The Camera Notes
Keeping notes is essential to the orderly mind and to the orderly collection.
I have never had a great memory
and it is getting worse as I age.
I developed the habit years
ago of keeping notebooks. I
have one for house repairs, a couple
for travel planning, and several for
subects of interest that I research. And so you can imagine that I have notebooks for my camera collecting. I page number them and at the end of each I create indicies for my camera notebooks to that point. That way I can go back to any subject I want to review.
When the spirit moves me to post in my blogs these books are the basis of those posts. I should post more often but that distracts me from my photography and collecting. There is just not time for everything. However I do hope you find these scratchings to be of interest.
The Camera Notes are strictly about the tecnichal aspects of cameras. If you are interested in my thoughts generally on art and photography then check out the Joy of Light on the top menu. Very little about cameras there: just photography.
Using the Industar 22
Industar 22 Collapsible We talked earlier about my cleaning my Russian Industar 22 Collapsible lens. That operation appeared successful but I was anxious to try it out. I was concerned that my repair worked and also what effect the obvious small scratches on the lens...
Cleaning the Industar-22
I recently acquired a Zorki 1b camera and it came with an Industar-22 50mm f/3.5 collapsible lens. This lens seemed to be in good to very good condition but the iris diaphragm was not working. There was no visible damage and so it was pretty sure to be solidified...
Replacing Light Seals
You may recall that I had a problem when I went out to shoot some film in one of my Pellix cameras. The light seals had deteriorated and turned to goo or had crumbled away and the film became fogged in the camera. This was a problem with the foam used by Canon in the...
Why am I Shooting Film?
The Canon EF is a lovely camera to shoot, although it is more work than a modern Digital SLR. All of the pictures on this post were taken with this camera pictured. It began as a desire to try out some of my old cameras and to revisit a world I left back in the...
A Walk with the Canon Pellix
Taking out my old cameras , like my Canon Pellix, for a photo walk has become a bit of a surprise. I thought I was just going to take a walk down memory lane and reconnect with my days of picture taking in the 50’s and 60’s. But it is fast becoming much more than...
A Camera Show in Portland
This past weekend my son-in-law Joe and I went down to Portland for a Camera Show. We have a lot of fun at these things. I like looking at the cameras and seeking out little treasures to take home. There is always something to buy. And Joe and I really enjoy the...
Photography with the Canon F-1
In keeping with my desire to shoot my old cameras I chose my F-1n, the modified version of the original F-1, as my next subject. This camera is not exactly collector grade, it’s a little beat up, but it appears to function well. Having used it in this little test I...
The 625 Mercury Cell
The Mercury Cell Problem The PX625 mercury cell was a great little battery. Its main feature was its ability to provide a steady stable voltage over its lifetime and then fail quickly when its life was over. This stability made it perfect for use in measuring...
Inside a TX
I love precision machinery of all kinds. And I love well made cameras. I will sit for hours holding, handling, playing with one of my cameras and derive real pleasure from that. (My wife thinks I'm nuts ....) That is why I talk so much about how a camera "feels" as...
Shooting the AE-1
My second outing with film happened on June 12th of this year. I chose a black AE-1 to try out with an FD 50mm f/1.8 lens, the standard workhorse of the FD lenses. This camera is a lot less automatic than the EOS A2 I reported on in my last post. For film I chose a...
