P.S.

After I posted my review of the Minolta X-700, I realized that I had neglected to add the final frame I shot that day as I headed back up from the beach towards home. As I walked through the parking lot, I spied an old friend from my past; a Buick Reatta.

Blast from my past: The Buick Reatta Coupe

For a decade beginning in 1989, I managed the in-house advertising department for an automobile dealer group in the the Phoenix/Scottsdale area.  One of the perks of the job was I got to drive a demonstrator or "demo" vehicle as we called them. Over the 10 years I worked for this company, I got to drive lots of different new cars. We had multiple franchises including Chrysler, Jeep, Subaru, Hyundai, Isuzu, Hummer, GMC, Pontiac and Buick. The demo policy was that you could select any vehicle you wanted, but as the odometer crept near 5,000 miles, the car had to be sold before you could get a new one. If it hit 5,500 miles, you had to park it until it did sell. I was always careful to choose vehicles I knew would easily sell before the 5,000 mile mark, selecting popular color and option packages and even offering a $100 "spiff" to the salesperson who sold my demo. V-8 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limiteds and Isuzu Troopers were always my favorites.

Shortly after I arrived at this company, Buick sent us our first Reattas. The Reatta was intended as Buick's "statement" vehicle. It was a low volume two seater built mostly by hand in the Reatta Craft Centre in Lansing, Michigan. The car came in either a hardtop or convertible and the most popular color was red with tan leather interior. 

Buick really tried to make the Reatta special. I remember that each one came with a leather book inscribed with the signatures of every GM employee who had worked on that car. Fit and finish was excellent, which was unusual in a time when GM's quality control on other models was suspect.

Other than hand assembly and more attention to quality, there was nothing special about the Reatta. Power came from Buick's 3800 V-6 engine which was also being dropped into most of their vehicles including Century, Regal, Riviera and even the big Park Avenue.

As soon as the first Reattas rolled off the transports in Scottsdale, the owner of our company selected a red convertible as a demo and drove it for a few weeks before deciding that it was a no go fitting his two Golden Retrievers and himself in the little two seater. His office was across the hall from mine and one day he walked in and asked if I wanted to take over his demo. Of course I did!

I remember the Reatta as being a tame, pleasant and very comfortable car to drive...pretty much like a Riviera that had been left in the dryer too long. The 3800 engine had more than enough power for the little car. Visibility was good, seats were comfortable and it was fun dropping the top after work and piloting the car through Echo Canyon on the way home each night.

 The Reatta only lasted a few years and was considered a failure at Buick. The assembly process pushed convertible prices well over $30,000 and that was a lot of money for a car in the early 90s, especially one this impractical. Production ceased while we still had new Reattas on the sales floor.

The old Buick I snapped with my X-700 has been well taken care of. I hadn't thought about the Reatta in years. It was a nice memory.

The Minolta X-700

I openly admit to a certain degree of camera snobbery. When I got back into analog photography in serious fashion nine years ago, I had, for the first time in my life, some fun money to invest in the hobby. This bit of cash happily coincided with the sudden affordability of some once very expensive film cameras. With that, I worked my way through some legendary equipment: Leica M, Hasselblad V-Series, Nikon F2, F4 and F5, Pentax LX, Nikon rangefinders, medium format Mamiyas and C/Y mount Contax.

I don't regret spending money or time on any of these and learning to shoot each camera has expanded my knowledge not only of the hardware but of the photographic process as well. It's all good. 

The funny thing is, with a few exceptions, the cameras I've had the most fun with are those that are either terribly simple machines or those that were designed more for the mass market rather than the professional one. Like the Pentax ME. A simple, small, basically point and shoot SLR that, despite its made for the masses auto everything design, never fails to deliver big fun and great photographs.

Owing to my aforementioned camera snobbery, I have also purposely avoided two of the most popular and best selling 35mm cameras of all time: The Canon AE-1 Program and the Minolta X-700, but after discovering how wonderful the Minolta XD and XE-7 are, I thought I should put aside any preconceived notions and give the X-700 a try.

The X-700 debuted in 1981 as Minolta's response to Canon's hot AE-1. Auto exposure cameras were still magical things in those days and the ever expanding market of advanced amateur photographers provided plenty of incentive for camera companies to pour money into design and development of bodies that offered fully automatic exposure or varying levels of manual exposure at a flick of a button. The X-700 offered "MPS" for Minolta Program System which was a sophisticated metering system that allowed the camera to meter the scene and select the correct combination of aperture and step-less shutter speed to yield a perfect exposure. Photographers loved it! Minolta sold tons of X-700s and it was named "1981 European Camera of The Year."

To keep the cost of the X-700 affordable, Minolta replaced metal body and mechanical parts with plastic and went with a silk shutter over the metal ones used in the previous XD and XE bodies. As a metal camera guy -- nothing like shooting a Pentax Spotmatic or Nikon F2 -- I couldn't imagine enjoying the shooting experience of a camera like the X-700. I will say, humbly...I was wrong.

Acquiring & Shooting The X-700

Since Minolta made oodles of these, they are readily available on eBay and Craigslist. I found mine on eBay for under a hundred bucks complete with strap, 50mm f/1.7 MD lens and shipping.

If you prefer manual, aperture or shutter-priority shooting, there are plenty of 35mm SLR cameras that are better choices than the X-700, but for carefree, let the camera do the thinking, get out and have fun, jump up and down analog photographic joy, it's a hard camera to beat.

Simple on the outside. Sophisticated on the inside.

Getting ready to shoot is simple. Load up your favorite film, set your ASA, make sure your MD lens is set to the smallest aperture (marked in green), set the shutter speed dial to P, turn the thing on and go do it. It's obvious that Minolta used lots of plastic in the X-700, apparent in its light weight, but it still feels substantial and well balanced with a lens mounted. There are nice handgrips on the front and back of the camera which add to the excellent ergonomics. Film advance has a satisfying feel and the shutter sounds nice and sure. Spilt image focusing is clear and precise and a bright viewfinder with analog information displayed along the right side is very nice to use. 

