Photos by Calvin

I’m a College Graduate!

Well, sort of. I finished my last two finals of my undergraduate career today, but I won’t actually be walking until May. But whatever, I’m calling myself a graduate and that’s that!

I received my Canon AE-1 Program from BH today. I must say that I’m kinda disappointed…with BH, not the camera itself. I called BH prior to placing my order specifically to ask if this particular AE-1 Program came with the action grip. The gentleman I spoke with confirmed that it did. And today I received it grip-less. Not to mention it came with a Nikon lens cap! Blasphemy! Not a big deal, but something I thought they should have mentioned (whether on their website or to me on the phone).

Needless to say, I’m going to return it. The A-1 is the better camera, anyway. Especially at the price I got it for. If you’re wondering why I got both, it’s because I wasn’t anticipating getting the A-1 when I purchased the AE-1 Program online. By the time I found the A-1 on Craigslist, the AE-1 Program was already shipped and on its way.

I’m finding that the best part about classic SLRs is…cheap lenses! I just picked up a Canon 28mm f/2.8 for $30 shipped on eBay. It arrives Monday. Can’t wait to use it.

The Film Obsession Continues

I picked up a Fujifilm Instax 50s from Japan a couple weeks back to compliment my Instax 210. The 50s is less than half the size of the 210, but can only produce pictures half the size. I was worried that would be too small at first, but it turns out they are perfect. The 50s will serve as my to-go body while the 210 will remain my stay-at-home-around-the-house body.

Not long after I was shopping at Urban Outfitters when Holga’s 135bc toy camera caught my attention. I’ve seen some people achieve interesting results with this, so I figured what the heck? The Holga does not have a meter and does not require batteries. As a result, it has a fixed aperture and shutter speed. Well, it does have an aperture switch that supposedly allows you to alternate between f/11 and f/13, but this switch has proven to be useless and the aperture remains constant. The only way you can adjust exposure is with film speed (unless you’re in bulb mode and doing a long exposure).I put my first roll through it and am disappointed, though. It has 4 focusing distances, none of which are marked with numerically. Instead, they are marked with stick figures. The manual does explain what each represents, but I don’t remember what they are. And because the viewfinder is independent of the lens, you can never really be sure that the subject is in focus. It’s just going to take practice and learning what each focusing distance is.

Because the Holga is so plasticy and slow, I began searching for a Lomo LC-A+. I was lucky enough to find one on Craigslist. The body is metal and the lens is glass – a huge step up over the Holga. It’s also a fixed lens, but at 32mm @ f/2.8. However, unlike the Holga, the Lomo has a built in meter and has variable shutter. I haven’t put a roll of film through it yet, but I have much higher hopes for it than I did for the Holga. Albeit, I am expecting poor to mediocre results for the first few rolls at best. It also has 4 focusing distances and a viewfinder that is independent of the lens. The Lomo, however, has the focusing distances labeled on the camera. I just have to practice estimating subject to camera distances and I’ll be good to go.

I’ve been looking for a clean AE-1 Program and thought I might have last week, but it turned out to be a dud. Luckily, the seller (whom I found on Craigslist) was nice enough to take it back. Maybe that was for the best as I was able to find a Canon A-1 in remarkable condition on Craigslist today. The body has maybe two very minor blemishes, but aside from them its condition is incredible considering its age. The gentleman I purchased it from included the standard 50mm f/1.8 FD lens, two sport grips, two battery doors, two batteries, and a fresh roll of film. I anxiously shot the 24 exposures when I got home and had them developed this evening. I must say, I’m quite impressed. The only errors were mine, not the A-1′s. Manual focusing isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but I’m still a tad slow at it. Overall, I’m very happy with this purchase.

Lastly, I wasn’t planning to buy this, but it was a deal too good to pass up. I found an Olympus Stylus Epic (mjii) For $26 shipped on eBay. I see them sell for $75+ normally. The film door does have a small crack, but it still appears to be light tight. Worst case scenario, I find a way to seal it. Aside from the crack, the body and lens are in pristine condition. This is the version that is sought after for its remarkably fast f/2.8 lens fixed at 35mm. I haven’t received it yet, but I am looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about first hand.

Side note(s): In less than 24 hours, I will be DONE with my undergraduate career! Short of graduation, of course. But no more classes. No more finals. At least until I get into graduate school. Oh, and I just checked the weather for San Francisco…it’s scheduled to rain ALL three days I am there!

Ready for San Francisco?

I think so.

Bought a round trip ticket to SF for next weekend as a mini graduation present to myself. Just finished my last undergraduate class this morning, but now I have three more finals…and I’m dunzo!

Back to Basics

I’ve been reevaluating my equipment and level as a photographer lately. I have all this wonderful equipment yet I don’t have, in my opinion, that many great or memorable photos to show for it. I can blame that on a number of reasons. I’ve been busy with finishing the last semester of my undergraduate degree. I’ve been stressed with graduate school applications. I’m too cautious to bring my cameras everywhere.

Well, whatever the reasons be, that’s all going to change. Film photography has really sparked my interest lately. For a number of reasons. The first being the purity of film photography. Once you’ve pressed the shutter button, that moment in time is captured and frozen forever. Or at least until you decide to throw the film or print away, assuming you choose to develop the film at all. But that’s not the point. My point is that erasing an image isn’t as simple as pressing the delete button on the back of your camera. Also, I don’t plan to process or develop my own film. I hope this will maintain the purity of the moment captured.

Secondly, I intend to use point and shoot film cameras, not SLRs. I think this will alleviate the technical and scientific aspects from photography. You can know everything there is about photography and your camera, but I guarantee I can press a single button (the shutter) faster than you can dial in the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, and finally take the picture. A lot of people will argue they can throw the camera in aperture or shutter priorities and that will cut down the time, but let’s face it. Why take chances? Once the moment passes, it’s gone. Candids can’t be reenacted!

Lastly, I just like the look that film offers. It’s as simple as that. Sure, you can take a digital photo and process it to mimic film photos by adding grain, saturation/desaturation, etc. That’s what I’ve been doing recently. But hey, if you’re after the nostalgic/retro film look, get a film camera. Easy as that.

You can choose to agree or disagree with me as much as you’d like. That’s fine. Different strokes for different folks.

In the mean time, here are a few of the first shots from my Fujifilm Instax 210.

That isn’t to say I don’t appreciate digital photography or that I’m going to toss my equipment away. They have their purpose. I’m going to reserve them for photo shoots, which I plan to do plenty of in ~6 weeks…AFTER I GRADUATE!!!

Sony HX5V

I finally decided to pick up a point and shoot after having only shot with DSLRs the last few years.

People always rely on my to bring my “big professional camera” to document adventures, outings, whatever. But I got tired of being the one behind the camera and never the one in the pictures.

Not to mention sometimes I just don’t want to lug around the DSLR. Like I said in an earlier post, the best camera is the camera you have with you.

I was debating between the Canon S-series (S90/S95) and G-series (G10/G11/G12), but ultimately decided I wanted a point and shoot…so I could point and shoot. The S and G families are great cameras for the serious photographer that needs full manual control at all times, but I wanted something basic. Something simple. Something I could…point and shoot.

I decided on the Sony HX5V for two reasons: 1) it’s a compact megazoom, meaning it has 10x optical zoom (digital zoom is crap) and 2) the sweeping panorama mode, which works surprisingly well.

^^^Stock photo

Retailing at $330 right now, it’s on sale for $299. But even that is more than I wanted to spend. Luckily B&H had a used one in 9+ condition (practically brand new) for $230 shipped. I was skeptical at first because I’ve never bought anything used online. I don’t mind buying second hand equipment, but I typically like to see it before committing to buying it. But I trust BH and went for it. And I’m glad I did.

It arrived promptly and well packaged. As far as I can tell, there are no cosmetic defects – just as BH described. I was, however, disappointed that it did not come in it’s original box – but no biggy. It also did not come with the original Sony battery, which I was irritated about at first. But then I realized this 3rd party battery is 1200mAh, versus the 900mAh Sony battery. This just means a longer battery life. Hey, who is going to complain about that?

Anyway, here’s a test shot (edited, obviously).

SUNday FUNday in Downtown

Given the load I’ve had this semester (last semester of college, studying for the GRE, applying to grad schools), this was a long needed night out with some good friends.

The security guard had to stop me from taking pictures of Horton Plaza because it’s private property. Like I’m going to copy the floorplan/layout? Hah. Horton is the most poorly designed mall. Ever.

I did manage to sneak these in, though.