What the ****?

Two items caught my eye ...
... in the current issue of Amateur Photographer.
Apparently Leica are launching a new digital camera for £6000+ without lens.
OK, that's not the surprising bit. Wait for this ... it will only produce monochrome images.
No kidding! I guess I'm missing something here but isn't this back to Fox Talbot days of 100 and something years ago?

Then I read a whole page advert for a film processing lab. Get this ... 'owing to recent Royal Mail postal increases, all prices are increased by £3'
Strewth! I knew the increases were steep put this is surely extracting the urine!!
Guess which lab won't ever get my orders.

Reckon I'll go back to reading books instead of magazine. Mmmm. Maybe not.

By the way - this camera was free and it can do colour and monochrome!

Thanks for stopping by. See y'all again real soon?

Much More Lomo

My beloved Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim camera

We used to dread his return from his holidays ...
Back in the day I had a really good friend of long standing - we'd known each other since we were 11.
He was a 100% great guy but he had one fault. He would come back from holidays with hundreds of colour slides.
We dreaded the phone call that led to him arriving with his Kodak Carousel projector and all the slides ... I leave the rest of the evening to your imagination as it slipped from boredom to ennui.
But, I learned not to do the same. That's why there is only one holiday picture here.



One week ago in Amalfi Italy





The camera is about 15 years old and the film was four years out of date ...

Along with many (most?) of the 'toy' cameras promoted by Lomography, my Vivi has typical traits like saturated colours, vignetted corners and absolute unpredictability.

It has a fixed aperture of around f11, a wide angle plastic lens of 22mm and a shutter speed claimed to be about 1/125th.

It has a viewfinder that you use more in hope than from experience as it shows less than the lens sees. Once you've loaded it with 400 asa film there's not much else to play with.

The camera is feather light at 75 grammes, fits most shirt pockets at 4" x 2" x 1" and is a tactile delight.

A great BBC4 documentary ...

I dunno what took me so long to get around to finding it, but back in August 2004, BBC4 screened a one hour documentary called The Lomo Camera:Shoot From The Hip.

If you really don't dig the whole Lomography scene [and I didn't for far too long] this will be an informative and educational eye opener.

There's enough info above for you to watch it via a Google search. Or, if you really enjoy typing, go to:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TiAsvYgyqU

I would embed it here but don't know how and life is too short to learn!

Thanks for stopping by ...keep snapping ... Viva la Vivi!

I just saved £400 !

Despite my preference for analogue photography ...

There are obviously times when the undeniable convenience and economy of the digital option must be acknowledged. This little limited edition number from Olympus has been my constant companion for something like ten years. It has been used well and abused by living in my pocket for most of that time.

Now it is showing signs of wear and I turned to photo magazines and websites playing that frustrating 'what if ?' game.

I kept returning to descriptions of the Fujifilm X10 - mainly for its retro styling and array of push buttons instead of on-screen menus.

Pic from internet

Time for a reality check ...

Would a new camera make me a better snapper? No!

Would it make me happier? No!

Could I be bothered to learn how to use all its clever tricks? No!

Do I need umpteen megapixels, hi-def, video, wired for sound and all that jazz? No!

All I needed was a less well-used replacement for my l'il ole Olympus.

My existing memory cards would fit, ditto the battery and charger [and I'd get spare ones included if I bought another of the same]  It has a proper viewfinder and what does it matter if it only has 400 whatevers?

Last time I looked ...

The best price for the X10 was a tad under £400. Then I remembered eBay. That's where I found this beauty [like the one above] for just £14.99.

There's no way I could afford £400, but £14.99 ... well that's just the price of eight cups of designer brand coffee ...

So the moral of this story is ... whatever you get from it really!

Thanks for reading ... come back soon y'all hear?



Sun, sea and Limoncello

The Bit On The Side ...
Over on that blog list you will find the latest from David Chemin at his 'Pixelated Image'. He has just returned from a trip to Venice and for me this revived some happy memories of last May when we had an enjoyable week there. Our only mistake was to stay in Marina di Jesolo for reasons of economy and it was NOT our scene at all. So do your research carefully as you plan your trip to trip your shutter!

We Got The Homework Right This Time ...
While David was doing Venice we were enjoying a short break in Sorrento and, as usual, my lady and I travelled light with just one small suitcase between us and zero hand luggage. Also as usual, my trusty littleVivitar 35mm camera allowed simple point and shoot photography [the pic above, whilst relaxing in the hotel after an excursion, was taken with an equally pocketable and ancient Olympus digital]
This time I used some Chinese made Kodak Max film that was around four years out of date.So the results may be interesting and when I have the processed prints to hand I may share one or two here.

If the left oned don't get ya, the right one will ...
I have just read in Amateur Photographer that Boot's stores may soon close their develop and print mini labs although they'll continue to offer an 'off site' postal service.
This will presumably incur some postal costs ... the avoidance of which was the very reason that I used Boot's in-store facility in the first place.
So, at a time when Fuji announce massive increases in film sales after a five year flatline ... when Lomography goes from strength to strength ... when Royal Mail introduce inflation busting price hikes ... what do Boot's management do ...?
Well they obviously don't do the math or read the market.

Thanks for stopping by ... and if you get a chance to visit Sorrento ... take it!

Photo Opportunity

It's usually on May Bank Holiday - so don't miss the new date this year



BRING YOUR CAMERA !

                                                  




http://www.michaelsbookshop.com/ from 2011

I was there last year but had a major photographic malfunction!  This time I will try harder.

Right now, write now to make a

reminder in your diary, calendar, organiser, phone, secretary [!], whatever.

Thanks for stopping by.

The disposable delivered

Well done Boots ...
As Royal Mail seem intent on destroying their business with inflation busting price hikes, having never learnt the economics lesson about the laws of diminishing returns, I figured that I should forsake my usual mail order processing lab and explore local brick and mortar options.
The first [only!] High Street camera shop had a queue of foreign looking families waiting to be served, so I wondered if Boots chemist still cooked traditional film. Amazing! Not only do they still offer the service in store but the price was the same as the mail order outfit ... just £4.99 for a 48 hour service to develop and print my 27 exposure disposable camera.
There was even a 'one hour' option and several print size options at added cost.
I was amazed [and relieved] when I collected the results last Friday.
Well done Boots.
For any readers who live abroad, processing in Boots does not mean filling up your farmyard wellies with developer and stomping around in the mud. Boots is the trading name of a long established nationwide chain of chemist shops and pharmacies.

The bit on the side ...
Both '365 Square Photos' and '52 film cameras in 52 weeks' continue to do what they claim. Not to sure about Pho-tony's choice of hats, but otherwise they are usually good for a few moments of wet weather inspiration. Take a look.

Should that be 'single use' ...
I was talking to a total stranger in the coffee shop, as one does when they ask to share your table and leave an expensive camera on it while they go to the counter.
My £1.27 'disposable' looked strange, but in no way inferior, beside his £1,000+ DSLR.
He told me off for using the term 'disposable', correcting it to 'single use'.
I guess I could have argued that all cameras are ultimately disposable if you hang around long enough, but the sun was shining, the tide was in, the coffee was good - as always at Turner Contemporary - and I really couldn't be bothered.
In my pocket, where until four years ago I would have carried a pack of cigarettes, nestled my Vivitar 'Ultra Wide and Slim', a little charmer made about ten years ago. Apart from its 22mm wide angle lens it had much in common with my disposable except that it could be reloaded and used many times.
My temporary coffee companion disagreed with my suggestion that there was little point in disposables if you could have a simple reloadable. He was an enthusiast. He said so. His expensive digital camera with its branded strap said so. He was a member of his local camera club. Had been in it for ten years.
I guessed that he was about 45 years old. I was shocked to hear him admit that he might even consider a single use camera because 'he wouldn't know how to load and unload a 35mm film camera'.
Oh well. I wouldn't know how to afford a £1000+ DSLR either!

Some of my cheap and cheerful 27 disposable efforts

Thanks for reading!

Awe Inspiring

I am not often lost for words ...
... but I am totally lost in admiration for the skills and talent of American photographerTroy Paiva.
I was looking for some pictures of an old tanker that I once served on and came across Troy's stuff quite by chance.
It is all amazing but none more so than his shots of the preserved Liberty Ship Jeremiah O'Brien. The subject matter obviously appeals to me but what takes these pictures into a whole new world is that they are composed in camera using the low cost, high impact techniques of l-o-n-g exposures, by night, using a mixture of hand held LED lights and even torches.
Troy has found a technique and carved a niche to make it his own.
That I guess is a lesson to all us wannabes ... so is this, let the pictures do the talking.
You'll find loads more on Troy's site at http://lostamerica.com/blog
More just like these ...

Excuse me while I wallow in nostalgia over my seafaring career - thanks for stopping by and getting inspired.