I have no idea what this stuff is. It’s growing on a piece of plywood outside our house. I liked the textures.
Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.
Something Growing
RIP Ivor Matanle
I was sad to hear (from this post on Rangefinder Forum) of the passing of Ivor Matanle. As the post says:
Whilst I’m still awaiting advice from his family, I’m sad to advise that it has been reported on Amateur Photographer forum, and also Facebook, that Ivor Matanle, author of Collecting and Using Classic Cameras, and follow up title Collecting and Using Classic SLRs has recently passed away.
Ivor and I corresponded from time to time, always about photographica, and he was invariably kind and helpful—I always enjoyed our communications. Personally I loved his enthusiasm for using classic or collectible cameras so evident in his books, something I could always relate to. But he authored other non photographic titles too, notably on the history of WWII and related subjects, as well as works about Australia illustrated by him.
Ivor had been fairly quiet over the last couple of years following a stroke that slowed him down a bit. He was still working on his first novel last year, though whether this was completed I don’t know. When last we contacted each other a few months back he sounded quite chirpy, and had been up and about for short walks near home with a lightweight 35mm SLR occasionally since his stroke, so he was still shooting, if not to the last, then, at least, until quite late in life.
I can’t say that he was the first person to stimulate my interest in old cameras. That would be Jason Schneider and his articles in Modern Photography (which I found interesting even if I didn’t at the time start collecting). When I actually started to collect cameras around 2011 one of the first purchases I made were Schneider’s books on camera collecting. Then I looked for other resources and came across the two books above, which I quickly acquired and very much much enjoyed. Around the same time I also started reading the UK magazine: Amateur Photographer, which often featured articles by Matanle on vintage cameras (which reminds me that I cut out a number of these articles. I still have them somewhere. Maybe I should scan them).
RIP Ivor.
Film Camera 2018/3 – Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic (Mju II) DLX – Results
As mentioned in the earlier post (Film Camera 2018/3 – Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic (Mju II) DLX) I recently acquired a pretty much mint Olympus Stylus Epic. It seemed to be working perfectly, but I’m aware that this entire line of cameras can suffer from a strange circular light leak.
So the purpose of the present exercise was to test the camera and determine: 1) if it was really working as well as it seemed; and 2) to see if it suffered from the light leak mentioned above.
Of course there’s not much to say about the camera. There are very few settings to change – the most notable being to remember to shut off the flash before you use it (unless you really want to use flash) as it defaults to ‘flash on’ whenever the camera is turned off.
A few things to note, however. I noticed that if the camera is pointed in the direction of a strong light source it tended to flare. Also I found it was easy to place my finger where it could obstruct the lens when it extends to focus. I had to remember to keep it our of the way. I took a couple of pictures inside the pub where I had lunch. They didn’t come out too well, but probably my fault rather than the cameras. The low light levels must have caused the camera to select a shutter speed that was too low for me to hand hold and the pictures came out blurred.
Otherwise it really was point and shoot and generally the pictures came out well. I’m pleased to report that the camera worked perfectly and that it did not suffer from the light leak mentioned above. Now I’d like to try it with some color film.
Pictures taken on a 36 exposure roll of Tri-X 400, which I found a bit too contrasty and grainy for my taste.
A walk around Mount Kisco – Assorted Buildings
A walk around Mount Kisco – Self portrait with church
A walk around Mount Kisco – Old agricultural equipment
A walk around Mount Kisco – Veterans MemorialA walk around Mount Kisco – Railway Station
A walk around Mount Kisco – Church with an interesting name
A walk around Mount Kisco – A passing stranger
A walk around Mount Kisco – Shop Window
A walk around Mount Kisco – St. Francis of Assisi
A walk around Mount Kisco – Fire Fighters 9/11 Memorial
A walk around Mount Kisco – Not the post office
A walk around Mount Kisco – A lovely old victorian
A walk around Mount Kisco – St. Marks Episcopal Church
A walk around Mount Kisco – Native American Statue
A walk around Mount Kisco – Overview
Kinky Boots
I came across these boots lying on the seat of a 1967 Ed Roth custom trike: “Tree Viper” (see below) at Motorcyclepedia in Newburgh, NY.
Taken with a Sony NEX 5N and some kind of legacy lens, which I unfortunately didn’t record.
Roses in the living room
Back in last October I did a post entitled The last of this years’ rose blooms. It seems I was premature. As usual we brought our four tree roses into the house and amazingly some of them are still blooming.
Taken with a Sony RX-100 M3.