Gone Fishing

This week's foul weather had a brief timeout yesterday, and we finally got a couple of hours of sun. We went to the docks in Old Lyme to spend the afternoon. I had a book, an Aladdin thermos of hot coffee, and my new camera.

I haven't had much of a chance for some real shooting with the Ricoh GRD, so this was a good opportunity. It handled intuitively, and was very fast and responsive especially in snap focus mode. I used the GRD with and without an accessory viewfinder (CV 21mm), and I still have not decided which I prefer.

Here are some images from yesterday:









Here's one in color:

Old World Tools

Cameras are tools. Some tools are elegant, well-made examples that last a lifetime. Much like a fine italian fountain pen or british roadster, these were made in an era of craftsmanship not easy to find nowadays. Or available at exhorbitant costs.

This is a well-used 1955 double-stroke Leica M3. It has scratches. It's vulcanite has cracked and worn, and was replaced with this current covering by one of its former owners. But with a recent service, it works flawlessly. The lens is a used Leitz Wetzlar Summilux 50/1.4. Younger than the body, but also a few decades old. Again, signs of use. But the glass and coating are perfect.

I thought I would give this old warhorse a treat, and it came all the way from Rome in today's mail. The only thing 'new' in this photo. A custom braided short (I wrap it around my wrist) leather strap made to my specifications by Luigi Crescenzi. Another old-world work of art, by a skilled craftsman.

Refreshing in an era of disposables. Also, proof that you don't have to spend a king's ransom to enjoy quality. You just have to choose wisely.

This tool is looking forward to the next 20 years.

The Tiger

General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the "Tiger of Malaya," was the commander of the Japanese forces in the Philippines at the close of the second world war. As the U.S. liberation forces advanced during the end of the war in the Pacific, Yamashita withdrew up into the mountain province of Baguio until his surrender on September 3, 1945.

Back in Manila, he was tried by an american War Crimes Board, formed under the direction of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and headed by Maj. Gen. Russell B. Reynolds. He was subsequently found guilty and hanged on February 23rd, 1945.

Yamashita is notorious in Philippine history for the torture and brutal killing of close to 50,000 civilians during the last days of the Japanese occupation. He is also known for the legendary "Treasure of Yamashita" - the wealth, mostly in gold, amassed by the Japanese's looting of asia during the war. According to legend, the treasure is buried in a systematic system of caves in the mountains surrounding Baguio, where we made his last stand. Fact or conspiracy theory?

Why am I posting about this? Yesterday, I got a pleasant surprise in the mail. One of my patients is a WWII veteran, and in casual conversation at the office once, we traded stories about the war in the Philippines. I told him how my great grandfather was an american sergeant who came to the Philippines with Gen. Arthur MacArthur at the turn of the century, and how he was imprisoned by the Japanese with the rest of the americans in the University of Santo Tomas. My patient was with the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and he retold how he was involved in rigging up the telecommunication and sound system for the Yamashita trial in Manila.

He mailed me a photograph taken during the trial, and a bill (Japanese peso currency in the occupied Philippines, or what my grandparents referred to as 'Mickey Mouse money') which he had autographed by General Yamashita. In the photo below, you will see his signature both in script and in Japanese characters. Here, you can compare these with an independent sample of his signature.

How cool is that? Thank you!

Ricoh GRD

It just arrived yesterday from Tony Rose of Popflash photo. I have been puttering around, getting comfortable with the camera, and I have to say I am pretty impressed.

I had been looking to get a new digital, to replace my aging Olympus C5050. It is still a very good camera, but the shutter lag is just annoying. Initially, I had planned on a DSLR, but at the moment, what with Sony joining the fray with the Alpha, I think I would wait a little bit for the dust to settle.

I love, and still use quite a bit, the Ricoh GR-1 film camera, with its legendary 28mm leica-beater lens. Recently, there has been quite some talk about the Ricoh digital GR, and to make a long story short, I ended up with one.

There are write-ups online about the new 8mp Ricoh GR Digital compact, so this isn't going to be another one. Here's why I like it:

1. Excellent user interface. No need to go into menus to access frequently used controls.
2. Compact design. Just about 1/2 inch thick, and actually a few millimeters shorter than the already compact GR-1. Roughly the size of a deck of playing cards.
3. Build quality. Just like the GR film camera. Magnesium, if I am not mistaken.
4. Excellent 28mm equivalent f/2.4 lens.
5. Fast. Virtually no (0.1 sec) shutter lag.
6. Superior resolution, with no purple-fringing or oversharpening. Colors are natural, not overdone.
7. Good high iso performance. "Film-like" noise (okay... "grain") at high iso.


Sure there are weaknesses, but here are my thoughts:

1. I don't want or need RAW in a point and shoot, so I don't mind the long write times. With a DSLR, I would shoot RAW. If I needed maximum image quality, I would shoot raw, or medium format.
2. My main uses are for candid/street shooting, and mostly travel photography. Compactness is very important. I am tired of walking around all day with a heavy camera and fast lens around my neck or on a shoulder, and a bagful of lenses.
3. My main output is: online, 8 x 10 b& w inkjet prints for my "keepers," and a bunch of 4x6's or 5x7's for my wife to make a scrapbook/album. Eight megapixel jpegs are just fine for that.
4. I like low light and night photography, so the fast lens and high iso performance are welcome.
5. I don't mind the lack of an optical viewfinder. Most, if not all, digital p&s finders are small and squinty anyway. In fact, DSLR's VF's are small and squinty too. I am fine with the LCD back, and in the future may consider a compact shoemount VF.
6. I don't shoot a lot of flash, but it would have been nice if the GRD had flash compensation.

I haven't had time to go out and properly shoot with this camera yet these past couple of days, but here are a few examples. The first at iso 400, the last two at iso 800. Not bad.

RFF New England Summer Meet

Saturday, August 5th: Old Sturbridge Village, MA

Got there at a little past 10am, early enough for Mikey to catch the "Kids Learn to March" activity on the Common. We met up with three other members of the Rangefinder Forum in the area: Joerg, who came with his family, and Peter from Boston. Ralph and his son, Sam drove up from Connecticut.

It was a fun day of walking around the village and photography. The kids learned a lot about New England town life in the 1700's, and about the militia, the village's theme for the month.

Here's a thread on RFF with more photos.

All my photos that day were with Ilford HP5, which I developed in HC110.