From last weekend, I took the Leica M3 in for an overhaul at Kindermann because of some cold weather issues (sluggish shutter). The camera is in great hands with a factory trained Leica tech and it should be good as new in a week or so.
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My Leica M3 is getting an overhaul from Kindermann Canada, I had a situation back on Saturday when the shutter decided to get sluggish in the -3c temperatures. That has not happened to me before. So a semi retired factory trained Leica tech my brother recommended to is going to work his magic and itt will be a couple hundred dollars well spent. I managed to get the shutter working properly and managed two rolls. After I think frame 12 you can tell the shutter got sluggish. Sort of like everything below 1/500 became bulb. The remedy was warming the camera up to room temperature and exercising the shutter. Mr. Gerry Smith (no relation alas) is The Canadian factory trained Leica tech and I figure getting the CLA done now makes sense because I don't know how long he wants to keep working even part time. The other thing with this set I managed to do was try HC110 Dilution B again, a developer combination I used when I started developing black and white film four years ago. Rating Kodak ...
Old Slides from the Archives I dug into the archives recently and re-scanned some material I shot four years ago during the Analog Photography Users Group Conference in Toronto. Over 300 hard core film photographers specializing in different subject areas descended down on Elevator Labs in Leaside for four days of seminars and workshops. I participated in the Sunrise and a day later street photography workshops, taking away a lot in terms of knowledge. I have landscape photographer Robert Teague to thank for enlightening me to the joys of Fuji Velvia 100. I shot with an Olympus OM-1 for the whole conference and the Epson V500 does wonders in scanning the slides. The rusty truck was shot at the Distillery District and the remaining photos were taken at Humber Bay Park way too early in the morning in May 2006.
I took my Canon FTb up with me last weekend up skiing. I picked up a 625 Wein cell battery to see if the meter. The FTb was made in the early 1970s and the original batteries were mercury based and of course due to environmental concerns are no longer available. The Wein Cell gives off the same voltage without the environmental impact. I used this camera before with a hand held meter and the shutter speeds are just fine which is surprising for a 37 year old camera. The meter works but takes a little getting used to. The FTb uses almost a modified spot meter principle as opposed to center weighted used in Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Leicaflex and the Canon F1. It takes a little getting used to if you are used to center weighted metering. One last thing, I found that helps a lot with bright sunny days and there's snow on the ground to slap on a neutral density filter if you are shooting with 400 ISO film. Otherwise getting a decent exposure would almost impossible without a slower spee...
Ontario winter as it was meant to be, well this was a few weeks ago when we had winter. The weather forecast right now is almost more late March than late January. I shot this right after New Years in the Belfountain Conservation Area. Gear and film: Nikon FM, Nikkor Ai 28 f3.8 and AiS 50 f1.8 lenses and Kodak Tri-x processed in Xtol 1+1.
I put my Rolleiflex through it's paces two weeks ago at a concert shoot. Brian Hayman and quintet played at set at St. Jude's Jazz Vespers back on January 3rd. The one challenge, no flash so I used my Leica M3 with pushed Tri-x and Fuji Pro 800 NPZ in the Rollei. To quote one fellow Flickr member who commented on one of the photos, "Planar lenses rock!" I found a Bay II hood for the camera and my brother Alex gave me a warming filter, all I need to do is find some more filters and I am good to go with the Rollei kit. I also found a new layout for the blog, now my 6x6 shots can be seen as I had intended, square.
Two shots of my Honeywell Pentax H3 I picked up two years ago on Ebay as an impulse purchase. It suffered from a stalled mirror which is common with old Pentax screwmount cameras and that is due to the shutter curtains not going through it's complete cycle. In my current between opportunities state, a professional CLA (clean lubricate and align) is a little expensive so I went to Pentax-Manuals.com downloaded the repair manual for the Asahi Pentax S3 which is the same camera as the H3. I then also downloaded another how to link on the Instructables site on how to fix a seized mirror on a Pentax Spotmatic ES. Bear in mind the Spotmatic ES was made at least ten years later than the H3/S3 and the insides would have evolved a little bit. However combined with the S3 service manual, I have some direction. Old Pentaxes are reasonably easy to fix, if you have steady hands and high spatial reasoning. If you have an old body you got for stupid cheap, you will get a tutorial on how a mecha...
