Cars in Color

After finishing the roll of TMAX 400 in my Ansco Panda I made another trip through the museum car show with the Minolta Hi-Matic 7s loaded with Kodak ColorPlus 200.

All the Hi-Matic shots were made with the camera in full-auto exposure mode.  The camera was built to accommodate a 1.35v Mercury battery.  Not having that, I used a 1.5v and adjusted the ASA down to 125.  The exposure values shown in the camera's viewfinder matched those of a reliable handheld meter, but I still got a bit of underexposure in the negatives.  I think there are some 1.4v batteries available that might give better results, so I'll try to track down a source.
     I'm not sure how the coupled meter adjusts both the speed and the aperture.  The shutter release has quite a long throw, so I suspect the mechanism works in a somewhat similar fashion to the way exposure is handled by the Olympus RC, although the Oly offers only shutter-priority and full-manual modes.

The full-auto mode in the Hi-Matic 7s is not entirely to my liking due to the fact that the meter reading in the viewfinder only displays an EV value, so you do not know the exact aperture and shutter settings that are being selected by the system.  Theoretically, you can set the Hi-Matic's shutter and let the camera adjust the aperture, but I'll need to get a battery with the proper voltage to make sure that everything is working as designed.  Of course, full-manual operation is also an option, but the narrowness and closeness of the setting rings on the lens makes that process a bit awkward.

Museum Car Show

I took two cameras to photograph the yearly Albuquerque Museum car show.   First up was the Ansco Panda, my favorite box camera.  My plan was to use Fuji Acros in the camera, but the sky was overcast, so TMAX 400 seemed the better choice.  (Click the images to view full size.)

The Panda seems to me to be the perfect camera for shooting car shows.  It is small enough to stuff in a jacket pocket and the camera's short focal length provides a wide angle perspective I like.  Having to re-roll 120 film onto the 620 reels needed by the Panda is only a minor inconvenience.

High Water

The Rio Grande is running high and fast thanks to Spring rains.  There is still quite a lot of snow in surrounding mountains, so the high water is likely to last well into Summer.

Near Albuquerque the river is seldom much above ankle deep, but this year the water is surging powerfully past the city and overflowing the banks to penetrate the bordering cottonwood forest.  Roads and paths beside the river have been transformed into swift flowing streams.  In low spots near the new stream banks the rising water gently lifts the leaf litter into an illusion of solid ground.

The high water is bound to be transformative for plant and animal populations along the river.  Cottonwood seedlings will have an unusual opportunity to gain a foothold.  The Yerba Mansa and the wolf berries will thrive and the mulberry trees will become heavy with fruit as the weather warms.  The porcupines will continue feasting on leaves and twigs high in the cottonwoods.  What of the small burrowing animals though?

We will be traveling toward the end of the May to Las Cruces. I will be interested in seeing how much of the high water makes it to the south.  In recent years, the Rio Grande there has been little more than a string of puddles, with farmers relying increasingly on pumping ground water for irrigation.  When we lived there south of Hatch fifteen or twenty years ago Spring floods seemed a regular occurrence. Water-blocked roads were a brief inconvenience, but it was always great to see the flocks of water birds appear suddenly to take advantage of newly replenished wetlands.

Neighborhood Color

Moving up to a ten dollar camera

I haven't used my yard sale Nikon EM much since acquiring it about four years ago.  The main reason for that is that I have a couple of other very good Nikons including an FE and an F2.  The EM does have some nice features, though, and I'm going to try to use it more.  The camera is compact and light weight.  With the Series E 1.8/50mm lens mounted it is easy to carry and even shoot one-handed.

With the nice Spring weather we've been having I was pretty sure I would find a Friday morning car show in progress in the Old Town Plaza.  

Hikari + Takumar

As expected, the Hikari and the Pentax K-mount lenses work fine together.  Any deficiencies in the images is due solely to the operator.

The only thing I can find to complain about so far with the Hikari is the split-image viewfinder.  I don't like the canted split-image or the little crinkly doughnut around it.  That's just a personal issue, though; others may find those features advantageous.

I think my next step with the Hikari will be to give the Hikari zoom another round to see if a little more familiarity will produce a firmer opinion on its capabilities.  As with any zoom, getting used to the handling of the focus, zoom and aperture rings requires a bit of practice.

Dumpster Diving for Cameras

Figuratively speaking.  Actually, I found this Hikari 2002 in a thrift store with a five-dollar price tag.
The top and bottom covers were plastic, but the camera had a solid feel, and it was compact and relatively light weight.  The protruding grip makes one-hand shooting easy.  The film advance and the zoom lens were smooth in operation.  The shutter worked at all speeds.  The Hikari is a great camera.
Let me explain.

At home with the camera I inserted some new batteries and the meter came to life and seemed to be working properly; exposure is set manually, and a green LED glows when you've got it right.  I was pleased to discover when I looked up the camera on line that it accepts Pentax K-mount lenses.  It also features a shutter speed range from 1 sec. to 1/2000, a self timer, a double-exposure selector and a depth of focus preview button (which was lacking in the Pentax K-1000).  The Hikari was marketed under several names including the Vivitar  V3800N, the Promaster 2500PK Super and the Phoenix DC303N.  I shot a quick roll of Kentmere 100 to test the camera, and it performed flawlessly.

I'm withholding judgment on the Hikari macro-zoom lens.  Most of the shots made with it looked ok, but a few were not sharp.  That may just have been some focusing error by me; the max f3.5 aperture does not provide a very bright view.  I' m looking forward now to using some of my excellent K-mount Pentax lenses with the camera.  Perhaps due to my long experience with the Pentax Spotmatic I am most comfortable with cameras that let me have the final say about aperture and speed settings.