Tiny Size, Great Results!

I’m somewhat new to Rangefinders. Last year I did buy an old Argus Matchmatic but it was a tad heavy, complicated, and yielded somewhat mediocre results. However I’ve been aiming to put together a nice carry-around film photography kit and a classic compact rangefinder from the 70s seemed to fit my needs.

Initially I was thinking of going with the usual suspects, a Canonet or a Yashica Electro. But the tiny Oly 35RC caught my eye so I snagged one off eBay for $50… people are noticing the cost of these lower end cameras seem to be increasing substantially, I’d have to agree. This camera is worth it, though.

It arrived on Thursday and I plowed through a roll of Reala this morning and got CVS pharmacy to process the negs while I ate lunch. I’ve been scanning all afternoon (scanning color negs is a pain). BUT I’m finally done some of the test shots I liked and I have to say that I love this little jewel of a camera. Tiny and sharp, this camera along with my Yashica-Mat (I’m in the process of testing my new 124G as we speak) will make my on-the-go film kit a fun force to contend with.

These shots are kind of boring but I enjoy the fruit ones. Fruit poses nicely and stays perfectly still. These were all shot within an hour or two here in Irvine, California. Specifically at Strawberry Farms and the UCI Saturday Farmers Market. I still need to get used to the viewer in the camera, focusing with a rangefinder can be tricky because you have to align a little dot or square in the viewer AND adjust for parallax as well (I think I had trouble with this in the shot with the oranges and lemons). But, as you can see from the Mariachi Band shot, negative film has a great dynamic range; if that shot had been taken with a tiny digital camera hardly any of the background would’ve been visible.

I can’t wait to see what a roll of Tmax will produce. I ordered a lens cap and a yellow filter from Tripman.co.uk. Hopefully it’ll arrive soon.

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My aunt Nancy arrived in San Diego on Sunday for a conference during the week. Kelly and I met her and her friend and we did a little tour of San Diego. It was windy and quite cool, but luckily the rain had disappeared by the time they arrived.

I lugged along my Hasselblad and snapped a few frames. Honestly, it pains me to say this, but the Hassy can be a hassle. It’s big, it’s heavy, it’s conspicuous, I want to get more accessories for it but they’re ridiculously expensive (ie it requires a new tripod). I miss using the Twin Lens Reflex camera, it’s much lighter, compact, and I felt I could compose shots much better. Maybe I’m being wistful for my old Yashica-Mat. Maybe I’ve gone crazy.

I would consider selling the Hassy (or swap it for a Rolleiflex). Maybe get a new Yashi and pocket the difference. It would simplify my life further right now - I’m in the process of doing this along with my girlfriend. We traded in both of our cars for a shiny new Honda Fit.

And speaking of more compact things, I have an Olympus 35RC headed my way. I eagerly anticipate its arrival.

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I purchased a 35mm tank this past week and I dusted off the old Minolta SRT200 again. Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day - I’m conflicted about that because we need rain here in Southern California… but it was so gosh darn beautiful yesterday. The two locations I shot yesterday was the Zoo at Irvine Regional Park which I shot with T-Max 100. I really wanted to photograph goats. The second shoot was at the ruins of the Mission at San Juan Capistrano, an 18th century church that was ultimately destroyed by an earthquake in 1812. These were shot with Ilford SFX, a red-sensitive film. I couldn’t find an affordable true IR filter for the Minolta so I had to settle with a deep red one. So no jet black skies and eerily white foliage. You can really see the difference in grain with the two films big time. T-Max has no real discernible gain, but SFX has it in spades. Enjoy!

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