Old M3

The hot weather that we had last week in the UK seems a distant memory; it's still fine, but a lot cooler now. Ah well, I have a dissertation to finish, so the weather won't prevent me from sitting on the keyboard for a few hours.

Years ago I bought a used Leica M3 from a colleague at work, when I lived in Denmark, but to be honest it has not been used that often, one problem of collecting too many bits of hardware. Anyway, last year I bought a Leicameter on eBay and thought it was time to get the old M3 out. I was using the old collapsible 50mm/3.5 Elmar with FP4. This M3 is a 'double stroke', so two movements to wind on the film. The nice thing with the old classic cameras is that it takes you back to basics. No coupled lightmeter, no electonic shutter, no autofocus. The shot was taken while wandering around the local town, the old lenses are a little 'soft' compared to modern lenses, but still nice for all that.

Bryant Park

One of the spots that we found in NYC was Bryant Park. We were there about mid-morning on a sunny Sunday, it was so nice, and amazingly quiet given how close it was to the main streets and traffic, 6th Ave I think. While we were having a coffee there was plenty of time to indulge in a little 'people watching'. Lots of people were taking the opportunity to read the Sunday papers, the most important part of my Sunday back home in the UK. The British Sunday Times is my paper of choice.

The lady was on her mobile and did not notice me and the Canonet. The Canonet is one of those old classics with a real cracking lens; I also have one of the original Canonets with the wind-on on the bottom of the camera and the old selenium cell meter around the lens. That's quite a chunky camera. On the GIII, which I bought through eBay, everything seems to work pretty well, but the light seals are shot to hell. I have a sneaky feeling that although a previous film was fine, some of the last shots on this roll may have a light leak. I collect a film on Saturday from processing which should let me know if I have a problem or not.

Using the old rangefinder cameras is a nice break from the 'point and I'll do everything for you' digital sompacts, but that is not to say I don't use those as well.

Must try harder!

I have done nothing with this blog for a year now, and quite a few things have happened since then. I probably suffer from the same problem as many people who start out with the idea of keeping a blog; what to write? will anyone read it? will I keep it up? So far I have not done too well.

My last post showed my son Shaun with Kirsten, well since then they have got married, last November in Denmark, and we have recently got back from a holiday in the States visiting NYC and Boston before joining Shaun & Kirsten in York, Maine. You don't have to be smart to recognise the New York taxis in the photo.

Also, last summer we had 3 weeks in Namibia, fantastic. There are a lot of photos on my Flickr site in 'Namibia' sets.

To try to get the blog going again I'll make the next few posts relevant to photography on the trip and see how many posts I do before giving up again; who k

nows, maybe this time I'll keep it going.

I will start by saying that I have too many cameras, and I still love using 35mm with black & white; HP5 and FP4. As usual when planning my packing I have the 'which camera will I take' agony. I decided that as there would be quite a bit of street walking I would keep it simple and light. For colour now I only use digital, I don't have a DSLR as I have a number of 35mm SLRs, but I decided to take the Panasonic TZ3. It's a great little compact with a 28-280mm zoom, ideal for in town and street photos.

For b&w I took two cameras. First was my very old, but never failed me yet, OM40 SLR with Zuiko 24mm and a 35-70 zoom that never came out of the bag. I shot HP5 on this camera. Because I love old rangefinders I also took a Canon Canonet GIII QL1.7 with FP4. All sounds a bit 'nerdy' unless you are into old cameras.

This shot is one of the classic old skyscrapers taken with the OM40 and the 24mm lens.

Shaun & Kirsten

On Saturday Shaun & Kirsten arrived, this was the first time that Kirsten had met us; they will be getting married in November in Denmark.  They must have some communication link to the weather gods as it has been lovely weather during their stay, and that is forecast to change the day they leave!

The good weather has meant that they have been able to get out and about on trips, and for us to have b-b-q and sit outside every night.  That has been a real change from the dreadful summer we have had so far.

558 at Farnborough

Sunday dawned sunny so I decided to risk the jinx and take myself off to Farnborough to see 558 fly; I'm glad I did.  There was no rain, but it was quite windy with a lot of medium level cloud.  At times the cloud cover was quite thick, though high enough not to threaten the display, but certainly taking the temperature down a bit and at times making the sky more 'leaden'.  

It was pretty obvious that large sections of the crowd had come specifically to see 558, there was a great deal of goodwill to see her get the money needed to keep her flying.  There were long queues to take a look around the aircraft (outside), but by the time I go to the front it was time to tow her out, but amazing to see how many wanted to get 'up close and personal' with the Delta Lady.

A great thrill to hear the four Olympus spool up and a great engine noise as she took off.  The display was more 'muted' than in the old days, but that is because of the need to make the airframe last a few years.

Great day out, and fantastic to see and hear a Vulcan again.

Fairford washout

Well, the English Summer caused havoc with the big Air Day at Fairford, a complete washout because the grass car-parks were flooded.  I had taken a night in a pub in the Cotswolds ready for the Saturday show, only to find out late on Saturday that it had been cancelled.  They must have lost a lot of money, and many people were intending to be there especially to see 558.  I guess I'll have to wait for another day.  If the weather is good enough I might get myself to Farnborough this coming weekend, as 558 is scheduled to display then.  A bummer, Dave and I had looked forward to a good day, but it was not to be.