I selected my favorite color film, Kodak Portra 400 for my X-700 test drive. I shoot this film at ASA 200 to add some saturation to the color. I took the X-700 for a Sunday stroll down to the beach.

With sincere apologies to the legions of X-700 lovers who I've certainly offended this past decade, I must say that I was looking down my nose at this camera for far too long and for no good reason.  The X-700 is a very likable, even lovable camera. It does everything it was designed to do brilliantly. Lots of cameras of this era used LEDs in the viewfinder to display exposure information and most are difficult to see in bright sunlight. Minolta either used brighter LEDs or placed them in the viewfinder area in just the right way to make them always visible.

Yes, the X-700 is made mostly of plastic, but once you start shooting this well designed camera, you appreciate its fine ergonomics and light weight more than the materials it's made out of. Well done Minolta! And the X-700 accepts a very nice selection of affordable Minolta lenses and even a motor drive with vertical shutter release (something not even available on pro cameras of the day)!

The Minolta X-700 allowed me to fully enjoy a nice beach stroll while taking on all of the heavy photographic lifting. It would make a great vacation camera!

A New Film

March and April have been crazy months at work for me, but I did get a bit of shooting in--some street photography with my Leica M in San Francisco (photos soon) and an afternoon indoors on a rainy Sunday trying some Kodak Tmax 3200 film.

This is my first time ever trying this super fast black and white film from Kodak. I decided to use my Minolta XE-7 as it was already sporting a macro Rokkor lens. Not sure I made the best decision. My XE-7 is in the queue for a CLA as its meter can be erratic. Sometimes, I get perfect exposures and every once in a while, wildly underexposed as was the case with my first roll of 3200. A few shots were salvageable and provided me with enough encouragement to try this film again in a trusted camera.

Close up of my beloved black Spotmatic SP

Analog meets digial

Knife set

XE-7 Me!

A Roll of Kodak Pro Image 100

Over the holidays and into the start of the New Year, I began stocking the fridge with some film I hadn't yet tried - Bergger Pancro 400, Kodak ColorPlus, Ferrania P30, Kodak Pro Image 100, Kodak Foto Pro and some of the new Polaroid color and black and white instant film for the SX-70. I even found another brick from the last batches of Plus-X with an expiration date of this summer -score! My good intention was to do lots of fine photography in 2018. It hasn't quite worked out that way so far.

For the second time in eight years, the wheels had came off of the finely-tuned machine that was my department at work, which has meant more hours at the office and even more working remotely when I'm not there. I haven't been shooting much at all. Sixty some days into the year, I took stock of my situation and realized that I had loaded film into five different cameras and hardly pressed the shutter release on any of them. My five little friends stared at me each time I went into the spare bedroom in my house that serves as my photographic man cave. "Pick us up, take us for a walk, please!" Five cameras, nearly 160 unexposed frames of film inside. I know myself well enough to realize that this thing could well get out of hand and photography could turn into just another chore that I would put off and off to the point that it was no longer fun. A reset was in order. I grabbed the first camera in the row, my lovely Minolta XD. It was loaded with Kodak Pro Image 100 film and I was already a dozen clicks in, even though I couldn't even remember what was on those 12 frames.

It turned out, after the film came back from the lab this past week, that I had started this roll on a Sunday afternoon, weeks before the chaos at work began to consume me, strolling through the streets of Guerneville, CA near the Russian River. I remembered that I had spent the afternoon looking for color and found some outside the Five-n-Dime.

And the sign above the drugstore. I need to come back and shoot this at night.

l don't really know what Pro Image 100 film is or why Kodak re-brands their film with different names around the world. I mean, if it's Gold 100 film, why not call it Gold 100 film everywhere? Whatever this stuff is, I really like the way it renders color and it pairs nicely with the Minolta Rokkor prime 50mm lens.

On the way back to the coast and more for a bathroom break than anything else, I stopped in a little speck of a town called Duncan Mills. 

The days were still short when I made these photographs and the hills around the Russian River swallow up the light quickly as the sun makes its end of day dive towards the Pacific. I got off a few more shots and think both my 41 year old Minolta and this odd Kodak film did a good job with the fading light.

I finished up this roll of film a few weeks ago on the beach. It's a few ticks short of a five mile roundtrip walk from my house on a bluff above the beach out to the inlet of Bodega Bay. Deep into professional chaos, a good long walk with a camera helps me clear my head, so I grabbed the little Minolta and set out to wind off the rest of the shots. It was nearly a negative tide, opening up vast stretches of sand for people and pets.

And an easy wade in for some fishing...

As I neared the half-way point of my walk, I noticed the wall of fog quickly moving in over the ocean. You can see it clearly here behind the five gulls.

As I headed back towards home, the fog had pretty much swallowed up the beach.

This was unusually heavy fog for late winter. I'm used to this kind of soup in July and August when, on the Sonoma Coast, we start and end each day in the stuff, but this was odd and it came in fast. The fog pushed in and down on me just at the point in the "clear my head" walk that I was thinking that maybe I just might not be able to get the machine running smoothly again this time.

Like a pouting child, I kicked up some sand with the toe of my Keens and then headed up the dirt path towards home. As I climbed up and away from the shore the sun broke through the fog - a fogdog - then it cleared completely. I finished up the last shot on the roll with the warm sun on my back and it felt good.

The K2, 50/1.7, Kodak ProImage 100...and a much needed Sunday of photography.

Oh my! 2018 has been slippery as silk for me. I just can't get a good grip on things. I started the year with the dreaded flu/cold/bug thing. Then my laptop was stolen. There's been tumult at the office. And just like that, it's already March.

Whenever life gets noisy and my head fills with too many things, I head out to the Point Reyes National Seashore. If I ever have to leave California, it's the place I'd miss the most. Beautiful. Historic. Quiet. Point Reyes is where desolate meets remote.

