Lightbox Wednesday #14

Going through all of my old images reminds me that I've taken many shots on film stock that has since been discontinued. A bought a couple dozen rolls of Kodak Plus-X black and white film from the very final runs. I only have a roll or two left in the fridge.

Kodak Alaris has announced that they are bringing back Ektachrome slide film later this year. They are also kicking around the notion of a return of Kodachrome. With TMax 100 film filling the Plus-X void, I doubt they'd start making this venerable 125 speed film again, but...

This shot was taken the last day of 2015 with my Contax RX and Zeiss Planar 50. Film was developed in Kodak D-76 developer.

Pentax 645n: First Thoughts

Of all the classic 35mm cameras I have tried over the past seven years, I can say that there are at least eight or ten that I really love. And any of those eight or ten would be good enough to shoot as my only camera. I can't say the same about medium format cameras. Haven't shot one up to this point that I'd put an exclamation point after.

My first MF was the Mamiya 645Pro. I actually liked this camera a lot when I was just fooling around with it in my house and yard. One day, however, I took it out for a day of shooting. By sundown, my neck and back were sore from lugging this behemoth around. There's nothing to complain about with the camera itself or Mamiya's fine lenses. This camera is just not meant for street shooting, hiking or even just walking around. It was designed for wedding photographers and studio work; areas where it excels.

Next up was a Rolleicord I inherited from a friend. Fine camera. Superb lens. I had never shot a twin lens reflex camera before. And because this camera had sentimental value, I wanted to love it. I didn't warm to the Rollei. It was fiddly and I found myself always using the magnifying eyepiece trying to get my shot into precise focus. Bending my head over to look down into the eyepiece and then looking up again aggravated my vertigo (a condition I have suffered with for years). It's bad enough I'm old and shooting an ancient looking camera. I really looked funny stumbling around with dizziness after focusing.

Next up were two rounds of Hasselblad 500-series cameras. To eliminate the viewfinder issue described above, I tried various versions of pentaprism finders for the Blads. The one I liked the best with built in metering was huge and heavy, turning the 500c/m camera into almost a Mamiya 645Pro. Again, the Hasselblad is a beautiful camera and the Carl Zeiss lenses will blow you away. And I loved the removable film backs. The Hasselblads just weren't my cup of tea.

I had almost resigned myself to being content as a 35mm shooter when a friend sent me an email and asked if I'd like to try the Pentax 645n. He had a nice, lightly used one for sale complete with 120 insert and SMC FA 75mm f/2.8 lens. We made a deal and I traded my Mamiya for the Pentax.

Pentax 645n with Pentax SMC FA 75mm f/2.8 and collapsable lens hood

One of the things I do when I get a new camera is pay attention to the way it feels in my hand the first time I take it out of the box and peel away the bubble wrap. If it feels good then...that's a good sign. Don't get me wrong, the Pentax 645n is a big camera and it's not light, but it's well balanced and the hand grip is designed perfectly. This camera felt immediately satisfying. Because the 645n uses film inserts rather than removable backs, it's smaller and lighter than the Mamiya or the Hasselblad. The removable 120 film inserts are the easiest to load of any of the medium format cameras I have tried. The 645 format gives you 16 shots per roll.

The Pentax 645n uses removable film inserts

The 645n shoots just like a 35mm SLR and offers matrix metering which allows you to shoot in aperture-priority, shutter-priority, manual and fully automatic professional/program mode. Wanna see something cool? Look how smartly designed this Pentax is: Green Means Go! Set all of the controls on the top of this camera to green and the camera is in full auto-exposure mode. Easy peasy!

I was surprised at how quickly the SMC FA lens snapped into focus with no hunting and pecking. There's a little beep that sounds when the Pentax finds it's focus, a feature you can disable if you want. For a classic film camera, the 645n has an impressive autofocus system! The only 120 film I had on hand was some Ilford HP5+, not my favorite emulsion, but it would have to do. I spooled up the Ilford in the Pentax without having to read any instructions--nice! Now the real test...a long walk with the camera. 

First up, the sun on my patio furniture.

A wine barrel and my collection of golf balls that fly into my yard from the nearby course.

An intersection near my house.

The side of my neighbor's house.

Pride of Madeira, which grows like crazy here on the coast.

