Stylus

Some images from my two-dollar Olympus.



I prefer the lesser degree of automation of my earlier 35-RC, but the point-and-shoot capability of the stylus is seductive, and the image quality from Olympus lenses is always superb.



Much of the appeal for me of the little Olympus Infinity Stylus lies in its polished black form. I think it is a good example of the design genius of Maitani who was so good at synthesizing combinations of innovation and tradition.



The design of the Infinity Stylus packed fully automated 35mm photography into a container that would slip effortlessly into a pocket. At the same time, the sculpted black case suggests the beautifully crafted small boxes from Japanese tradition known as Inro and their sash cord toggles, the Netsuke.

Camera Design



I picked up this plastic point-and-shoot camera recently at my local thrift store for two dollars. Judging from the graphic theme on the front, it was built in 2003, which marked the 75th birthday of Mickey Mouse. Conceptually, the Mickey Mouse camera with fixed aperture and a single shutter speed is essentially a box camera, similar in operation to the earliest photo image-making instruments. At the same time, the simple plastic camera features a number of refinements including the sleek, molded shape, an integral lens cover, and -- most importantly from the perspective of economy and efficiency -- a thumbwheel film advance. All of those features were pioneered by the Japanese company, Olympus, whose chief of design for four decades was Yoshihisa Maitani.



Coincidentally, I also acquired at the same time, place and price an Olympus Infinity Stylus, also known as the "mju". The Olympus is also a point-and-shoot; it first appeared in 1990, but it is a very sophisticated instrument, indeed, with auto-everything -- including the film advance, exposure and focusing. The compact, organic shape of the Stylus evolved from an earlier Olympus called the XA which dates from 1979; that camera also had a lens cover that was integral to the camera's front structure. While the Stylus, had a motorized film advance, the manual thumbwheel advance was a feature of Maitani's first great camera design, the Pen, which appeared in 1959. The Pen was also especially significant to camera design history and evolution in it's price point, which was about about a fifth of that of similar quality cameras then on the market.



All of the above Maitani/Olympus history comes from a nicely done web site developed by a Maitani fan in Hong Kong.

Oly



I shot another roll of Kodak BW400CN in the thrift store Olympus 35-RC. I'm going to have a hard time getting rid of this camera, in spite of the fact that I have two others.







I guess part of the problem is that the monetary value of any of my old cameras seems insignificant compared to their over-all worth to me. Each camera is unique in the way that it captures images of the world, as well as in the evidence of past use which each carries. I wonder how the previous owners regarded their cameras, and I feel a sense of obligation to those photographers of the past.

old machines

C3

I've had three or four Argus C3 cameras; the only one left in my possession is a Matchmatic model, dating from 1962. The camera has a few surface blemishes, but it works perfectly, and has a phenominally sharp lens, the f3.5/50mm coated Cintar.



My thanks to Julio F for his reminder to revisit the C3.

No.3

One of the perks of city life is access to a lot of garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. Since coming to Albuquerque, I've picked up a five-dollar Agfa Clack and two Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim at 99-cents each. My latest acquisition is a six-dollar Olympus 35rc.

I always pick up any camera that says "Olympus", but when I retrieved this one from the jumble in the bin at the thrift store, it took me a long moment to realize what I was holding because it was so unexpected. The 35rc is a great Chrome-Age classic.



I cleaned the lens, put in a new battery, and took the camera along to a Saturday car show.



I've already got two of these cameras which I considered bargains at nearly ten times the price I paid for the last one. I suppose I shouldn't keep this one, but I think I'm going to have to run a few more rolls through it before I can part with it.

Summer in the Bosque

f233

I went to the nearby botanical gardens this morning with a newly installed pinhole with a 0.150 mm aperture. That is a little small from my focal length of around 35 mm, but it seems a bit sharper to me than the recommended 0.220 mm aperture. I do need to blacken the back side of the pinhole disk as I got a narrow, arcing flare in a couple frames. The sunny scene exposure at 100 ISO with this f-stop is two seconds.

morning flight



The world probably doesn't need more balloon photos, but it's hard to resist their appeal as they drift close by. This one touched down about 25 feet from my car just after I had parked for a walk near the river. The pilot was following another balloon that had made a perfect landing a few minutes earlier, coming down just yards from the chase truck. A fickle breeze pushed the second one a bit too close to a car-filled parking lot, and the pilot shot a jet of flame up into his envelope to lift up again and drift southward over the riverside bosque.

