[LRflex] Greetings from Nevin from near Pittsburgh - Re: Re: Canadian visitors for Thanksgiving....!
- From: "Nevin B. Greninger" <greninnb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:07:34 -0500
Hi from Nevin from near Pittsburgh, PA.
We still have some things to be thankful for. And it is 35 mm film and
processing services.
I make use of an old Nikon F100 that I load with Fuji ISO 200 film. My
neighborhood grocery runs a photo drop-off and pick up service. If I want to
scan the negatives, I do so with an old Minolta Dimage Scan Dual SCSI unit I
purchased for under $40 on the Internet. I had to go to Adorama of New York
City to acquire the slide and strip holders for the unit.
Even though I have a Pansonic digital camera (DMC-LX2), I mainly use the Nikon
F100.
I do have the Leicaflex with lense - the first one made (Mercury battery) and
the R3 and R4. One R4 that I bought came with a Jesse Owens lens cap. The chap
that sold me the R4 with the Owens cap later on bought a Jesse Owens R4 camera
and wanted to buy back the Owens cap, offering me a tidy sum almost what I had
paid for the R4 with the specal cap. I still have the Jesse Owens lens cap.
In the 1950's I used a 4-inch by 5-inch Graflex camera and a "baby" 2.25 -inch
by 3.25-inch Graflex and processed the black and white film by myself.
Sometimes I would take pictures through the microscope with 4-inch by 5-inch
sheet film. It's a shame that 4-inch by 5-inch color film and the large format
color processing labs have vanished.
This past summer I worked with a friend in helping him to make a choice of an
inverted tissue microscope to take to Uganda, Africa to upgrade the biology
teachers' skills. It had a 5 MP digital camera - the system cost around $3,000.
My friend, an electrical engineer, conducted a workshop for 25 science and
math teachers this summer in Uganda at which he demonstrated the microscope.
The set of histology slides that Dr. Duda took along will work well with the
microscope. We decided to give Africa, "Something of Value." I keep pestering
my friend to teach a course in electron microscopy - maybe some day he will do
so at his college in Grove City, PA.
A few years after retirement in 2001 I went back to revisit the past and look
at the evolvement of the 35 mm SLR cameras. Of the older cameras the Minolta
XE series (released in 1974-75) caught my attention which led me to take an
interest in the evolvement of the Leica SLR line. A good friend from Chicago
who loved the Minolta line and now uses SONY digital cameras introduced me to
the Minolta XE, XE-1, XE-7, and XE-5 world. These manual focus cameras were
built like "tank" and were engineering marvels.
Even though the XE with maximum speed of 1/1000 sec did not have spectacular
metering, in decent light for slow moving subjects it worked quite well for me.
After playing with the Minota XE-7, my curiosity turned to the Nikon 2020 AF
camera - their first AF camera. Next I enjoyed taking pictures with Nikon
N8008s (spot metering) and found its metering system to be pretty good. (As
many of you perhaps recall, the N8008s is a simple AF camera. It is one that
lends itself quite well for anyone wanting to start out using film and hoping
to get good results.) Next, I tried out the Nikon F90x (N90s), getting good
results. When I started using my Nikon F100, life indeed became much simpler. I
bought it cheaply a few years back.
About six years ago I looked at mainly the Pentax, Yashica, Canon, Olympus,
Nikon, and Minolta 35 mm SLR lines. The early 35 mm SLR cameras were crude yet
great picturees were taken and published by those who perfected their
techniques. The Olympus OM cameras represented great engineering technology -
so I can understand the love many photographers had for the Olympus line. We
certainly have come along way in film and flash photography.
Maybe some of you recall some of these old Nikon, Pentax, Yashica, Canon,
Olympus, and Minolta cameras. I would love to hear of your favorite "oldie."
I was sorry to see the Contax line vanish. I never did get to buy a Contax
camera and check it out. I came close to buying the Soviet "SPORT" - the
world's second (by several months) 35 mm SLR camera. It was a rather crude
camera. Some of the Soviet military cameras were well-made but most of the
Soviet cameras (post WW II) could never match those made by the Japanese.
It's a shame that Eastman Kodak stifled the development of 35 mm SLR cameras in
the USA. All Kodak wanted to do was sell paper, film, and chemicals. And to
sell lots of their goods, it was important to flood the market with cheap
consumer film cameras. At one time Kodak owned the Graflex company but Kodak
was just not interested in the "Research and Development" of the "Press" camera
that the US military had to rely on in WW II. Early on Kodak refused to
nourish the Graflex line and sold it off.
Well, Kodak to survive a few years back had to finally acknowledge the
existence of the digital camera. Leica is faced with survival too and so the
management cannot ignore the digital world. Leica is being bailed out by
Panasonic digital technology in my opinion. But I could be wrong! We all
have come to realize that the economics involved in camera manufacture and
great interest in digital cameras dampens the hopes for Leica 35 mm SLR
evolvement.
That many of these old 35 mm SLR cameras work well in low light situations
makes them still appealing. Soon though the cheaper digitals will evolve to
better handle low-light situations. It appears that there will be great
advances in digital cameras over the next few years.
The pictures posted by the Leica User Group are fascinating to see. I really
do enjoy seeing both the pictures and the excellent discussions posted. So
keep on taking film pictures with your great Leica lenses, taking pictures with
your digital cameras, and also both sharing your pictures and offering your
helpful comments.
Germany and Japan most certainly have given us "great" useful toys made with
"great" care and "great" technology. And for that we can be truly thankful!
We also certainly can give thanks for film still being available! We can
certainly also be thankful for Japanese and German film technology. Perhaps we
will also be thankful for Chinese camera technology in the near future.
Nevin a retired chemical engineer who turned 73 in June and who perhaps has
collected too many of the old cameras in the 35 mm, 2.25 by 3.25, and 4 by 5
formats. I remember buying my first point and shoot 35 mm camera back in the
late 1950's. It was a used Petri for which I paid $35 - not bad for a dollar a
millimeter.
----- Original Message -----
From: David Simms
To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 6:24 PM
Subject: [LRflex] Re: Canadian visitors for Thanksgiving....!
Thanksgiving isn't the only event we should be celebrating...celebrate the
F-word !!!
Film !!!!
Dave
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: LEICAFLEX <leicaflex@xxxxxxxxx>
To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, November 26, 2009 3:09:02 PM
Subject: [LRflex] Canadian visitors for Thanksgiving....!
Here's wishing all US friends on the list a very Happy Thanksgiving!
We have Canadian visitors flying through at this time and they seem to
have enjoyed their dinner.......
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Leicaflex/vasonapark/CanadiansHaveLanded.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Leicaflex/vasonapark/CanadianTroopsMarching.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Leicaflex/vasonapark/022_22ac_UM.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Leicaflex/vasonapark/curiouslook.html
Actually these were taken a week ago after 5pm, using a converted
CANON FL 55 1.2 lens on a Leica M7 and Kodacolor GOLD 200ASA scanned
at the local CVS drugstore. I was shooting almost wide open for the
above scenes to experiment with 'bokeh'.
The venue is Vasona Lake and Park in Los Gatos, CA. Pictures of the park:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Leicaflex/vasonapark/VasonaLake.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Leicaflex/vasonapark/vasonaparkview.html
C & C's welcome ;-D !
Once again, to those who celebrate......HAPPY THANKSGIVING to you and yours!
Eric Chan
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