Hello from North Bucks

11 posts
14 years

Posted 15/10/2012 - 20:55 Link

Well, from Milton Keynes actually. I've been a naughty boy and not introduced myself.

I'm actually a Winslow boy. If you don't know, Winslow is a few miles South West of Milton Keynes.

My first camera was a Diana. I was about eight.

I learned to develop black and white films and prints at secondary school. The school had two Zenit 3Ms and a 2X teleconverter. Naturally my first camera was a Zenit, a B. I used black and white and colour print film, and for slide films I used Agfa CT18, Orwo 50 and the old E-4 Extachrome. I think I also used Kodachrome then. I did a lot of street photography in those days. I had a not very sharp 135mm lens, and the Zenit Photosniper. I took photos of the Bell Bellies pub rugby team both on and off the pitch, and learned to handle a Zenit with a preset lens, an off camera, non auto flashgun and a pint of beer to take drunken party photos, something I still do today.

In 1977 or 78 I bought a Pentax ME. In many ways it was the complete opposite of the Zenit; auto exposure only, light, and small. A 28mm Pentax lens and a 105mm lens joined the 50mm that came with the camera. I also had a K2. I found that the 28 was either too wide or not wide enough for me. In the early 1980s I had to sell all my gear because I was skint.

In the 1990s I was a Minolta manual focus man, with lenses covering from 17mm to 210mm. I found that the 24mm was a bit wide for some people shots and the 35mm a bit too long. Some people are never happy! the Minolta outfit left me free to choose whatever DSLR system I wanted, since I wasn't tied to a lens mount.

Hello again Pentax. I wanted a K10D, and watched and waited for the price to drop. It had just got within reach when the rotten bu$$ers at Pentax brought out the K20D. I bought one. I like the 16mm end of the zoom for people shots, though now with a bit more room around them.

The next thing on the shopping list was a new computer. The old one would load one JPEG from the Pentax, then fall over and lie there not moving, just groaning a bit. I bought an iMac.

The longest lens I use is still 210mm, the long end of the 80-210 Tamron that I bought for the Minolta.

Today, I'm nearly 100% digital, though I would like to get a darkroom going again. The fool that designed my bungalow forgot to put a darkroom in so some compromises will have to be made. I had a darkroom until I moved, and if you live in one of the flats in the North corner of Stantonbury you will have a lovely windowless box room just off the living room that's just right for a darkroom. What are you waiting for?