A FALL IN THE FALL. (30/10/15)

The sun is out and it is a grand start to the afternoon. Internet went all a bit slow and silly this morning and last night so I am leaving catching up until it starts behaving again.

I didn’t bother taking a camera out for our first wander as it was almost dark and very wet. After breakfast it looked to be clearing up so I decided to take some more autumn snaps. I took the Bronica, two film backs, one loaded with Velvia 100 and the other with HP5 which is rated at ISO 400. I prefer FP4 and am quite pleased with the results at half box speed. I’ve run out of that stuff until I put another film order in.

The colours just keep getting brighter, maybe not quite Fall Aspen colour but the best I’ve seen for years.

These were taken with the Canon 5DII I use it for checking metering for Velvia as it is not a very tolerant film. I also take and incident reading and if there is a big difference then go for the mean. Otherwise I go for the slower speed.

Here is the Bronica all set up, as you can see it’s started to rain again. I never realised how much I missed the damn great focussing screen in these cameras. This is a prismatic screen but I do have a clear bright one as well and unlike DSLRs it is only a minutes job to swap them. The shutter release is the wee silver button bottom left but I rarely use it as I fire the camera with a cable release; you can just see it hanging down under the lens. All exposures today were between ½s and 2s so a tripod and no wind are a given. I have a pan/tilt head and don’t really like this one but it is a fraction of the weight and after wandering a mile I notice the difference. I notice it to the extent of begrudging it on the mile back home. There must be a geared head made out of composite materials that is fast and easy to use and will take anything weight wise.

Talking of composites here is one.

Not a good one but it kept me amused for a while whilst my elbow recovered from a fall on the way home. Soft, Slimy, squidgy and skiddy it is in the forest. No harm done to the gear and I missed landing on a dog or both dogs so all is well.

Have a great weekend, we are going for a good hike tomorrow.

PS.

I’m still looking into the Fuji GX680 system. They are a snip with a portrait lens but look to be daft money for wide lenses and nice screens. Cable releases for them are not cheap but that isn’t a major problem as they usually work just by shorting the circuit to the shutter and I am sure if I can’t cobble together a switch to do that then someone out there can. Most likely they have. I’ll try and find out. Anyone got a Fuji it weighs about the same as a breeze block and isn’t much smaller? I want all the bits you have to swap for the bits I want. £500.00p for a camera with two backs and 120 inserts. As many masks, screens there are as well. Without a lens well under 100mm I’m not bothered unless it’s a couple of hundred pounds. If the batteries have leaked in either the backs or camera then I’m still interested.

A BIT BRIGHTER. (29/10/15)

It’s still raining but is a little brighter  I had a bit of a shock this morning, was wandering along in a dream and all of a sudden Alf was snarling and growling and there was a hell of a screeching. I turned round and Moll had caught a rat and Alf wanted it. Moll put it down whilst she remonstrated with Alf and it tried to escape but wasn’t very well so I had to stamp on it. Bloody dogs, worse still in all the excitement I forgot to take a picture.

It wasn’t very nice out so I popped these through Photomatix.

I have been looking a little more into the Fuji GX680 cameras and have noticed that the MKs I and II are about half the price of the MK III. The only real difference is the power supply but for a couple of hundred pounds saving and half a day with a soldering iron I can’t see there is too much of a problem. It would cost something like £50.00p to make a battery pack up with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries like the Eneloop ones, I bet Maplin do an equivalent and probably a charger to go with them.

I have to go and get some food in, it’s not far, you can see the town in the middle picture. I’ll investigate the camera later. The other problem is that most of these have been used as studio cameras so wide lenses like a 50mm or even 75mm at a pinch are at a premium. It will give me something to do later on.

A BIT GRIM. (28/10/15)

This is the third day I have watched dawn not materialise. I am surrounded by low cloud or very wet fog. It’s horrible.

SEE

LOOKING UP.

LOOKING ALONG.

LOOKING CLOSE.