So on the first Sunday of March, I had two options. Crack open the new MacBook and try and get a head start on the work week--the professionally healthy thing to do. Or, toss some snacks, camera and film in the car and go wander around Point Reyes--the mentally healthy thing to do. My survival instincts kicked in and soon the car was pointed down the Pacific Coast Highway.

California 1 - The Pacific Coast Highway at Point Reyes Station

The Parks Department is beginning the good and long process of handing the Seashore back to the Earth. Since the mid 1800s, the grassy plateaus have been home to tenant dairy farmers who have made good money sending milk down to San Francisco and crafting some of the world's finest cheeses. But herds of cows and the machinery of farming has taken its toll on the land and beginning last year, as the leases on the farms expire, they're being closed down. Eventually, all of the cows will be gone and the buildings torn down. The rains will come, whipped up by a strong blow from the Pacific and the grass will grow tall and strong again on Point Reyes. Some day, not in my lifetime for sure, the forest line might creep back to the rocky cliffs. In a generation or two, this will be a far different place than it is today. A better place I think.

During the winter months, to alleviate the crush of traffic out to the lighthouse (whale watching) and Chimney Rock (to see the elephant seals) the Park Service runs shuttle buses out of Drake's Beach. It makes the experience a little more touristy than I'd like, but once the buses deposit you at your destination, you're free to wander and the rewards are plenty. 

I selected my Pentax K2 for this day of photography because it's just been recently CLA'd and also offers up aperture-priority auto exposure for carefree shooting - exactly the medicine I needed. Mounted out front was my least expensive Pentax lens, the 50mm f/1.7 SMC-M--small, light and perfect to carry around all day. I found an aftermarket Leica-style vented hood to use on this 50 and it works well. Film was Kodak's ProImage 100, purchased from a friend who brings it in from Mexico. I'm still learning my way around this film and don't really know what it is, but it has a nice, warm color palette. Here's the lighthouse, down 300 steps from where I was standing. Unlike many east coast lighthouses, this one was built low to be below the fog line.

Land's End: The Pt Reyes lighthouse

There were a lot of people at the lighthouse that day hoping to see a whale breach. I had a hard time getting shots without people in them and soon headed for the bus to Chimney Rock.

The historic lifeboat station at Chimney Rock is one of my favorite places. While the crowds all flock to the elephant seal overlook, I make my way over to the lifeboat house. On my way there, I was rewarded by seeing two seals napping on the beach.

The lifeboat station on Point Reyes opened pre-Coast Guard and was operational from 1927 to about 1969, when new rescue technologies made the station obsolete. The Park Service preserved the place and maintains it today.

Boat launch dock and ramp at the Pt Reyes Lifeboat Station

I've photographed the exterior of the building countless times, but I was excited that on this day, it was open to visitors. I was concerned that my 100 speed film might not be up to the task, but even if I couldn't get any images, it would be fun to go in and look around. The interior was pretty dark, but the sun streaming in through the windows made for some interesting shots. The downstairs area smelled like the inside of an old service station.

Upstairs, sleeping and bathing quarters for the crew. The station was manned 24/7 all year long.

Through one of the upstairs windows, I snapped more elephant seals napping on the beach below.

On my way back to the shuttle stop, I noticed the two seals I photographed earlier still hadn't moved.

I didn't make any award winning photographs this Sunday, but it was nice...damn nice to be out taking pictures in the fresh air and sunshine again. Good to get some exercise and clear my head a bit. The work week that followed this day wasn't any easier than the weeks that preceded it. Indeed, it was the hardest one yet. But this day softened the re-entry.

The Pentax K2 is becoming one of my favorite SLRs, especially after the Eric Hendrickson CLA. That inexpensive little Pentax 50 stuns me with performance per dollar. As for Kodak ProImage 100 film...I kinda like it. It makes sunlit shots really warm and glowing. There's a blue cast to the shadows that I could finesse away if I wanted to post process some and if there was a shot on this roll I really loved, I probably would.

Instagram

I've had an Instagram account forever, but I've never done anything with it. This week, we've launched some additional social media projects at work and Instagram was part of the mix, so I decided to blow the dust off of my own account.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I've uploaded some favorite images while learning my way around the app. Perhaps it'll become something?

You can find me at https://www.instagram.com/fogdogphoto0713/

Time

As you may be able to tell from the lack of content here, I've not had much time for my hobby of photography so far in 2018. The year started off with the theft of my laptop. Replace. Rebuild. 

Then, the departure of a key colleague at work which has required me to refocus some energy and extra hours there.

It's all left me depleted of energy and with less leisure time. I need to make some time for photography. How do you make time for your photography when life has handed you a full plate?

And the news is...

A super fast TMax film! 

A Big Announcement...

Kodak is expected to make a big announcement tomorrow, Friday 2/23. All signs point to a new film stock? Or reviving a legacy one? Or...?

Exciting!

iPhone Camera Degradation

I hope you will indulge me as I go off on a bit of a rant.

I bought my iPhone 5s in the fall of 2013 for $199. I got it to replace an older iPhone that I placed on the roof of my car while talking to an associate in the parking lot at work and, like an idiot, drove off without remembering that I had left it up there. That old iPhone clung to the roof of my car with all its might until I swung onto the freeway on ramp. That's when I heard the clunk as the Apple phone bounced once onto the trunk lid then spilled its guts across the highway.

If it weren't for the iPhone's excellent camera and the ease of which I can shoot a picture with it and have that image seamlessly and immediately available on my MacBook, I wouldn't have one. I rarely use it as a phone. Since new, I have just over 5 hours of total talk time on it. Looking at my monthly bill, I average about 22 text messages a month. Most of them were unnecessary and any situation addressed in them would have self-resolved.

Co-worker:  "The meeting is starting, Where are you?"

Me:  "Coming down the hall. Be there in 10 seconds."

I have the most minimal data plan my carrier allows and my monthly usage hovers a fraction over 0%. I think that is the amount needed for the phone to keep its heart beating since I have cellular data turned off everywhere I can. I have just one app installed for my bank and only use that when I have access to a trusted wi-fi connection and then only a few times a year.

