Fiddlefye

The one on the left in the pic - Super Ikonta 531 - is loaded with HP5. First time out! On the hunt for some less-than-expensive 100 speed film for the 521. Same lens and shutter on both so you'd never be aware which took with image.

Finally putting a roll through the XG-M a friend found for me gratis at the end of a yard sale. Nice camera to work with.

My father passed away a decade ago, but my sister finally relented and let me have some of his cameras. Two of his favourites were Bronicas, the ETRSi and GS-1. He shot with the GS-1 for many years, but the ETRSi was the last camera he bought and he used it very little. I think the ETRSi will be my choice for some shooting at a local farm fair this weekend. First time shooting 645 - all of my mediu8m format experience to date has been 6x6.

I got self indulgent this week and bought this entire lot (all or nothing deal) - Leicaflex SL, 28 Elmarit, 50 Summicron, 60 Macro Elmarit (with extension), 135 Elmarit and some filters, cases and tubes. I've already been out with the Macro Elmarit on my SL-2 and a roll of Delta 100.

I picked up this Canon A-1 last week - bit of a flyer as I had no battery to test with, but the virtually as-new cosmetic condition seemed hopeful. It came with a 24 f2.8 and I don't have a 24 in FD mount so and a bag and flash. First roll on the go, HP5. Seems to work perfectly.

One of these was my first camera as an 8 year old, paired with a GE selenium meter. It did a very nice job and I loved it. When it was stolen in a house break-in my parents replaced it with an Instamatic and I stopped taking pictures for a few years as a result.

The F2s and 35 f2 are back from service (meter head too little oil, lens too much) and ready to play.

Only mid-week, but I'm pretty sure what I'll be shooting with the rest of the week and weekend. Today I picked up a Pentax MX to pair with the LX. I find I need two bodies for any given system as if I've slow film in a camera I suddenly want something faster and vice versa. Until I put the two cameras together it really hadn't sunk in how much smaller the MX is as compared to most of my 35mm SLRs the LX has always felt pretty compact.

Going away for the weekend to Point Pelee National Park for a "glamping" weekend at the oTENTiks doing an art show with my dear lady wife. Nikon D750 and the 50 f1.4, 24-70 f2.8 and 300 f4 for the digital component For Fall colour shots and to post to my wife's website. Also the Pentax LX with the full kit (28 f2.8, 40 f2.8, 50 f1.2, 135 f3.5, 200 f4) and a few rolls of HP5. Should keep me out of trouble (or something like that). Next week I really should give something else a bit of exercise.

Going "luxury" this weekend with the Pentax LX - I even pulled out the half-case. Loaded with HP5 Plus, but not sure what lenses I'll shoot. I have a few, but seem always to gravitate back to the 50 f1.2 as I love the results so much.

After the past week or so of shooting huge numbers of frames (both digital and 35mm B&W) I feel like I need to slow down - Hasselblad and a couple of rolls of HP5 on tap.

A bit after-the-fact perhaps and the cameras involved don't fit the forum category (but some of the lenses do), but last weekend I did rather more shooting than I've done all at one time for a very long while now. My wife and I crossed the border and went up to Frankenmuth, MI where she went to high school for the wedding of one of her high school friends. I was given the task of "official photographer" and so brought along my Nikon D3/80-200 f2.8 and D750/24-70 f2.8 (for the wedding itself) and 50 f1.4 and 35 f2 AI-s Nikkors for some walkaround fun. I had planned on bringing the Hasselblad and doing part of the wedding shooting in B&W, but while it would have been fun it would really have been just a bit much! I did one walk with the D750 and 50 f1.4 and another with the D3 and 35 f2 and both were fun (of course). Decades later and I'm still in love with the results from the 35 f2. 672 frames and I'm almost done with the editing. It was all highly-variable available light and so a bit of work to get it all to mesh, but we're getting there! Maybe one day someone will ask me to shoot a wedding in B&W medium format again like The Olde Days... one can wish!

Anyone here who knows me knows how much I adore these lovely creatures.

I use my 35 f2 AI-s on everything, including full frame digital (often). Just a really nice lens.

"A walk down memory lane" or perhaps "revisiting the sins of my youth?". I'm not sure what got into me, but I pulled out the Nikon FE yesterday and loaded it with some HP5 and mounted the much-beloved 35 f2. This morning I decided to go with the full 80s aperture-priority experience and pulled out my various moderate wide-to-tele zooms for a ponder. Two SP Tamrons - 28-80 f3.5-4.2 and 35-80 f2.8-3.8 and two Vivitar Series 1 - 28-90 f2.8-3.5 and 28-105 f2.8-3.8. I've long been a fan of the FE - for other people. It has been my recommendation for people getting into (or returning to) film photography for years now. It has a beautifully rational control layout and performs perfectly and reliably in every way. The "Tonka Toy" shutter noise and vibration and odd film wind feel and sound have always put me off enough I've seldom used the camera. The F2S or F4 always seem to end up in my hand and the FE goes back in the drawer. Yes, silly... but there it is. The Tamron 35-80 is one of only two lenses I've purchased new and it wandered the world with me for a very long time. Apart from some distortion at the wide end it really is marvellous. The 28-80 was purchased later at some camera show and might have been used once? The Series 1 28-90 was bought later as well, but has seen a fair amount of use and my example performs beautifully. The Vivitar 28-105 has been mounted on a camera a few times, but I'm not sure I ever actually made an image with it. So, the 28-105 it shall be. I'll let you know how the "dark horse" works out. I did make a few images with it on the Nikon D3 just to make sure it isn't complete crap and they look just fine.

I have the same issue with my Firefox on my Mac. The site also forces the download of some sort of HTML file most of the time when I do get it to settle down by refreshing a dozen times or so. I encounter this nowhere else and it baffles me. Logging out and logging back in has no effect whatsoever, nor some clearing the cache. It has been doing this for the past year or so and on two entirely different computers. Someone once suggested to me that it had to do with some ad-blocker set up I run, but...

I took a jaunt out to "the county" to get some wonderful corn. Leicaflex SL, new-to-me 28 f2.8 Elmarit on Delta 100. I'm not usually a big 28mm fan, but I really like this one.

I'm getting a half-case made for my Vito III so I can should carry it instead of having a huge weight in a pocket. The problem is that I've never actually seen an original case in an open state to know how they worked around the area on bottom where the release button for the bed is. If anyone has a case they could share pics of or a description it would be really helpful!

Nikon F2S loaded with PanF.

I picked up a 28 f2.8 Elmarit this week so it is joining a 50 Summicron on a stroll or two. I think I'll leave the 35 at home, at least for the moment. I decided to go with one of the SLs this time as the SL2 got the nod the last few Leicaflex outings.

Finished all of the rolls that were on the trot so started one of HP5 in the Hasselblad 500C/M - 100 f3.5 Planar pairing.

It is supposed to rain here for the next few days so I think this combination is appropriate. The addition of the rangefinder will depend on just how wet it is at any given moment, but having just got it all cleaned and adjusted I think it needs an outing as well.

My friend Adrian here in town (Windsor Photo Outfitters) services pretty much everything and he does just fine on Contax rangefinders (and Nikon etc.). My IIa is working just great - speeds all on the mark, rangefinder perfect etc. I just figured it was time for some preventative maintenance. These old dears weren't meant to go forever without being serviced.