Life as 35mm
Sporadic Shots
Tag Archives: Rangefinder
Canon Canonet 28 – Mahogany Veneer
Surprise, surprise.
I decided to veneer my first rangefinder, my Canon Canonet 28 which I featured yesterday with a roll of film, and I took a different turn with it this time. I went with a dark stain this time instead of a clear coat, that highlights the natural colors, and I think it worked really well. I also took a couple photos of it with the other cameras I have veneer and I think you can tell a striking difference in the quality of my work since my first one compared to the Canonet.
I’ve been thinking about starting to sell these on the side or even possibly start a Kickstarter Campaign to get a headstart. Comment if you’ve had any success with Kickstarter or would be interested in getting one.
The dark stain just looks so luxurious.
Light Leaks Galore – Roll 3
Finally finished shooting my first roll off of my Canonet 28 but I didn’t really check to see the condition of the light seals before I shot it all. So with that having been said a lot of them didn’t come out at all or had some pretty bad light leaks. But I don’t mind, I think it adds some character to them and it just gives me another camera restoration project.
Ricoh 500G – Custom Veneer #2!
I really enjoyed converting the Minolta Rangefinder from a leather to wood veneer cover so I decided to buy another cheap rangefinder and give it another go.
This week’s custom camera is a Ricoh 500G produced in the early 1970’s with a f2.8 Rikenon lens and even has an 8 second self-timer. You can find these fairly easily for under $20’s, not counting shipping if you’re going to buy it from eBay or something like that. Only two photos but when I put a battery in it I’ll be sure to show some photos I’ve taken with it.
It’s a solidly built camera with a metal body and according to a lot of the reviews I have read, it takes really sharp photos so I’m really excited to use it. It’s got a great feel when it’s in my hands.
Film Camera gets a Makeover
Remember that Minolta Hi-Matic F I posted the other week?
Well, it doesn’t really look like that anymore.
If you’ve never heard of the company Ilott I highly suggest you check out that guy’s work. He refurbishes old film cameras and gives them new life with a new wood veneer cover instead of the faux-leather that’s on most old film cameras. If you’ve ever worked with veneer you should not it’s really not that hard to work with, and this guy refurbishes $30 cameras, services them, and put’s a veneer on them and charges $2000 for his work, even though it is magnificent, I wouldn’t say it’s worth all that.
So I decided I’d give it a little trial run on that Minolta I have and I think my results are pretty darn good for my first try.
I’d love to hear everyone’s comments and I’d really like to do a few more of these or maybe some custom orders once I get the hang of it.
Thanks again,
John Kirby
Thrift Shoppin’ – Minolta Hi-Matic F Rangefinder
Hello again,
Got lucky today. Whenever I get bored I’ll hit up the local thrift stores to see if I can find some cool clothes or whatever. In the back of one they had an old Minolta Rangefinder, a Hi-Matic F to be more exact. For the cheap price of $8 I gladly bought it. It’s in working condition but I need to get a new battery since you can’t really use mercury batteries anymore so I’ve got that on order.
The camera is real cool and has a really solid feel to it. It has a 38mm f2.7 Rokkor Lens so I’m pretty eager to use it. It’ll be a little easier to carry around when compared to the AE-1 and I’ve got a Canonet 28 that should come in the mail this week so it’ll be cool to see how they compare in photo quality and build.
Here’s some photos and whenever I get a battery in it I’ll be sure to post some photos taken by it:
Introduction
Hey Guys,
Little introduction here. So I’m John Kirby and I’m gonna be a sophomore at the University of South Carolina this year. Photography is something I’ve always been really interested in and I’ve had a Canon DSLR for a couple of years now. I recently just returned from studying abroad in Iceland and it really reignited my passion of photography after I had fallen away from it for well over a year now.
Like most teenage photographers with a nice DSLR I took a million photos, powering off shots at almost everything. But behind these photos there’s no meaning. They’re just photos with no contemplation or reason, only taken because I had a few gigs left on my memory card. In effort to get away from this I decided to invest in a couple of vintage film cameras.
After doing some research I ended up purchasing a Canon AE-1 SLR with an extra lenses and Canon Canonet 28 Rangefinder both for under a $100 and they should come in the mail this week or the next. I’m most excited to actually take time to compose my photos and get something that I’m going to be proud of once developed. This Tuesday my girlfriend and I are going camping in the Linville Gorge and I should have the AE-1 so it’s gonna be an awesome opportunity to get some great first photos with it.
With this blog I hope to document my progress and express my views on film photography as a way to keep myself active in the art.
Thanks guys,
John K.
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