I treated myself to a late model used car last month to replace the 13 year old one I had been driving. The new car has navigation and Sirius XM, so I don't need the iPhone to tell me where I'm going or provide music during my commute. When I'm home, I prefer quiet or listening to a great old vinyl record on my Technics turntable, McIntosh amp and Klipsch Heresy speakers (all three of which are nearing 50 years old and working just fine).

Most of what I use my smartphone for is taking pictures of old cameras for this blog and for the various analog photography Facebook groups I'm a member of. I love the way I can take a photo and immediately crop it and drop it into a blog post I'm writing or drag it into a Facebook post. But over the nearly five years I have owned this phone, I've noticed the quality of the images it produces are slowly getting milky. There's also a very apparent loss of sharpness. Here is an unprocessed photo from the first week I got the iPhone 5s.

Here's another from about 8 months later with just a bit of vignetting added post process.

And here are two recent images taken with my 5s.

All of these photos were taken in the same physical location, on my kitchen counter near a big window facing east. I place the cameras on a large white cutting board. There's a big fluorescent light overhead that mixes with natural light coming in through the window. Not a totally controlled environment, but consistent enough to prove that something is going downhill with the iPhone's camera.

When I was at the Apple Store a few weeks back laying down some serious cash to replace a stolen MacBook, I asked about my phone. The very helpful young woman who patiently assisted me with my laptop smiled when she saw my generations ago 5s, suggesting that it might be time for an upgrade. A nearby Genius looked at my camera's lens and noticed it had a bit of crazing on it. He said this happens with constant use and carrying it around in pants pockets or scraping it across a table in a restaurant. I told him that I hardly use my phone, rarely carry it, that it has never been in my pocket or even on a restaurant table. I told him that for most of its life, my phone has slept in the comfort of a felt pocket in my laptop bag. He shrugged his shoulders.

It appears my little Apple camera is dying and I must do something about it. If the whole phone were failing it would be easier to justify the expense of a new one, but for the few minutes I talk on it or for the small number of text messages I engage in, everything else on it works just fine. And other than the camera lens, it looks brand new.

The cheapest iPhone, the SE, is like three and half bills. Move up to any of the current models and you're paying a lot more. Even that would be ok if these things lasted. Used to be if you bought something and took good care of it, the thing would serve you well for a long time. Not so with today's devices. They are truly disposable.

It may sound like it, but I'm really not a luddite. You should see the technology I am harnessed to at work. I'm not cheap either. I have no problem spending serious cash on a Leica Summicron because I know it will last me a lifetime and if I decide to sell it down the road, I'll get my money back and usually more.

I wish Apple made just a simple digital camera I could tether to my iCloud account, but they don't.

I might look and see if there are some digital point and shoots with wi-fi capability, even though that adds several steps to my workflow.

Or maybe I should consider how many images I have gotten out of my $199 investment, hustle my butt down to the Apple Store and just pony up.

End rant. :-)

My Favorite Camera

"What's your favorite camera?"

I've been asked that question a number of times, mostly by my non-photo hobby friends who think my analog photography passion is quaint and are somewhat amused by my desire to use old film cameras when it's far easier and more convenient to take pictures with a smartphone. No matter if they're just making conversation or are truly interested, it is a question I find difficult to answer. I will try here.

Nikon F2

The Nikon F2 is a favorite because it has real sentimental value to me. It's the 70 era SLR that I dreamed of owning as a teenager and it's the first SLR that I bought when I started getting serious about film photography again in 2010. But as I've started to hike more and carry a camera with me all of the time, the F2 is a bit big and heavy. And, after my cataract surgery and a return to better eyesight, I am having difficulty with the F2's standard diopter setting. This can be easily remedied with a screw on diopter lens, I just have to get serious about finding the right one for my new eyes.

Contax RX

I bought my RX because it was the most affordable way to try Carl Zeiss lenses. I didn't expect that I would like shooting it as much as I do. The RX is a 1990s era technical marvel and I worry that if its electronics start to fail, it might be too expensive to fix. That'll mean either picking up another body or finding another platform for my Zeiss Planar lens.

Olympus OM-2n

I'll put my OM-2n cameras aside for nearly a year and sometimes even think about selling them. Then, I will read a review or user report online and it'll get me excited about shooting mine again. Every time I use the OM-2n it's a hoot and I'm glad I've kept them.

Pentax Spotmatic

Ok, I'll admit it. I have a bit of a Spotmatic problem. I have, I think...like a dozen or so now and one by one, they're all going off to Eric Hendrickson for CLA. My addiction is fed by my Pentax pusher, a friend who used to work for the factory and, over the years, assembled a nice collection of hardly used Spotmatic and other film-era Pentax bodies. Somehow, he knows just the right cadence of when to send me an email with a photo or two of yet another wonderful old Pentax that needs a new home. So, as he wisely thins his own herd, my shelves fill. This simple Pentax SLR has been the most pleasant surprise of my film photography adventure. A joy to shoot. Simple. Dependable. And the M42 mount Takumar lenses for these bodies are superb! No one in their right mind needs so many of the same thing, so I will be selling off some of these. If you or someone you know wants a very, very nice fully serviced Spotmatic, drop me a line.

Canon F-1

I expected this Canon to come and go, but each time I use it, I like it a little more. The metering is really precise and I am quite blown away by the sharpness of these affordable Canon FD lenses. Like the Nikon F2, it is a bit heavy to carry all day in the field, but once you see the images this camera produces, it makes carrying it seem worthwhile. As I Nikon guy, I had always looked down on Canon. This camera changed my mind.

Pentax MX

I bought an MX early in 2017, took it on Carmel photo shoot and sold it a few months later for a nice profit on eBay. As I was going through images for my Lightbox Wednesday project, I went through those Carmel photographs and realized how nicely this simple little manual everything SLR with an inexpensive SMC 50mm f/1.7 lens performed. The MX is the first camera that I bought, sold, regretted my decision and then went and found another. Well, I found two. When I reached out to my Pentax friend he offered up both a chrome and black body. Of course, I couldn't resist.

Nikon FM2n

Here's a little secret I've never shared before. Whenever I take one of my serious photo adventures to Carmel or Yosemite or even back to New York to visit my family, no matter what other camera I bring, I always throw my Nikon FM2n in the bag as a back up. I guess I know in the back of my mind that this is just a really dependable, never let you down, simple, mechanical Nikon. I am reminded in writing this that after serving so faithfully as my trusted back up camera,  the FM2n really does deserve some time of its own in the Fogdog Blog spotlight.

Minolta XD

What a delight the Minolta XD has been! Small, light and feature-packed. An amazing viewfinder--in fact the only SLR that comes standard with the famous Acute-Matte focus screen that Hasselblad owners pay big bucks to upgrade to. When I had my Hasselblad, I paid more for just an Acute-Matte screen than I did for this XD, lens and a CLA. With this camera, you get three shooting modes; manual, shutter-priority and aperture-priority. The XD accepts an affordable accessory motor drive and an really outstanding selection of Minolta Rokkor lenses. I can't believe I waited so long to try a Minolta.

Nikon F4

My only autofocus 35mm camera, the F4 is big, heavy and beautiful! I've reduced the battery configuration down to the smallest available in the MB-20 power grip and still, this is a big camera. The F4 can accommodate most every Nikon lens ever made and is packed with features I'll never use. Because of its size and weight, I only use it a few times a year, but could never see myself selling it. Truly a revolutionary camera that I could've never afforded when it was new!

Pentax LX

I'm shooting my LX as I write this blog post. Some call this camera the culmination of everything Pentax learned after decades of building film SLRs. The LX is just the right size and weight to be the camera you carry with you everywhere. Big, bright viewfinder with a great analog display. Weather-sealed controls. Ability to use a wide array of affordable Pentax K-mount lenses. The only negatives are high repair costs and a very weird strap lug arrangement that causes your camera strap to twist up as you carry and use the camera. If your LX stays healthy and you don't mind untwisting the strap occasionally, this camera just might be one of the best film SLRs ever!

Pentax 645n

As a photographer who loves small and light cameras, finding a good fit for me in the medium format world has been difficult. I've tried Rolleicord, Mamiya 645 and Hasselblad. I'd about given up when I was offered a Pentax 645n at a good price. Of all of the medium format cameras I have tried, this one handles most like a 35mm SLR. Its built in grip makes holding the camera comfortable. Without the option of a removable film back, Pentax created a smaller and lighter package that just feels right to me. The viewfinder is big and bright. You get several shooting modes plus an auto-everything mode that turns this Pentax into a medium format point and shoot. And the 645n can use autofocus or manual focus lenses. I have an autofocus 80mm lens and focus is fast and precise. I need to use this camera more.

There are more cameras on this list. Like my lovely little Pentax ME, my nifty Canon P rangefinder, Pentax ES, the Canon A-1 that I'm still finding my way around, Minolta XE-7 with its sublime shutter sound, and my Pentax K2 that's off for a CLA. 

If you've read this far, you're probably asking..."So what IS your favorite camera?" Truth is that I've learned over the past eight years that it kind of changes depending upon a number of factors:

EXPERIENCE:  As I become a more competent photographer, certain cameras that seemed complicated now are intuitive. The Nikon F4's controls at one time looked like the space shuttle cockpit. Now, everything makes sense. Feeling comfortable with your equipment makes you want to use it more. A camera that seemed overly complicated can become a favorite once you know your way around it. When I first used stop down metering in my Spotmatics, it seemed like a real pain. After shooting a few rolls, it became second nature and even helped me fine tune my depth of field.

LOCATION:  A long day on the trail makes a small, light camera a must. Easy film loading is good too. While my Contax RX might be a favorite for a short stroll on the beach, the Pentax ME, MX, Olympus OM-2n or Minolta XD will feel better on a six mile hike.

LENSES:  Sometimes the camera body is secondary and it's the lens that shifts a camera into favorite position. If I have an itch to shoot 85mm, I only have two choices: Nikon mount for my 85mm f/1.4 or M42 mount for my 85 f/1.8 Super Takumar. Some lenses really sing when shooting black and white like my Canon LTM 50. That lens will only fit my Canon P or my Leica M-P with an adapter. And the only telephoto lens I have is for Pentax K-mount.

MY PEERS:  Once in a while, one of my favorite bloggers will write about a camera I also own and share some of their photos and it'll inspire me to get that camera out of the camera bag, check the batteries, load some film and go out and shoot. I've also been inspired after watching a user video on You Tube. If anything I write here ever inspires anyone to get out and use their camera, it's all been worth it.

Things I've Learned or Tips For Film Shooters

I've learned so much from other photographers, either via the internet or in person, that I thought it might be good to give back. So, every now and then as I think of them, I'll pass along little things I've learned about buying, owning, using, servicing and re-selling old film cameras. If just one person reading my blog finds just one of these tips useful, I've done good.

One thing you'll find out pretty quickly when acquiring vintage film cameras that use batteries is that different cameras use different kinds of batteries. Some cameras, like the Pentax Spotmatic, use Mercury batteries, which have been banned for environmental reasons.  It could have been foresight on the part of the engineers who designed the Spotmatic or just plain luck, but those old Spotties have a bridge circuit that allows you to use modern 1.5 volt batteries instead of the original 1.35v Mercury cells. The modern batteries are a bit smaller in diameter than the Mercury cells, so you have to buy ones with little rubber grommets around them. I use Renata 387 batteries in my Spotmatics.

There's nothing worse than deciding to head out for a day of film photography only to find out that the battery in your Canon A-1 is dead and you don't have a spare. Or, picking up a cool old camera on eBay and when the package arrives, you find you don't have the right battery. After facing both issues, I now make it a practice once every year to make a list of all of the battery types commonly used in my old film cameras, no matter if I'm out or not. I then head over to the Batteries+ store and pick up a few of each. You can do it online too, but I like supporting my local franchise store. It's also nice to do an actual retail transaction with another human being standing across the counter from you.

I then store each battery type on one of those little plastic drawer cabinets you use for screws, nails, bolts and such. Over the years, I've built up a nice, dependable supply of most of the commonly used film camera batteries. I even include a fresh battery in the package when I sell one of my old cameras, which always pleases the buyer.

Super Bowl Sunday With The Pentax ME

At least a few times each year, I head up the Pacific Coast Highway out of Bodega Bay, across the Russian River at Jenner and then north to Fort Ross. It's just under 23 miles, but the drive can take an hour or more depending on how much traffic there is and how fast it is moving. On Sundays, it's mostly moving slow, but as you thread your car around the tight curves, the slower pace allows you take in some incredible views.

Meyers Grade Road just off of the Pacific Coast Highway on the way to Fort Ross

After a few weeks of stress, including having to unexpectedly and expensively replace my laptop, I needed to decompress and figured that the traffic on the PCH would be lighter on Super Bowl Sunday. It was. The road was wide open. The sun was shining through cloudless skies. Only a light breeze. Perfect!

My destination was the State Historic Park at Fort Ross. I love this place because it has history, it's peaceful, quiet and the ocean views are stunning!  I brought my little Pentax ME and normal 50mm lens with me because the simplicity of the ME fit the feel of this day perfectly; wonderful, carefree photography. I shot Kodak Portra 400 exposed at half the box speed.

Fort Ross was a thriving Russian settlement from 1812 to 1841. After the Russians left, the property changed hands several times until George Washington Call purchased it in 1873. Call housed his family in the various fort buildings for several years, finally building a house in 1878. I'd walked past the little Call house on the property during previous visits, but it was never open to the public. I found out that it was open for docent tours the first Sunday of each month, so on this visit I got lucky and took the tour. Here's a shot of the sewing machine near the front door.

Call ran several businesses at Fort Ross including a general store, saloon, hotel and a lumber business. He built the first schoolhouse in the area and even strung telephone lines, establishing the first party line phone service on this remote part of the Sonoma coast.

Kitchen lamp in the Call House

The Call family occupied the house until 1972 when son Carlos, the last occupant, passed away. The property was then sold to the State of California. The house sat vacant for many years with many of the family's possessions safely stored in the attic. The Parks Department restored the home and volunteers give tours.

Kitchen window Call House

Tools on the sunny front porch

A house has to be built well to survive the wind and battering rain of the Northern California coast. This house felt solid and safe. With a few modern conveniences, I could feel quite comfortable moving right in to the Call House today.

Out the front door, flowers blooming on the path to the Pacific.

That narrow strip of pavement you see in the foreground of this photo is a very old alignment of the Pacific Coast Highway which, at one time, ran right through the fort. It's a foot path today. As I headed down to Fort Ross Cove, I looked back to get this shot of the Call House.

An old fence

And Fort Ross Cove

As I snaked my way back down to Bodega Bay, I thought how perfect this Sunday was. The weather was just wonderful. I had selected just the right camera to help me decompress. I learned some new things about Northern California history. I got fresh air and exercise. Photography had brought me back to center again.

FILM REWIND: OLYMPUS OM-2N

This is the second edition of my Film Rewind series in which I grab a camera that I raved about when I first bought it and shoot it again some time later to see if love lasts. 

I've actually owned three of the OM series Olympus SLRs; the OM-1n, the OM-4 and two OM-2n bodies (chrome and black). I can't afford an OM-3, the price of that camera has been driven up wildly by collectors. My OM-1n, bought used on Craigslist, needed more repair work than I wanted to invest, so I sold it for parts. My OM-4 is a great camera but it eats batteries like crazy. When I first wrote about the OM-2n, I lavished it with praise. A year later, do I still feel that way?

Over the past eight years of trying different film cameras, I've really taken to small cameras. While my Nikon F4 and Contax RX are mighty shooting machines, it's the Pentax ME, Pentax MX or Minolta XD fitted with a prime 50mm I grab most often. Off on a four or five mile hike, these compact and light SLRs can be carried on a strap all day without weighing me down. The Olympus OM-2n might just be the smallest, lightest and best of the small SLR bunch. Fitted with a 50/1.4 or 50/1.7 Zuiko, the little OM is sized just right to slip into a large coat pocket.

I hadn't shot my OM-2n in a while. So long in fact that I couldn't remember what was on the roll of half-shot Bergger Pancro 400 film loaded in the camera. Turned out to be some test shots done inside the house. I finished the roll at the beach. Other than a few people, mostly just the birds and me.

After spending so much time last year shooting fully manual cameras like the Spotmatic, Canon F-1 and Nikon FM2n, I felt awash in technology with the aperture-priority auto-exposure mode offered up on the OM-2n. 1970s's technology that is, but technology just the same. The OM-2n is just a wonderful little SLR that is easy to shoot, easy to carry and easy to love.

The Olympus OM cameras have one trait that is not duplicated in any other camera other than, maybe a Leica. It's a certain fine watch type feeling, almost jewel-like quality that only a very few camera exude. Even if you never buy an Olympus OM-2n, make it a point to handle one in a camera store or flea market and sample the quality of feel built into this camera. It's quite extraordinary. Yoshihisa Maitani, who designed the OM series, was a master.

The Olympus OM-2n is a keeper. I've already had my chrome body CLA'd and I am sending the black one in soon as I detect some trailing shutter curtain lag. If you want a really great little SLR that offers full manual shooting plus the added bonus of aperture-priority auto-exposure, pick up an OM-2n and a prime Zuiko 50 lens. You won't be disappointed.

A New Camera & A New Film

My first camera review of 2018 has me walking a bit on the wild side; shooting a new camera with a film stock I've never used.

The camera is the Pentax K2 and the film stock is Kodak Pro Image 100.

The Pentax K2

Pentax K2 with SMC Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2

The Pentax K2 is a pro-level 1975 vintage camera body. The K-Series of SLRs were introduced as a bayonet mount replacement to the wonderful M42 mount Spotmatic line. There were several variants including the KX, KM and very popular K1000. The K2 was the top of the line in the series, offering up mid-70s automation in the form of aperture-priority auto exposure. The K2 would only last a few years on the market as Pentax was nearing debut of their first truly pro body, the amazing LX, which would be the flagship Pentax film body well into the 1990s.

The K2 is nearly the same in features as the M42 mount Spotmatic ES with several important improvements. On the ES, the metering system is disabled if you take the camera out of automatic mode. The K2 offers the aforementioned auto-exposure mode and a fully manual mode with match-needle metering. In addition, the classic Pentax fabric shutter has been replaced by a metal blade Copal/Seiko shutter. The K2 is powered by two modern S76 button cells.

I bought my K2 from a friend who is a retired Pentax employee. The camera he sold me was from his personal collection and is new/old stock. I thought twice about using the camera and considered for a moment just leaving it in its original condition. But I am a user, not a collector, so off came the wrapper and protective inserts.

Plastic pressure-plate protector on the K2

Having never cut my photographic teeth on the K1000 like so many photographers, this is my first K body. First impressions mean a lot and I have to admit that the K2 felt very good from the moment I picked it up. Even when I mounted my large and heavy 50/1.2 lens, the camera felt comfortable and well balanced. I can see why so many legions of photographers bonded with their K-1000s and why so many still use them today.

The only unusual feature of the K2 is that the ASA setting control is around the lens mount, very similar to the way Olympus positioned the shutter speed control on the OM series. Figuring out how to change the setting required reading the owners manual. Pushing a little black button on the lens mount and grasping the control ring in the right places was the trick, but the control was also unusually stiff from lack of use.

The internet warns of using cameras that have been sitting idle for 40 years, recommending a good CLA prior to use. My experience with Pentax SLRs however gave me the confidence that this camera would work just fine. I inserted two batteries, mounted my fast normal 50 and loaded up some Kodak Pro Image 100 color print film.

Kodak Pro Image 100

Kodak Pro Image Pro-Pak

Kodak Pro Image 100 is a C-41 process color print film that is primarily sold in Mexico and India. The internet is full of conflicting information on this film. One theory is that it is re-packaged Portra 160. Another is that it is Kodak Gold 200 film that for some reason or another, Kodak is recommending you shoot at 100 ISO. Perhaps this is due to their concern about the film's storage conditions in warmer temperatures in these markets?  Still another says it is Ektar 100 that got messed up in the manufacturing process, producing less saturated color. I am not sure and honestly, after shooting my first roll of this stuff, I don't care. It's a wonderful film. Here's my first shot with Pro Image in the K2, available light of my Kodak retro t-shirt.

A few shots around the house, sunlight and shadows.

As you can tell by the sun streaming into the house, it was a nice day. I headed to the beach.

I found some blooms.

And sunlight through the leaves.

To my eye, Pro Image 100 sits somewhere between Ektar 100 and Portra 160. I haven't shot enough Gold 200 to compare, so it's hard for me to tell. Kodak makes a Gold 100 as well, so maybe this film is a repackaged version of their 100 speed consumer film. That makes the most sense.

What is a bit perplexing is that when I got back my usual end of the roll selfie, it had a greenish tint.

I've made this same shot, under this same fluorescent light source on Ektar, Portra 160, Porta 400 and Gold 200 and have never had the greenish tint. Hmmmm.

I bought tens rolls of this stuff, so I'll be shooting it up this year. It's an interesting enough film stock to get me excited about trying it under different conditions. And it's fairly cheap, about six bucks a roll for 36 exposures.

As for the Pentax K2, other than the weird ASA setting ring, there really isn't anything unusual or annoying about the camera. And that's what makes this Pentax so pleasant to use. Everything felt so natural and comfortable, I forgot about the camera, concentrated on the photographs and had a blast! And that's what a camera is supposed to do--make you want to take pictures with it!

Because my K2 sat in suspended animation for so long, its film advance was a little stiff and the film counter kept sticking. Shutter speeds seemed pretty good though and the center-weighted metering is nearly flawless. As I write this, my K2 is off to Eric Hendrickson for a well deserved spa vacation at the Hendrickson Pentax ranch in Knoxville, TN. He tells me that all of the issues I've noted here are common and cured with cleaning and lubrication.

I think if I were looking for a K1000, I'd browse the K2s first. They're less well known and typically cheaper. The K2 does everything the K1000 does plus it offers aperture-priotiy auto exposure. And as the Pentax flagship camera from the era, you're really getting the best the company could build at the time.

Lightbox Wednesday #53 or I Hope The Rest of 2018 Doesn't Go This Way

After work on Tuesday, while I was was parked in a public parking lot for only a few short moments, my car was broken into and my laptop computer stolen. I never realized how much of my life was on that little laptop and how violated I feel now.

I've spent the entire day today putting the pieces back together. Apple has been wonderful and so very helpful.

This blog may be quiet for a spell while I first secure and then rebuild my digital life.

Lightbox Wednesday #52 or Signs We Don't Pay Much Attention To

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, a nearly 8.0 earthquake off the coast of Alaska triggered tsunami warnings up and down the entire west coast of the US. The Sonoma County Sheriff's office pinged my phone and of course, I slept right through the whole thing...including the cancellation of the warnings.

I'm far enough away from and several hundred feet above the water, so even if the big wave did hit, our little community wouldn't have noticed much. It did get me thinking about those signs I always see when I'm hiking down to the sand.  I've photographed them many times. Here are two shots.

Warning Sign at Pinnacle Gulch, Sonoma Co, CA

Warning Sign on Doran Beach, Sonoma Co, CA

For me, these signs have always just been interesting photo subjects. Until this week, I really never paid much attention to the real message or even thought about the likelihood of the actual event they were warning me about.

It made me think about another sign from my youth that I saw attached to my school and all sorts of public buildings; the fallout shelter sign.

