Wallace Koopmans Artlog

The Fuji Zoom Date 1000 is interesting in the world of film point and shoots for its zoom lens a Super EBC Fujinon 3.6x zoom lens; 28 ~ 100mm, f/5.8 ~ 10.5; 6 components, 6 elements and also the rear LCD and menu system.  Although 28-100mm is a nice range to have, the lens is slow and has a lot of vignetting as seen in this image.

The menu is somewhat unique because it has a four-way controller with a central menu button much like you now find on numerous digital cameras, however it has relatively few modes compared to a modern camera but that’s okay because your supposed to take pictures with it not play with the menu.

Ultimately the first try with this camera was not particularly impressive.  The images lacked any of that sort of pop that a few other similar cameras have.  For example the Canon Z90W or the Konica Zup28W but at least it betters the Sigma 28 AF Zoom which for all intents and purposes produces images with no corners.

On my recent visit to Niagara Falls Ontario I really saw two places in an uncumfortable coexistence.  There was the bright lights and tourist shops and then there was gritty part of Niagara that appeared left behind decades ago.

There also seemed to be a nearly inexhaustible supply of empty motels and businesses surrounding the city.  No longer needed for tourists that aren’t there.

To be fair I was there during May not what you would think of as high tourist season but I still think that of those people who were visiting seemed less likely to have arrived in a car and more likely to be staying at one of the larger hotels.  I think there lays the difference from the past and why Niagara Falls is a concentration of restaurants and tourist traps around the one true attraction, the falls themselves.

I will have more photos to share from this trip as I shot both film and more digital images.  I would have loved to have visited the American side of the falls too. I’m sure I would have discovered yet another visual story.