Out for a Stroll with Rangefinders

[cooltouch]

As part of my physical therapy that follows my recent back surgery, I'm supposed to get out and walk at least a mile (1.6 km) every day. Well, as it so happens, in the neighborhood where I live, the perimeter of one neighborhood block is about one mile. So, I've been just walking around the block here.

To alleviate the boredom of just walking, I've been taking cameras with me. So far, I've taken my Olympus XA, Olympus Trip 35, Canon QL-17, and Canon IIIa. I've been running some old Kodak Plus-X Pan through the cameras and then developing it in D-76 when I get home.

There's really nothing special to show -- I live in a part of town that ranges from ordinary looking to ugly -- but I still try to find subjects that might be mildly interesting at least. So I'll put up some photos here that may give you some idea about how well each of these cameras performs.

I'll start with the Olympus XA. As you probably know, the XA has become rather collectible ever since . . . well I guess ever since it was replaced by the XA2. It's compact yet reasonably full-featured, benefiting greatly from Yoshihisa Maitani's genius. It features aperture priority auto-exposure and is focused manually. Our member Katastrofo prefers the XA2, and for good reason -- it uses zone focusing, which is probably more useful for the sorts of candids that these little cameras excel in. With the XA, you sort of "set it and forget it" by choosing a distance setting and aperture. The XA has the f/5.6 setting in orange and 8 feet is in red. Setting the camera to these two values gives you a tool in which everything from about five feet to infinity will be in focus.

A used car lot just around the corner from our house. One of my favorite neighborhood photo subjects.


I think the subject works better as a vertical composition, though.


A neighbor has two old Mustangs, either 65 or 66 year model -- I can't tell the difference. This fastback under the tarp is worth some bucks. It's red. But he never drives either one of them.


Our humble abode. We have so many big trees in our yard that the house is in perpetual shade.

[mo]

Great idea Michael,I hate walking just for walking for excercise...I need a purpose I always take my camera and tend to walk further if not slower...but enjoy it even more.
I have read so much about the XA,sounds like a neat little camera with so many extras.
So any bargains in the car yard?

[cooltouch]

Bargains, I dunno. He's got his house up for sale. He's an older fellow, a widower and lives alone. So I'm guessing he probably will be moving into a smaller place. And I wouldn't be surprised if he'll be selling those Mustangs, but knowing him, he'll probably try to get market value for them. I haven't asked him about them. That fastback is worth some money now. The other one is just the standard hardtop, but even those can go for pretty good money if they're fairly complete and not too rusty. He had that other one under a tarp also until recently.

[mmelvis]

I would have loved to have trees like that in my front yard when I was younger. We only had pecan trees when I lived in Houston.

[cooltouch]

You should see the big pecan tree we have in our back yard. It's one of the tallest non-pines in the neighborhood.

Okay, here's the Olympus Trip 35 I took pics with:


This camera was basically an afterthought to an Olympus OM system I bought recently. The guy had an OM-1 and OM-1n, three lenses, a flash and other accessories, and oh-by-the-way there's this other camera here too. It's ironic. Because this Trip 35 is black, it's probably worth what both the OM-1s are put together. But I'm gonna sell the OMs and keep this one.

So I've only run this one roll of film through the Trip 35 so far. It's a deceptively simple camera to use. Just set the aperture ring to "A" and adjust the focus zone to where you need it, and you're good to go. The only problem I had with it was forgetting to adjust the focus zones as my subject distance changed.

I'll admit that I was a bit leary of this camera when I saw that big selenium cell. Most selenium cell-equiped gear I've come across doesn't work anymore because the cell died. But this one is still working fine. Yay!

Okay, so here's the Trip 35's version of the Big Dawg.


A shot of the car lot from the side. These folks really seem to like PT Cruisers.


The neighbor's Mustangs.


And our house, once again.

[fish4570]

i like your vertical dog shot ...

those things seem to lurk in suburbs everywhere. [/u]

[cooltouch]

Thanks, Paul. Glad you like it, cuz there's more to come.

Okay this time I took my Canon IIIa LTM rangefinder for a stroll, with three lenses -- a 50/1.8 Serenar, a 100/4 Serenar, and a 135/3.5 Kyoei Super Acall. I'm still getting this camera refurbished. It's had light leaks from pinholes in the shutter, and I thought for sure that, after two treatments, the problem would have been solved, but apparently not. I'm still getting some light fogging in the area where the pinhole(s) is/are. At the advice of a few old-time repair guys over at the KY Classic Cameras forum, I've been using this stuff called Plasti-Dip, which is a spray-on (or dippable) insulation. I spray some onto a paper plate, then with a soft brush I lightly brush it onto the shutter curtains. Because it dries as a rubber-like substance, this is just what those old shutters need. But apparently mine just needs a bit more than I would have originally thought.

So anyway a few of the images have some fog. I tried bumping up the contrast, but that didn't get rid of it entirely. In fact, I did a fair amount of PP with most of the images from this roll.

The Big Dawg shot with the 50mm f/1.8 Serenar, probably at f/8 or so.


There's a church across the street from this car lot. They are selling an old school bus. It gave me a chance to shoot with all three lenses.

The 50mm f/1.8 Serenar


The 100mm f/4 Serenar


And the 135mm f/3.5 Kyoei Super Acall


And the Mustangs once again . . . er, make that twice.

[Excalibur]

***I live in a part of town that ranges from ordinary looking to ugly***

Well maybe to you, but it can be interesting to see parts of other countries. Even a shot of a steak on a dinner plate (I hear they are massive) in say Texas, compared to the tiny portion you get in the UK.

[Katastrofo]

Looking at these, I like the Trip 35 set the best, although the Canon certainly resolves nice detail on the back end of that fastback!

You are righty right about the black Trip, seen them go for insane money
on the 'bay. I never bid, just watch the blood bath at the end. How
do you like the Trip?

[cooltouch]

@Excalibur, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you guys invent steak? Now, I do live close to a few steak houses. My favorite is Salt Grass Steak House (Salt Grass comes from the Salt Grass Trail, a famous cattle trail here in Texas). They have a 24 ounce porterhouse that is probably the best restaurant steak I've ever had. Maybe next time we go there, I should bring a camera.

When I was walking around, snapping shots, I was snapping shots of some of the ugliness too. Didn't want to post those images. Maybe I should.

@Katastrofo, yeah, I think the Trip 35 did very well. Better than the XA in some shots, which is causing me to think about a rematch. Or maybe a head-to-head competition.

I still have one more camera to go -- my Canon QL-17. I should have its images up a bit later today.

I need to take some pics with my Yashica Electro 35 GT as well, but I've been putting off making a battery spacer for it.

[cooltouch]

Okay here are some shots taken with a recent acquisition of mine, a Canon QL-17 GIII.

The old oak tree in our front yard.


The Big Dawg


Another view of the car lot, complete with Big Dawg in the distance and PT Cruisers in the foreground


A couple of shots of Long Point Road, the main thoroughfare just north of my house. Typical business district urban blight.



And the Mustangs


This was the first roll of film I've run through this camera. Next one will be color, probably Ektar. It's a very enjoyable camera to use.

[Nesster]

I like the first and last the best, the QL-17 seems to have that extra bit of definition that puts a lens over the top.

This is really a fascinating series to see the different takes of 'out there' by the different cameras and different days.

The sprinkler going in the first Mustang yard shot for me makes it the best photograph of this series, really I'd not be surprised to see such in an exhibit or photo book. Nice suburban surrealism.

[peterqd]

It's a great idea for a dedicated thread in the cafe or the galleries - going for a walk with a camera or two and posting pics of our neighbourhoods. I think we should all do it. I'll start one tomorrow.

I like the Trip set best too Michael.

[cooltouch]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Yeah, the Trip 35 is definitely a strong performer -- surprisingly strong. As is the QL-17. I need to get in the habit of carrying one of this group of cameras with me whenever I go anywhere. I used to do that years ago, but I've fallen out of the habit in recent years.