Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts

Friday, August 31, 2018

Vintage Cars Through a Vintage Lens

"I'm not dead yet!" this blog, probably.

I have been AWOL for longer than I had recalled. Dang, the last post was from late 2016. Much has happened since then. Spawn the Younger has since graduated from high school after much success in Cross Country and distance Track events. She and her team broke every one of the girl's distance records at their high school in her last season. We went through the long and drawn out recruiting process (which will be blogged to help other distance runner parents) and tomorrow she is running her first collegiate meet with the NCAA DI UMKC Kangaroos.
Not a car. This is 3/4 a a Kansas State championship 4x800 team. The bouncy one is now a Kangaroo.
Yes, the last few years have been a blur. The blog needs to be brought back among the living since Facebook is a dumpster fire, Twitter is a burning dumpster sharknado, Instagram is getting spammed by Facebook, and G+ appears to have little to no engagement on photos posted there. Seriously, I get tons of engagement by posting decent photos on Google maps location reviews, but not on one of the last non-trolly social media destinations.

That's the long way around to the topic of the day. Several years ago, I made the switch to mirrorless camera bodies and fell in love with Fujifilm products. Mirrorless bodies like the Fuji X-T2 can be fitted with most lenses made in the last 70-years with relatively cheap adapters. The photos in this entry are out-of-camera using a 1960s era Olympus PEN F 20mm f3.5 lens.


The subjects were in seen at the Kansas City Great American Car Show, hosted on the Liberty Memorial grounds. There were a few garage queens, but for the most part it featured enthusiast grade and daily driver vehicles. Just super chill and pleasant.


Why use a vintage lens? Well, I'm lazy when it comes to post-processing. I do some PP with Snapseed, but beyond that I am bored with spending all my time behind a screen. I enjoy the natural rendering of a lens that delivers a period look on demand.


The Olympus PEN F/FT system was built to shoot on a 1/2 standard 35mm film frame. Conveniently, that's about the same size as a cropped, digital sensor. In theory, the Fuji X-T2 is using the lens as it was intended.


The system has some truly amazing glass, including the 40mm f1.4 that I often take on light travel excursions. The 20mm is kind of a mess. But it's a good mess with vignetting and out-of-focus areas one expects from a certain era. It's really soft under heavy clouds with a different character in hard daylight.


This car show is the second coming of the now defunct Art of the Car Conquers. Nothing lasts forever and that show took many volunteer hours to maintain. I hope to see that caliber of a show again, but enjoyed hanging out with people that drove their cars to this show.

Also not a car. Shhh... please don't hurt its feelings.

Which begs the question: could I become one of those guys that takes an interesting car to shows and drive-in nights? Maybe. But not until our adorable spawn are on their own and we have more room on the driveway. I recently came really close to buying a beautiful BMW E36 M3 sedan. I decided it would be a not-so-great daily commute vehicle and opted for a 2016 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid in the end. Luxury car depreciation is a minor miracle for used car buyers.


Vintage lenses are small, portable and fun. They take up a lot less space than a car. I am a car guy and love playing under a hood, but that kind of toy will have to wait. My hope is when I have the space and time that I can find the Datsun 280z of my dreams. I love pretty much everything about the 240z and 280z. They even have enough leg room for a six-foot tall guy. I can't say the same for old Fiats or the Mazda Miata.


This post is something of a beta test. Google profoundly screwed up their old photo catalog system when they dissolved the first iteration of G+. My Google Photos uploads are now working great in Blogger on a pure Android Pixel Book. I'll watch metrics on this compared to G+ posts. Likes and comments are free and appreciated by anyone in any social media space. I have to pick where to scream into the Internet void and appreciate the time you have spent on this humble blog.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Typewriter Pool Fashion Show Installation

Under normal circumstances, I would have no interest in fashion or fashion shows. However, at the London Fashion Week, the Orla Kiely brand got creative and put their models in a faux office setting to show off their Margot Tenanbaum inspired clothing line. Our gold plated Royal QDL, Margot, approves.

Photo credit to the Kris Atomic Blog
The blog from whence these photos came is at Kris Atomic - Orla Kiely AW'13

The typewriters appear to be Olympia SG-3 models. I love the desk lamps and telephones. Overall, the detail work is fabulous!

You can find a video of the installation here Independent UK Video - Orla Kiely Typewriter Pool

I especially enjoy seeing the press pool shooting away from the glassed in mezzanine. They were probably relieved to have something different than a runway shoot to keep them interested. Of course, the whole installation looks vaguely like something from a zoo; but isn't that more intellectually honest than a runway?

Credit goes to the UPPERCASE Magazine blog for pointing to this bit of awesome. We finally subscribed and might even chip in for the typewriter book project.
Uppercase Magazine Blog

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The New Era Ophthamologist Chair





I spotted this ophthalmologist's chair on my last trip to a local antique mall. It is a pretty amazing piece of equipment! Unfortunately, the digital trail is dead. I can't find anything about the 'New Era' brand on the Internet.


Today is Pi Day. How about a few circles to commemorate this magic number?

This photo reminds me of the Curiosity rover.