A long walk

As mentioned, I bought a new camera this past week, and was "itchin" as they probably say somewhere to take it out and try it out. I played hooky for part of yesterday afternoon and planned on a long walk to do just that.

But first, I stopped at the thrift store, the store below my apartment to check it out. I stop every few weeks, not to do my clothes shopping, though some think that is where I shop. Rather, I scan the books and see if they have any cameras. Yesterday they did, and in one week I ended up with a new new camera and an old new camera. For those of you who might care, they had a Retina III C, the ultimate folding camera that Kodak ever made. It took them 23 different models, but this one was the best. It is 50 or 51 years old, and in way above average shape. Even after 30 years of being a camera geek, I have only seen one of these, and have never owned one. I had to buy it! Actually, I paid for it and ran, hoping no one would notice the difference between the very small price and the quite large actual value. Let's just say this--it was a pretty good thrift store purchase. After I found film, I took my five day old camera and my aged camera and myself, also aged, on a walk.

All three worked, even though it was a three hour cruise around town. It wasn't fast, but it was a steady walk and it was good for me. The pictures certainly aren't the ones I want to hang on my wall, but I was frankly amazed at both cameras. The Retina did OK, though it would benefit from having the rangefinder adjusted--it focuses, but not on what you thought you were focusing on--it does lend to serendipity, but generally I like a bit more control on that. The other camera did even better than I thought, even considering user errors. It focuses on subjects that are less than two inches away from the lens, which is kind of fun.

Best of all was good to get out and walk, something that I do too infrequently and need to do more often. If nothing else, it gave me a bad case of wanderlust. I bet that there is a trip (somewhere) in my future.

So the bright yellow flowers (see above for the challenge of focusing) and the square-ish daisy pictures are from the Retina. They might be a bit better had I spent more than $2.99 on the professional film developing from Target, but they are OK. The others are from a small point and shoot, albeit an up-scale one. I liked the sign of the dentist on my block--I think I will pass on him. The bowls are on my window, taken on one of those dreary very wet days earlier this week.