Back in the hobby

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

I am just now getting back into the hobby since family/work obligations are allowing me a little breathing space again.

I started taking photos on occasion using my mother's Instamatic when I was about 6 years old. Later, I received a Keystone 110 film camera, and quickly pushed the edges of what that could do. My dad decided that I needed to get into SLR's, so he started me on his Spotmatic, which he had purchased new at the end of his time in the Peace Corps in the 1960's at some duty free shop on the way home.

At about age 12 my dad and I took a class together, with me on the Spotmatic and he using his Canon AE-1 Program. I continued with photography through high school and into college a bit, and then got busy working on my degrees. At both schools I had limited access to darkrooms, which I used on occasion. I like printing but I am kind of a bumbling fool when it comes to developing. I have a way of accidentally screwing up the chemistry.

Eventually, I ended up buying a ZX-50, and I found that I didn't like the optics quite as much, so I just recently picked up a cheap used Spotmatic and I have been getting back into this using a camera I actually like using.

I just a few days ago did my first experimentation with pinhole photography using a body cap with a calibrated hole in the middle of it. I will be picking up the results of that today and if anything is remotely interesting I will try to post it somewhere here.

I am interested in all sorts of things photographic. I have some antique cameras which I am considering trying out. There is a camera shop less than a mile from my house which will develop just about anything one might shoot, and they sell a lot of the different sizes of film, too.

I look forward to sharing ideas here and seeing what people are shooting.

Adam

 

[MissMia]

Welcome to TPF! Please post your photos too.

 

[Mitica100]

I am interested in all sorts of things photographic. I have some antique cameras which I am considering trying out. There is a camera shop less than a mile from my house which will develop just about anything one might shoot, and they sell a lot of the different sizes of film, too.

Welcome aboard, fellow photographer and collector!

 

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

Welcome aboard, fellow photographer and collector!

Thank you for the welcomes!

Hey, I forgot to mention in my initial post that I am instituting a new program wherein if I find other photographers using M42 screw-mount Takumar lenses on cameras that require some sort of adapter to use such a lens, that, if I want the lens, I get to buy it for a price that I get to quote and will not accept any refusal of the deal. That way, I can get *my* lenses at prices I can afford.

 

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

Welcome to TPF! Please post your photos too.

I tried to upload some tonight but I don't have enough privileges... or else I don't know what I am doing (this is more likely). I pressed the "Gallery" button and then tried to "Upload" and I got the following message:

"The Dread Pirate Robins, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

"Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation."

Suggestions and advice are welcome.

 

[Josh66]

I think you have to be a paying subscriber to upload to the gallery. You can upload to Photobucket, or some other hosting site and link to it.
If you put (IMG)your link here(/IMG) -but using the brackets [ ] instead of the parentheses ( ), it will show as a picture in your post.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Battou]

Welcome aboard, I also have (but do not use with too much frequency) a couple of M42 mount bodies. I love digging around the local antique shop for glass, I picked up a beautiful clean third party 200mm for $7 USD that way.

Welcome aboard and please feel free to share your collection base Here

 

[Doug]

Hello Adam and Welcome to the forum.

 

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

Thanks for all the welcomes!

A good chunk of my camera collection (the ones I am not regularly using) is a shared collection that I share with other family members. The next time I go to my folks' house I will make my case for removing the Brownie Box camera and one of the old Kodak bellows cameras so that I can try one or both out with some film.

I also have my great grandfathers old Kodak Pony something or other. It appears to have been bounced at some point before I inherited it, possibly by a live-in caretaker, and I am not sure I will be able to fix it, but I couldn't make it any worse.

I own a:
+ Pentax Spotmatic with 55mm/1.8 lens
soon I should have a 50 mm macro lens, too

+ I am in negotiations to purchase or barter for another Spotmatic from my sister, which will have the 50 mm/1.4 lens and a 135 mm lens

+ A Pentax Zx-50 with a 35-80 mm lens. I am trying to decide whether to keep it or sell it. On the one hand, the Spotmatic tends to have better optics available, but the ZX-50 is a little more versatile for doing quick shots and snaps.

+ Brownie Box that belonged to my grandmother.

+ Minolta Dimage Z1 that my other sister recently replaced. This has been great for quick snaps to send to my mother-in-law

+ Kodak Pony 135 or some such thing

I am strictly a hobbyist. I am fortunate to live so near a competent film camera shop.

 

[Battou]

+ Pentax Spotmatic with 55mm/1.8 lens
soon I should have a 50 mm macro lens, too

I've been looking at a 50mm macro for a wile my self, If you pick it up lemme know how it goes over.

 

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

Let's see if this works. I got a photobucket account and have started uploading whatever I can access from here (I'm not at home right now).

I am also a railfan (or "foamer") and I combine the photography with the train watching sometimes.

Note that this is NOT my best work. I cropped it a little and played with the levels, but keep in mind I shot it using an older 3.1 MP digital camera. It's what I had at hand when I saw this view.

 

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

Oooh, it worked!

Thanks all for your image uploading and posting help!

 

[The Dread Pirate Robins]

I've been looking at a 50mm macro for a wile my self, If you pick it up lemme know how it goes over.

I will. I have a line on one of the earlier ones. I will probably jump and get it soon and then see what I can get with it.

 

[christopher walrath]

As you wish. Welcome, Adam.