Category Classic Film Cameras

Thank You!

Chris and Carol 11 Comments

Carol and I would just like to say thank you to everyone who’s stopped by our blog over these past 2 years! It’s been a pleasure sharing our little bits of knowledge with you all and what a joy it is to read your wonderful posts!

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Die hard Mets fans and lifelong photographers – Chris and Carol.

What’s been reaffirmed for us is that the world isn’t falling apart – that it isn’t filled with just hateful people with horrible agendas. Caring people are everywhere…

Positive thoughts and actions, kindness, sincerity and charity to those less fortunate leads to true happiness in life (a loving partner helps to). An endless supply of old cameras to play with doesn’t hurt either!

To the amazing people who follow us, we hope we add a bit of fun to your day and maybe we’ve turned you onto an old Yashica or two along the way! The number of visits our blog gets from around the world just blows us away! It would be easier to list the countries that haven’t visited yet rather than the ones that have.

To the people we follow – thanks for sharing your knowledge with us and the rest of the blogging world! We’ve learned so much from your posts and marvel at the images in your blogs. Inspirational to say the least!

Thank you! Thank you! 

Chris and Carol ^.^

Fuji Discovery 900 Zoom Plus – 1991

Chris and Carol 9 Comments

From the Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited, Tokyo.

Actually quite a sophisticated 35mm compact autofocus camera from the early 1990s – during the compact camera war period where each manufacturer was trying to cram as many features into as small a package as they could. In the case of this Fuji, it came pretty close to having everything except the compact part.

Which in the case of this camera, is a very good thing in our opinion. It has a wonderful feel to it – it has some heft (362 g without battery and film) and fits nicely into your grip. It’s plastic but with a host of motors and what not the weight goes up which helps to hold it steady when taking a picture.

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It was packaged in a descriptive and colorful box that included a roll of Fujicolor film, a lithium battery (which was still working after 24 years!), a padded strap and a series of 3 HG Creative Exposure cards for exposure compensation. The film expired in May 1994.

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We think it’s one of the better designed compact 35s of that era – beautiful lines and a quality fit and finishes. It was made in Japan – and it appears that it was also assembled there as well. The June issue of Popular Photography has it listed as $299.95 as the manufacturer’s suggested retail price! I believe that gives some clue as to the design that Fuji put into this nice update to their Discovery 900.

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The Discovery comes with a Fujinon 38-85mm power zoom lens (f/3.8 – 8.2) and uses a 3 zone multi-beam autofocus system. Focuses close-up to 29.5 inches and the AF focuses from .75 meter to infinity.

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The Fujinon lens consists of 7 components, 7 elements. The programmed electronic shutter operates from 1/8 to 1/250 second.

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The top view is simple and uncluttered. The HG card slot is in the center (where a hot shoe would be). It has a sequential self-timer and the power zoom buttons are on the far right. It also features drop-in film loading and uses DX coding with ISO 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600 DX-coded films.

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This camera was a presentation camera to the employees (?) of the plant – or maybe the plant only got one. It is in mint never used condition so I’m guessing it never took pictures of their cement pipes at the plant. Our first thought was to remove the plaque, but it is well designed and affixed properly so it’s best to leave it be. Besides, it helps to date the camera and that’s okay with us.

The little Pac Man looking symbol and slide lever opens and closes the lens cover and activates the camera. The landscape button on the left helps the AF system to fix a distant focus at infinity or at least takes an average focus from the scene. We love the centered viewfinder – it provides a nice bright view of the composition.

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The Fuji Discovery 900 Zoom Plus 35mm camera.

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The Fuji Discovery 90 Date – a smaller and less feature-packed cousin to the 900.

We think Fuji did well with this sophisticated camera and can’t wait for a field test! Soon!

Thanks for your visit.

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S9900W

Chris

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Random Yokohama – 1978

Chris and Carol 4 Comments

A small collection of recently “found” images from our time spent living in Yokohama.

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Happy me with my new Canon F-1 and Canon FD 80-200mm zoom lens.

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Carol checking out the wall of crates outside a local liquor store.

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Gift Box shopping.

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Nice watches for a great price.

¥ 360 to the $

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Carol always had pretty flowers at our house.

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Carol’s potting shed that I built for her.

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Carol busy at her desk.

We completely enjoyed our time in Japan. A once in a lifetime experience that we still treasure to this day. We lived at 283-D, Area 2, Honmoku, Naka-ku Yokohama from May 1977 to February 1980.

All smiles… Chris and Carol ^.^

Yashica Flex AS-II by Yashima Optical

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One of the original group of 6 cameras that Yashica (Yashima Optical Industries Company, Ltd.) made in the early to mid 1950s. This AS-II was introduced in 1954 and featured a built-in (well, attached) light meter. They’re solid cameras these early Yashica TLRs, and in our opinion, had some underrated features as well as great lenses. The light meter was made by Sekonic by the way.

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Yashica Flex AS-II with built-in light meter (just visible on the camera’s left side). The light meter’s cells were located under the nameplate and were exposed by lifting up the nameplate flap.

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The AS-II featured Yashimar lenses that were made by Tomioka Optical for Yashica. A Copal shutter with a blazing fast 1/200 top speed!

