Images from my Nikon F...

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<p>And here's a shot of an underpass not far from my home. I've driven by this a thousand times but lately I've just been drawn to graffiti...</p><div></div>

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<p>And the last one...</p><div></div>

[tom_mann1]

<p>All this talk about F's is making me nostalgic, so here's another image that fits this theme.</p>

<p>It happens that I posted the attached image in the "No Words - Decade of your youth" thread just a day or two ago. It was taken on my first SLR, an "F" with a simple prism finder, back in 1968, on Kodachrome, using my 50f2, probably around f8 or f11. To post it, I just re-photographed that old slide using a new 105 VR macro.</p>

<p>It never ceases to amaze me just how well some of the old gear worked, assuming you use it within its limits. Spurred on by this thread, I dug out that old lens (... yes, I still have both the old lens and body and both are in almost perfect condition..), temporarily unscrewed the coupling prong (so it wouldn't bind up on my d700) and shot a few frames using it in manual mode on my d700, and comparing it to my 2000 vintage 50/1.4 AFD. At f8, you could certainly tell that the newer 50 mm prime was better, but the differences were not huge. However, I was astonished at how soft the older lens was everwhere in the frame at f/2 and 2.8, both in absolute terms and compared to the newer 50 (anywhere from 1.4 to 2.8). Anyway, enough reminiscing for now.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom</p><div></div>

[tom_mann1]

<p>... and here's the old 50/f2 lens I was talking about...</p>

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<p>Thanks for sharing, Tom. Great to see you're still using the old glass with your new gear. Very striking image. What was the gathering about? Where was this taken?</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Hi Q - My photo depicts a small part of a much larger demonstration that filled much of the Arts Quad at Cornell in Spring 1968. The building in the background is Stimson Hall and the view is towards the SE.</p>

<p>As I recall, Daniel Berrigan, the famous anti-war protester, was present. He had a high position with Cornell United Religious Ministries during those years, and was one of the main organizers of many of the campus demonstrations.</p>

<p>The overall theme of this particular demonstration was anti-war, but, there were separate breakout sessions ;-) on the military industrial complex and divestiture of university investments in South Africa, race relations, feminist issues, etc. If I remember correctly, the guy on the extreme LH side of this frame (with his head in a stocking) was haranguing his audience about drugs.</p>

<p>Somewhere, I have shots of the rest of the demonstration, but I haven't digitized them yet. As I recall, the Sun (the student daily newspaper) used a couple of my shots from this roll in their story on this demonstration. I hope they returned them to me. I haven't thought about them in years.</p>

<p>Looking back from 2010, the scene in my photo looks all bright and vaguely party-like, but, let me tell you, those were *extremely* tense times. The social fabric truly appeared to be crumbling. A year later, a Pulitzer was awarded to the guy from AP who took this famous shot of the armed take-over of the Cornell student union:<br /> http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/April09/StraightRevisited.gl.html</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

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<p>Thanks for sharing, Tom. Great to have an eyewitness account (and photographic evidence from the classic F) to history. 1968 was indeed a momentous year. How close were these events you depict to the assasinations of RFK and MLK?</p>

<p>Interesting comment about the tense mood of those times. Not sure what has changed but we seem to view modern anti-war/anti-excesses of capitalism demonstrations through a completely different lens now. Rather than view these as legitimate (if sometimes inconvenient) manifestations of popular democracy, they are now viewed through a lens of security and defense of property. The recent G20 demonstrations in Toronto are a case in point. Although there was less property damage than when what hooligans typically cause in their sports victory/loss celebrations, our State mass-arrested almost a 1000 people on flimsy charges such as 'breach of the peace' and simply shut down entire parts of the city. And there's nary a peep of protest. The media here repeatedly show images of a burning police car and for the most part toes the corporatist line that we were descending into anarchy, and the governments at all level simpy shift blame and responsibility. In terms of attitudes and mores, I think our modern world would be unrecognizable to the eyes of one of those idealistic young protesters from 1968...</p>

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<p>My testing found the Nikon 50mm f2 lens to be the best among many, including the f1.4 AIS, the f1.8 AF-D, and the f1.8 AI. It's legendary. Glad I have one on my fathers original black Nikon F with FTn finder.</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Capital - You made a great observation about the timing. The demonstration that I photographed was almost certainly in early May, 1968, ie, after the trees were in full foliage (in the cold weather of upstate NY), but before the undergrads had left for the summer. RFK was shot in early June of that year, a month or so after this demonstration.</p>

<p>OTOH, MLK had been assassinated only a few weeks earlier, on April 4th. In retrospect, and much to my own amazement, I don't remember that much of this particular gathering focused on MLK. It was mostly about "The War" and the military-industrial complex. OTOH, my memory from 40-some years ago could easily be flawed, I arrived well after the demonstration had started, so I missed the main speeches, I worked the south side of the quad and missed activities taking place on the north side of the crowd, etc. A couple of crops of shots which included anti-war signs are shown below. </p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>PS - Capital - good points on the differences in attitudes between then and now.</p>

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[tom_mann1]

<p>@Dave L: Perhaps my copy of the old 50/f2 has problems, but my recent quick and dirty comparison to the more modern 50/1.4 AFD clearly (ie, even in web-sized images) showed vastly more softness in the older lens (even in the center) when nearly wide open. OTOH, this softness cleans up dramatically as you stop it down, and by f/8, one has to look quite closely to see differences between the two. </p>

<p>OTOH, now that I think about it, somewhere in the 1980s, I think I had that lens cleaned by an old guy that used to repair cameras for the Washington Post. Perhaps he messed up and forgot a shim, or reversed an element or something. I might not have noticed it because by that time, I was using more modern 50s, and only brought the old lens out for trips down memory lane. ;-)</p>

<p>Tom M</p>