Happy New Year and a new decade! I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I got one neat toy for Christmas, my own 3.5 Series E Rolleiflex with the 75 f3.5 Zeiss Planar lens. So Alex's Rollei is going home soon. I am trying the new (to me)camera out tomorrow with high speed colour film no less with an interior photoshoot. In the spirit of fresh starts here is a little shake up a photo study of downtown Toronto around Bay St. around quitting time. It was shot in early December with a Nikon Fm and a Nikkor 28 F2.8 Ai lens with Kodak Tri-x processed in Xtol 1+1. I love doing landscapes but I think after the In the Shadow of the GTA Greenbelt project, I am doing something urban.
This is my last roll with the Rolleiflex Automat I have been playing with for the past five months. Fear not I am going without medium format only until Christmas when I will get a Rolleiflex Series E with the 80 f2.8 Zeiss Planar lens from my mom and brother (he will be happy to get his Rollei back). I shot the below last weekend with Kodak Tri-x 400 processed in Xtol 1+1 in the Beaches neighbourhood in Toronto. I was blessed with a clear sunny day without too much windchill, offshore breezes can be bitter off Lake Ontario. Update: Just a quick note on the images, I have found Blogger crops the image a little bit, this is not intentional on my part. Please click on the image to get the original.
I used to shoot with a Canon AE-1 from 2001 to 2005 as my entry into what I term manual focus photography. I switched to Nikon when I received a Nikon F as part of my dad's estate, picked up a Nikkormat Ftn and a second F the same year, so the AE-1 had to go. Turns out you can go home again, I was gifted a 38 year old Canon FTb along with a later production FD 50 f 1.8 lens and a mid production FD135 f 3.5 telephoto lens a month ago. After a test roll, I am reminded how nice Canon FD glass is and it's a pity the mount is an orphan. Don't think for second I am liquidating my Nikon kit but I am going to keep my eye out for more Canon FD lenses. I am really happy my new to me FTb's shutter speeds are pretty much bang on. Now all I have to search for is a Wein Zinc Air 625 battery as mercury cells have been illegal for some time. The below test shots were taken around the Oakville waterfront yesterday with Kodak Tri-x and processed in Xtol 1+1. Thank you Elizabeth Reid for ...
A tale of two Wideangle lenses Nikon in the 1960s and 1970s made some really 28mm wideangle lenses. Here is a back to back comparison between the fast Nikkor N 28 f2 lens and the classic Nikkor H 28 f3.5 while slower has very high performance in it's own right. I borrowed my brother's Nikkor N 28 f2 lens a few months ago to play with, it was made for photojournalists working in less than ideal light. So does it stack up with my beloved Nikkor H 28 f3.5? I don't know, going through my Flickr account and doing a comparison, I prefer my slower 28. This is just comparing negative scans, the real test will be printing from the negatives. Now if you want to read up more on the subject, check out Photography in Malaysia's pages on the Nikkor 28mm lenses . I do not hold myself responsible if after reading you get a case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS). Top two were taken with the Nikkor N 28 f2 lens up at Limehouse Conservation Area and the bottom photos two Nikkor H 28 f3....
The Magic Image This is not a perfect image, it's not totally razor sharp but I love it. I wanted to give the impression you are on Bay St. downtown Toronto in the middle of the crowd and I nailed it. I used my last roll of Efke 50 in my Leica M3, the perfect film/camera combo. I can hand hold at slow shutter speeds and I get a really cool vintage look because the manufacturing process with Efke films has not changed in 50 years.