The beach.

And when I got back, the cat...right where I'd left her.

The 645n automatically advances the film on to the take up spool at the end of the roll. Open the back, remove the spool, seal the film up and you're done!

My walk lasted just over an hour and carrying the 645n around was no more tiresome than a modern DSLR. I probably wouldn't want to take it on an 8-mile hike, but this is a medium format camera I might use a lot more often. I think my results in the "auto-everything" mode turned out ok and the Pentax SMC glass rendered Iford HP5+ in a more pleasing way than with past gear I've used it in.

I've picked up some 120 format Portra 400 and am going to shoot the wildflowers, which are in big time bloom here in Northern California. The Pentax 645n is a smartly designed, easy to use and comfortable to carry medium format SLR. It might just be a keeper! (Oh my...exclamation points!)

Lightbox Wednesday #13

My project this year is to go through all of the images I've taken since re-entering film photography in 2009. I'm keeping the ones I like and jettisoning the ones I don't.  Revisiting my work has been a good exercise.

Autumn, 2014...I was learning my way around a Rolleicord TLR. Here are some shots from my first roll. I was shooting Portra 400.

It's hard to beat medium format negatives. I've struggled however to find a medium format camera that feels right. The Rolleicord didn't. I traded some gear recently for a Pentax 645n. Full report on that soon.

I just might be turning into a Pentaxian

I gotta tell you, the more I shoot with Pentax gear, the more I fall in love. From the M42 screw mount Takumars to the K mount SMC-M and SMC-A primes, the lenses are simply amazing. And amazingly affordable! I haven't yet found a Pentax lens that has disappointed. Or a Pentax camera that I didn't gush over. My current rush of enthusiasm for the brand made me bold enough to pack only Pentax gear on my most recent trek to the photographic holy lands of the Monterey Coast. And if that's not adventurous enough, of the two Pentax bodies I packed, one was an un-film-tested MX I picked up off of eBay just before my trip!

Pentax MX 35mm SLR with SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4 lens

First, the camera. The MX is a nifty little K-mount 35mm manual everything body from the 1970s. I'd compare the MX to Nikon's FM/FM2/FM2n bodies; TTL center-weighted metering that provides the photographer with exposure information which is then set manually. The MX has a very nice viewfinder with a unique circular display of shutter speeds and a series of LEDs that let you know when you're good to go. This camera is a little bit like a Spotmatic that has been shrunken down a size or two with all of the controls feeling very familiar to any Spotmatic shooter. The MX is small, well balanced and very light. I carried it over my shoulder for hours on end without issue. My MX came with a SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4 lens.

I shot mostly black and white (Tmax 100 in my Pentax LX) during my four days bopping around Carmel, Carmel Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands. Before packing the MX in my camera bag, I loaded some fresh batteries and tested the metering. It seemed to agree with my digital meter. I dry-fired it through its shutter speed range and it sounded close enough. 

Here are my first two shots with the MX on day one; an old John Deere in front of a winery in Carmel Valley.

Carmel Valley Road begins as a busy four-lane at the Pacific Coast Highway. Over the next 30 or so miles of its length, it narrows to barely a lane and a half while twisting and turning through some dramatic scenery before depositing you into the Santa Lucia Highlands wine growing region. It's far enough inland here to think that they would grow Cabarnet or Zinfandel, but the cool coastal breezes sneak their way up the gap allowing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes to thrive here.

The buds were just beginning to break at Hahn Vineyards.

It was such an overcast day. If the sun were shining, I can only imagine how well this lens would perform.

Odonata Winery was my favorite! I bought several bottles of their wine to take home. This is the view from their parking lot.

Later in the day, back in Carmel, the clouds began to break up and finally, some sun!

The old MX revealed a shutter capping problem towards the end of the day, one of the risks of traveling with an untested camera. It's an easy and cheap CLA fix, but it spoiled my sunset shot.

I woke the next morning to sunshine and the sound of the Pacific. I snapped this shot out of my hotel window. I was impressed at how well the MX's meter performed here. Hey, who needs matrix metering?

Later that day, relaxing with an Arnold Palmer.