Rio Grande Bosque

Public Transportation



Phoenix is a good place to indulge an interest in urban design. There is a lot of interesting late Twentieth-Century architecture downtown, and new buildings are always on the way up. I think the place is particularly appealing for me partly because downtown Albuquerque is such an architectural disaster area. Also, it is about as easy to get around in Phoenix as in Albuquerque, even though the Arizona city is much the larger.



Phoenicians probably thought the traffic jam on Central due to the light rail construction would never end. Now that it is operational, however, one of the most impressive aspects of the new system is the way it fits so seamlessly into the city grid. The trolleys have their own lane down the middle of the streets and the rate of travel is well-coordinated with the lights and traffic flow to interfere very minimally with the vehicular traffic. The sleek design of the trolley cars and the minimalist stations fits very nicely with the look of the city.



At present, the ticketing system is largely symbolic. The saguaro-enhanced tickets are dispensed from machines near the stops at a reasonable rate of $2.50 for all-day transportation. Nobody bothers to check if riders actually have tickets after boarding, but I suppose that will change once the ridership is firmly established.

Electronic parking meters and ticketing machines like those in Phoenix have recently become nearly as ubiquitous as the ATM. The previous generations of such devices, while based on mechanical designs, nevertheless incorporated many of the same concepts for managing service delivery currently in use. There is a very fine article on the development of ticket-dispensing to be found at the Design Observer blog.

Cottonwood Bosque





The flowers are Evening Primrose beside the toy train track at Tingley Beach where I left the car. I grew some like these from seed this year, but haven't seen any flowers on them so far. Maybe next year.

Phoenix

back at the river

The VUWS Phenomenon

 When people talk about the topics of "film vs digital" or the ever popular "death of film", due recognition is seldom given to the toy cameras and their users around the world. The Holga may still be the champ in the toy category, but the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim is breathing down its neck.

Another interesting aspect of these simple cameras is the price they are presently bringing. This is due in part to the fact that production of the Vivitar UW&S was discontinued about the time the camera got really popular. The prices shot through the roof, and haven't really abated even though the VUWS has been resurrected under a couple other names.

I paid $10 for my first VUWS and thought that a bit high. The next one, I found at a thrift store for 99 cents. Meanwhile, I've seen the camera selling as high as $50 on ebay, and routinely at the $20-$40 level. My guess would be that the east Asian factories churning out these cameras are doing so for a couple bucks each, at most.

Now, for my dilemma. I just picked up another Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim in unused condition for 99 cents. The wrist strap is still neatly folded and held in place by a rubber band. There is also a folded instruction sheet entitled, "35 mm Outdoor Camera". I'm not going to sell it for the outrageous price it would probably bring, but I'd like to see someone get it that would put it to good use. Suggestions will be welcomed.

(The vuws went to Norman.)

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Update 11/22/23:

Some ultra-wides with the RETO name have been showing up on ebay lately for as little as $15.

down by the river









I've been waiting all year for the blooming of the yerba mansa near the river. The patches more exposed to the sunlight are just starting to bloom, while those in the shade of the cottonwoods are still without flowers.

steal this photo



Modern computer screens do a pretty nice job of displaying photo art. I've made a number of wallpaper images recently to put on my desktop, and I've decided to share some of them on a new page at my Photography web site. No need for expensive framing, or for pounding nails in the wall. Just download and enjoy.

TtV





I couldn't pass up this ten-dollar bakelite beauty during a Sunday visit to the flea market. I first made some traditional b&w images on Acros. Then, I used the digital to shoot a few through the brilliant viewfinder of the Super Seventy-five.