Category Archives: Photography

Some Film to Digital shots

A while ago I blogged about my new hobby, collecting vintage cameras then cleaning and fixing them, then taking pictures with them and converting them to digital with a negative scanner. I mostly have been shooting “test rolls” where I test for:  light leaks, exposure meter accuracy, focus, clarity etc… Here are a few shots I’ve taken so far.

Minolta Hi-Matic 7s, Rokkor 45mm 1:1.8 lens, Fujicolor 200 ASA, Epson V100 scanner. From the Japanese garden, Ashland Oregon. Test of exposure
Yashica Electro 35 GS, Color Yashinon DX 45mm 1:1.7 lens, Fujicolor 200 ASA, Epson V100 scanner. Old tea pot planter in garden, you can see the grain of the fire wood and the individual  leaves on the Rosemary. Close-up focus test
Yashica Electro 35 GS, Color Yashinon DX 45mm 1:1.7 lens, Fujicolor 200 ASA, Epson V100 scanner “Pinks” in backyard. Close-up focus test
Petri 7s, Petri 45mm 1:1.8 lens, Fujicolor 200 ASA, Epson V100 scanner. Yreka Western RR, Yreka Calif.
Petri 7s, Petri 45mm 1:1.8 lens, Fujicolor 200 ASA, Epson V100 scanner. Union Pacific at Castella Calif.
Voigtlander Vitoret, Color Lanthar 50mm 1:2.8 lens, Fujichrome 100, Epson V100 scanner. Lithia Park upper duck pond, Ashland Oregon, simple scale focus and shoot camera, no meter, I whetted my finger and stuck it in the air.

The hardest thing is subject matter. Sure it’s just a test roll but some subjects can test many variables at once, plus I have many images of the same thing..LOL On the cameras that are older and have no metering system I use a separate light meter or use the “sunny 16” rule.

New Hobby for me

Yashica Electro 35 GSN 1973
Yashica Electro 35 GSN 1973

I’ve recently acquired a new hobby, collecting vintage cameras, repairing them and taking pictures with them then burning the negatives into digital. It started when I was posting some pics on my Pinterest account/board. I saw someone had posted some pics of an old camera. I followed the link and did some reading up on the subject. Apparently there are many “pro’s” out there that believe the image results are equal if not better shooting film than digital, and there are certainly many things you can’t get away with shooting digital that you can with film, like better detail in a back-lit subjects.

Argus C44 1956. Made in USA
Argus C44 1956. Made in USA

I Updated my website with new pages about my collection and some fixes. Stop by and get nostalgic. there are some links to other sites about the subject. Also I explain how I fixed the above Yashica Electro 35 GSN, it was quite a task.

Weekend Getaway!

Cheryl and I had just about had enough of this heat and B.S. going on lately so we went to the coast for a little R&R. I made reservations on a Tuesday for the following Friday/Saturday nights and surprisingly got rooms. Later we learned that in Florence, there was a “Rods n Rhodies” car show thing going on down in Old Town and in Bandon they were having their Cranberry Festival that same weekend.

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An “added bonus”, since we knew nothing about the festivities in advance, so we kept our original agenda of relaxing and playing it by ear (sort of, I always have some plans in mind) We got started later than usual, Friday at noon after Cheryl got off work. We went straight through Reedsport in stead of stopping to make dinner at Mo’s in time. Besides, one of our favorite antique shops had closed and that would have been our only stop anyway.

We got to Florence around 3:30-4, got checked into our room and went down to” Old Town” along the river. We did our shopping before going to dinner at Mo’s, a twist for us, as we usually have a lunch at Mo’s, then shopping. As usual, there were a few new shops and a few missing shops.

Here are some pics of the Old Town area:

 

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We did some antiquing the next day before leaving Florence, then on our way to Bandon we stopped at Winchester Bay so I could pick up some smoked salmon. I couldn’t resist so I got a crab cocktail while there, OMG! It was the best crab cocktail I’ve ever had and I consider myself quite the crab critique…

 

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Just next door to Winchester Bay is the Umpqua River Lighthouse and USCG barracks with the old USCG admin building, now a museum…

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In Bandon we walked around the Cranberry Festival and shops till we dropped. Later we went to the Coquille River Lighthouse as the Sun was setting and to Face Rock to watch the Sun sink into the ocean.

 

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The last day, on our way home we stopped at Misty Meadows and got more food souvenirs and we stopped at the West Coast Game Park Safari to see the baby Tiger and Leopard. Billed as the nations largest petting zoo, there are lots of deer and goats and other critters roaming freely about the park.

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If you like, I have all the pics from our weekend HERE at 

Day Trip to Dunsmuir

I took what I call my “Last day trip to Dunsmuir for a while” on Wednesday (10/6/10) meaning, I start my new job at Schwan’s on Monday and it’s going to be a while before I have any time off to do such things. Even though I only saw one train that day, it was a very satisfying and relaxing day. Rewarding as well as I found two new things I have never seen before along the old Siskiyou Line in Northern Cal. and got to chat with an online acquaintance at what was a chance meeting at a remote area along the line.