If you’re in the market for a vintage Yashica TLR then the AS-II should be on your list. Be advised that most will not have a working light meter – if you get one with one it’s a bonus. They are a bit hard to find – 63 year old cameras don’t often look this good or work perfectly. We were lucky as we were able to purchase this one from a collector in the US for a reasonable price.

Taken on the US Post Office steps in downtown Fernandina Beach, Florida. The post office dates to 1911.

Camera: Samsung Galaxy S4

Chris

Carol and Sakura

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

My lovely wife Carol enjoying the sakura blossoms in front of my mom’s house in New York – 1974.

Shot with my Yashica TL Electro-X and printed on Kodak matte finish paper. This many years ago the colors have faded…

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… but our love hasn’t.

Still married 43 years later to my sweetheart and best friend. ^.^

Chris & Carol

 

Our Cat – ‘Avon’ 1977

Chris and Carol 6 Comments

One of the last good images I was able to take of our cat Avon enjoying some warm sunshine by our front door. He was a found kitten, starving but friendly (aren’t all hungry kitties friendly?). He was found along Carol’s Avon cosmetics route in Pensacola, Florida back in 1975. A Tom Cat with a silly name but it fit him. He ran off from our new house in Yokohama, Japan and he either lost his way or was taken in. I don’t think of the other possibilities.

Original image taken with my Yashica TL Electro-X on Kodak Ektachrome 64 color slide film and the matte finish print of the transparency was dry mounted. The scan is of the print (flaws and all) with my Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II scanner.

Say hello to Avon.

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Full uncropped image taken with my Fujifilm FinePix S9900 under studio lighting vice a scan. The marks are on the print. I like his tone and tint better here (below).

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Thanks for the visit!

Chris and Carol

Marseille to Sisteron & Gap by Train – 1986

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As part of my ship’s port visit to Cannes, France, I was able to take an all too short trip to Marseille from Cannes and then on to Sisteron. Not quite the full French Alps but close. A charming little town with some nice views of the mountains. Unfortunately I had to be on the next train heading back south so I at best had only an hour to walk about.

The quality of the scans are not the best as satin paper does not scan well at any resolution. All images were taken with my Canon F-1 (1978 Version) on Kodak Kodacolor negative film.

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Marseille train station?

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Pretty sure that this was at the train station in Sisteron. Although I could have made it all the way to Gap.

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I didn’t take notes as I shot these images – 31 years later I can’t recall exactly where they were in Sisteron or were they in Gap?

All the best and thanks for your visit! Oh by the way, if you recognize any of the scenes please let me know where they are. Thanks

Chris

Yashica EM TLR test roll – 2011

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Some recently found images from a roll of Kodak E100VS Ektachrome Professional color slide film taken with my Yashica EM. Shot and processed around 2011 or so. Scanned (today) with my Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II scanner.

I normally shoot Fujicolor PRO400H color negative film and Acros 100 black & white… I can see why. I wasn’t happy with these images when I first saw them and that’s why I probably just chucked them in a drawer.

My post production (no PS or LR) after the scans helped some but the color was way off. In fairness, it could have been the processing as I used a basic online company vice ‘The Darkroom’.

The transparencies weren’t cut properly by the lab so some of the square images are not square. I don’t crop my 6x6cm images after scanning as they’re meant to be square (adds to the composition challenge in the viewing hood).

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Amelia Island’s courthouse.

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Clock Tower

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My father-in-laws motor home.

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Front yard river birch planted from a 1 gallon pot 15 years ago.

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Backyard dry streambed with maidenhair ferns.

All of the images were exposed using the Yashica’s exposure meter. Since slide film has a narrow exposure latitude, it was a good test of the Yashica’s nearly 50 year old built-in meter.

Côte d’Azur 1986… Cannes and Monte-Carlo

Chris and Carol 2 Comments

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Wonderful port visit for my US Navy ship, the USS Forrestal (CV-59) in the summer of 1986 during our Mediterranean Cruise. The aircraft carrier (Forrestal) anchored out just off the coast and the Sailors would ride liberty boats or local ferries to the docks (Fleet Landing).  The above image was taken on one of those boats (as were all the images in this post) with my Canon F-1 (1978 Version) with various Canon lenses on Kodak Kodacolor film. These images are scanned with a Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II but the quality of the pictures just isn’t there. The paper that these were printed on was high quality Kodak satin finish paper, but after 31 years the colors have shifted and no amount of post production can bring them back. I need to find the negatives and give those a try. Satin finish paper is always hard to scan from.

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Unfortunately I can’t place this building in Cannes.

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The Hotel de Ville just off of the Promenade de la Pantiero in southwest Cannes.

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Making good use of every square meter.

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The Grand Hotel Martinez along the Boulevard de la Croisette, Cannes.

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Standing near 4 Rue Louis Blanc looking north. The Google street view today looks exactly the same after 30 years. On the right is the famous Ernest Traiteur which also has some wonderful pastries too!

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City view of Monte Carlo.

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Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monaco.

As always our US Navy port visits were short and well deserved. Who could ask for a better place to be in the summer than the French Riviera! I would love to travel back there someday and really explore the coast.

Thanks for your visit!

Chris