More gear for Beijing

here is some more of the gear that I am considering for my trip:

My camcorder and digital audio recorder

My Bronica RF645 medium format film rangefinder camera with the 65mmand the 45mm lens

My Canon 5D with 24-105mm/F4, 70-200mm/F4, and 40mm lenses.  Not sure I would need the 70-200 though.

and a couple of compacts (film and digital) :)

packing up cameras for Beijing

It is true that I have a few cameras and since I have a day off today, I decide to take pictures of them (well ...some of them anyway) because I am sorting out my carryon for an upcoming trip to Beijing. I could probably do it with a single camera and a lens, but where would be the fun in that?

I got a couple of new straps as well from gordy's camera straps a few months ago, so I wanted to take some pictures to post to his Flickr group so I put the little tags on for some of them. They are great wrist straps and not prohibitively expensive either.

This is my Leica M8 (digital) with a collapsible 50mm Summicron.  The lens has some edge separation, but because the M8 is a crop sensor camera. it is not visible in the frame, so they are a good match for each other.

This is my Fuji X100 (also digital). it has a non removable lens, but it takes great pictures and has autofocus and video capabilities as well.

This is a Leica M3 (film) and it is a fully manual camera (no battery or nuthin') and  will function no matter how cold it gets (unless it is so cold that Kevin stops functioning)

This lens is a Voigtlander Nokton 40mm with a fast 1.4 maximum aperture. Very sharp lens and great in low light!

This is my other M8 (Digital) and it was the camera that quit on me in Istanbul. It went back to Leica and $400 later its back in shape. It's, in fact, the first Leica M that I ever owned, but produced long after the film ones!

this is my leica M3 (film) with a rigid (non- collapsible) 50mm Summicron lens. The leather on it is not original, but was on it when I bought it. the camera also has a previous owner's name inscribed on the back.It's a shame to carve your name in such a beautiful camera, but I guess if you own it, you can do what you please (I added a cool strap!)

This is my Leica M4 (film) it is in nearly perfect shape and is also a fully manual camera, so no battery and no meter.  I guess it helps to know what you are doing, huh? ( I use a separate meter, actually!)

The lens is a 15mm Voigtlander ultra wide angle lens. it is so wide that you need a separate finder on top of the camera to see the field of view that the lens captures!

Here are all my Leica M's together!

Here is my Nikon FM3A (film), a manual camera but it has a meter and aperture priority mode

and here it is with my Nikon FM2N which has no aperture priority mode, just a light meter and works just fine without a battery (except for the meter)

I load my bag by putting in the leica's first (the lenses are in the blue case on the side)

then the Nikon go in next....

and the Fuji X100 goes on top!

Test Roll: Leica M3

Another test roll for another camera. These were taken on a trip to Chapel Hill on a day with strong winds and  tornado warnings.  I was not really trying to get anything special, just making sure the camera worked correctly.

Test Roll: Nikon FM2N

I ran a test roll through my Nikon FM2N (a manual film camera) because the shutter needs to be used every once and a while as a well as because I wanted to make sure it was in good shape prior to an upcoming trip (I would hate to drag around broken gear). I ran a roll of Ilford Delta 400 black and white film through it and it looked pretty good. I did some post processing (boosted contrast and adjusted levels) but they looked fairly well exposed out of the camera. I would say test passed.

Christmas Night at the Alexanders

I spent Christmas Night with my Dad and Stepmother, and my Stepsister soon arrived with my two Nieces. Her husband came slightly later as well and then we all had a nice dinner. As I spoke to him when he arrived and soon we were eating, I regretfully did not get pictures of him. In fact, I took too many pictures as it took a really long time to edit them and was even harder to narrow down which ones to show (they are quite cute and kids opening presents is always good drama) so I have no regrets!
:)

Anyway, here are the pictures: