I’ve added a neutral density and a 715 nm filter to the front of my sony DSC-V3 so that I can use it as an infrared camera in daylight. The camera is otherwise unmodified and I shoot in “Nightshot” mode.
Just some fern photographs taken locally. It was a nice walk but at the last minute I decided to leave my DA* 35 macro ltd. at home and use an old Takumar-A 28-80 zoom. This lens also has a macro setting but isn’t in the same league as the prime lens.
Well I found an image of a waterfall that would work for the idea I have (one third of the image under water) however I don’t remember exactly where I took the picture 🙂 I have a vague idea that it is in the Chehalis river area and that I used my Rollieflex. So I believe a hike will be in order soon.
At the recent Vancouver camera show I aquired a Fujica 35 SE rangefinder. I had an opportunity yesterday to shoot a roll of film through it and am very impressed by the sharpness of the images. It has a f=4.5cm 1:2.8 Lens. The coupled exposure meter doesn’t appear to be accurate but because it is fully manual I just used my best available exposure meter (guessametering).
Fujica SE 35 rangefinder
I made the animations smaller for slower Internet connections.
The Nishika N8000 was designed for making lenticular prints. The type of print where the image appears different depending on your viewing angle. In order to do this is has 4 30mm lenses spaced across the front that all have shutters that trip at the same time. The outer two lenses are spaced apart about the distance of human eyes and give a stereoscopic view. However what you can do is scan the 35mm negatives in and build the resulting files into an animated GIF.
We often have an idea when photographing of what an image should look like. And If we understand our equipment and photography technique we can create an image that approaches our expectations. I often leave to go take pictures with an idea of what I want an image of, say a barn or of people interacting. A further step is to actually visualize the image that you intend to create. This would be a relatively normal exercise in a studio with a model, or when painting, but can you mold the physical view of nature to your imagined viewpoint. For obvious reasons I can not show you what the actual image I see in my mind is but that is what a sketch is for even if it is crudely done. So this is what I hope to create and when I have I will post it here, perhaps even if I fail. So what is unique about this image you may ask? At the bottom you can see that part of the image will be under water, and there will be a transition between the water and air. 
I have been very busy doing everything except creating new art, I haven’t even finished this painting which is very near completion. I hope to be able to work on this series of paintings from found photographs as well as the new set of prints I am planning.
I acquired a Vitomatic IIa rangefinder camera with a non working viewfinder. I found the that the problem was that a small lens used for creating the rangefinder image had come free from its holder and was loose in the mechanism. So in order to recover the lens and re-attach it it was necessary to disassemble most of the top plate. The meter had to be removed, which was easily done as one of the screws was also loose in the workings. Actually removing the viewfinder prism is a delicate operation and no force should be applied as the prism is optically cemented together. 
You can see in this image that the lens is missing from the frame on the left.
Once the lens was re-attached and the glue had time to set I re-assemble everything in reverse. (don’t forget the spring that tensions the rangefinder linkage)
In this image you can see the location of the screws that need to be set for adjusting the rangefinder. Loosen the set screw, set the lens on infinity and adjust the slotted screw until an item in the far distance has both images in convergence. The vertical convergence can also be adjusted with the square screw just beside the light-meter linkage. A pair of tweezers works for this or a small pair of needle nose pliers.
And now I have a working Voigtlander Vitomatic IIa, if only someone hadn’t scratched a flash setting reminder on the back of the top plate, sigh.
Update: I have taken a roll of Kodak 200 with this camera and am very happy with the exposure and the quality of the lens.
I have been going past this garage for some time now, and have wanted to take some pictures, so today I took the opportunity. On a regular week day the parking lot would be full of vehicles but that isn’t how I envisioned the image. I’m not quite sure what it is about the signage that drew me to this but it may be because it has the look of so much of what was around when I was a child. Without vehicles perhaps that distortion of time is made possible.
Going beyond the initial intended image I took several others that are of a different character. The image of the signage with selective focus is substantially an exercise in photographic technique while the one of the garage bays is an abstraction simply for it’s compositional aesthetic.
I have been going through some old negatives and scanning them. I’m not sure where the compunction to be an archivist came from but it’s something I seem to need to do. Besides I like looking at pictures I took as a teenager. I took this image somewhere in Oregon in 1989 when I was driving down to California and camping , beyond that I really don’t remember. I suppose that may be the reason I’m organizing the past in order to preserve my memories. After awhile it seems that the memories of many events become nothing more than snapshots anyway. Hopefully I will satisfy my need to go through this old stuff soon and can begin creating anew.