I have been considering another camera, to be honest there aren’t many days when I don’t but this one requires a great deal of thought and a bit of research. This is a FUJI GX680 III. They are about fifteen years old and as far as I can work out they will run on readily available cheap batteries. The MKs I and II use rechargeables which are a real pain to rebuild with new cells. It is a magnificent bit of kit with full movements on the front standard and bellows focusing. They are not cheap and are very heavy. I do have a good enough tripod and a couple of heads that will cope with the 5-6kg weight without a problem. It is primarily a studio camera but It is an exciting bit of kit. It would make a grand landscape camera with 6x9 format and with masks it will take all other 120 film formats. With  extension rails and long bellows macro at near 1:1 is possible but not many things will hang about whilst it is set up. Flowers and dead things would but I like taking live insects.

All Photos are Wikipedia.

It looks fun.

AN HOUR EARLY. (25/10/15)

It was good to be out an hour earlier this morning. It was still a bit dark but not to worry.

The Gate.

Through the gate and into the forest, the leaves are still doing their best to hang on.

Thank the Chinese that I have flash. We’ll be thanking them for electricity next. Not sure it’s such a good idea but then Dithery knows best, or thinks he does.

Enjoy your week.

AN OBSERVATION. (24/10/15)

I was cleaning some lenses yesterday and noticed that they are getting larger, not growing you understand, they are the size they were when manufactured but being made bigger. I have been thinking of switching to a mirrorless system for sometime but I would still keep the Canon for macro as the MP-E 65mm is a gem of a lens. I keep looking at the little Fujis.

This is what I mean.

Both the first and last lenses cover a standard 35mm frame which is 24mm x 36mm or 864mm² . The middle one covers a 6 x 4.5 frame or 56mm x 42mm which is 2352mm². The Zenzanon lens also includes a Sieko leaf shutter which is not an inconsiderable bit of machinery.

Does anyone know the code for squared or cubed ^{(2) (3)}?

That’s all for today.

DRY AND WARM. (23/10/15)

It’s been a grand week, the leaves are still hanging on and putting on a good show.

Here are a few pictures for the weekend.

I am going to look at another Bronica, this one is an SQ A and takes 6x6 images.

Enjoy the weekend, heavy rain is forecast for here so it looks as if I’ll get wet.

AN EASY MISTAKE. (20/10/15)

This morning I decided to have a wander into town. I could have done with getting tobacco, bread, and milk but forgot to take any money so I will have to do without until tomorrow. I’m ready for a supermarket shop and I have a parcel to post so I will make a day of it.

What remains of the old distillery in Auchtermuchty. This is reasonably photogenic but always has far too many vehicles parked in front of it to make for a worthwhile study.

I am a camera less or will be tomorrow as I am lending my son the 35mm Minolta. I can see me writing instructions by the page and chapter. It is very easy to forget what things are for.

This is the flash sync socket and ‘X’ is for strobes and ‘FP’ is for the old flash bulbs. I don’t know what ‘FP’ stands for probably someone's initials as the wire that connects the lens shutter to the flash is called a PC Cord and the PC bit is someone's initials and nothing to do with computers.

That’s all for today. Tomorrow I was supposed to be helping set a load of lights up but it has been postponed for a few days so I’ll make do with a trip to Aldi, Morrison and maybe Tesco as I’ll have to drive past to get a sack of dog food from the Clydesdale breeding centre.

SINGLE SHOT SUNDAY. (18/10/15)

Let me hope for a better week to come. Don’t know why but I’ve been fed up all week.

FIRST FROST. (15/10/15)

This morning saw the first frost of the autumn. I could have done with gloves but didn’t think.

HAIR ICE.

There isn’t very much of it and it’s not a spectacular example but it’s good to see.

CRANE FLY.

CANDLE SNUFF FUNGUS.

SULPHUR TUFT.

That’s all from this mornings wander.

ONLY TWO. (14/10/15)

It’s a cold and foggy morning, not nice mist but thick fog. I took a couple of pictures for your edification or perhaps not.

WEB.

CRANE FLY IN WEB.

I am waiting for the fog to clear and then I’ll go out for a proper walk. I have too many things on the go so will get a few off the list. I’ll get the video finished that has to go onto a DVD in PAL. I’ll do some more Blendering as the firework video has taken a back seat, when they are done I’ll have a serious think about making a camera shutter speed analyser. A week ago I was offered a pair of  Kiev 4 rangefinders one with a lens and one without; they both have broken shutter tapes. I can get silk tape to replace them and it doesn’t look a big job…….be one of those jobs that when you have done it once thereafter it should take an hour or two. These shutters are a metal roller screen with a gap in….Like a roller shutter door but smaller with a few slats missing…..The tape appears to hold them together and also re-cock the shutter. Not like a DSLR where there are two solid doors on levers. Not like the Bronica where there is a Seiko leaf shutter, I won’t be attempting to repair one of the latter anytime soon or ever given my hamfistedness.

The idea is to shine a laser light through the camera and then have a photo transistor behind a pin hole and couple the transistor to an oscilloscope. I should get a constant flat line until the shutter opens then a dip or peak then flat whilst the shutter is open then back to constant. It ought to be easy to read the shutter speed. The problem is the oscilloscope bit. They are very expensive but I found a Chinese kit for under twenty pounds. I am not sure of  my ability to build it and make it work so the alternative is a small hand held unit for £50.00p I will have to check I can read the screen….I am also trying to source some Kevlar ribbon 3mm x 0.3mm, a metre should see me out even if I find a Contax or two with the same problem. Kevlar or a Carbon/Kevlar composite should last forever.

That’s all for today.

I WONDER. (12/10/15)

I wonder what folk will make of this post?

I was sitting in the van listening to the rain bouncing down when I noticed a little clear sky. It is cool at 4°C and when I let the hens out it was quite breezy……I was frozen when I got back to the camper.

Our walk started off reasonably sensibly,

CLEARING SKY.

I took a tripod and a flash unit out for some woodland scenes. The dogs disappeared deer hunting.

Nothing very exciting but then Mel arrived with her Spaniels and my Westies in tow. She asked what I was doing today. I tried to get her to pose but she hadn’t done her hair or put her face on……..I could see her face so what that was about I don’t know. I persuaded her to work the shutter whilst I posed.

CHECKING THE SET.

It’s fine………………….Here we go.

HEAR NO EVIL etc, etc.

I can’t remember if this is in the correct order but I did get Mel’s e-mail so she could see the result of her clicking. I have asked her before as she is well worth taking out for a pie and a pint.

Have a good week.

STREAKY SATURDAY. (10/10/15)

It’s a long time since I’ve done any streaking and nearly as long since I did a selfie. Today I rectified both these omissions.

SELFIE.

STREAKY.

STREAKY.

SELFIE.

STREAKY.

That’s all for today.

FORAGING. (09/10/15)

Yesterday was a wonderful, I found lots of puffballs and ate them before I thought to take a picture; I assumed the Blackberries had finished for the year but I picked about four big handfuls so I am enjoying my favourite breakfast again, stewed apple, brambles and porridge. I did take a picture of a Blackberry.

We had a good walk up the glen. Apart from enjoying the sunshine I wanted to get a double exposure image of a ponies head with barley superimposed on it but the blasted ponies would not stand still.. I’ll have to take a carrot for them.

This is one pony there are another half dozen around me but I was watching this chap harvesting Willow.

A perfect afternoon wander. It made up for the previous days of heavy rain.

This morning I found a couple of fungi I haven’t seen before.

Whilst listening to the radio the talking heads were banging on about the Conservative Party conference and other matters arising from the conference season. I was surprised to learn that they are justifying their opinions by quoting the Poles. According to the Poles, Dithery Dave and George Osborne are much the same, Theresa May and Ian Duncan Smith are still the spawn of the devil and 33% feel that Jeremy Corbyn is out of touch and not fit to be left in charge of an empty wheelbarrow……Why do they only consider Polish opinion? The Poles are entitled to one but despite what the Daily Mail thinks they are not a majority in this country and for all I know not in Poland either.

Have a good weekend.