Through the Rangefinder Thoughts about Photography and Equipment

Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS First Impressions

I recently lucked out in finding a Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS lens. It was in great shape. Despite the rainy and overcast weather, I had to go out and shoot a roll or two. The 24mm Nikkor is typical of all manual focus Nikkor lenses. The focus action is very smooth and it just feels like a quality piece of equipment. The technical qualities of the lens appear to be great with regard to sharpness. Out of focus character appears to be fine, but I can't say too much about it because most everything is in focus with a wide angle lens. One *really* nice aspect is that this lens focuses very closely; very handy with a wide lens. Here's a few example shots:

I'll definitely be shooting more with the Nikkor 24mm f2.8 AIS.

Olympus OM-4 First Impressions

In 1985 I bought my first SLR camera. It was an OM-2s with a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm zoom lens. The OM-2s served me well, however you couldn't help but look admiringly at the OM-4. I recently had the opportunity to use the OM-4 and compare its usage to the OM-2s. Both the OM-4 and OM-2s have spot meters but differ in their usage. With the OM-2s, you change the mode to manual/spot meter, aim the spot meter at the area you want to meter and change the shutter and aperture as needed. While this works well, I found that I prefer the spot meter operation of the OM-4. With the OM-4 you aim your camera at the spot you want to meter, then push the spot meter button to lock in the exposure. You do this while in automatic aperture priority mode which makes the entire operation fast and simple while retaining fine control of exposure. In addition to the easy spot meter usage you can push the highlight or shadow button after spot metering to adjust exposure based on whether your initial spot meter measurement was on a highlight or shadow. Overall, the exposure control makes the OM-4 a nearly perfect camera for my uses. One unique feature of the OM-2s compared to the OM-4 is that the OM-2s has a program mode where both the aperture and shutter speed are automatically set by the camera. Because I nearly always want to precisely control the aperture or shutter speed, the program mode is not much use for me.

The other aspect of the OM-4 and OM-2s that I tested was flash photography. I used a T-32 flash which is a compact but powerful unit which has the ability to operate in a fully automatic mode on both cameras. That's a super convenient feature which can't be underestimated. For instance, with this flash/camera combo, you can use bounce flash or use multiple flashes without changing any settings. It's nearly  foolproof.

I decided to shoot with one lens on the OM-4 for my first roll. Based on my strong liking of the Canon FL 85mm f1.8 lens, I shot the entire roll with the Zuiko 85mm f2 lens. It was a real pleasure to shoot with this lens. It's a super compact lens and allows for fairly tight shots without getting too close to the subject. In addition, the focal length is not so long that that you can't use it as a general purpose lens. The combination of the OM-4, 85mm lens, and T-32 flash was nearly perfect and very compact. You couldn't ask for a better combo. I've copied some photos below from my first roll. The scans are fairly low quality Walgreens scans. I hope to replace these scans with better ones in the near future.

Nikon FA — First Impressions

I recently had the opportunity to purchase a nearly mint condition Nikon FA SLR. The Nikon FA is credited with being the first matrix meter camera. While that is true, it's also true that Minolta had an earlier CLC system that attempted to overcome exposure problems in high contrast situations. However, Nikon's matrix system was far more sophisticated,and really, a much different beast.

The look and feel of the FA is very similar to the FM2n (which I own), or the FE2 (which I don't own). The FA differs in its looks in that it has a small grip on the right side of the body. It really doesn't make much difference in my opinion. The film advance is very smooth, much the same as the FM2n. The viewfinder is smaller than that of the FM2n. I'm a fan of large viewfinders, so it's a slight step down in comparison to the FM2n.

My first roll with the FA consisted mainly of indoor shots using available light and flash. The purpose of the first roll was to test that the FA was functional and didn't have defects. I also wanted to test the SB-15 flash that came with my purchase. There's not much to say about first roll, the meter appeared to be correct, and the SB-15 and TTL flash worked as expected. I will say that I liked the SB-15, but it's bounce flash capability is fairly weak.

My second roll with the FA was more informative. This time, the photos were taken outdoors under mostly overcast conditions. The goal was to test the matrix meter in conditions where center weighted metering might fail. A few of the photos were taken with bright spots in one corner or the other. Normally this will cause a center weighted meter to slightly underexpose. Happily the matrix meter passed with flying colors. I did not encounter a single over or under exposed shot. I hope to shoot my next roll in sunnier conditions with more challenging high contrast situations. Anyways, here's a link to some of the FA shots. I've copied a couple of photos below:

