Category Archives: Photography

Pentax Espio 120mi #pentax #35mm #film – Vintage film cameras

More and more people are turning to Charity Shops to buy goods. Other people’s castaways are somebody else’s ‘can use’. Not only can you purchase usable quality clothing, you can get (slightly) out of date technology – there is nothing wrong with something manufactured in the 1970s, 80s, or 90s. Like antiques and fine art, quality is quality.lisa_westward_hoThe photograph above was taken using a Pentax Espio 120mi, which I obtained from a charity shop for £1.50 and is point-and-shoot, mid-range, 35mm film camera. The Espio is an autofocus unit with automatic exposure settings and a built in flash unit.
old_boat_bideford

Design initiatives make this a small and flexible camera – notably the physical size and overall quality of finish make this camera a stylish baby. It houses a good quality zoom lens (38-120mm) with plenty of features that enable a variety of picture taking settings.

The focus and exposure system on this easy to use camera is an improvement on earlier Pentax compacts, giving sharp results and a decent contrast of tones. One of the most useful applications available on this model is ‘backlight compensation’ setting, which enables you to take a photograph using natural light in the background and flash in the foreground, giving an even tone across the image. Panorama mode is included in this little package which gives a different aspect ratio from most other cameras.

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Found somewhere to develop my 35mm film

With the demise of Jessops in Barnstaple I thought I was going to struggle to get my 35mm colour film processed – I found a place in South Molton so the panic is over.

Swingboats Woolacombe Beach by 35mm_photographs

The image above was taken with my trusty Pentax P30 35mm camera (no 3702885) using an out of date roll of Kodak Gold film (Kodak GT 800-4). There is something sad about motionless swingboats.

These are on Woolacombe Beach and I always look forward to them being re-erected after the long winter – their colours and painted swirls bring the promise of  hope to the desolate beach.

The winter population of Woolaconbe is very small (around 1,000), but during the summer large numbers of people come to the village for their holidays. Many are motivated to visit because of the excellent surfing conditions found locally.

Swingboats Woolacombe Beach, a photo by 35mm_photographs on Flickr.

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The Pentax P30, 35mm film camera  has a semi-automatic mode, which chooses most of the settings but allows for more creativity.

Pentax P30 has shutter speeds from 1/1000 of a second to 1 second. The automatic mode on this film camera chooses the best shutter speed and aperture setting for the natural light available.

In 1952 Asahi Optical introduced its first camera, the Asahiflex (the first Japanese SLR using 35mm film). The name “Pentax” was originally a registered trademark of the East German VEB Zeiss Ikon (from “Pentaprism” and “Contax”) but, as all Germans patents were annulled with the country’s defeat, the name “Pentax” was taken by the Asahi Optical in 1957. Since then the company has been primarily known for its photographic products, distributed under the name “Asahi Pentax” (equipment was imported to the United States from the 1950s until the mid-1970s by Honeywell Corporation and branded “Honeywell Pentax”). The company was renamed Pentax Corporation in 2002. It was one of the world’s largest optical companies, producing still cameras, binoculars, spectacle lenses, and a variety of other optical instruments. In 2004 Pentax had about 6000 employees.

Swingboats Woolacombe Beach

Jessops Europe Limited

Jessops Europe Limited, trading as Jessops, is a British photographic retailing company. It was founded in Leicester in 1935 by Frank Jessop and traded under the name of The Jessop Group Limited. The business entered administration on 9 January 2013 and all Jessops retail stores ceased trading on 11 January 2013 until the British entrepreneur Peter Jones invested several million pounds into the company and formed Jessops Europe Limited.

Six stores opened on 28th March 2013. The re-launch at Oxford Street in London on 28th March 2013 received a huge amount of media interest & was attended by celebrities including actor James Corden.

The Nude

I have always loved the drawings of Degas. The way he portrayed women, sensually and simply is to be admired.

In the late 1880s,  Degas also developed a passion for photography and this new skill influenced the composition of his paintings. He photographed many of his friends, often by lamplight, as in his double portrait of Renoir and Mallarmê. Other photographs, depicting dancers and nudes, which were used as source material for some of Degas’s drawings and paintings.

Nude - Woman through glass

As the years passed, Degas became isolated, due in part to his belief that a painter could have no personal life. The Dreyfus Affair controversy brought his anti-Semitic leanings to the fore and he broke with all his Jewish friends. His argumentative nature was deplored by Renoir, who said of him: “What a creature he was, that Degas! All his friends had to leave him; I was one of the last to go, but even I couldn’t stay till the end.”

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Found 35mm film in camera – #Cuba 1999 – #rodeo

I found an old 35mm camera in the attic of our house – I bought a battery and rewound the film that was in it.

These images are of a Rodeo I went to in Cuba (1999) – the vaqueros pictured were the ones I had the privilege to ride up and across the hills around Viñales with (a small town and municipality in the north-central Pinar del Río Province of Cuba). These are the same people I drank rum with at 6 0?clock in the morning and the ones who carried me to my bed at 1 o’clock in the morning.

This arena was part of a complex (by a lake) where Castro’s stallions were kept and a cock fighting ring was situated – surrounded by small pens where the finest Mexican fighting cocks were pampered and preened. The entrance to the whole complex was maned by well armed guards.

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Paignton Pier – Pentax Espio 120mi

Paignton Beach - Pentax Espio 120mi

I recently went down to Paignton in South Devon to see me my old mate Garry – we had a splendid day drinking at a Beer Festival and managed to take some decent photographs of Paignton Pier with an old Pentax Espio 120mi. This is point-and-shoot, mid-range, 35mm film camera. The Espio is an autofocus unit with automatic exposure settings and a built in flash unit.

One of the most useful applications available on this model is ‘backlight compensation’ setting, which enables you to take a photograph using natural light in the background and flash in the foreground, giving an even tone across the image. Panorama mode is included in this little package which gives a different aspect ratio from most other cameras.

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