I enjoyed using the MX enough to spend a few dollars and have Eric Hendrickson service it. It's a simple, inexpensive camera that is robust enough to throw into the car and take anywhere. And these Pentax lenses...oh my! I'm toying, seriously toying with the idea of selling off all of the rest of my cameras, throwing the funds into my retirement fund and just shooting Pentax from here on out.

Lightbox Wednesday #12

Besides the camera in my iPhone, my Leica M9-P is the only digital camera I own. I often consider selling the Leica as I only shoot it occasionally. I eased myself into this expensive camera gradually, trading several other cameras and a bit of cash for it, but it's still an extravagance.

One thing I like about the M9-P is its ability to allow me to mount all of the old Leica lenses I own. Leica lenses have always been stunning performers. Here is a shot I took in the little market in Pt. Reyes Station, CA with an ancient Summicron lens.

Two rolls in the Pentax LX

The Pentax LX straddles that line between the mostly mechanical, metal 35mm 1970s era SLRs with dials and levers that I love and the electronic, plastic, blobby, multi-function, menu-driven cameras of the 1990s that I don't. With an amazing 21 year production run (1980-2001), it seems that during that time, the LX would have morphed into a computer-driven techno-blob at some point, but it didn't. Pentax took the best of what their Spotmatic series offered (build quality, reliability, fine lenses), combined that with the small and light M-series bodies with bayonet lens mount, added system capability with pro-level fit and finish and quietly created a SLR masterpiece in a classic design. I say "quietly" because, when you think of pro-level 35mm cameras of this era, the Pentax name rarely gets mentioned. I've been dabbling in photography since the early 1970s and I had no idea that this camera even existed until recently. Only my recent positive experiences with Spotmatics led me to discover, research and desire my own LX.

While Nikon and Canon were building beefy, heavy, robust (and well known) professional 35mm cameras, Pentax went a different route. The LX is small. Really small. With a 50mm f/1.7 lens, the LX easily slips into a jacket pocket. Don't let the tiny size of the LX fool you though. This is a pro-level camera with aperture-priority auto and manual exposure modes, interchangeable finders and focus screens, an add-on motor drive and an arsenal of fine Pentax SMC lenses. And the LX is built for professional duty with a tough metal body and controls that have rubber gasket seals to keep out moisture and dust.

This is a camera that really grows on you. I shot my first rolls of film in the Pentax over a couple of weekends, taking the LX with me on Sunday walks. By the second weekend, I was really enjoying it. The LX has a big, bright viewfinder with split image focusing and a very clean and simple display of aperture, shutter speed and exposure mode. I might go so far as to say that the presentation of information in the LX finder might be my favorite of any vintage film camera I have used. Cameras need to be designed to make you WANT to use them. The LX begs you to pick it up. It feels good in the hand and is well balanced and very comfortable to shoot, even without the add on grip. And because of its small size and light weight, I've found myself taking it with me when I normally wouldn't even grab a camera.

My first test shots were on Fuji Pro400H, a film I've not had great luck with. It was a partly cloudy day with muted sunshine. Here's the beach near where I live.

I shoot into the sun a lot, so lens flare is pretty common. Aside from that, the LX's meter did a good job with this difficult-to-meter shot. Sloppy processing at the lab, I think, is responsible for that little blob in the center near the vegetation.

Back home, I got my usual new camera selfie.

By the second weekend and with a fresh roll of Kodak Portra 160 loaded, I was getting more comfortable with the LX. As I left the house and headed towards Doran Beach Park, I saw the first signs of Spring.

l cut through the campground at Doran Beach.

And out to the Bodega Bay Coast Guard station.

No, I didn't trespass on US Government property. I went around and down to the little cove where you can see the Coast Guard dock. I was surprised to see a ship speeding away from the dock just as I arrived.

I scrambled up the banks and over to the jetty where Bodega Bay meets the Pacific. The fire department and Sonoma County Sheriff were on the scene. Apparently, two kayakers had fallen into the water. One called 911 while clinging to his overturned craft.

The all clear sounded just a few minutes after I got this shot. Both kayakers were plucked from the water safely. In my seven years living in Bodega Bay, I have watched some amazing rescues by the Coast Guard, the Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter and our fabulous little fire department. Brave and dedicated people that we are so proud of. Moments later, this boat sped by with the kayakers on board.

I'm not going to ramble on with more technical information on this camera. I will simply say that the Pentax LX is truly wonderful to shoot. It may not seem so from this blog, but I am actually beginning to whittle down my arsenal of cameras, posting the ones I don't shoot often to my eBay feed, keeping only the ones I truly love to shoot with. The LX will not be sold.

Now, the disclaimer:  Membership to the LX club does not come cheap. Decent bodies go for $400-$600. Many on eBay are in Japan, so you have the added expense of shipping. Deteriorating seals and pads contribute to "LX sticky mirror syndrome," which can be cured with a CLA. A CLA for an LX isn't cheap either. If your LX doesn't come with a grip and if you want one, expect to spend a hundred bucks on that. They also make one that you can carve down with a knife for a custom fit. The LX doesn't have normal strap lugs either, just little posts to mount the proprietary Pentax strap rings. My LX was missing these. I found a set on eBay for $50. Yikes! 

Now this last part is really going to make me sound like a goofy camera geek, but as I was heading back home, I took this last shot of the setting sun. After clicking the shutter, I said to myself..."Man I love this camera!"

Lightbox Wednesday #11: A bottle of white. A bottle of red.

I've used the opportunity of moving my life over to a new MacBook to review the hundreds of images I've taken since my re-entry into film photography. The process has allowed me to really clean up and organize my "digital garage." It has had the added benefit of allowing me to relive some moments of personal photographic joy and sometimes even to ask myself "why did I take this photo in the first place?"

Today's lightbox image is a photo from four years ago and one that I got quite a bit of satisfaction out of when I first saw the scan. I had just picked up a very nice pre-Ai 50mm Nikkor-S f/1.4 lens on the cheap. I popped the lens onto a Nikon F2 Photomic body and shot a test roll of Kodak Portra 400...mostly just snaps of things around my house. For fun, I placed two bottles of Coppola wine on my window sill, moved in close and got this shot.

Wine bottles, Nikon F2 Photomic, 50mm Nikkor-S f/1.4, Kodak Portra 400

I remember how pleased I was with the sharpness and color rendering of this old Nikkor lens and how this shot inspired me to really get to know Kodak's Portra 400 film and to shoot my Nikon F2 more often. The joy of photography!

Lightbox Wednesday #10

I was shooting quite a bit of Ektar 100 in 2014. While Kodak's Portra films offer more muted colors and render skin tones naturally, Ektar is saturated and stunning. I shot this with my Nikon F2 and 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Moss on rock/Boho Cottage, Freestone CA 2014

A Slower Portra

I've been having good luck shooting Kodak's Portra 400 film. It's been my "go to" color print film for the past couple of years. I like its color palette, especially when you overexpose it. I've experimented a lot with this film and get my best results setting my camera or hand held meter to ISO 200.

I've been wanting to try the slower Portra 160 for some time. I shoot a lot of 100 speed black and white film and find that 100 speed film is good for most of the outdoor stuff I do. So while ordering some black and white and instant film stock from B&H, I decided to add a ProPak of Portra 160 to my shopping cart.

I loaded a test roll of 160 into my Canon F-1n camera and marinated long and hard on what film speed I should set the Canon's meter to. Consulting Google, I found that many people shoot this film at the box speed. Second place was ISO 125 and a distant third was ISO 100. I finally decided to live life on the wild side, set the Canon to 100 and headed up the coast to the little town of Jenner and make some pictures.

Jenner is where the Russian River spills into the Pacific Ocean. With all the rain we've had in Northern California this year, the river looked like coffee with cream.

Russian River, Jenner, CA/Canon F-1n with 50mm Canon FD f/1.4

Jenner By The Sea/Canon F-1n, 50mm Canon FD f/1.4

Pacific Harbor Seals haul out and sun themselves on the warm sand right where river and ocean meet. I need to get a telephoto for the Canon.

Pacific Harbor Seals enjoying the warm sand in Jenner

As usual along the Pacific Coast, there were plenty of people just taking in the view and the sounds of the waves.

Girl and beach at Jenner

The muddy water pouring out of the Russian River stains the Pacific almost as far as the eye can see.

Coffee-colored water pours from the Russian River into the Pacific near Jenner, CA

A storm had been teasing me all afternoon, rain clouds dancing just off shore. A few minutes after I took this shot, the clouds began spitting at me and I headed to the car.

100 works just fine for this film and I might even dial it back to ISO 80. Kodak's Portra films were developed using their Vision motion picture film technology and I do think that the film has a grand, cinematic look to it. Lots of people commented on the internet about Portra 160 being finicky, but I didn't find it to be. I'm glad I bought a ProPak of this film so I can experiment some more.

Lightbox Wednesday #9

Just like during my visit to Lake Tahoe in the Summer, I was photographically and creatively paralyzed while I was in Yosemite National Park this past September. I was humbled by the majesty of the place, reduced to taking touristy snapshots and standing around staring, in awe. It's hard to take a bad photo in Yosemite though, no matter what kind of camera you are shooting with. I had my Pentax Spotmatic SP and Olympus OM-2n with me, shooting Portra and TMax 100.

Half Dome from Yosemite Valley, Olympus OM-2n

Yosemite Valley, Olympus OM-2n

I wandered around trying to get the best black and white shot I could of Half Dome. In the end, the shot I was most pleased with was taken...from my balcony at The Ahwahnee Hotel.

Half Dome from The Ahwahnee. Pentax Spotmatic with 50mm f/1.4 Super Tak

Of course, I visited The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Village several times. Even bought a roll of film there. :-)

I want to visit Yosemite again. With all of the rain we've been getting in California this year, the falls should be roaring!

Changing Times

I love to browse antique stores. I rarely buy anything, but it's fun to look. Several of the local ones have stacks of old magazines. Among the piles of LOOK and Life, I'll occasionally find an old yellowed Popular Photography or Modern Photography. I was a subscriber to both for a decade starting in about 1973.

Forget a subscription, I realized recently that I haven't even bought a photography magazine or any magazine for that matter in...forever. My computer and the internet has taken the place of these printed monthlies.

Back at the antique store, flipping through the dog-eared pages, I am reminded of how I drooled over ads for the latest Nikon, Minolta, Pentax or Hasselblad. Reading and dreaming. It would be decades later and only when digital photography made film cameras nearly relics, would I be able to afford an Olympus OM-2 or Nikon FE. 

Times certainly have changed, but I am very grateful that I've finally had the opportunity to try some of these truly wonderful cameras and that there is still film to feed them.

Lightbox Wednesday #8

In the 1960s and 70s, my father shot lots and lots of Kodachrome of our family. On rainy or snowy days, he'd set up the Argus slide projector and screen in the basement and we'd watch a slide show. We saw those same slides over and over...even the ones that were in backwards or upside down. And it was always fun.

Right now, I'm sort of doing the same thing digitally; going through all of my images I've shot since I've gotten back into film photography. I'm keeping the ones I like and deleting the rest.

In 2013, I was finding my way around a Mamiya 645Pro medium format SLR. I was also living in a little cottage in Freestone, California. Near the back of the property where I lived, some kids had staked their claim to an old shed.

Pirate Fort/Freestone, CA/Mamiya 645Pro with 110mm lens

The Ultimate Spotmatic

I adore mechanical cameras. I don't like fiddly cameras. I had a brief fling with a Barnack Leica. It was a jewel of camera; wonderful to look at and a dream to hold. As a shooter, it was fiddly. So many dials and levers. So much work to take a picture. Eventually, I sold it.

I'm currently having an unlikely romance with the Pentax Spotmatic line. I was wrong in my long time belief that these cameras were clunky and primitive. The Spotmatics are wonderfully simple cameras. Splendid build quality. Quiet. Precise. And they mate with a superb line of Takumar M42 lenses. Asahi Pentax was the first to bring through the lens (TTL) metering to a 35mm SLR and most of the Spotmatics use "stop down" metering. You compose your shot, focus and then slide a little switch on the side of the lens mount to "stop down" the lens to its taking aperture and activate the light meter. You then adjust aperture or shutter speed to center the needle in the viewfinder to give you an accurate exposure and fire the shutter. It sounds more complicated and time consuming writing it here than it actually is in practice. And after a roll or two, it becomes second nature to Spotmatic users, but it is a bit fiddly.

Near the end of the M42 era, Pentax offered several evolutionary open-aperture Spotmatics. These were the Electro-Spotmatic (sold almost exclusively in Japan), the ES and ESII , which also add aperture-priority auto-exposure. There was also a fully manual exposure, open aperture metering Spotmatic: the SPF. A new line of Super Multi-Coated (SMC) Takumars were also introduced with these cameras. The SMC lenses automatically "communicated" lens opening information to the camera's meter so TTL metering could be accomplished with the lens open rather than having to stop down. Yay--less fiddle! The SPF (1973-1976) would be the last of the famous Spotmatic camera line before Pentax rolled out the bayonet mount K-1000 SLR.

After having used the stop down Spotmatics and the ESII, I might have to say that the SPF might just be the ultimate, most refined Spotmatic for screw-mount Takumar lens lovers. By the time the SPF came out, Pentax had gotten this design just about perfect. And by removing the fiddle factor of having to flick that little switch on the side of the camera to meter, they produced an agile photographic tool.

This is photographic minimalism at its best. Being a 100% mechanical camera, the SPF is about as dependable as they come with the PX625A battery powering only the meter. All of the available shutter speeds are independent of battery power. And you don't even have to remember to turn the meter on. It comes to life whenever it senses light over EV2. 

My Spotmatic F is a bit of a rare bird in that it has a split image focus screen. Apparently, this was an upgrade option that was available late in the Spotmatic line and not installed on many cameras. I find that this screen makes the SPF a pure delight to focus over the standard Spotmatic fresnel screen.

I headed down to the beach to get some "first roll" test shots with my SPF. I used Kodak's Portra 400, my favorite color film, and rated it at half the box speed.

I don't think you'll be using a SPF to shoot a fast moving sporting event, but this less fiddly Spotmatic allowed me to catch this horse and rider before she got too far down the beach.

I am embarrassed to think that I had so many preconceived negative notions about Pentax Spotmatic cameras. After using the SP, SPII, ESII and SPF, I can say with confidence that these are splendid cameras for anyone wanting inexpensive entry into 35mm film photography. The bodies are cheap. CLAs are widely available and inexpensive. The battery issue is a non-issue. And Takumar lenses will blow you away! And even though it's fun to work your way through this line of cameras, if you want the least fiddly, easiest to use, most dependable, easiest to fix and most modern Spotmatic--get the SPF.

Lightbox Wednesday #7

85mm is one of my favorite focal lengths. I shot this with my 85mm f/2 Nikkor on a Nikon F2AS body. This is the little surf shop here in town.

Bodega Bay Surf Shack, October 2014

Reunited

I'm always curious about the provenance of the old cameras I acquire. Unfortunately, many of the cameras I buy are 30 or more years old, so their history is mostly unknown.

I know a lot about my Retina rangefinder; it belonged to my father. He bought it in 1952 in the Army PX. He shot it for years and then gave it to me. I even have some of the original packaging.

I'm somewhat sure that there weren't many previous owners of my Leica M2. The Leica shop I bought it from said it came from a collector and when I sent it off to Youxin Ye for CLA, he told me it appeared to have been rarely used. Based on that, I imagine my Leica didn't change hands too many times or if it did, it belonged to collectors and not shooters.

I bought my Nikon F2S and 50mm lens from a camera shop here in town. The owner of the shop told me that the camera was traded in by its original owner. I asked if I could have the name of the owner and was told that they would ask him if it was okay to give me his name. California has pretty strict privacy laws. I haven't thought to ask again. When I sent this camera to Sover Wong for CLA, he told me that the camera had been well taken care of. The F2 was in production for over a decade and during that time, several different metered and un-metered finders were available. Lots of F2 owners swapped out finders, so it's common to find a 1972 body with a 1977 finder. Sover told me he was pretty sure that the camera body and finder on my Nikon came out of the factory together. Additionally, when I checked the serial number on the lens that came with the camera against Nikon's production dates, they were close enough for me to think that the photographer who owned this F2 might have bought the lens around the same time as the body.

Recently, I bought a Pentax Spotmatic F from a very nice man who used to work for Pentax. The camera came from his own collection and with its original soft case and warranty card.

When my purchase arrived, I was delighted with the condition of the camera and in having some original documentation, so I emailed the seller to let him know. In his response, he asked if I might also be interested in a Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm f/1.8 lens to go with the camera. That was precisely the lens I wanted to mate with the SPF to allow the open aperture metering to work as designed. His asking price for the 55 was fair and we transacted. Many cameras were sold in the 1970s as part of "kits." You got the camera, standard lens, soft case and strap. The 55mm SMC Takumar f/1.8 was a pretty common kit lens for the SPF. When the lens arrived, I mounted it on the camera and upon closer examination, noticed that the serial number on the lens and the serial number on the warranty card matched! This camera and lens left the Asahi Optical Company factory 42 years ago together! Cool! At least to a camera geek.

Pentax Spotmatic F with SMC Takumar 55mm f/1.8

Camera serial number

Lens serial number

The history of many of the old film cameras I own is lost to the mist of time, but it's still fun to ponder their provenance. I like to think about a time when these cameras were brand new, sitting on the store shelf, an anxious and excited photographer handling the latest state-of-the art photo gear for the first time. Who was this photographer? What type of film was the first to be wound through? What kind of images has this lens seen? Where has this camera been? 

For the most part, I'll never know but it is fun when I can at least connect some of the dots and reunite this old Pentax with its factory lens.

Lightbox Wednesday #6

I was teaching myself the Zone System, using my handheld Pentax Spotmeter and ignoring what the center-weighted TTL meter in my Nikon F2 was telling me when I shot this propeller on a fishing boat at Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay in May, 2014.

Shooting the Canon F-1n

The weather has not been optimal for photography here in Northern California these last few months. In the seven years I have lived here, this Winter has been the wettest. Huge storms, "atmospheric rivers of moisture" the weather people keep calling them, are dumping amazing amounts of rain here in the Bay Area and record snowfalls in the Sierras. Good for a dried out California. Not so good for outdoor hiking or photography.

That all being said, I did get out on a rare sunny day and shoot some Kodak Tmax 100 in my Canon F-1n. I really enjoyed shooting this camera. Big bright viewfinder, intuitive controls, well balanced body and a robust metering system. The Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 lens impressed me with it's sharpness. I set the F-1n to aperture-priority AE and let the camera do at least some of the thinking in these test shots.

The Canon F-1n closely resembles the Nikon F3 as far as features and performance. They were contemporaries in the pro photography world in the early 80s. Having owned and used both the F3 and this Canon, I would say that the F-1n edges out the F3 in feel and function, at least in my opinion.

Lightbox Wednesday #5

I am attempting an orderly transfer of the photographs I have taken over the past eight years from on old MacBook Air to a new MacBook Pro. In the process, I am gutting many, keeping the ones I like. It's fun to look back. Just like a song, a photograph can put you right back in the moment.

In September, 2013, I was shooting quite a bit of Tri-X film in a Nikon F2S that had just been serviced by Sover Wong. I took the Nikon to San Francisco for the weekend. Since living in the Bay Area, I had been meaning to go see the Painted Ladies, the City's famous row of Victorian houses made famous in the television series Full House.

I am not much of a street photographer, but I seem to be able to get my nerve up a bit more when walking the crowded streets of Chinatown.

Looking through the images I shot that weekend, I remember it was hot for September. I took the trolley down to Fisherman's Wharf, walked around a bit there and then started thinking about getting back to the car which was parked near the Ferry Building. San Francisco is a great city for walking but with the heat that day, I had about enough. I flagged down a bicycle taxi and rode back to the car in comfort. I got this shot of my driver as I neared the parking lot.

I feel like I used to re-visit my work more often in my pre-digital days. If I didn't print a photograph in the darkroom, there would at least be a contact sheet around somewhere. The lightbox always had negatives or slides on it and somewhere in the house; an old shoebox with snapshots. This transfer process has been a good exercise in looking through the pictures I have made since returning to film in 2009. It's helping me learn and grow. If, like me, you've not looked back through your digitally stored images in a while, try it. It's a healthy and fun process.

Lightbox Wednesday #4

Two years ago this month, I shot my first roll of film in a Contax RX camera I bought from B&H Photo in New York. I was a bit nervous taking a new-to-me camera out for a test drive during a weekend trip to San Francisco, but I shouldn't have been. The RX turned out to be a great camera to shoot and the Zeiss lens never fails to satisfy.

Contax RX, 50mm f/1.7 Carl Zeiss Planar with yellow filter, Kodak Tmax 100

Canon F-1n: First Impressions

I've been dabbling in photography since the early 1970s and for as long as I can recall, there's been a Nikon camp and a Canon camp. I've always belonged to the former, never warming much to most Canons I've tried. I had a TL once. It was clunky. And none of the 1990s era plasticy blob-like Canons appeared interesting enough for me to try. A friend of mine, firmly rooted in the Canon camp, loaned me one of his pro-level DSLRs once to try, but its multi-function switches and fiddly menus turned me off. The only exception so far was the Canon P rangefinder, a circa 1960s Leica screw mount jewel that's a minimalist joy to shoot. But that's it; one lone photographic antique from a time when SLRs weren't even a glimmer in Canon's eye.

Until now, maybe. You see, I've been keeping a casual eye out for a Canon F-1 or F-1n ever since my photo-blogging friend Jim Grey matter-of-factly mentioned this camera to me a year or so ago. Jim knows I lean towards metal, gears, minimalism and great glass.  He was the one who suggested I try Pentax. It was a great suggestion. I've since fallen hard for the Spotmatics. So I trust this guy and when a fine, slightly brassy Canon F-1n presented itself, I took the plunge.

The original Canon F-1 was to the Canon camp what the Nikon F2 was to Nikon shooters; an overbuilt, heavy, metal, pro-level workhorse. The F-1 came out in 1971, around the same time as Nikon's second F. The F-1 was a manual focus, manual exposure system camera. Canon promised they'd keep the F-1 in production for a decade and they did. As Nikon closed out the F2 era with the introduction of the F3 in 1980, Canon debuted their "new F-1" not longer after, in 1981. The New F-1, soon to be called just the F-1n, offered several finder options including aperture-priority auto-exposure with the AE-FN finder. My F-1n came with this finder and a very nice Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 lens.

I've just loaded some Tmax 100 into the F-1n and here are some thoughts so far...

1.  It's a heavy camera alright, but it is well balanced and easy to handle. Canon seemed to really like putting those big 6V batteries in cameras of this era so, like the AE-1 Program, it has a raised compartment on the front of the camera to accommodate the battery chamber. Unlike the consumer-oriented AE-1 however, the battery chamber on the F-1n fits better, feels nicer and seems to be more part of the camera body rather than an afterthought. This compartment also provides a secure place to grip the camera.

2.  This camera has an unusal dark gray matte finish, similar to what you might find on a gun or rifle. It is very different than the black enamel finish on my Nikons and Spotmatic bodies. The camera I bought is starting to reveal some nice brassing on the top and bottom plates. The more I handle this camera, the more I like the finish. With use, based on how it's wearing now, it should develop a wonderful patina.

3.  The viewfinder is big and bright. Super easy to focus with the standard split image focus screen. In manual mode, the match-needle exposure information appears on the right side of the viewfinder screen. Switch to AE and the manual information disappears and the AE information appears on the bottom of the screen. Nice--you always know what metering mode you are in!

4.  Shutter speeds are from B to 1/2000th. This is a hybrid shutter. Electronics control the slower speeds and the rest are mechanical--good news if that big 6V battery hanging out front dies. 

5.  Shooting in either manual or AE modes is pretty intuitive, even for a visitor from the Nikon camp. The camera controls all feel nice, firm and clicky. The Canon FD lenses, which were phased out after the F-1n, are well built with a nice focus feel.

6.  Ever since I had my laser cataract surgery, I don't need viewfinder diopters any longer, but if you do, this camera will accept screw-in ones like the Nikon F2. There are also a number of different focus screens available.

I'm shooting my test roll in the F-1n both in manual and AE modes, carefully logging each shot in a little notebook. I bought this camera from a very reputable camera shop down in Marin County and their in-house camera tech checked this camera before I bought it, so the meter should be accurate, but it'll be nice to have good notes when I get the scans back from the lab.

Unlike the Nikon F2, you won't find page after internet page or oodles of YouTube videos gushing praise on the Canon F-1n. Nikon really dominated the pro photography world at this time, so I imagine a lot more F2s were sold than F-1s, meaning lots more survivors. Or the film photographers still shooting their F-1s aren't as vocal a bunch. I'm not sure. What I do know is that this is the first Canon SLR I've really liked right from the start. Thanks Jim!