Pete Townsend

<p><a href="http://westfordcomp.com/classics/contaxIIIa/feb2013/contax3a.html">Contax IIIa</a></p>

<p>Spiffy looking camera and case. Spiffy looking photos. Spiffy looking old guy.</p>

<p>Where is the observatory dome? It's beautiful. </p>

<p>Gene M wrote:<br />"The Contax IIIa is a beautiful camera. It's simple, rugged and quiet. It gets the job done with style."<br>

I agree with everything except the "simple" part. Those Contax cameras are pretty complex.<br />Lovely presentation and discussion overall.</p>

<p>Pretty much mirrors my opinion.<br>

My DSLR is most often used as a meter for my film cameras. It was cheaper than many high end hand held meters. </p>

<p>The modern plague of picture glut has been one factor in my new (to me) interest in 4X5. A chance find at a yard sale of 6 film holders has started me down a path. I'm not sure where it's going but it is a fun journey. </p>

<p>Kevin, the dome is in Amherst MA. It's part of Amherst College I believe.</p>

<p>William, I guess I should have said "simple to use." You're right. They<em> are</em> complex inside.</p>

<p>As for "getting out of the way", nature will see to that.<br>

Thanks.</p>

Gene, love the photos and the Contax is beautiful. Super job in conveying raw emotions on where the photography world stands today.

 

I lived with a powershot a80 for 7 years, it was enough for me, now I am trying to keep up and so far I have flipped digicams faster than

pancakes, and still have not found one to be favorite and a keeper.

 

That A80 is still with me though for sentimental reasons.

<p>Gene,<br>

With all sincerity, I, and many others on Photo net, hope you will be with us for a very long time.<br>

I too, dislike digital cameras and what theyhas done to photography.<br>

I love all of my film cameras, and mourn the loss of the many films Kodak use to make.<br>

So keep posting Gene, you have a large following on this forum.</p>

<p>Lovely camera. Great photos. The Bench shot is amazing.</p>

<p>Yeah, the Contax and Contarex are insanely complicated cameras. Partly because they were working around Leitz's patents on their focal plane shutter and on their simple rangefinder coupling. Partly because Zeiss-Ikon went further than Leitz in "German over-engineering". The Leitz epitome of "German over-engineering" has to be the Visoflex "system" (kludge tower).<br>

You're getting rather far east from central Mass, Gene. I drive home past that farm every night.</p>

<p>You're very kind Richard.</p>

<p>What a lovely specimen and the pictures are outstanding too. I have never been able to afford one of these but would love to try one out.</p>

<p>Well, get out and photograph it, John Shriver.</p>

<p>Great to see that Sonnar still being put to good use. The shot that I like the best is the one where house is small in the vast expanse of grass.<br>

Although the Contax is not as nice to use as a Barnack Leica, they are still superb instruments from a time when things were made as good as they could be, not to a pre-determined time line. The general feel, and particularly the winder is an experience that all young people should have while they are still at school:)<br>

I was out shooting with my 11A yesterday, trying out a recently acquired Russian 50mm 1.5, interesting to see how it compares to the Sonnar. Some of those old Russkie lenses can be surprisingly good, some just surprising!</p>

<p>I owe it all to you, Mister Lockerbie.</p>

<p>I have a Kiev 4a in good shape with Jupiter 8 and 12 lenses. Good results and fun to use, but it's no Contax.</p>

<p>Some older Kiev pages<br>

http://westfordcomp.com/classics/52kiev/</p>

<p>http://westfordcomp.com/classics/52kiev/june05/index.htm</p>

<p>http://westfordcomp.com/classics/52kiev/winter06/index.htm</p>

<p>http://westfordcomp.com/classics/kiev41960/</p>

<p>http://westfordcomp.com/kiev4m/</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Very nice Kiev pages Gene! Clearly the Kievs and their Soviet lenses are capable of producing outstanding photographs.</p>

<p>Thanks for the links Gene, very nice...and you do have a lot of Kiev's! I have two..both very deceased :(</p>

<p>I've two Kievs, very much alive, nowhere near as smooth as the Contax, but very capable. Great post, <strong>Gene . </strong>I love the rituals of film photgraphy, but I also think digital capture is just great; by knowing instantly just how stupid I've been I've possibly learned more about photography in the few years I've had digital cameras than in all the years without. And there's the great ability to do it again, quickly, with minor variations and improvements, and to a commercial photographer that's just invaluable. I'm not really interested in all the crud that fills Facebook and other peoples' computers; most of us delete all but the best files and end up with far few images than those that cluttered my filing cabinet when film was king. Having spent several years processing customers' vacuous film and giving them packets of prints to throw away, it's probably kinder on the world's resources to see that system diminish. The one thing I miss, (other than the great variety of film, paper and chemistry), is the album, the hard copy that might survive down the years, far more permanent than a digital file, though there seems to be a move back to to creating albums and photobooks.</p>

<p>Anyway, photographers are traditionally a disgruntled race; I'll bet those who had made their reputations with the collodion process, carted around by the mule-load, were scathing when their competitors swanned past with their new-fangled gelatine bromide dry-plate cameras...</p>

<p>Gene, I like Louis Armstrong's truism a little more than Pete's. When once asked what he thought of other types of music, he said there were only 2 types. Bad music, and good music. He liked good music, and it didn't matter where it came from.</p>

<p>We live in a highly materialistic and warrior-like (strong, dumb, obeys authority) society. Spending 5 minutes in front of a TV will give you a very accurate assessment of the Idiocracy of today's world. It's absolutely frightening watching the wrong headed crap and violence that viewers are assaulted with. This is just a mirror of society an large. It doesn't bother me that things are changing. I've evolved too, but in a different way. Just hanging around for many decades will wise you up pretty well, although, again, Western societies devalue old folk's experience. My suggestion is to not let it bother you more than a minute, and reinforce your wisdom by hanging out w/ contemporaries that share your view. Like here for instance.</p>

<p>Ever since we left Hilo, Hi 10 years ago I've felt out of sync w/ people. My values aren't the same as nearly anyone I meet, at least from what I can see. In Hilo, there was a small community of artists, craft makers, photographers, etc that had regular showings in established venues. I never realized what it was like to leave that scene. Oh, most of the time I groused about the egos and stubbornness of people, but we all shared one focus. The work. Just get the work done. No matter if _______ was a total PITA to be around, he/she made some great images that were of value. We truly lived w/ our heads in the sand regarding society at large, and that's someplace I want to get back to. Not back to Hilo, because you can't go home again, but to a space where I have more venues, and more contact, w/ others of my ilk, if you will. Working alone, as most photographers/artists do in their studio or darkroom, not having a scene to connect w/ contemporaries, not showing your work........that all sucks.</p>

<p>I too have a Dslr the funny thing I find is that I treat it like a film camera. I use 100 iso and end up taking maybe 20 pictures. This year for Chistmas I used my F4 and 1 roll of 36 exposure Porta 160. I ended up with the same amount of pictures that I had from the previous year but this year I could bring the prints to work and show everyone.<br>

Keep up the good work.</p>

<p>I no longer have any Kiev's. I wasn't using them enough, so.....</p>

<p>Some really excellent posts in this thread. Youse guys ain't stupid.</p>

Well said !! I am really impressed with your tone here especially in the bench and self portrait! This TRIX @160 eh? Interresting! I like shooting my Contax a lot but it sometimes (when really cold) just fails to shoot at all! I'm too tight to invest in a really CLA from a real tech.. scared too !