Delayed gratification

Forty years ago I was taking classes in the new industrial arts wing of my high school. In particular, I took classes in the electronics lab and the graphic arts lab.


They had a great darkroom set up with some nice enlargers.


The rich kids had SLR cameras. The very rich kids had Nikons.

I had an old Kodak 35mm that folded flat, the Retina IIc, circa 1949.

Here's a blog with some photos of a camera very similar to mine: http://aikoman.tistory.com/64

It had some very nice German optics, but the focus was pure guesswork. I got pretty good at using an external light meter.


But focus was always a problem and you could never do any of the depth-of-field tricks without an SLR. I coveted them.


Fast forward to 2010. When going through Ella's house I came across Garth's SLR camera, a Pentax MG. The MG picks the shutter speed for you and will only go manual at 1/100th or bulb. He had a couple of extra lenses.



28 to 80 mm lens.





80-200 mm lens.



This would have been a sweet set-up in 1970. Better late than never.


So I shot a roll and had it developed. It was great!

These weren't as close-up as I had hoped for a 200mm lens, but it was still great. And the resolution is excellent.

But I sure appreciate the advantages of digital photography. With film, the roll of film alone comes out to about 11 cents a picture. Then you've got the developing. Having the processor burn a CD is another $3.

It all adds up. And you can't print your own right out of the camera. And you can't touch up your shots before printing.

I looked into a digital body that uses the K mount lenses and it turns out they can't be used. Digital bodies link up to the lenses in a more sophisticated way.

But I've got the dream set-up I wanted in high school and it is fully operational. Maybe I'll use it for some portrait work.