Greenwood House

On the way home from my camera repair place in Glenview about a week ago, I spotted this house along Greenwood Road. It looked like it'd been abandoned for at least a few years, because there was a note taped to the window that said "KEEP OUT! WE CALL POLICE -2011." The house is along a busy street, and it was the middle of the day, so I didn't risk going inside. Here are a few exterior shots I got of the house. I used my Exakta VX with a new 50mm f2 Zeiss Pancolar lens that I picked up from the October camera show. I believe I used a roll of expired Ilford HP5+.

My Exakta with the Pancolar lens.

I found the 50mm Pancolar lens to be not quite as sharp as the 58mm Biotar that I usually use with the Exakta. However, it does have an automatic aperture diaphragm, as opposed to the Biotar's semi-auto diaphragm, which makes the Pancolar a bit more practical in use. There's a bit of fungus in this particular Pancolar, so I might get it cleaned and try it out once more. Thanks for looking!

Extra Frames: Trailer Park

Here are more shots from my trailer park roll; the ones that did not get printed. All were taken on my Exakta VX with a 58mm Biotar. Enjoy!

I plan on going back to this trailer park someday, and perhaps visiting new ones! Thanks for looking. :)

Spotlight: Leica M3

A couple weeks ago, I went with my friend, David, to a camera show/sale. Beforehand, I had decided that I was going to buy a Leica if I found one for the right price. And I did. I bought my Leica M3 with a 50mm 1:2 collapsible lens for around $750, which is a good deal, since the body alone usually sells for a little over a grand online.

The M3 is the definition of build quality. There's not a flake of plastic to be found on this beautiful all metal beast. Though it's not a large camera, it has a nice heft to it, and sitting in your hands, it just feels right. Like it was meant to be there all along. I remember I picked up my Olympus OM-2n after holding the M3, and it just felt... well, cheap.

So how does this beautiful camera perform? Well, that's to be determined. I've put two rolls through my M3 so far, and neither roll turned out too great. Whenever I used apertures wider than about f8, the right side of the frame would be out of focus, while the left side would be nice and sharp.
I took a close look at my lens after developing my second roll, and discovered that the lens barrel (when extended) is crooked! GAH! So now, unfortunately,  I have to buy a new lens for the M3, because I don't think this one can be fixed. I think I'll make it a Christmas present to myself once I have a little more spare dough. So until then, sadly enough, I'm gonna stick this guy on the shelf. :(

Here are some shots from the two rolls I have put through my M3; one is fuji color 200, and the other is Tri-X black and white 400.

Service truck behind a local gas station

Triple Exposure of three different windows

The Office (Part 2). Notice the difference in focus on the left vs. the right side of the table.

Truck Butt (Part 2)

Town & Country

Ace Hardware

Government Building

Condemned House

Thanks for looking! I'll make a new M3 post once I get a new lens. Bye!

Print: Neighborhood

Here is my final darkroom print from my trip to the Northfield trailer park. This kid's toy was flipped over in an empty trailer lot. I used an aperture of f2.8 to somewhat isolate the subject from the background, but not enough so that you can't tell it's in a trailer park. The clouds even showed up without me using a yellow filter! I left the composition un-cropped for this print, and even showed a little bit of the sprocket holes for sex appeal. Once again, I used my Exakta VX with a 58mm lens on Ilford HP5+ film. The original print is roughly 7x10 inches.

Thanks for looking!