Antelope Canyon with the D810 and 20 3.5 AIS. While I do love the lens, I always wonder how the Nikkor-U.D 20 would've rendered scenes like this, with its vibrant rendition. Nevertheless, the 20 3.5 AIS is my go-to landscape lens now and I love it.
Hi everyone. Have been busy getting ready for Christmas and spending some time with my son who is home from college. I have not been out doing much shooting but have been deep in a photography project.
I have been restoring an old film camera. My wife and her brothers were going through things at their mothers house and came across an old camera of hers that they remember vividly from their childhood. Most of the slides that we have of theirs was taken with this camera. I guess it was just assumed lost and can't remember the last time they saw it. Anyway, it was found buried in a box.
The camera is a Kodak Automatic 35 with flash that attaches to the side of the body. It was in terrible cosmetic shape but seemed to be mechanically ok. Given that I guess I am the unofficial photographer of the family, they gave it to me. It was covered in many years of dust and had mold in the viewfinder, inside the body and lens.
I decided that there was still life left in that old camera and was determined to get it going again. After many nights of tearing it down to the smallest components I could and cleaning gears, springs, lens, viewfinder etc. I am very happy that it is working in top shape again. The selenium exposure meter is still working too. Probably within 1/2 stop. The only thing I had to replace was a small spring for the film winder that is on the bottom of the body vs top. I was not able to save the original flash reflector but was able to find a replacement in great condition on eBay for a few bucks.
Thought I would post a few "after" pictures here on the thread.
The old camera will be once again taking Christmas pictures of the family this Christmas. With great memories of Emma.
To keep the post inline with the rules of the thread, the pictures were taken with Nikon camera and Nikon lens (Df and 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor)
Thank you so much guys for the nice words. I love that lens, I am really up to the challenge of shooting with it wide open. It's not perfect but there's definitely some sweet spots..
//Kristian
gbohannon wrote:
Hi everyone. Have been busy getting ready for Christmas and spending some time with my son who is home from college. I have not been out doing much shooting but have been deep in a photography project.
I have been restoring an old film camera. My wife and her brothers were going through things at their mothers house and came across an old camera of hers that they remember vividly from their childhood. Most of the slides that we have of theirs was taken with this camera. I guess it was just assumed lost and can't remember the last time they saw it. Anyway, it was found buried in a box.
The camera is a Kodak Automatic 35 with flash that attaches to the side of the body. It was in terrible cosmetic shape but seemed to be mechanically ok. Given that I guess I am the unofficial photographer of the family, they gave it to me. It was covered in many years of dust and had mold in the viewfinder, inside the body and lens.
I decided that there was still life left in that old camera and was determined to get it going again. After many nights of tearing it down to the smallest components I could and cleaning gears, springs, lens, viewfinder etc. I am very happy that it is working in top shape again. The selenium exposure meter is still working too. Probably within 1/2 stop. The only thing I had to replace was a small spring for the film winder that is on the bottom of the body vs top. I was not able to save the original flash reflector but was able to find a replacement in great condition on eBay for a few bucks.
Thought I would post a few "after" pictures here on the thread.
The old camera will be once again taking Christmas pictures of the family this Christmas. With great memories of Emma.
To keep the post inline with the rules of the thread, the pictures were taken with Nikon camera and Nikon lens (Df and 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor)
spoupard wrote:
Congratulations, George! She's a beauty. It looks like your hard work has paid off. Have you put a bulb in the flash gun to see if it still works?
Thanks Scott. No, I haven't had any luck finding bulbs. Or I should say anywhere near affordable. Someone had 12 for sale on eBay for $36. I was able to get a 15v battery for the flash on Amazon. So for now will settle for outdoor photos. The camera only goes to 160ASA for metering (can always go full manual) and it has two shutter speeds (1/40 and 1/80) In test shots, I was able to get decent exposure in automatic mode and using my Sekonic meter fully manual mode worked well too. The aperture scale on the camera is in EV Numbers and I was able to find a Kodak table to convert the EV Numbers to f-values. It has been a fun project.
Hello everyone. I've been inside in the basement most(if any) of my spare time. Woodworking is not easy when you don't have the time and trying to get things done in a hurry is just bad. Still following the thread daily.
raboof wrote:
Hello everyone. I've been inside in the basement most(if any) of my spare time. Woodworking is not easy when you don't have the time and trying to get things done in a hurry is just bad. Still following the thread daily.
Post pics of what you are building! (Woodworker here too)
gbohannon wrote:
Hi everyone. Have been busy getting ready for Christmas and spending some time with my son who is home from college. I have not been out doing much shooting but have been deep in a photography project.
