Intersections

Rear wheel and derailleur of my Mondia, taken with a Pentax ME 35mm SLR.

 One of the reasons I named this blog Spokes of a Wheel is because I find life sometimes is like a spoked bicycle wheel (or more precisely, the typical tangentially spoked wheel, using wire spokes, that cross...but that's not important right now) where parts of our lives intersect, sometimes in unexpected ways.  This post is about one such situation.

In the spring of 2022, my friend Phil's father died, and in the process of dealing with the usual pile of belongings we all leave behind, he came across some old film photography equipment that was his parents'.  He also had several film cameras and lenses of his own that he knew he would never use again, so knowing my penchant for collecting "old, rare things" (he also declared that I fall into that category, and I can't deny it), he contacted me to see if I might be interested in any or all of it.

 I'd actually been doing some film photography on and off over the last 20 years or so, despite primarily shooting digital now, so this was intriguing news.  We met up, both so he could hand off the gear and so we could spend some time taking nature photographs together.  It was a few days before I got a chance to really look at what he'd given me, but it was quite the haul!  I'll probably save the details for another post, but suffice to say it was a significant number of film SLR bodies and lenses, along with other miscellaneous accessories.

Now here's where we come to an intersection of sorts. Another friend and I had reconnected via Facebook some years ago, so I knew he was an avid photographer, and had a fondness for film.  Faced with a pile of cameras, and knowing that realistically I wasn't going to use them all, I reached out to see if he might be interested in any of them, or at least looking at them.  So we arranged to meet for lunch, the first time we'd seen each other since the early 80s.  We had a great time catching up, and my friend Dave was very happy to take the hand-off a few bits of camera gear.

Since then, I've gotten more excited about film photography again, and Dave has been a huge help with advice, and even some hands on time showing me how to process b&w film.  I had been shown many years ago, once by my dad, and again by a high school friend, but it was good to get a refresher from someone who does it all the time.  And as my film gear collection has grown, Dave and I now have a recurring (if sporadic) "show and tell lunch" routine started that is great fun.  

 Now, there's certainly the chance that he and I would have connected in person eventually, but it was the gift of Phil's camera gear that put the pieces in place.  The funny part is, while we all grew up in the same town, and went to the same high school, Phil and Dave don't know each other at all.  But this intersection of the three lives has been a really wonderful new part of my life these last couple of years.

 

So, what happened? Why no new pictures?

Well, this is kind of embarrassing. Shortly after buying my spiffy new Nikon... I dropped it and damaged the zoom lens. I was out on a bike ride with it in the handlebar bag of my touring bike, and stopped to take a picture of fall foliage. As I've done many times in the past, I kept one foot clipped into a pedal, and planted my other foot, before reaching for the camera. Somewhere in the process, the front wheel flopped to one side and the bike started to fall over, with me still clipped to the pedal. In the scramble that ensued, the camera slipped from my grasp and landed on the front edge of the lens. I checked it out afterwards, and the zoom no longer zoomed the full range, and the autofocus mechanism seemed wonky too. Sigh. At least it's likely to be covered by one of those extended warranties that covers damage from drops and such.

In the meantime though, since the camera body itself escaped damage, I decided to buy an additional lens, so I can continue to use it and learn about it, while the kit lens is in the shop. With so many options, and limited funds, I was in a quandary... so I turned to the internet and found no shortage of advice on such things. One really good site for solid advice is Ken Rockwell's website, which gives all kinds of tips on buying and using camera gear. From Ken and others, the impression I got was that a "prime" lens (fixed focal length, not a zoom) with a wide aperture would be a very handy thing to have. So I bought myself a Nikon 35mm f/1.8 lens, and I have to say I'm glad I did. Basically, the 35mm on my D3100 is the equivalent of the 50mm I used for years on my film SLR, a Pentax K1000, and I used that one lens for everything back when I used that camera regularly.

So how do I like it so far? I love it... it's a very nice, sharp lens, and allows me to take pictures in lower light than a zoom would, with the wide aperture. Another plus about an f/1/8 lens is that it gives you a lot of opportunity to play with "depth of field"... so I can take photos where the foreground is very sharp but everything else is fuzzy, or vice versa. And with the various levels of control the camera itself gives me, I can do some fun things with it. Finally, it's a very light and compact lens, so if I was concerned about carrying the lightest bundle of camera gear with me (assuming using this D3100), I'd probably grab just the 35mm lens. While I'll admit a zoom is very handy, there's also something pure and simple about one focal length... it forces you to really think about composition and how to position yourself for a shot.

So despite my mishap, I'm still having fun with my new camera, and getting a better handle on how to use it with each time I shoot.

Some photos with the "prime" lens can be seen here:

Nikon D3100 35mm f/1.8 lens first shots

My First DSLR

Well, I took the plunge.  My girlfriend and I have both been contemplating the purchase of a digital single lens reflex camera for some time now, checking all the specs, reading the reviews, comparing prices. Well, this past weekend, we went to a local Penn Camera, and each looked at the two cameras we'd each narrowed our choices down to. I was thinking about the Nikon D3100 and Canon T3, both basic consumer level DSLRs with "kit" lenses of 18mm - 55mm focal length. Based on reviews and such, they seemed a pretty close match, and I've had several Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras that I've really liked, so I was initially leaning toward the T3. Honestly though, handling them both in person, it became clear to me that the Nikon was the better choice... it just felt better in my hands, and seemed more solid. Add to that the fact that both of my girlfriend's choices are Nikons, and the possibility that we might share lenses and such, and that tipped the scales for me.

So now I have it... a pretty spiffy new camera.  Sure, it's a basic model, a "consumer" model, and not a "professional" or even high end "amateur" camera... but it's got all the controls and features I can imagine needing right now, and it's a nice compact, lightweight package that I can easily imagine carrying around on walks or bike rides without feeling like I'm lugging around a huge piece of "camera equipment". I'm really looking forward to learning what it's capable of, and the things I can do with it. I've managed to get some really good shots with my point-and-shoot cameras, but the power and flexibility of a DSLR with interchangeable lenses and a through-the-lens viewfinder is definitely an exciting prospect.

Here's one of my first shots with it...

And a few more are here:

2011-10-18 D3100 First shots

Keep your eyes on the blog for more to come!