Confession from an Aging Photographer

Whilst rooting about in the attic found, amongst other things, a nice looking Cosina 28mm mf lens c.2002, so quite late. Must have belonged to my father. Had a skylight filter attached as well. Thought I'd try it on my K100D, but do you think I could make it focus beyond a couple of feet?

The mechanism seemed fine, all the elements moving in and out but blurred pictures.

Oh well, I thought, I've got two other 28mm lenses. Just about to put it back in the loft when I noticed the "Skylight" filter was a 2+ close-up lens...

Sad isn't it?

Regards,

Andrew

It hapens to us all in the end Andrew, what a good find though, hope to see some shots with it soon. Any thing else up there?

Regards John

I look forward to seeing your macro images.

K.

PS. Anyone know where I put my red filter? It must be on a lens somewhere but I cannot find it. ~sigh~

That's both cruel and unnecessary, Kris.

A.

John,

There was a Zorki 4 in amazingly good condition, some grubby Cokin filters and a Cosina 135, but dad must have dropped it at some time because the filter rim was dented and I can't get the aperture to close down.

My first camera an old chromium plated Halina from the fifties, given to me by my uncle, was still there in its brown leather and Bakelite(?) case. This brought back some memories. The only place to get films develooped ands printed was a chemist where I remember asking for "enprints".

There was an old Paterson developing tank and a Gnome enlarger, one of those frames with sliding sides to hold printing paper...dishes, tongs... all the paraphernalia of a black and white darkroom.

I was hoping for K10 D but dad never went digitsl!

Regards,

A.

Buy yourself some HP5, load up the Zorki and then develop it yourself... sounds fun to me!

K.

But that would be like, using film and that...chemicals and stuff...cold evenings spent counting "one elephant, two elephant, three..." in a red tinted darkroom loft. I can still smell the fixer on my fingers now.

But when the images emerged, grey and ghostly in the developer...nothing in the digital workflow can compare to that moment because, you're never quite sure until that moment...

Sorry, Kris. Got a bit lyrical then.

Bet you're itching to saddle-up the Horseman and head for some abandoned churchyard... now that spring has almost sprung.

A.

You don't actually need the darkroom or the freezing attic - have a look at the thread on here about Rondinax developer tanks. I develop HP5 to negatives using one of those, three measuring beakers and the kitchen sink with a simple watch to time it. No mess, not much smell, and I cut out the printing stage by scanning the negatives and then printing the ones I want from the computer.

I agree that it is fun to use paper, an enlarger and the trays of chemicals, but I get more than enough satisfaction from opening the Rondinax lid and pulling out the finished negatives before hanging them up to dry.

Dented filter rings can be straightened and the aperture may just be sticky with age - try unbolting the lens mount and putting a couple of drops of lighter fluid on the mechanism.

Thanks Matt. I'd like to get that old telephoto working again and I'd no idea about scanning negatives and missing out the messy stage. I bet the results are sensational. Isn't a 35mm negavive equivalent to 50mps or something? Or did I just make that up?

Regards,

Andrew

I'm not entirely sure - I know that the limiting factor is usually the scanner itself. Mine is a fairly decent one (Ion Film2SD) and uses a 5mp scanner, the results are fine printed up to A4 size although I'm not sure how much larger you can go. Here's a sample shot taken with my MX and a 50mm f2 I was testing after cleaning fungus from:

[IMG]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x21/Kingofthemountains/Landscapes/PICT0022.jpg[/IMG]

That hasn't been altered in any way, just scanned and uploaded. The scanner produces an SD card full of JPG images and can handle negatives or slides.