I've been in Portland far too long to have never posted a photo of this bridge. It's also middle-of-the-day light, but I don't care. I stopped on my way to visit one of my offices and drop off this roll. Sometimes you just shoot with what you've got.
Film Camera
Between Frames
I kinda need a strap for this thing.
Hasselblad 500 C/M
I've been thinking about, ruminating on, and saving money off and on towards a medium format kit for almost a year. I'd settled on the Hasselblad V system, but was thinking I'd need to start piecing the kit together over a few months while I hunted for just the right parts.
I was looking through my Twitter feed yesterday and saw that a local photographer I follow was selling this kit for a very reasonable price. I went and took a look and made the decision pretty quickly. Like a lot of older cameras (This body was made in 1972 and the back is from 1975.) there's a little maintenance needed before shooting.
Luckily these cameras are really solid mechanically and made to be easily maintained. One of the coolest things about the V system is that you can literally take off all the parts and the body at the middle is just a box. That means you can switch between viewfinders, backs and lenses easily and you just need a good solid body to get started. I've got a couple lenses, but will probably sell one of them as I'm hoping to settle on a one lens kit.
There's a light trap repair kit on the way and I'm hoping to put the first roll through it this weekend. So, there should be photos to show off in a few weeks.
Prisms
Foam
Decisions, Decisions
Monday there was a fantastic event at Blue Moon Camera. They had the Impossible Project crew out for a road show and we got a chance to check out some new instant film stuff.
I spent some time in the store inspecting these two beautiful cameras. The one on the right is the Hasselblad 500C. The one on the left is a Leica M3.
Thanks to Peter for the Hasselblad overview and tutorial. Need to start saving up...
Old School
OM-1
I just picked up a fantastic new piece of gear this past week. The Olympus OM line was introduced in the early 70's and set the bar for compact 35mm SLRs. It has a large selection of lenses available and this one came with a 28mm f/3.5 and a 50mm f/1.8 thanks to Tim Taylor.
It's about the same size as my NEX 7 and fits into my larger camera bag with my digital rig.
I've got my first roll of Kodak Ektar 100 color film on board and plan to post some images as soon as they're developed.
I just finished shooting a roll on the Yashica TL super that I mentioned a few weeks ago and will post those soon too. I enjoyed shooting film, but that camera was a little unwieldy because of it's size and weight.
The best part is that the cost to get started with a kit like this is close to $100.
I spent time shooting film before, but I never really knew what I was doing. Shooting with a completely manual camera like this makes you think, and it really makes you consider each shot. It's not going to replace digital for me, but it sure is a good exercise.