Another camera bag?

Mrs Postman (my block served by this very nice auntie now) visited today .  It's not really a full camera bag but a padded insert for my camera gearI got this insert from Gmarket (now rebranded to Qoo10) .  This is the L or largest version.  If you are interested you can click here to buy it.

I would say its pretty expensive for a padded insert but the quality of the product is very good.  It's soft and the paddings are very flexible. Unlike those Made in China ones found on ebay which cost 2/3 of the price (for similar size) and those paddings are just hard like hell. If you bent one it will surely get stuck in that shape.  Unlike this one.  Very very good for my usage as most of my equipment varies in shape and sizes.

The other good thing about the insert is the outer fabric.  Its hard to explain but the material feels very good to touch and it's doubled layer with some form of water resistant coating.  Not as hard or plasticky then those China ones.  One bad thing is that it does not have a top padding like those found on ebays. But as shown on the picture, the outer fabric extends and serves as a top.  Just need to pull the strings on the side and it will enclosed nicely.  No zippers and I actually prefer it to be this way as I could access my stuff more faster and easier.

Initially I thought the bag would be bigger and I was a bit concerned if it could fit all my MF gear in it.  The main reason I bought this insert is that I planned to convert my Brompton T bag to a camera bag.  Yes, I do plan to use this setup do cycle around Singapore and take some photos. :P

The insert fits nicely into the T bag and it still have room for other thingies.  I am pleased.  Now, it's just wait to have some free time to go out, cycle and shoot... :)

The "little" beast

Another project I had in mind was to do with my "beast".  I enjoy shooting with it but the bulk and weight of carrying it around really bothers me.  Its actually not as heavy as my old Hassy but the huge rectangular shape of the camera means I could only use 2 of my current larger camera bags that could hold it whenever I go out and shoot.  Its a pain the arse to carry such large camera bags at certain location.  

I could remove the lens and 120 film back and pack them seperately but this means whenever I reach a location.  I need to unpack it and hang it on my neck for the rest of the day until the shoot it over.    If I need to move to another location, I need to pack it again.  Which is slow and tedious.  I can't just throw the whole damn thing into my bag and move on.

Even my Lowepro backpack can't fit the camera with lens and back properly.  It's really fustrating.  I read about converting the camera to a light weight flat top version over here and I decided to operate on my spare Super 23 body.

The reasons I chose the 23 over the Universal is 2 fold.  Firstly,  I could only shoot film on it and I tend to use the camera more like a view camera rather than a Rangefinger.  Secondly, it has a bellow which I find it to be more useful in shooting as a view camera.  I would have more control over the perspective I want to shoot.

The mod was quite simple yet destructive.  I unscrewed the top and removed the RF unit block.  It has only 3 screws holding onto it.  I then removed most of the levers and parts left and then here the tough part.  The front metal frame holding the glasses for the RF window.  The glasses were actually glued to the frame so I use som flat tip screwdirvers and tore them off.  I kept the RF block and the various screws, springs and levers as spare parts for my Universal.  I then send the camera to a local metal workshop and asked the guy to cut off the top part of the camera for 20 baht (I gave him 50 baht after the did a fantastic job of filing off the sharp corners.  

I then took some modelling epoxy clay and filled out the holes on the top to prevent light leaks.  Then I just painted over the exposed metal with black paint from my leftover model paints.  Viola!  A much smaller, squarer and lighter "Beast".  

Comestically, the top part still looks a bit wierd.  Maybe later I will look for a piece of aluminium to cover it up but at the moment, it sure is a lot neater to pack in my bag.  I could even fit it in my Thinktank 35 Urban Disguise!

Lastly, I took 2 old cheap and underutilzed Chinese lens plate (markins compatible) and screwed them on the side and bottom, Making it convinient for me to attach it to my tripod.   This modified 23 will surely be deployed very often soon :)

Pentax Espio 160

My mum passed me this camera when we moved to the new place.  It actually belongs to my late father whom used it for their travels.  

No issues with the camera, initially I thought there might be fungus or hazing in the elements but on closer inspection, it was fine.  

