Author Archives: stoatly

Phound Photos Volume 15

This roll of Kodak MAX 400 (C-41 color print film, not T-MAX) has been sitting in the refrigerator for a while. It was in the Canon AL-1 when I bought it in late December 2019. I’m trying to work my way through more found film before the chemicals go bad. I’m using the Cinestill “Color Simplified” 2-bath kit. It’s the 1st batch I’ve used so I have no idea of its staying power vs the Unicolor kit I usually use.

On to the images.

Gorgeous dog. Want to steal.

Gorgeous dog. Want to steal.


Wind chime.

Wind chime.


Frozen bird feeder.

Frozen bird feeder.


Frozen bird feeder detail. Even the perch has ice.

Frozen bird feeder detail. Even the perch has ice.


Icicles.

Icicles.


Some color correction. The film survived its journey through a thrift store to me in pretty good shape.

52 Cameras: New Taiwan Pantium DL1000

Trashcam: “any camera whose value at least doubles when loaded with film.”
From http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Trashcam

It has a taking lens, a viewfinder lens, a waist-level lens, and a mirror. Pseudo TLR? TLR? ThreeLR?

PDF manual on the Manuals & Ephemera page.


From Beware the Pantium, my Son at I still ♥ film: “And my favourite part – a lens cap which says ‘camera’ on it. Given the amount of times I’ve tried to put my lens caps back on the kettle, this is super handy.”

My take is this: With all the effort put into fake bits to make it look, fooling no one, like a real camera, they could have built a real camera.

There may be some images here at some point. In spite of this being a valueless piece of carp when it works, I’m going to try to fix it. After the 1st tear-down, I had to go back in because I had a wire across the frame counter dial and the waist level viewfinder mirror came off. It has two plastic posts with the ends melted to hold the mirror. The spring that resets the counter when the back is opened broke and then my repair broke. I think I’ll replace it with a rubber band. It will make sense when I post tear-down & (hopefully) repair entries. I do love a pointless challenge.

52 Cameras: Vivitar PS:35



Another found photo. Kodak Max 400.

Another found photo. Kodak Max 400.


Rio Grande

Rio Grande


Trees on the way to the river.

Trees on the way to the river.


Jem checking out the stray cats outside.

Jem checking out the stray cats outside.


Not sure what happened here but I like it.

Not sure what happened here but I like it.



Sometimes getting information about a camera is pretty piecemeal.

It's actually a pretty sophisticated little camera. I may try to find the older, non-DX version to get more control.

It’s actually a pretty sophisticated little camera. I may try to find the older, non-DX version to get more control.


I can't remember if this is from an auction site, a wiki, or someone's blog.

I can’t remember if this is from an auction site, a wiki, or someone’s blog.


A screen grab of the box on an auction site gave me flash distance and max ISO.

A screen grab of the box on an auction site gave me flash distance and max ISO.


A tiny blurb in the September 1984 issue of Popular Science has shutter and aperture information. Typo - should say f/16, not f/1.6.

A tiny blurb in the September 1984 issue of Popular Science has shutter and aperture information. Typo – should say f/16, not f/1.6.


My test roll.

My test roll.

52 Cameras: Thornward Dandy No. 5


Sources & mentions in the video:

Label & strut pictures. And quite a collection:
http://dtristramludwig.com/collection.html

1905 Montgomery Ward catalog:
http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogs/1905wardslp096.htm

Wollensak Junior info & 1903 catalog:
https://alphaxbetax.com/Wollensak%20Lens%20and%20Shutter%20Compendium/#Junior

1912-1913 Wollensak Lens and Shutter Catalog:
https://alphaxbetax.com/wollensak-catalogs-etc/

Aperture, f-Stops, and the U.S. System:
http://throughavintagelens.com/2010/01/the-u-s-f-stop-system/


What looks like a reflection at the bottom of the image is a note written on the back with a marker. It doesn’t show up on the paper but the scanner light brought it out on the image.
Arista paper negative. This was in the 1st batch & I over-processed a bit. The contrast is cool but not a lot of detail.

Arista paper negative. This was in the 1st batch & I over-processed a bit. The contrast is cool but not a lot of detail.


Arista paper negative. A Mamiya TLR I'll feature soon. Bit of a light leak.

