York on an Instant Camera

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Went to York today. Did part of the trip on the bus. Above is what the Rabbit thought of the scene.

I’d also taken the Instax Evo, which is a hybrid instant camera which takes digital pictures which it can then print. The camera has film filters you can apply to make things interesting. Today I’m using “Light leak” and “vivid”.

It’s not a great camera, but it does make great pictures. Particularly if someone is kind enough to scare the pigeons just before you take your shot.

Worth a visit.

Trip to York

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Went to York today. The weather was lovely (for a change) and the loveliness lasted all day (for a bigger change). On a whim we booked a couple of tickets for The National Railway Museum. You don’t need to pay to get in, but you do need to book. The museum is one of my favourite places in the world, and fortunately I had a camera and a couple of lenses with me.

The place was busy, but it is also huge, so that the crowd was swallowed up. They have a kind of storeroom off to one side full of amazing stuff. One of the exhibition halls is closed at the moment, but we had plenty to look at. And I’m definitely going back there first chance I get.

Life goes on

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We’ve got all kinds of activities and stuff planned for the next few weeks and we know that Rodney would have wanted us to keep going. So we are doing, starting with a trip to Leeds today. As is the way, I bought a new lens (although it wasn’t that expensive - honest). This one is an F 3.5 35-105mm zoom lens for my Pentax A which I’m presently using to take colour photos. Turns out it works a treat, as the picture above shows.

Fun with colour film

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Local Blossom

Took a colour film in to be processed today. I like doing this. It is a bit pricy I suppose, but it is my hobby, so there. And apparently you can spend an awful lot of money on golf clubs (not to mention course fees) - so there’s that. Anyhoo, they came out pretty well.

Just some trees

Hull University Wilberforce building artwork

University library looking good in the rain

These pictures are from scans that I got when the film was processed. I think they look pretty good, although the physical prints look even nicer. They aren’t particularly high resolution but I’ve found it pretty much impossible to make better ones with my own scanner.

Achievement Unlocked - Working Canon Dial 35

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The camera takes half frames across the film

My latest new (to me) camera arrived today. It’s my third Canon Dial 35. An it looks like third time really is a charm. The camera works quite well, although the clockwork winder does chug a little bit after a few frames. The light meter works perfectly for me - I just gave the terminals a bit of clean and off it went. The pictures are lovely and sharp.

The pictures are half the size of standard 35mm ones but this does mean I’ll get twice as many shots on each film.

And now I have to find a new obsession.

A working Canon Canonet

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This is becomming my test shot for new cameras…

I put a film into “Mr Sticky Shutter” today and took him to the University. He is one of my 20 cameras and he shows quite a bit of promise. His shutter is a bit sticky, but only at the slower speeds that I hardly ever use. But the good news is that he looks excellent and everything else, including the light meter, works fine. And, as you can see above, the lens is very sharp

Brickwork is very good for testing the detail that a lens can resolve

Not bad for a sixty year old camera

Hello from Lytham

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I’ve on more piers in the last two days than I have in the last ten years.

Today finds us in Lytham St. Annes. It’s only a couple of miles from Blackpool (you can use the tram to get from one to the other) but it feels like a different world. The huge and wonderful beach is front and centre, although there are still piers and of course arcade machines. We did some kite flying, dug holes and buried bits of each other and all the other things you’re supposed to do on the beach. We even got to watch someone get their car stuck in the sand. Happy days.

The tide does go out a heck of a long way….