Tag: vintage camera

Glimpses

Wine Country, Paso Robles

By -N- on
Wine Country, Paso Robes

This is from a summer or two ago. We drove along Hwy 49 in the central coastal area of California. It is a lovely drive – quite unpopulated in many ways. The hills and valleys spread out on either side of the road, with trees dotting the grassy slopes. Grapes are grown here, and the Paso Robles area is known for its wines. If you take some of the side roads off the highway, which is a nicely paved two-lane roadway, you can find yourself under the canopy of old oak trees, deep in the gloom of shade on a bright summer’s day.

Zeiss Ikon Ikonta, Tri-X 400 by Kodak. Scanned and processed with Epson V600, VueScan, and Negative Lab Pro.

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
One comment
Glimpses

Time to Pause

By -N- on
Time to Pause

Over the next few weeks, expect more pictures of the local scenery. When I went out, at last able to do more than a hobble because of my foot, I went up to the botanical garden. With the seasonal changes come color changes, even here in Southern California. The local garden is always changing, and autumn and spring are the seasons with the most changes.

On this trip, I was determined to finish up a couple of rolls of film – the Olympus Trip 35 had Fuji Superia 400 in it, and the Agfa Ambi Silette, loaded in 2019, still had a lot of Kodak UltraMax 400 to be used up. The Agfa, too, had never been tested – it was one of those vintage cameras that intrigued me, so, being me, I bought it. The Trip 35 and the Agfa are small, but compared to the Trip 35, the Agfa is a tiny tank. A nice tank, but still a tank. It has no lugs, either, so I had to use a wrist strap that screws into the tripod mount. Awkward, but it works.

I always play with my photos, digital or analog, in Lightroom. Post processing is part of the way I see photos – like pictures and paintings – I want them to show what I want them to show, not what is straight out of the camera. One of my friends says this is cheating . . . ah, well. It’s autumn and time to show those colors and textures!

Posted in: , , , , , , , ,
No comments
Glimpses

Sage in Bloom

By -N- on
Blooming Sage

I took this photo a few years ago with my pre-WW2 Voigtlander Brillant. It is a simple camera that gives lovely results, as only a vinage camera can. I wonder if it is from their uncoated lenses.

I haven’t been to the local botanical gardens since last year, where this picture wast taken, when I fell down a hill and came home looking like something out of a horror film. A bit trepidatious to return, I admit. However, after the rains of last months, I know I have to go. The hills are greening, and the air of spring is in the air.

Definitely time to get out. I think more Ektar is definitely indicated, too.

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , ,
No comments
Glimpses

Winter Sky (and then some more!)

By -N- on

Besides acquiring a bit of old glass, I have also, as said before, been wandering through my digital archives. Here, a photo taken in March 2017 using the Retina IIIc with the Xenon 50mm f2 lens and Agfa Vista 200. Some images I desaturated to B&W because I thought they looked better that way. Digitalizing film can be quite a good thing!

When I first used this camera, I found it rather trying. It has an EV metering system which made absolutely no sense to me, even after reading the manual. Yes, I do RTFM! However, YouTube came to the rescue once again, and there are several good videos about the Kodak Retinas from the 1950s. Many consider these to be some of the finest Kodak cameras ever produced. I won’t disagree. Nearly every American in my age group has used Kodak cameras, and many were rather cheap and produced rather poor pictures. But, for a kid, they were just perfect!

This camera came to me about 4-5 years ago from Chris Sherlock at Retina Rescue, across the sea in Australia. He’s great. You can find his videos on YouTube. Playing with it again, and having more experience with older cameras. I really appreciate this camera far more than I did before. I think I am going to throw some film in the camera and see what this puppy can do yet again.

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No comments
Glimpses

Container Jungle

By -N- on

Part of my container garden this summer in the Dog Free Zone.  I grew hot chilis, herbs, flowers, and, in particular, milkweed.  You can see the milkweed seed pods have opened, and the seeds are waiting to blown away by the wind.  The milkweed is food that is important to Monarch butterflies, but I have heard that the milkweed with colored flowers is not good for the butterflies.  I want to do a bit of research on this – what if all is for naught?

Once more, this is a photo using my 1937 Welta Weltur and Ilford XP Super 400 film.  The Xenar lens is stunning, with lovely detail and softness at the same time.  I really like what it can do.

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2 comments
Glimpses

Shadows & Leaves

By -N- on

 

shadows-and-leaves

When I scanned the images from the first roll of film through the Yashica D TLR, I think I scanned them at 3600.  They are BIG!  I wanted to see the details capable of the camera and the lens, and I was honestly really, really pleased.  Here on offer is a portion of a picture I took of leafy plants nestled in the dappled sun beneath an oak tree along the Moonrise Trail.  The Yashinon lens does a superb job altogether.  This is about 1/10 of the original picture.

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
No comments