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Re: [OM] Re: Nat Geo reference

Subject: Re: [OM] Re: Nat Geo reference
From: Kenneth Sloan <sloan@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 23:21:17 -0500
All of the truly great OM photographers were born in 1947.

I was amused to see someone else of approximately my vintage who started
out with Petri.  In 1974 or so, I was in graduate school and decided
that computer vision would be large in my future.  So, I decided that
photography would be useful.  After lobbying with the source of all good
things (my parents) I was presented with a huge and heavy Yashica
rangefinder.  It was on special at Bambergers (extra credit if you can
name the state). I had my heart set on a SLR with interchangeable
lenses, so I managed to swap it for the OTHER camera also on sale at
Bambergers - a Petri.

Thus began my love-hate relationship with CCE in NYC.  In those days,
CCE always had the second best prices - and the places with the absolute
lowest prices never had the items in stock.  So, I built a modest
starter system around that trusty Petri - small enough to fit in an Army
surplus ammo bag (very trendy as a camera bag back then).  The images
later published in my dissertation (perhaps the first "natural scenes" -
Catskills, Mount Rainier, Desolation Valley, etc.) ever scanned.  The
scanner was constructed at the University of Maryland out of a metal
lathe, a huge tape drive, and a wall of electronics.  I took the train
from Philadelphia with 6 1"x3" prints and a trio of 9-track tapes
(labelled "red", "green", and "blue") and came back with images at
something like 128x128 each.  I was also trying video digital
imaging...but that wasn't working very well in color (I never did find a
good set of filters - pesky IR!).

Alas, the entire Petri set was stolen out of an apartment in beautiful
downtown Princeton (we left open the window to the fire escape).
I was most unhappy to lose the Vivitar 105, my favorite lens for
available darkness portraits.

By that time I was committed to photography, and had raised my sights
somewhat (I wasn't all THAT sorry to see the Petri go).  So...I made the
phone call to CCE and purchased an OM-1MD.  The 70-150 f/4 was next -
and that was the only lens on that body for many years.  Then came the
T-45, a Tokina 500/8 (boo, hiss - hey, it's served me well) the bellows
setup, an XA, and finally the 24/2.8.  A Tenba2 bag and I was ready for
everything.  [the purchase of the T-45 involved my first drag out, knock
down argument with CCE, and I haven't been back].

I kept meaning to buy a few more bodies - esp in that one or two years
when CCE had them listed at close to $100 - but I never did, primarily
because that OM-1MD kept going...and going...and going... It's still
going strong (well, the meter is broken, but it's slated to go off to
my wife's hometown on Long Island where I am promised it can be revived).

If memory serves, I think I shot my SCIENCE cover photo using that OM-1MD,
the 70-150 zoom, and a +2 close-up lens (for years my favorite setup for
photography off a monitor, when I wasn't using a Speed Graphic with a
Polaroid back).

When the OM-3Ti was announced, I had considerably more disposable income
than I did as a graduate student, so I had to have one.  I bought that
from KEH, largely because they were so nice about promptly filling my
order for a replacement metal hood for the 24/2.8 (my dog pulled down
the OM-1 from a shelf - the hood was trashed, and the internals of the
24 were loosened a bit - easily fixed).  [see, treat your customers
right on an $8 purchase and they come back with a $1500 order.  I'm
still amazed that the guy from Wolf Camera STILL hasn't called me back
with a quote; I was all set to buy the -3Ti from him, all he had to do
was ORDER it!]

And then... about 6 months ago I had an ebay frenzy and picked up a
whole slew of stuff (winder, flashes, 200/5, 135/3.5, 100/2.8,
35/3.5)...most of it has been used to document my 15yo son's high school
soccer career.  My new favorite lens is the 100/2.8 (I guess I have a
thing for lenses with screw-on metal hoods) and I'm remembering how much
I liked that old Vivitar 105 on the Petri (but of course the Zuiko on a
-3Ti is just a tad more fun).

In the beginning...everything was -chrome.  As an available darkness
freak and strongly into quick turnaround, it was largely Ektachrome
(let's see how far we can PUSH it!).  Kids and 1-hour print places
eventually pushed me to print film (double prints so we can send a set
to Grandma).  Nowadays, I'm staving off the digital revolution by using
a flatbed scanner (they have gotten smaller and more convenient since
1974), so I can usually have an image on the WWW within 2 hours.  True
digital may be faster for this...but all the shots I see look like
Instamatic.  Time to look again at the market for slide scanners, and a
reliable E-6 shop (is that an oxymoron?)

I'm about to receive a complete medium format outfit (passed down from
my wife's father) which I may toy with...or clean up and see how much
it's worth on the collectors' market (it's all *very* old stuff).  
And...I still have my grandfather's Argus and my father's (and mine)
Kodak twin-lens box with the red plastic window (do they still sell
Pan-120 film? My 11yo son would love it...but then I might be looking at
a darkroom in the basement.)

In the meantime, the Olympus 35RC I bought for my wife in the 1970's is
being passed down to our 15yo son.  A great camera for learning.  If he
complains that he really wants an SLR, well...there's always that OM-1MD
body, or the spare I picked up on ebay, and the original 50/1.8...and
perhaps some of the "extra - but unexciting" lenses I also just picked
up on ebay (can you say 35/3.5, boys and girls?).  Maybe he'll really
like the Tokina 500/8 so I can trade up to the Zuiko?  [my wife?  just
barely still in the Olympus camp - a plastic auto-everything integral
zoom...I'm blocking on the model number.  Somehow it's always more
convenient than breaking out the T-45 - but now that I have an F280 AND
a T32...]

and the beat goes on.

-- 
Kenneth Sloan                                            sloan@xxxxxxx
Computer and Information Sciences                       (205) 934-2213
University of Alabama at Birmingham                 FAX (205) 934-5473
Birmingham, AL 35294-1170   http://www.cis.uab.edu/info/faculty/sloan/

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