Matthew behind a mask

Kids throwing leaves

Canon FL 85mm f1.8 Part 2

I had a chance to shoot a roll of film through my recently acquired Canon FL 85mm f1.8. In actual use, it was everything I could have hoped for. The great thing about a short telephoto with an f1.8 max aperture is that the viewfinder is bright, even indoors. This is a big deal when trying to manually focus in fairly dim light. The other nice thing about a short telephoto is that you can get fairly tight shots of people without crowding them. With a 50mm, you have to get fairly close, which isn't always comfortable. The 85mm f1.8 is pretty small; not much larger than a 50mm f1.4. I would say that the only drawback of the FL on an A-1 is that it can be easy to accidentally release the stop down meter button. Hmm, maybe I'll get an FD version of this lens. The following are a few photos with the FL:

Chinese Magic Lanterns

Chinese Writing

Nikon FG

The Nikon FG is a small SLR introduced in the early 80's. Although I no longer have my Pentax ME Super, the FG appears to be very similar in size and function. That's a good thing. It makes you wonder if Nikon designers may have borrowed the design a bit. The FG is a simple SLR by today's standard, it offers program, aperture priority, and manual metering modes. In addition it offers exposure compensation via a +- 2 stop dial.

How is the FG in actual use? Very nice actually. I was surprised at the difference in size and weight after using an N90 for the past month. The FG is much easier to carry around and doesn't get in your way because of the bulk.

Despite the crazy snow we've had here in the last month, I was able to get out and snap a few shots. I was using a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AIS. It's been a while since I've used a small fixed focal length lens. I was pleasantly reminded of the simplicity of using a manual focus lens where I don't have to worry about a bulky zoom. The center weighted metering of the FG makes it a simple matter to know if bright or light parts of the scene are influencing the metering and the exposure compensation function makes it a simple matter to adjust accordingly. Nice.

The image quality of the resulting photos was great. As expected, the Nikkor 50mm AIS produced sharp and color results. The FG is a great match for this lens.

There's not a lot more to say about the Nikon FG. It's a great little SLR, especially suited for light traveling with a couple small fixed focal length manual focus lenses.

Costco Slide Scans

I don't know why I didn't notice before, but my local Costo offers 6 megapixel slide scanning for 28 cents per slide. Not bad at all. The following are a few examples of Kodak E100GX scanned at Costco.

Something Old and Something Older

I think I've come full circle with regard to 35mm photography. The only thing left is a Leica addiction. Luckily my wallet can't handle it. Instead of a Leica, I've begun to walk down the Nikon road. I just received an old Nikon N90 for $29 USD + shipping from KEH. Once again KEH proves that BGN (Bargain) quality is quite good if you are willing to put up with a few scuffs. I've paired up the N90 with a Nikkor 24-120 AF-D and an inexpensive (but great) 50mm f1.8 AIS.  Why the N90? A few reasons. First, I wanted the fast 1/8000s shutter speed so that I could open up the aperture in sunny weather while using ASA 400 film and not resort to ND filters. Second, I wanted to try out intelligent fill flash using an SB-26 flash. Third, I wanted to be able to use autofocus lenses and manual lenses.

My first roll of film using the N90 was Superia 800. Although the Nikkor 24-120 AF-D may not be the highest rated lens that Nikon has produced, I was quite pleased with the results. Here's an obligatory puppy photo.

Fantastic Plastic – Cheap Plastic Film SLRs

This weekend I was stir crazy from staying inside because of heavy rain. We had a little break, so I broke out my fantastic plastic Pentax MZ-50; complete with a lightweight 35-80mm zoom. It's not much to look at, but it's super lightweight and if you drop it, buy another one. This was my first effort with the camera. The light was fairly dim, but good enough for some ISO 400 film. My main goal was to verify that the camera was working correctly and to catch a few shots of super saturated colors that you often get after heavy rain.

and

Not too shabby for something you can pick up off Craigslist for $50 USD. Let's see. $50 for the camera and lens, $6.99 for five rolls of Superia 400 from Costco, $10 for processing and scanning(no prints) four rolls from Costco, and $5 for a battery.

What do you get for $72? You get control over depth of field, you get a large viewfinder that is bigger than all but the most expensive full frame digital SLRs, and you get scans good enough for great 5x7 prints. You will be surprised at how much it helps composition to have a large viewfinder. You can also print the scans at 8x10, but they start to get a little grainy. For some reason, the 3000x2000 Costco scans show more grain than is actually there and it's somewhat noticeable when printed at 8x10. However, if you take your negatives into Costo and request an 8x10 enlargement, the resulting prints are much better than the prints from scans. Costco probably scans at a higher resolution for 8x10 prints than 3000x2000. Whatever the reason, I consider their scans digital proofs and good for 5x7 and smaller prints.

If you do the math, you can shoot 4 rolls per month for about $16. The total cost for a year of shooting plus equipment and processing is only $250. It's very economical and the cost is incremental. If you find that you want to shoot more, consider investing $400-$500 in a used DSLR. There's no reason you can't use both film and digital.