Arista paper negative. A Mamiya TLR I’ll feature soon. Bit of a light leak.


Arista 4x5 film. Contrast is from shooting into the sunset. Cropped for light leak.

Arista 4×5 film. Contrast is from shooting into the sunset. Cropped for light leak.

It’s just a battery. Honest!

Sometimes I watch Youtube videos on a channel called “The 8-Bit Guy”. I originally saw one on restoring an Osborne 1 “portable” computer. When I started at Computerland going on two score years ago, they’d been without a service department guy for a while. I walked in to a stack of Osbornes needing repair and learned fast. Any way it caught my eye.

I watched a video on rebuilding the battery pack in an old Apple laptop. Afterward, what happened was so bizarre, I had to comment on the video:

“You can’t make this up. Our smart TV asked me to rate this video with this dialog:

I put a link to the photo in the Youtube comment. I don't think you can add attachments to comments.

I put a link to the photo in the Youtube comment. I don’t think you can add attachments to comments.

I’m in the US, don’t log in on the TV, and I’ve never been asked to rate a video before. I think Youtube’s algorithm may have thought the batteries were, um, something else. At the risk of getting agency attention, I gave it 5 stars. Great content BTW.”

If anyone needs me, I’ll be at a black site somewhere.

Got My Turbo-Charged Cranky Pants On

I need to re-do a small porch deck. First, I need a post to replace the rotten one I pulled out.
Lowes is an OK store for a big box but their web site is a freaking train wreck. It asks if it can use your location (I have that set to always ask) but it doesn’t do anything with it. You still have to set which store using a zip code.

Three copies of the same item and one other.

Three copies of the same item and one other.


Make sure there are plenty before I brave the virus-laden hordes.

Make sure there are plenty before I brave the virus-laden hordes.


There were not 47. There were two sad, bowed pieces. This is supposed to be tied to the inventory, that’s why it matters which store you’re looking at. I can understand it might be stale if things are off the shelf and on the way to the register but the store wasn’t crowded. They’re letting in 35 people at a time (kudos for that) and there were not 45 4″x4″x10′ posts in transit. There weren’t any I could see. I didn’t get all pee-pee hearted over this one time. Their item count is never even close. Calling doesn’t help. If “customer service” picks up, they just do the same lookup I did and parrot the web site to you over the phone.

Back to the web site…

I was also pricing some deck material.

Stay in school kids. You will need math.

Stay in school kids. You will need math.


To be fair, I’ve seen the same “buy more, pay more” pricing on Amazon too but…
They were told about the problem six months ago and haven't done anything about it.

They were told about the problem six months ago and haven’t done anything about it.


This next part is only sort of a Lowes problem.
"Clamshell" color. In person it's more the color of asphalt and really uneven. Lowes just used the Trex graphics.

“Clam Shell” color. In person it’s more the color of asphalt and really uneven. Lowes just used the Trex graphics.


From Trex's web site. It looks solid but it's not.

From Trex’s web site. It looks solid but it’s not.


This is the zoom function on the Lowes web site. This is a different board – the non-notched version – but the zooms are the same. It just blows up the Trex JPEG nice and fuzzy.
Pretty sure these are renderings and not actual pictures of the product.

Pretty sure these are renderings and not actual pictures of the product.


I left my phone in the car so I didn’t get pictures but the gray is a super-thin plastic coating on top. Underneath, it looks like the sawdust in the laminate floor we put in the house. That stuff warps like crazy with a teaspoon of cat vomit. Does this really survive outdoors? The warranty is for 25 years (I haven’t read the fine print) so maybe it does last. It’s butt-ugly IRL though, so I’ll keep looking.

Glutton for punishment that I am, I also need a 1/8 inch diameter masonry bit.

It's in quotes but I don't think they have 1871 different 1/8 inch masonry bits.

It’s in quotes but I don’t think they have 1871 different 1/8 inch masonry bits.


Raw search results give bit diameter as a filter. No useful options, but the function is there.
The "3-in" is a giant auger bit for digging holes in the dirt.

The “3-in” is a giant auger bit for digging holes in the dirt.


If you go down the categories so you don’t get things like 3 inch auger bits, you get far fewer results than 1871. Maybe it’s nit picking, but “1/8 inch masonry drill bit” is not the same as “1/8” or “inch” or “masonry” or “drill” or “bit”.
1871 <> 322.

