Film Camera Week for November 10

only have to look at your photo to remember what winter is really like - cold wet and miserable. I can already feel the snow falling down the back of my neck.

One nice thing about retirement is that you don't have to go anywhere in the snow so it almost reverts to "Winter Wonderland", but not quite due to residual memories.

Here in north central Mississippi we get a good (photo quality) snow every 2 to 4 years on the average. My wife and I teach so we get snow days when the roads and bridges get icy. I might walk around as much as possible or take my old 1986 Chevy out if I need to drive around town. No highway driving under these conditions though.

Meteor Crater observatory ruins, Winslow, AZ. Shot in 2002, Mamiya C300, Kodak Portra 400, f/45 @ 1/60

Great images, everyone. Keep 'em coming.

This somewhat motley collection of bits and pieces arrived yesterday morning. The only item I really wanted was the nice 135mm E.Zuiko Auto-T f/3.5 lens, but for $30 I had to acquired the lot. The Minolta Dynax 303si is really little better than a point-and-shoot camera with interchangeable lenses, having no controls on offer other than a selection of various programmed "modes", and the 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6mm lens hasn't had too many kinds words spoken in it's favour. The Olympus OM-10 with the 50mm Zuiko Auto-S f/1.8 is an old friend; when fitted with the manual control it's a very usable and capable camera, though a little small and light for my taste.

 

Anyway, just to check on their functions before possibly moving them on, I shared a length of Ilford FP4 Plus between the two cameras, and I'll post a few samples. The Minolta lens actually performed reasonably well, while the great little 50mm Zuiko was right up to expectations. The film was developed in PMK Pyro and scanned on an Epson V700 Photo using Silverfast SE software.

 

The Collection

 

 

Here are three frames from the Minolta.

 

Breakfast Under the Tree

 

 

Buttressed

 

 

Not a Customer in Sight...

 

Here's one from the Olympus

 

Chevvy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the Maxxum 28-80 f3.5-5.6 was a better performer than the earlier i-series 28-80 f4-5.6. Nice work. That Chevy would either be a 63 or 64- I would have to see the tail lights to be sure. Also the tail lights would tell me if it's an Impala or the Biscayne/Belair. My parents had a 64 with the big block V8.

Sorry Mike, I was about to shoot the tail end of the Chevy but the tail end of the film arrived first. It's a local car so I might get another chance in the future.

Still a beautiful shot, Rick. Ours was red with a white top. But I think instead of the big block it had the 327, but still had a the 4 barrel carb. Dad traded it after a couple of years though.

[quote="Bill Bowes, post: 5618807,

Finaly managed to get some shots

Rick- further thoughts on the 28-80 lenses: I've found the Sigma 28-80 f3.5-5.6 HF to be a fine performer for the money. I have one in Pentax AF mount and one in Maxxum mount. It has a close focus setting that will take it down to 1/2 life size.

A few from a roll of Reala that I shot in Pentax ZX-5 and Sigma 28-80

 

An added bonus is the 28-80 works fine manually on my Pentax MX.

Impressive results from the Sigma 28-80, Mike. I'll add it to my "Lenses of Interest" file. Excellent photographs of "the sign", Erko

Rick- another good 28-80 AF lens is Tamron's offering. When my oldest son (now 25) wanted a camera in Jr. High school I got him a used Maxxum HTSI with the Tamron 28-80 which also performs well too. Leftover from family camera shop was a NIB Maxxum 70-210 f3.5-4.5 that we gave him on next birthday. Today the lens also see use on his Sony Alpha. However, he also likes manual focus, mechanical cameras as he has and uses a Minolta SRT 201 and several lenses. He and his wife are expecting their first child in March so we'll see which camera he reaches for to take baby photos.

Went to the Fotografica market in my town yesterday. It's a market for used cameras with the emphasis on film.

Saw some lovely cameras I would like to own, but unfortunately all to expensive for my wallet.

This photo is from the market in August.

 

 

Minolta Himatic 7S AGFA APX400

Thanks Erko.

I've had a busy week, but I found a couple of hours to try out an early Sigma compact zoom I saved from a fate worse than death in the hands of a neighbour. It's a 70-210mm Sigma UC Zoom f/4-5.6 of somewhat undistinguished appearance, but I mounted it on a Nikon FE and was pleasantly surprised by the results. The film was Ilford FP4 Plus, developed in PMK Pyro and scanned on an Epson V700 using Silverfast SE software. All being well, I may have a few more to post later in the weekend.

 

Gotta ask... what possible "fate worse than death" could there be for a lens?

 

I had one of those lenses. I bought it for my Maxxum 7000i, a decision I eventually came to regret deeply, a decade or two later, when I swapped it out for one of Minolta's legendary Beer Can lenses, and discovered that my then-current camera body, a Konica Minolta 7D, was capable of MUCH better image quality that I'd realized up to that point. The Sigma produced dull muddy colors, by comparison. The Minolta lens produced results so much better that I mistook them for having already been post-processed.

 

In my opinion, there is no fate that is worse than that lens deserves. Your sample does seem to have better resolution than mine did, though.

Probably common knowledge to Maxxum users by now, but the first Sigma autofocus lenses were "reverse engineered" to work with the Maxxum models 7000, 5000, and 9000. The i series electronics were incompatible with the older Sigma lenses. For a while Sigma would rechip the lenses. I had the Sigma 75-300 for my 5000, but sold it with my 5000 when I bought an 8000i.

35mm Tri-X with HC110 "E" dilution. Monterey Wharf in the morning before regular business hours. I was there as a Half Marathon was going on and 2 of my kids were competing. They say 10,000 runners showed up and they started in waves. I think the winner ran the 13 miles in 1 hr and a couple minutes. I saw the elite runners take off and they were flat moving and I thought they will never hold that pace. But they did. Anyway I am not much of an action shooter with my old clunker but here is a shot of the wharf and a blurry shot of the elite runners. It was 125th of a second. Not sure completely freezing the action would be better.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by rossb

Balloon tying in Dresser, WI

Canon EF, FD135 2.5, Kodak T-Max 100

 

@rick Drawbridge- The old Chevy you photographed reminded me of the old '64 Impala my family had. Here is a photo of my younger sister standing by it with her bicycle. The camera was my old Sears 127 with a roll of outdated Ektachrome-X.

Great stuff, Mike. You're lucky to have such a fine collection of family photographs.

These photos inspired me a lot. I hope familyessayorg.bravesites this blog also will inspire someone.