Frame #3. (actually frames #1 and #2 came out too, but I’ll want to print them before scanning.)
Pond, Edith L. Moore Nature Sanctuary, Houston Audubon Society
Houston, Texas.
ZeroImage 612B, 6×12, 4 seconds, Ilford FP4+ @ EI 100, 12 minutes in Xtol 1+1.
Scanned with Epson 4490, two images stitched.
It’s a start.
First rolls came out a trifle underexposed and maybe a tad underdeveloped, but definitely printable with a little help from a #4 1/2 filter, and definitely close enough that I can call it well for next time.
Darn that’s a wide angle camera. No, wider than that. Wider. Yeah. There you are. Like that. I am happy to report, however, that I did not photograph my feet or any other stray body parts.
I’ll make prints and scan them tomorrow if I can, along with a few reflections on the subject when I get them sorted out. It’s an interesting experience using one of these.
This is gonna be fun.
with a nice little Serpac case, about 10 x 12 inches, 3 inches deep, perfect size for camera and a dozen or so rolls of film.
The sun came out for a few hours this afternoon and I was able to spend a little time in a nature reserve here with some decent light. It’s been so long since I used a camera that didn’t have a frame advance/shutter cock mechanism that I lost a couple of frames off the first roll not being able to see the numbers in the view window, but I did get it sorted and so we’ll see what happens. I hope I’ll have time to run the film tomorrow but there’s paperwork to do as well, so we’ll see. If I had the exposure anything like right I may have something to show; the light was fine in any event, which I needed desperately.
Lock and load; time to hit the streets.
Well, the new camera is here… and it’s absolutely gorgeous. 5 days from Hong Kong, including a weekend and a US holiday, is very very good.
And it’s RAINING for a week or so, according to the Weather Channel. Officially we’re at 40-60% chance, but with the weather patterns here that makes intermittent rain almost bankable.
I know, I know, it’s quite possible to shoot in the rain, but the pinhole is brand new and not even a little bit water resistant, so it’s staying safely indoors. I need to find a hard case; at the moment it’s being swallowed up by a far too big but temporarily disused F5 Domke, but that’s not a permanent solution. The Pelican 1400 would be a workable size for the camera and a two year supply of Acros, but it’s also a hundred bucks, which is more than I wanted to spend. I’m going to try EPO (a local shop for guys who like to build their own electron-shunting devices) which always has a decent selection of off-brand and odd cases for things.
Aside from the obvious (I’ve totally lost my mind) I’ve ordered another camera, to the consternation of a couple of photographer friends and the unutterable (though she did try, and that was an …interesting sort of noise) delight of my artist sister, who knows she’s probably going to get to play with it. See, this one’s an oddity for me; I’m normally a stickler for lens quality and this is about as far from lens quality as you can get – it has no lens at all. It’s a ZeroImage 612B Multiformat Panoramic Pinhole. (I’d rather have the 612F but there’s not a budget line there just yet.)
Quite aside from its thoroughly interesting photographic qualities, this thing is very much a work of art on its own merit and I am very much looking forward to its arrival….
(I cheated and linked back to the manufacturer’s website for the pix since I obviously can’t shoot my own until the camera arrives.)
However if you’re at ALL interested in lensless photography I can’t urge you too strongly to check these cameras out. They LOOK gorgeous (lady here in town uses the 4×5 model), the design is quite ingenious and very nicely executed, and the craftsmanship appears to be first-rate. The company website is http://www.zeroimage.com.
It should be here soon and I’ll probably make myself photograph it before I photograph WITH it. Or soon after, at any rate. I will probably head out with backpack, tripod, and a few dozen rolls of Acros or Efke 25 when spring arrives, especially if I can get out to the wild western world….
I feel strongly that I should look around and see if I can’t find a vintage teak or mahogany tripod for it; I’ve already got a pocket watch for exposure timing, handmade leather-bound books for exposure and field notes, and a leather-clad hip flask for the necessary … well, let’s just say that at f/158, focus isn’t as much of an issue as it might be….
Much fun and many interesting photos lie ahead on this little journey.
Until it arrives.. lock and load; let’s hit the streets.
Well, in an unexpected but oddly not unwelcome start to the new year, the brakes on the truck started to grumble a bit on new year’s day. Jan 2 was crazy, getting work up and running again, but on the third I made an appointment and took her in to the brake shop. I was figuring just new pads and shoes, get out for around a hundred bucks, no big deal.
Or not.
Say hello to Rain. He’s busily engaged in rebuilding Andromeda the 4Runner’s front brakes (which process took substantial parts of the afternoon – turns out you can’t just stroll around the corner and pick up brake rotors for a truck that’s 15 years old no matter HOW cool it is…), following which he will quickly reline her back brakes, hand me my key and turn me over to the guy in the office, who will nick my wallet pretty good. Nearly $600 later, we’re out of the shop and on the road, and not only are the brakes quiet but they stop much more quickly.
This is a good start for the year. Yeah, I spent $600 on the brakes, but I spent nothing on the grille, nothing on the front bumper, nothing on the radiator, nothing on rebuilding the engine, and most importantly nothing on rebuilding the owner after a catastrophic brake failure. (Admittedly there are days when the photographer could probably USE a rebuild, but I don’t think I could afford it and I’d like to be able to plan for it a bit more precisely than “scree–crunch!” anyway.)Â So on balance I’m not unhappy.
The timing could have been marginally better, but nothing that matters is significantly inconvenienced. I had no real moneywork waiting on that Zeiss 25 I was wanting. Later. There are other more important things to buy…. like road miles.
Sun’s gonna be up soon; lock and load, there’s pictures to be made.
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