I actually took it out recently while I was back in Singapore and shot a roll of Tmax with it.  You can see the results over here in my FB album. Surprisingly good results.  No exposure failure although it was totally automatic in metering.   There were however, some shots with focusing errors as there is no way you can really know if you're focusing on the correct subject in the small viewfinder.

The zoom is crazy... 38mm to 160mm... Not too sure about the max aperture though.  I guess its a slow f6.3 or more at the tele end.  The built in flash automatically pops out when you power on it.  There is a dial to turn off the flash or set it to red eye.  Very basic stuff.  The best though is that it has a bulb mode!  Quite wierd to see such automatic cameras to have a bulb mode.... 

Overall, its actually quite fun to shoot with it.  I spend a whole month in April shooting with it and managed to finish the roll and brought it back to Thailand to develop and scan the negatives myself.  Its now back in my dry cabinet and it might see some action some other time.    This is the first project I mentioned about in my previous blog.  Developing and scanning the results of this little camera.  More to come later.

The "Mini-Gun" Mamiya 250mm f/5

 I bought the rare 250mm f/5 from e(vil)-bay while I was in Singapore and I have brought it back to Thailand for some closeup portraits.  Its a hell of a lens.  All metal and glass.  Not much plastic (only the levers or the aperture ring seems to be plastic).

I posted this snapshot of the lens as a scale on facebook and I loved one of my friend's comment.  He said it looked like the mini-gun from the worms game.  I agree with him so I decided to nickname it the "Mini-Gun".

I tested the lens in SG with a roll of film.  Its ok except the last 2 shots went missing.  Double checked and realised it has a bit of oily aperture :S.  Which means the shutter may not be functioning correctly.  I need to send it for a good CLA but due to time constraints, I decided to let it be for the while.  Since I don't think I will be using it that often.

However, today, I decided to shoot some instant photos with the mini-gun and surprsingly.  It handles pretty well and surprisingly my hit rate was pretty good even with such shallow DOF and slow shutter.  Heavy camera really has less camera shake? hehehe.

Here are 4 of the better ones..

 

There are a few more but I'm just too tired to scan and post them now.  But I have to say the bokeh and sharpness of this lens is quite lengenary as mentioned in other photographic forums.  Contrast and colours are good too.  The only bad thing (optically) besides the weight is that it slightly vignettes on the Instant photos.  I dun really mind though as I guess I would use it mainly for portraits for instant photos so that is not really a big issue to me :) .  Its still surprising cheap in the ebay market (less than $800 SGD) so its really really a bargain to get such a good glass with such a price tag.  But I guess my muscle of my arms will get bigger if I used it more often.  hehe 

Another favourite - SOLD -

I did a crazy thing yesterday. I saw a minty 250mm f/5 Press lens at an incredible price and condition which I could not get my eyes off in E(vil)-bay.  

Since I do not have a day job at the moment, I do not have the luxuries to buy it on the spot.  You may asked "Didn't you sell off your Hassy for 2k?"  Well that money is actually used to pay off the credit card bills that I incurred from purchasing the Press Camera.  And actually I spent another $500 on another Super 23 with lens and back :P  So the 2k already down the drain liao.  Not to mention I restocked a lot of 120 film for my new camera.

 As I was venting my fustration in facebook.  Some RF photog friends gave me an idea.  Sell off my Hexar!  Its a great RF I got just about a year ago.  I think less than 10 rolls were passed through it only and I actually re-calibrated the RF patch myself.  Its a great camera and actually I used it more often then my Bessa R3M.  Actually, I totally stopped using my R3 after I got the Hexar.  Its that good.  

But I don't really need 2 RF bodies at the moment.  I'm shooting MF more often in Thailand and with my NEX 3.  The only time I find I'm using the Hexar was in Singapore, where I do street photography in an urban environment.  I also really need to downsize as all the lenses and gears I have that are mostly in my dry cabinet.  The Press cameras are huge.(and so are the lenses).. :P So I made the hard decision, sell the Hexar away and get the rare 250mm.  Anyway, I still have a Bessa if I need to shoot RF style.