colin's intertube

Have a look at what showed up on my doorstep the other day:

This would be an 8x10 Eastman View Camera No. 2-D, better known these days as a Kodak 2D. Fully extended, it is almost as tall as my son. It looks a little rough, but it's in usable shape as it is. Well, it was before I dropped the spring back and shattered the ground glass...oops! I do have a replacement on the way, which should arrive early next week. The camera itself might be the least expensive part of shooting 8x10. Used film holders, I've found, run at least $50 each (compared to $5-10 for 4x5), and 8x10 color film starts at $10/sheet. Lenses are bigger and more expensive, especially if you want a shutter.

These costs have been the only thing stopping me from jumping into the 8x10 game, but $200 for a complete camera was too good to pass up. And I think it can be done inexpensively. My biggest large format lens is a 210mm Schneider Symmar-S (rebranded as a Calumet Caltar), which comes about a centimeter short of covering an 8x10 frame. That's fine, for now. I'd like to get a 300mm before long, but I'll try to be patient. For film, a 50-sheet box of Freestyle-branded Fomapan is just over $100, which isn't bad considering that it will probably last me a few years. Again, keep my eyes open for bargains.

As I said, its usable now, and I'm very excited to use it. I do want to clean it up a bit, inspired by how nice this guy's 2D looks. Don't know what the extent of my restoration will be, but I'll try to document the process. To be continued...

Possible NEX-7. Perfect. I'm no longer interested in a Leica M8.

In other news, I picked up another batch of gear that I'm still sifting through. A large-ish lot found on Craigslist, including:

* three Nikon F bodies (two working well, one more seems to be firing at only one speed)
* Nikon FM2, winder stuck, but I think I can fix it
* Nikon lenses: AI converted 20/3.5, 28/2.8 (doesn't focus, probably fixable) and 50/2, and AI-S Micro 55/2.8 (focus stiff, getting better with use)
* 4x5 Crown Graphic w/ 135mm Schneider Xenar, rangefinder is touchy but otherwise fine, 10 film holders
* A bunch of enlarger lenses and negative carriers, which I haven't used yet due to my darkroom being a mess

Then, I picked up a Voigtlander Bessa RF 6x9 rangefinder at an antique store. It's in very good shape cosmetically, aside from a missing focus scale (not terribly important, as it has a rangefinder). The rangefinder's vertical alignment is off (the easiest fix on any rangefinder) and it doesn't quite reach infinity focus (usually the next-easiest fix). My test rolls so far show that it does focus very accurately, even wide open. One from my first roll, Kodak TMX:

It definitely gets a lot of comments, which is kind of fun. Unless you're trying to be stealthy, of course.

My running has been a bit frustrating lately - I've been experiencing shin splints for pretty much the first time ever, and probably as a result, just haven't been able to get my speed up to where I'd like it to be. Today (note: I did not finish typing this up when it was still "today", so that should be a few days ago), I did some additional stretches to deal with this, and I just now finished a 3 mile run in under 23 minutes for the first time this year! In fact, I wasn't far off from breaking 22.

Real today update: I haven't run in a few days. At work late on Friday, out on a camping trip Saturday and Sunday. I was not present to say "not it" for working Memorial Day, so I'll be in the office tomorrow. I'll probably go running at lunch, hopefully it won't be as ridiculously windy as it was last time.

I've kind of re-done the "photos" page on this site. Instead of a being a mess of a bunch of random vacation shots, I'm going to try to make it into a collection of my favorite photos. I wouldn't call it a portfolio - just a bunch of stuff that I'm happy with. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted most of my medium format film scans over the last couple years, so I'm going to have to go back and re-do all that. On the positive side, my scanning technique has probably improved.

Oh yeah! The reason I wasn't present to say "not it" - I was at home getting my roof replaced, almost completely covered by insurance. I'd say that's worthwhile. The new shingles even match the rest of the house, imagine that!

As stated above, I went camping last night at Point Beach State Forest, north of Manitowoc/Two Rivers. I really enjoy this place. Sites are very wooded and secluded from each other, and the huge beach along Lake Michigan is a fun place to hike. Weather was great, if a little cool - high 50s and low 60s all day and night. It was supposed to rain, but it didn't. Success!

I've been trying very hard to trim down my camera collection, but I still have much to do. This weekend, I had with me my Technika V, Yashica-Mat TLR, Fuji GS645S, Leica M5, Sony NEX-3, and my two 35mm P&S - a Leica Minilux and a Yashica T4. Ideally, I'd like to get down to one camera per format - when I'm carrying two medium format cameras with me everywhere, I'd say its getting a little ridiculous. Here's my dream collection:

Digital: Leica M8
35mm: Leica M5
Medium Format: Rolleiflex Planar 2.8 (or Mamiya 6)
Large Format: Linhof Technika V

I'll probably keep a 35mm P&S around too, and my Minilux is damn near perfection in that category. I see my T4 and GS645S going up for sale soon to help fund an M8 purchase, with my Nikon D70 and NEX-3 to be sold once I get closer to having the money. I know that the M8's sensor is a little dated, but I can't see myself needing more than ISO 320 that often, if ever. I never go above 400 on my NEX, and that sensor is perfectly capable of more. A Rollei with a 80/2.8 Planar would be lovely to have, but I don't know - medium format just doesn't excite me as much these days. If I want the highest quality shots, I'll just lug the Technika around. If I want more shots, I feel like 35mm and digital will deliver more keepers. Meh. The Yashica-Mat is nice enough, even if the lens is a little (ok fine, a lot) prone to flare.

This is Barry Zito. He plays baseball. He attempted to become a musician once. This was his song. I think he would rather you didn't listen.

Audio: 

Download:

zito.mp3

For whatever reason, I've always been able to let myself get badly out of shape, but get myself back to normal rather quickly. This typically coincides with the transition from fall to winter, and then from winter to spring. I started running again about a week and a half ago, and while I'm nowhere near as fast as I could be, the excess weight I had put on over the winter is already gone. Not that I worry much about these things, but it's still a nice feeling.

In the past, I've attempted to track this without much luck. I had decent enough apps installed on my previous two phones (Windows Mobile and Palm), however the unreliable GPS radios in those devices made it very difficult to get accurate data. My current phone, the LG Optimus, has been behaving quite a bit better. I installed the free MyTracks app, and have been using it to record my paths and upload to Google Docs and Maps. If you're curious, the spreadsheet lives here.

I have a few set routes, which can be good and bad - good, in that familiarity tends to make time go by more quickly, and also that I'm able to more accurately compare each run with the same hills, similar conditions, etc; bad, in that seeing the same things tends to get boring. (That sounds...off. Ah well, it makes sense to me.) Anyhow, it's been pretty inspiring to have stats like this. Seeing my times get better makes me want to improve them even further, and if they drop, I know that I need to work harder. I feel that tracking my progress will help to make sure I actually get out and run - I'll feel bad if I'm missing days in my spreadsheet*!

*You'll notice that I did skip a few days this week. Running 11 miles this past Sunday probably wasn't the best idea just yet. I took Monday off because I was sore and tired, and it stormed on Wednesday. Yay excuses!

I also signed up for the 5K Racing Sausage run around Miller Park. I did this two years ago and finished at around 29 minutes - it should be noted, however, that I was about 8 minutes late for the start of the race! Ran in the 5K in Waunakee last summer, finishing in a very "meh" 24 minutes. I hope to do several more this summer, maybe a few 10K or longer mixed in as well. I have no reason to believe that a sub-20 minute 5k shouldn't be doable. There, I said it!