia Coffee at 3rd and Nueces Street to meet Amy.

After conversation, coffee, and a light breakfast, the stroll began. Cameras in hand, we headed east on 3rd street to Congress Avenue, headed north where Amy broke out her new Ondu 4×5 pinhole camera.

Crossing over around 8th , we headed back down Congress Avenue to 2nd, then winding our way west, back to the library, where – before we went our separate ways – we talked at length about the current state of the Film Shooters Collective.

Great walk. Great conversation. Great people. Great fun. I hope I got some great pictures!

 

Messy.

But essential.

I replaced the seals on the Olympus 35RC Saturday afternoon. It was another hot Texas day, but I had the fan blowing on me while I sat at my work table in the garage.

Removing the old seals was pretty easy, but messy as hell.

I used any and every tool I could find in the studio to scrape off the old seals and adhesive. Q-Tips, tooth picks, and mineral spirits were helpful in coaxing off all that ages old gunk. As was a couple of different X-Acto knives, skewers, and craft sticks.

Getting the new seals on was a bit tricky – fortunately the kit came with two sets of seals. Very helpful!

The trick is brushing on a little Purell hand sanitizer (the kind without moisturizer) to the sticky-back of the new seals, leaving a bit sticky where the seal is first applied.

You’re given a little bit of time to position the new seal, let the purell evaporate, then press the seal into place.

About an hour and a half total. Not bad.

I loaded it up with a 24 exposure roll of Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll be getting out next week with two local area film shooters. A short trip down to Austin is planned, with preliminary sights on walking the streets around the newish Austin Library. Maybe even go inside. We’ll see.

At ay rate, I have one of my Domke F6 bags filled with a handful of film shooters for the event. The 35RC, an Olympus Stylus Epic, Nikon One•Touch Zoom 90, Sprocket Rocket, the Fujifilm SQ6, and my Minolta XG-1 + 24mm ƒ/2.8.

Should be fun.

Four from the past.

Mystery #1 solved.

diana

These are the only four out of 16 exposures that came out decent from that undeveloped roll of Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 I posted about earlier.

pattern

The others were either too blurry or the light leak from the fat roll made the shot unusable.

embossed

Still pretty cool.

go slow

Use what you have, revisited.

A little experiment.

An update on my adventures last Sunday morning with my Zero Image 6×9 pinhole camera.

I developed the Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 that was in the camera back on Thursday, along with the *fat roll I posted about last Tuesday… more on the mystery roll soon.

Everything went smoothly with the developing. Stock D76 @ 68º for 7 minutes 15 seconds.

The negatives hung in the hall bathroom until the next day, and they were dry by the time I was ready to scan.

The Epson V500 I have has been a work horse over the years, handling everything I throw at it. But things went south from the beginning on this particular task.

Things went south from the beginning on this particular task…

There’s a white background that snaps in-and-out of the scanner lid, it’s not needed when scanning film. Took it out. Then I pulled out the 120 negative scan tray and loaded up a strip of three shots, set up the scan software per usual, and went through the process of creating a preview before actually scanning.

That’s when things started to go awry. The preview was splitting up the negatives in a way that was totally unusable.

I fiddled with every the setting I could, but the results did not change.

I remembered watching a You Tube video some time ago that showed how to scan a negative as if it were paper. I figured I’d play a bit and put the white background back in the bottom of the lid and removed the negative from the scan tray, placing it emulsion side down so the film curled away from the glass, then ran the software as normal for scanning documents.

Well, that worked. Kind of…

Intrigued, but not totally satisfied that I couldn’t get the scanner to work properly, I set about fiddling some more. I noticed a button near the bottom of the interface that was labeled “reset” and thought, what the hell, then clicked it.

And this time the machine worked as designed. Happiness.

After a few dialog boxes, everything seemed like normal, so I set the scanner up again for negatives.

And this time the machine worked as designed. Happiness.

Here’s the result…

I like them both. You can see more detail in the shadows of the first scan, and I like the somewhat distressed appearance. The second, proper scan is very clear (for a pinhole shot) and not as washed out.

It’s a 3 second exposure, taken at the La Frontera shopping mall, from a car wash located in the southeast corner of the property. I asked permission to park and played in an adjacent field, with my tripod and camera set-up in the shadows cast by the fly-over.

Love the lines, curves, and shadows. The sun was still pretty low in the sky and being blocked by the column on the left side of the image.

* a fat roll is when 120 film does not roll tightly around the take-up spool, usually resulting in light leaking to expose the edges of the last few coils at the end of the roll.

Mystery roll.

Diana 2010.11.13

I finished up a roll of Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 in my Zero Image 6 x 9 pinhole camera yesterday.

That roll of film has been in the camera for around 10 years, if not more. Not a single shot taken. The camera is pristine, having not been used yet. I honestly can’t even remember when I bought it, but it had to be around 2008-2010.

But I had a roll of film in it. I guessed it was black and white. And I guessed it was Acros 100. And after running through the roll and opening the box, I was surprised to find my guesses were spot on.

So, I remembered seeing another roll of Acros 100 in a plastic bag I had placed in a box while moving. It didn’t take long to find it.

The roll (above) is actually labeled. I have no clue what’s on the roll. And the scary part is the film and backing paper is really loose on the spool. I hope the edges aren’t exposed to light.

I’ll find out tomorrow when I develop both rolls at the same time.

Wish me luck.

Rusty shutters #12.

Leica D-Lux 4.

June 2009.

I saw a picture of this camera in Kelly Castro’s Flickr stream, with the 24mm viewfinder. I had to have it. So cool.

And even though it’s a Leica branded clone of Panasonic’s Lumix LX-3, it’s still the only Leica I’m likely to own.

I had to add the Franiec grip. As much as I like the simplicity of design, without the grip it was hard to hold. And I also purchased that viewfinder at the same time.

It’s a great little camera with awesome macro capability. Leica glass, too. Duh.

It was my first digital camera that had a switch on the lens barrel for image size settings, and though it couldn’t shoot 1:1 when I purchased it, a firmware upgrade made that possible through the menu system.

I still use this little guy.

Resolution: 10.1 megapixels
Max image size – 3648 x 2736
Display: 3in fixed LCD @ 460,000 pixels
Zoom: 4x digital
ISO: Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
Shutter Speeds: 60 sec – 1/2000 sec
Aperture: ƒ/2
Focal Length: 24-60mm
Macro: .4in
Metering: Multi, center-weighted, spot
Dimensions: 4.3in x 2.3in x 1.1in
Weight: 8 oz.
Power: Lithium Ion rechargeable battery
Memory card: SD/SDHC

Ties

Yve

Morning sun

ARS

Blue feather

Rusty shutters #11.

Nikon Coolpix P300.

March 2011.

One of my all-time favorite cameras is the original Nikon One•Touch 35mm ƒ/2.8, compact autofocus. We got ours brand new back in the 80s and it lasted well into the 90s before it died. It was a simple, easy to use camera that made great pictures. I was heartbroken when it stopped working.

The Nikon Coolpix P300 has that same simple feel. I was drawn to it because it’s such a basic little pocket camera. Super easy to use, feels good in the hand, and has a small, but useful, built-in finger grip on the front and a thumb grip on the back. The LCD display fills the back of the camera and controls are minimal.

I shoot in aperture-priority mode, and ƒ-stops are easy to change using the rotary multi-selector on the back of the camera.

This little point and shoot produces really great images.

Resolution: 12 megapixels
Max image size – 4000 x 3000
Display: 3in LCD @ 921,000 pixels
Zoom: 4x digital
ISO: Auto, 160, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 2000, 3200
Shutter Speeds: 8 sec – 1/2000 sec
Aperture: ƒ/1.8-4.9
Focal Length: 24-100mm
Macro: 1.2in
Metering: center-weighted, multi-segment
Dimensions: 4.1in x 2.3in x 1.3in
Weight: 6.7 oz
Power: Rechargeable Li-ion Battery (EN-EL12)
Memory card: SD/SDHC/SDXC

Peachy

Caddy

Perfectly round

Curly

Lily

Plot twist.

I did not see that coming.

The LX100 saga is finally over.

I got an email form Panasonic letting me know that not only did my LX100 need a sensor cleaning, but that the lens was bad, too.

I called to authorize the work and give them my credit card info. I was told that, in all, it would cost roughly $375 US to repair and ship back to me. Bummer. A lot more than I’d anticipated.

Then I was told I had the option to purchase a refurbed LX100 for less than $200. Yay. Let’s do that. Happy boy.

About 10 minutes after I hung up I got a call from the agent that’d helped me apologizing because it turns that they’re fresh out of refurbished LX100s. Bummer.

At this point my only other option was to purchase a new one for a little more than $100 over the cost of repairs.

The get to keep my old LX100.

I ran all this by the CFO of Morris Enterprises, and she approved the expenditure. The new camera arrived today. So clean!

Here’s hoping I get at least 4 years use out of it!

 

 

Use what you have.

Spot on.

I’m not quite ready to pull the trigger on a full-blown spot meter.

The model I’m interested in, the Minolta Spot Meter F, has a price range of roughly $100-$300 US on eBay depending on condition, seller, and shipping.

I spotted (!) another option on eBay. It’s the Minolta Viewfinder II 10 Degree Spot attachment for their Minolta Auto Meter IV F. It just so happens that I have one of those little gems. The Auto Meter IV has been in my kit for many a year.

The attachment goes for around $50. I figured it’d be a good investment and learning tool. There were enough decent reviews in forums to convince me to give it a try and since the cost was reasonable, I went for it.

I’ll look into a Spot Meter F again next year, but for now I think this attachment will be useful.

I’ll be loading up the 4×5 film holders with Fomopan 100.

I’m looking forward to getting out with the Shen Hao.