Saturday, June 24, 2023

ebay delivers

  Ebay, the online auction site comes in for a lot of criticism.  I haven't really found any real reason to complain about the company's operations.  I've mostly bid on low-cost, low risk cameras and I've mostly got what I wanted from the transactions.  Getting to try making pictures with some old camera, even one of modest value, has always been a good source of inspiration for me.

Recently, I took a risk on an old Kodak folder priced at $20 with a $16 mailing charge.  The risk took the form of poor photos of the item and zero prior sales by the seller.  When the shipping date window opened and closed I emailed the seller, only to get a lame excuse.  With no refund in the works, I messaged ebay to claim their 100% guarantee, and was pleased to have a resolution in a few days.

Here is the final ebay email on the transaction:

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Shooting Blanks

 The Argoflex Forty is my favorite brilliant screen twin lens camera and Kentmere 100 is a favorite film.  

Unfortunately, the two do not get along well together.

The problem is the very faint frame numbering on the film's backing paper.  Even under bright sun the symbols and numerals are barely visible through the ruby window on the camera's back.  The result is that it is very easy to roll the film right past the upcoming frame.  On my last neighborhood stroll I managed to lose three of the twelve frames on the roll.  Add that to normal loss through missed focus and other mishaps and you end up with a frustrating experience and few good shots per roll.





In fact, most paper-backed roll film produced these days has frame numerals with poor contrast.  That is of no consequence for users of cameras with automatic frame spacing such as you would find in later twin lens reflex cameras, but it is a serious problem when the photographer is dependent on seeing the frame numbers through a dark red window on older and simpler cameras.

Here is an example of what roll film backing paper used to look like -- it is from a roll of Pan F 50:

Since I still like the quality of Kentmere in regard to grain and tonality I'll continue to use it with my film cameras that have auto frame spacing like the YashicaMat and the Voigtländer Brilliant.  However, I'll look for something else to use in my cameras that require viewing the framing numerals through a ruby window.

Saturday, June 17, 2023

Summer Shooting

One needs to get out early in the day now to find tolerable shooting conditions.  My walk around Tingley Ponds took me up close to noon and I only had the energy to snap one picture on Kentmere 400 in my No.1A Pocket Kodak.


I took an early morning walk around Old Town and managed to finish off the roll.



All the pictures were made at the minimum aperture of f45 and the maximum shutter speed of 1/50.  In spite of the camera's simplicity it always makes nicely sharp pictures as long as I use a tripod.  A couple adapter disks allow me to easily use 120 film to get images with a panoramic format.

Thursday, June 08, 2023

A Month of Pictures

 My photographic style over the years has been reliant to a large extent on covering a lot of ground.  I always liked wandering around with my camera and recording things of interest that I came across.  I was also not stingy with film; I tended to burn a lot of film exploring whatever subject was before me.  All that has undergone a rather drastic change due to a mobility deficit stemming from a couple tendon injuries.  So, the pictures presented here all came from a single roll of Kentmere 100 which spent a month in my Pentax ME.  I shot just a few frames at each of half a dozen locations.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center



The maiden voyage of 2926 (half a mile)

The yearly car show at the Albuquerque Art Museum

A stroll through Tiguex Park

The flooded riverside forest


San Felipe de Neri Fiesta 2023