The night before my trip, I emailed a fellow, Robert “Photobob” Morris saying I was going to be in Dunsmuir area and hoped to run into him. Well the next day as I was driving through Grenada, CA, a very small very old farm town along the Siskiyou line, I noticed a strange looking old Line-shack I had never noticed before. There was a road leading right up to it. It was an old but still usable “in-Motion” track weight scale used for the farmers grain cars.

As I was checking it out, up pulls Robert and his wife to take some pictures as well. Small world… We were both surprised that, after many many years, and being in a small town with high unemployment and basically nothing for the local kids to do it was in such pristine shape. There wasn’t a single bit of graffiti or vandalism, there was expensive but primitive electrical equipment inside behind unlocked doors. I have some pictures at my Picasa site. The first few are of the scale, shack and the old Southern Pacific concrete line shack.

There are a few images of my other discovery that day. An old section of road with a cool old trestle going over it. Thought it would be a good future photo-op location if trains ever return to that section of track again.

“Pottsville” 2010

This last Fathers day, Sunday June 20, we went to “Pottsville” in Merlin, OR. to the annual antique tractor show and flea market / swap meet. There were the usual large but manageable crowds, tractor people seem to be some of the nicest around, hot dog and burger stands, other various food, vendors selling home crafted items. There were these huge steam behemoths rolling around, and the regular old diesel tractors, all were either in the “parade” or parked in rows for viewing. Also there were antique small engines, the kind used for pumping water or some other small job.

Cheryl didn’t find anything at the flea market but I found an old mason jar I’m going to use to make a bird feeder. Here are the few pics I took.

Short trip to Florence, Or

The weather was perfect for our little one nighter to Florence this last weekend. I had been looking forward especially, for a visit to Mo’s for some fish and chips and chowder. There is a new ramp down to the dock that runs in front of Mo’s so I had a chance to get some shots I hadn’t before. I also got some cool shots from under the 101 bridge.

Check out the latest photos here

CORP tests new GP-20D units on “Hill”

On Friday 04/30/10 Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad tested it’s newest engines in a run from Weed, CA to Medford, OR over the Siskiyou Line, pulling 9 bulkhead flat cars loaded with veneer and 7 Log cars full of logs bound for Riddle and Dillard, Or. mills. The test was to see if it’s new CEFX “GP-20D” engines would make an efficient run over the Hill that boasts some 3% plus grades, testing fuel economy, tractive effort etc… in hopes that service on the south end could economically be restored if the “numbers” looked right.

Service south was halted by CORP around April 15 2008 because it claimed it was loosing money going south of Ashland. Loads originating north of Ashland would be hauled north to Eugene then sent south from there on the Union Pacific. (Instead of originally going south over the Siskiyou Summit to Black Butte to join the UP there.)

A big battle ensued between CORP and shippers, mainly veneer and log mills in Yreka,  and  by the Yreka Western RR. who services the mills, then exchange them with CORP in Montague, CA.

Originally, CORP would take a train of cars originating in the Rogue Valley to Hornbrook, CA, a midway point on the south end, drop that load off and pick up the loaded Log cars, Veneer and an occasional wood chip car and bring them north to awaiting plywood mills etc…  Another set of engines would resume taking the cars from the Rogue Valley south to Black Butte Junction, The shippers felt CORP was asking way too much money to take their loads North, plus reduced shipping days. The logs and veneer have been coming north on trucks ever since.

1 & 2- leaving Weed ~ “old and new” passing old Edgewood Store

Mt Shasta in background ~ passing siding at Gazelle ~ past old tractor Grenada

old tank car ~ fuel tank ~ old tressel

heat waves ~ old Montague station ~ Klamath River bridge

I you like, I have more pictures here

Chinese New year 2010~ Year of the Tiger

We made our 3rd annual trip to the Chinese New Year parade in Jacksonville, OR this last Feb. 13th. I have more history and links about the town here,  our first visit to the parade 2 years ago. Some of the same stuff but fun none the less.

The streets were lined on either side with spectators, not packed mind you, but for some reason several fellows felt the need to jump out in the street to take pictures with their “big” fancy cameras and block other people from getting anything but their backsides.

Here are this years shots

Old wooden Indian ~ Famous Jacksonville Tavern

“Peter Britt” ~ Chinese Dragons from San Francisco

Dragons ~ Chinese orphan girl ~ schoolkids masks

I almost missed the long golden dragon thanks to the idiot standing in the middle of the street taking pictures. It was a beautiful morning, but we weren’t in the mood to fight the crowds after the parade so we went over the the museum and checked things out there.