Sydney
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Test roll from my SP
Took the Olympus out the other day and shot a roll of C41 b&w I had lying around. The temperature was mid 30’s and not a cloud in the sky, so the light was REALLY harsh.
The SP functioned great. It’s a great camera to shoot with, really comfortable and easy to use. The only issue I had is that my light meter has bit of a mind of its own. It sometimes refuses to turn on when I take the camera out of its case. However when it decides to work it’s accurate.
This was predominately a test roll as I didn’t know if the camera would work. I didn’t even bother changing the light seals either, but they appear to be fine. The lens is super sharp and bokeh is nice and smooth. I have to get a proper film scanner now, I’m sick of scanning prints and getting results that don’t really reflect the quality of the negatives. Some of the shots turned out ok though I thought.
EDIT: 3 or 4 pics have been corrupted so have been removed and will be re-uploaded and posted shortly.
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Yashica Electro 35 GTN
Yeah, another camera, but this one wasn’t an eBay purchase, and its not an Olympus!
Early this morning I found out about a small, relatively unadvertised Camera Market being held near the city. I was very curious so decided to go along. I’d never been to a camera market before so wasn’t sure what to expect. When I got there i only saw one A3 size photocopied “sign” with “Sydney Camera Market” printed on it. It wasn’t until I walked around a corner and saw a bunch of people waiting to get into a small hall filled with old camera gear that I knew I was in the right spot.
Initial observations were :
– Wow, I’m the youngest person here.
– Sweet, 99% of the stuff here are film cameras/gear.
– Damn, these SLR’s are over priced.
– Awesome, cheap rangefinders!The only downside was that I’m pretty low on money after a couple of other camera purchases last week (more details to come), so I set myself a challenge….
What can I get for $5?Surprisingly there were quite a few choices, some good, some bad. Several Olympus Trips, but I already have 3 of those. Some 90’s auto-focus rangefinders, hmm none of the models I wanted. But then, i saw something out of the corner of my eye that looked interesting. Amongst some dusty old camera cases and scratched up plastic point and shoots i saw this wonderful black Yashica Electro 35 GTN 🙂
It was covered in dust to the extent that I couldn’t even see if the lens had fungus or scratches on it etc. But it looked awesome, was black, and the guy sold it to me for $5.
When I got home I immediately got some cleaning gear out to see if I’d just bought $5 worth of fungus and corroded metal.
After a couple minutes of cleaning i was so happy to discover that the lens was immaculate with not even the slightest scratch or blemish! The body itself started to clean up really well also, with only some slight signs of wear on the base of the camera, but hardly noticeable. Maybe the layer of dust had managed to form a protective layer over the camera? haha.So anyway, I now own a Yashica GTN is terrific condition at a cost of only $5…. I’m definitely visiting more camera markets in the future! I still need to give it a proper clean, but its a damn good looking camera in my opinion. 45mm f/1.7 lens = happy times and the rangefinder patch seems contrast enough. It feels a little strange at first as it isn’t a need rectangular box like my other rangefinders, but it seems to be very useable. I’ll need to do some more research on them as I’m not too familiar with the Yashica rangefinders.
Here is a quick picture of the beast :
Cant wait until I put a roll of film through it. Unfortunately it’s on bit of a waiting list though, as I have a couple other cameras I’ve been meaning to try out also 🙂
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Circular Quay
I love my little 1 cent Olympus Trip!
I just got some photos back today that I took over the weekend, and I’m quite happy with them. One thing I’m not happy about though is my scanning of them, it’s quite poor, so I’m thinking of investing in a dedicated scanner or at least getting the lab to do it.Anyway, these were taken in and around Circular Quay on an extremely sunny day. The glare was insane, and I was pretty worried about how the photos would come out. Luckily they came out pretty good in most cases (better than the digital scan shows also), but I’d like to go back on a day that has some better light for photography. Here are some that I’ve scanned so far (still have half a roll to go).
EDIT: Some images have been corrupted so were removed from this post. Will re-upload them shortly.
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Way to Work
Haven’t had much time to post anything up lately, but here are some pics I took travelling to and from work one day in Sydney. Taken from the car with my point and shoot digital camera, they aren’t that amazing and don’t have much aesthetically interesting going on, but I intend to develop this concept at a later. Basically just to make my daily commute slightly less mundane!