Fallout Shelter Warning Sign

This was the 1960s and the Cold War was in full swing. We had air raid drills as often as fire drills. During an air raid drill, the teacher would have us move away from windows and crawl under our desks. Even as a child, I wondered about how hiding under my rickety wooden school desk was going to protect me from a nuclear bomb. We had a fallout shelter in our school as well. It was in the basement. You would think that during at least one of these drills, they'd have us practice going down there, but they never did. I wonder if during the real thing, only the administrators would go down to the fallout shelter leaving us kids up top clinging to our desks?

Luckily, the real thing never came...back then and while I slept peacefully Tuesdsay morning.

Lightbox Wednesday #51

It's nice to think about summer in the middle of winter. These were taken on a warm August day in 2015. My Nikon FM2n, 50/1.4 Nikkor and some Kodak Ektar.

This may have been the most recent roll of Ektar I've shot. Portra 400 has been my color film of choice lately.

Lightbox Wednesday #50

Fires, floods, hurricanes, mudslides...if you pay any attention at all to the intense weather events we've been experiencing recently, it has to make you realize that global warming is very real. We've had a couple of wild years out here in California for sure.

After a brutal storm, this fishing boat washed ashore near Bodega Head. I'm not sure if the storm drove the boat into the sand or it was scuttled there. Over several weeks, I made some interesting photographs of it with my Nikon F2, 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor and some TMax film. One day, I looked and it was gone. Either someone had it towed back out during high tide, or the Pacific reclaimed it. Not sure.

Last Photos of 2017/First Photos of 2018 & A Processing Failure!

I had a grand plan to bring 2017 to a close and celebrate the beginning of a new year of photography; shoot a roll of film on New Years Eve and another on New Years Day.

I selected two of my most dependable classic cameras. For the last day of 2017 and a sunset walk on the beach, my serviced Pentax Spotmatic F fitted with a crystal clear SMC Takumar 55mm f/1.8.

The New Years Eve Camera: Spotmatic F 

For January 1st and my traditional long hike out to the tip of Point Reyes, my trusty little Minolta XD, serviced by Blue Moon Camera & Machine with a splendid MD Rokkor-X 50/1.4.

New Years Day Camera: The Minolta XD

I decided to use Kodak's Portra 400, a color film that I use almost exclusively now. I'm getting comfortable with Portra and feel like I get consistent and dependable results shooting it at ISO 200. 

Dependable Kodak Portra 400 

Good hardware and trusted software...what could go wrong? Turns out...lots!

The moment I stepped through the front door of my local camera shop and saw the pouty face on my friend behind the counter, I knew that either they decided they didn't like seeing me anymore or something was wrong. The latter was true. My little camera shop started a new employee in their mini-lab the week between Christmas and New Years. During her first day running the C-41 processor all on her own, the machine decided to jam up and shut down, leaving my two rolls of Portra cooking in the developer. Amidst blinking error lights and alarm signals, she panicked and by the time she was rescued by another employee who got the machine running again, my Portra, over exposed intentionally, was now over developed as well.

You can see trouble afoot from my first shot on the New Years Eve roll, the wavy vertical lines in this frame of my Christmas poinsettia.

It was approaching magic hour. My plan was to grab some sunset shots with the Spotmatic. The light was spectacular. Considering that my film was sitting in the soup for way too long--kudos to Kodak! This film actually held up pretty well to the chemical torture. Note: I have not used any digital post processing on these.

I'm not an expert on the processing machinery used at my camera store, but my research indicates that the UFO-like dark spots on this next shot are caused by two rolls of film coming in contact with each other or with some part of the machinery.

Even pushed one stop and mini-lab processed, Portra 400 typically exhibits very fine grain. Over development yielded very apparent grain and tons of contrast.

Strolling along the beach at sunset on New Years Eve with my Spotmatic was a great way to wind down the year. It really is one of my favorite cameras and the walk was reflective and peaceful.

The Tomales Point trail is a nearly 10 mile roundtrip hike that starts at Pierce Point Ranch on the tip of Point Reyes National Seashore. It's become sort of a New Years Day tradition for me and requires layered clothing and a backpack full of snacks. The compact and lightweight Minolta XD camera and prime 50 are the perfect choice for this hardy hike. I considered taking one of my Pentax K bodies and my 135mm telephoto lens as I knew I might encounter Tule elk on the trail, but I opted for portability instead.

There are a number of ranch outbuildings at the trailhead.

Outbuildings at Pierce Point Ranch trailhead

I'm not sure if this roll preceded or followed my New Years Eve roll through the processing machine, but this entire roll over-cooked as well. Unaware of the future chemical catastrophe, I headed up the trail.

I've shot this same seascape from this same place many years in a row on Fuji Acros black and white film and on Portra. Over development made grain apparent, increased contrast and disturbed the film's wonderful color palette. Again, I am not digitally correcting any of these images.

Pierce Point is a Tule elk reserve and it wasn't long before I spotted some. They could have cared of less about me snapping away.

And that's about where this roll really got into trouble in the soup.

When I looked quickly at the negatives at the photo counter, it seemed as if some of the shots indicated a light leak in my camera, but the XD has new seals, a full CLA and roll of Acros I shot after these turned out just fine. I think it's safe to assume over development caused these issues as well.

Apparently, a great many people make Tomales Point trail a January 1st expedition. I had lots of company.

As I looked at my end-of-year/start-of-year images on my computer that night, I was overwhelmed with disappointment and considered changing labs. I've had near perfect results when I've used Richard Photo Lab and thought perhaps that in 2018 I should use them for all my work. Sleeping on it, I realized that I've sent many many rolls of C-41 through the machine at my local Mom & Pop camera store, all with very good results and I like to support local businesses whenever I can. Come to think of it, in all of my years of photography, these are the only rolls of film that have ever been spoiled in processing.

Of course, the camera shop refunded my money and let me select two rolls of film for free. They don't stock Portra (I get it at B&H), so I picked up two rolls of Tri-X. I haven't shot any in a while and I'm going to make a serious effort to home process my black and white work this year. 

Free film

Considering the chemical torment the newbie lab tech put Portra through, I have to give this Kodak film credit for returning any images at all. 2018...cheers!