1871 <> 322.


When selecting a tool to make a hole, what are the two questions you have to ask? 1) What are you making a hole in? and 2) How big a hole? You can drill down (no pun intended) to “Masonry Drill Bits” to answer the first question but when you use the categories, the bit diameter filter isn’t there.
No bit diameter filter. For drill bits. Really? The code is already written for cryin' out loud.

No bit diameter filter. For drill bits. Really? The code is already written for cryin’ out loud.


The search bar is always global. It does not search within the selected category so you have to scroll and scroll within the category. The images don’t help except to weed out “not even close” and the descriptions are short and vague so you have to guess, click, scroll down to the specs, expand the specs menu, read what the diameter is, hit the back button, wait for the page to reload, and repeat until you’ve pissed away more time than it would’ve taken to just drive to the store and see for yourself.

I ended up buying nothing. Got out of the house and took a drive to the store so I got that going for me.

Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2020 (backup and backup-backup)

For 2020, I’m doing an extremely-long-exposure photograph or solargraph. The Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day rules are that the photograph must be taken “on the day annually designated as Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day ( April 26, 2020 )” or “Extremely long exposures will be accepted if any part of the exposure was made on Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day…”

I started the exposure on 1 May 2019 and I want to do a full year. That means if the exposure is a bust, I’ve missed WPPD and I’ve got nothing.

So… I decided to make another pinhole camera and use a scanner. I used a USB powered Canon LIDE 30 as a digital back and VueScan and TWAIN-SANE software. The results are not a supreme victory but first, the camera.

JPEG from a PDF page print from http://mrpinhole.com/. I used 8×10 inches as the portion of the 8.5×11″ scanner in case I had to resort to paper. The 16″ film dimension is insurance and a trade off to get the specs I wanted.

I wanted to keep exposure simple and let in a lot of light so I chose a 1mm pinhole and a 10 inch (254mm) focal length to get f/256-ish, a nice power of 2.

I wanted to keep exposure simple and let in a lot of light so I chose a 1mm pinhole and a 10 inch (254mm) focal length to get f/256-ish, a nice power of 2.


It's big so the image won't be super sharp but the pinhole came out pretty well.

It’s big so the image won’t be super sharp but the pinhole came out pretty well.


Foamboard is versatile stuff.

Foamboard is versatile stuff.


I had to actually think about how to get the required sizes from a 20x30" piece. The horror!

I had to actually think about how to get the required sizes from a 20×30″ piece. The horror!


Hot glue is wonderful stuff. Too bad I didn't account for the thickness in the construction calculations (had to fudge a bit).

Hot glue is wonderful stuff. Too bad I didn’t account for the thickness in the construction calculations (had to fudge a bit).


I made it too tall on purpose but the 1st rough cut is fugly.

I made it too tall on purpose but the 1st rough cut is fugly.


It sanded up rather nicely.

It sanded up rather nicely.


Pinhole mount coming along.

Pinhole mount coming along.


Pinhole READY TO ROCK! Too much? Anyway, I'm excited.

Pinhole READY TO ROCK! Too much? Anyway, I’m excited.


Black construction paper to fill in the gaps.

Black construction paper to fill in the gaps.


The assembled beast.

The assembled beast.


Sadly, in the short term, it was not to be. I got something, but nothing to write home about.

Tree in the back yard.

Tree in the back yard.


Different scan settings. Tree in the back yard.

Different scan settings. Tree in the back yard.


I’m not completely ignorant about exposure. Something is going on with the scanner. I even tried an emergency, 1/2 the focal distance (f/128-ish) cardboard box.

Maybe this will help.

Maybe this will help.


Not happy with the results, I had to implement plan C. I replaced the scanner with print paper.

The super-complex, 8x10 print paper taped to a piece of foam board version.

The super-complex, 8×10 print paper taped to a piece of foam board version.


The result is pretty sweet. I’m not insane (about this any way) and the camera works well.

Tree in the back yard. Inexpensive Arista photo paper negative. Metered for ISO 6 at f/256.

Tree in the back yard. Inexpensive Arista photo paper negative. Metered for ISO 6 at f/256.

I’m up late and it’s actually May 1st. At about 3:00 PM local time I’ll cover the shutter and find out if the long exposure worked.