I have been restoring an old film camera. My wife and her brothers were going through things at their mothers house and came across an old camera of hers that they remember vividly from their childhood. Most of the slides that we have of theirs was taken with this camera. I guess it was just assumed lost and can't remember the last time they saw it. Anyway, it was found buried in a box.
The camera is a Kodak Automatic 35 with flash that attaches to the side of the body. It was in terrible cosmetic shape but seemed to be mechanically ok. Given that I guess I am the unofficial photographer of the family, they gave it to me. It was covered in many years of dust and had mold in the viewfinder, inside the body and lens.
I decided that there was still life left in that old camera and was determined to get it going again. After many nights of tearing it down to the smallest components I could and cleaning gears, springs, lens, viewfinder etc. I am very happy that it is working in top shape again. The selenium exposure meter is still working too. Probably within 1/2 stop. The only thing I had to replace was a small spring for the film winder that is on the bottom of the body vs top. I was not able to save the original flash reflector but was able to find a replacement in great condition on eBay for a few bucks.
Thought I would post a few "after" pictures here on the thread.
The old camera will be once again taking Christmas pictures of the family this Christmas. With great memories of Emma.
To keep the post inline with the rules of the thread, the pictures were taken with Nikon camera and Nikon lens (Df and 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor)
kwoodard wrote:
Post pics of what you are building! (Woodworker here too)
I don't have anything worth posting Will see if I can come up with some shots. My shop is really dusty since I don't have a good dust collector system in place. I don't want any dust get inside my precious MF lenses.
Peter,
I really like this. At first glance you know know the car is moving at speed due to the blurred background but when you look closely at the reflections in the bodywork you can see the curved track and a ghost wheel. The high contrast and amazing detail adds to it as well.
Colin
160 ASA means it could use High Speed Ektachrome!
I used to shoot a lot of that.
Nice job, George!
-Jay-
gbohannon wrote:
Thanks Scott. No, I haven't had any luck finding bulbs. Or I should say anywhere near affordable. Someone had 12 for sale on eBay for $36. I was able to get a 15v battery for the flash on Amazon. So for now will settle for outdoor photos. The camera only goes to 160ASA for metering (can always go full manual) and it has two shutter speeds (1/40 and 1/80) In test shots, I was able to get decent exposure in automatic mode and using my Sekonic meter fully manual mode worked well too. The aperture scale on the camera is in EV Numbers and I was able to find a Kodak table to convert the EV Numbers to f-values. It has been a fun project.
DeltaSigma wrote:
Peter,
I really like this. At first glance you know know the car is moving at speed due to the blurred background but when you look closely at the reflections in the bodywork you can see the curved track and a ghost wheel. The high contrast and amazing detail adds to it as well.
Colin
Well, thank you for that praise of my panning skills, but I call it a lucky shot. I totally forgot that I used the lens at that corner, because I quickly switched to the 70-300mm VR for increasing my keeper rate. Much of that output was indeed in focus, but the best of the bunch is still the MF shot
The background is what is so bizarre looking in this shot - that's all patched up old pavement with tar lines filling in the crumbling "Road" America" surface. Panning at longer focal lengths at short subject distance allows you to use f/8.0 and still a reasonably high shutter speed, while the FOV across the background is tight enough to relay the impression of speed. It's no super 1/10s mega pan effect, but on the "flip side" most of the car will stay in focus: at 1/500s angular distances to the camera don't change too much during the exposure like they do below 1/250s.
DeltaSigma wrote:
Peter,
I really like this. At first glance you know know the car is moving at speed due to the blurred background but when you look closely at the reflections in the bodywork you can see the curved track and a ghost wheel. The high contrast and amazing detail adds to it as well.
Colin
I didn't even notice the "ghost wheel" - need to have another looks. The curved red/yellow curbing and concrete behind it is clearly there. I cannot see myself, though
In order to keep things moving along I post a 105mm lens pano that was taken half an hour later than the 24mm pano from the same vantage point. Obviously a narrower field of view than before.
St Paul's Cathedral is the tallest structure. D610 as usual - and, yes, more cranes spoiling the skyline.
Colin I like this one beter. Colors are nicer too (beter moment).
DeltaSigma wrote:
In order to keep things moving along I post a 105mm lens pano that was taken half an hour later than the 24mm pano from the same vantage point. Obviously a narrower field of view than before.
St Paul's Cathedral is the tallest structure. D610 as usual - and, yes, more cranes spoiling the skyline.
