Might as well make my own pic thread too! (56k warning maybe lol)

[skoebl]

Found an old (i.e. 1960) Honewell Pentax Spotmatic camera that my dad gave me....decided to try it out.

[Alphamazing]

I freakin' love that vintage look. Nice.

[roguegeek]

Love finding old cameras. This makes me want to break out my Holga.

[weaselnoze]

i'll buy that holga from ya for 2 bucks!

[Mandres]

how many mega-pixels is it?   

-M

[RVertigo]

FOCUS!!!

Try using a higher f-stop and a slower shutter speed (on a tri-pod).   

[skoebl]

FOCUS!!!

Try using a higher f-stop and a slower shutter speed (on a tri-pod).   

To be honest...I really like that type of picture (even if it is considered wrong by everyone lol)....I like only having small parts in focus like that....

My dad told me that I need to learn about "depth of field"...and that the camera I was using is very good at taking advantage of it...

Oh, btw...what's the f-stop (or, rather, how do I adjust it?)...I know how to change the shutter speed though.

[RVertigo]

f-stop is the dial that changes the size of the opening in the lens...  It should be a little dial on the lens.  Something like 1.7 2.8 etc etc

From another thread:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number

[skoebl]

Oh, ok....I was using setting that to whatever hte light conditions were 'cause my little on-board exposure meter doesn't work 

[RVertigo]

The light meter prolly has a dead battery...

Light meters are your friend!  You can get external ones too... 

[12thmonkey]

i like the drastic depth of field. Just make sure you learn what effects that (i.e. lens length and aperture). If your light meter is broken, and you're shooting outside like that, you can always use the sunny f-16 rule (it talks about it in that wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number#Sunny_16_rule). That's a good formula to learn. And then when you learn how equivalent exposures work, you can apply the rule to every other f-stop.

Have fun with that old camera. And yeah, i too wish i had a Holga. For how cheap they are, it's a shame i've never bought one. There's a couple Lomo "toy cameras" i've always wanted too.

[skoebl]

The light meter prolly has a dead battery...

Yeah...that's what I thought too...but I replaced it and it still doesn't work (yes, I got the right battery and put it in correctly  )

Btw..I went out and took some more pictures today while actually messing with the aperture and shutter speed and whatnot. I wrote down the settings so (hopefully) when they are developed I can reference the pic quality to what settings I used....

[aaronstj]

I love old cameras.  Holga's are awesome.  You don't have to worry much about shutter speed or appeture... 'cause you don't have any control!  Of course, it take about half a roll of electical tape before the thing is usable.  Another favorite of mine is the Argus C3.  The most produced 35mm camera of all time.  And of, course, everyone has to love the ubiquitous old 35mm SLRs (like your Sportmatic).  I have a hand-me-down Minolta XG-7 from my dad.

The newest addition to my collection is a neat thing I found at Archie McPhees (last night, actually), the Snap Cam Built it Yourself Camera.  I think they must have stopped making them and are liquidating the stock, since I got a case of 4 for $8.  I've only put one together so far.  Lots of tiny plastic pieces (including of course the lens), 6 screws, and four springs.  It's pretty neat, it has a film counter and everything.  No shutter speed or appeture controls, though.  We'll see how it shoots.

[TheGoodGuy]

your lens is dirty.. needs cleaning..otherwise good pics.

[skoebl]

your lens is dirty.. needs cleaning..otherwise good pics.

Haha, yeah, I noticed that. Which actually leads to a question...

For cleaning the lenses, do I use the same lint free chamois that you are supposed to use on yoru car and whatnot?

[TheGoodGuy]

i have specialized lens cleaning kits .. cost me about 20 bucks.. it came with lens paper, solutions (2 of them), the chamois cloth and a brush with blower.

You can get cheaper ones too.

One of the pictures looks like the lens is cracked or something.. or chipped..do you have a chip in your lens. Its possible that the thing isnt dirty on the outside lens, but one of the inner lenses.

[skoebl]

One of the pictures looks like the lens is cracked or something.. or chipped..do you have a chip in your lens. Its possible that the thing isnt dirty on the outside lens, but one of the inner lenses.

I hope not. None of the other pictures I took have any sort of signs of chipping or cracking (a lot of them have the smudge though  )

[skoebl]

I took a little panorama shot a few days back....Stitched it together in a half old-fashioned way....Scanned the photos into the computer...then just lined them up



Behold...in all its crappy glory!

[Kerry]

Great effort!

On future attempts, you might experiment with:

* Turning the camera on its side so you can get more vertical coverage with each exposure

and / or

* Taking

two rows of (overlapping!) shots with the camera in the "normal" position.[/list]

I have learned, by sad experience, that it's better to get more coverage than you think you'll need.  That way you can do some serious cropping after the shots are stitched together.

[yamahonkawazuki]

a reference to my prized possession ive got 3 of these        http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Franka-Rolfix-Jr-Folding-Camera-6x6-6x9-1_W0QQitemZ7622436501QQcategoryZ11717QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem