I've been writing about photography this morning and have also been reading a chapter on Paul Strand in one of my favourite books on photography, Why People Photograph by Robert Adams. Both activities encouraged me to grab a camera loaded with black and white film and walk to the woods which are only half a block from my home.
The camera I chose was a Nikon F2 with a 35mm lens. It's a SLR from the early 1970s and is arguably the best Nikon ever made. I've used it and two other Nikons for many years and will continue to use them. The F2 has a centre-weighted, match-needle, light meter which allows me to control exposure. The camera has a depth of field preview button and each lens has a depth of field scale. I use these to determine depth of field and to maximize it in some images and minimize it in others.
High quality vintage film SLRs – Nikons, Canons, Minoltas etc. – are available at very low prices, due to the proliferation of digital cameras. Buy one or three and a couple of lenses for each. They don't make them anymore.
I exposed perhaps half of the 36 exposure film and enjoyed the sunshine and the crisp early winter day. I'll process the film when the snow flies – which could be this week or next month.
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