Last week end (2nd to 5th of June) was the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, a celebration giving some picture opportunities.
Friday, all started by the air parade shot from my window with the crappy Canon Serenar 135F4 mounted on the Leica M262. The lens was already mounted on the camera, I was just playing around last week.
WWII planes, I think a Lancaster bomber and four spitfires
The city was generally dressed up in national colours and royal memorabilia’s. Here the newspaper kiosk on Sloane Square, shot with the Summaron 35mmF2.8, the M version with goggles. I really went al vintage lenses this week,
A couple of “street parties” happened through the kingdom over he week end, mostly involving food and drinks, here in Mayfair Friday.Paul Smith window in Marylebone.I was expecting more silliness in the street, but ok some people really played the game.
Friday a steel band was playing on Kings Road, a couple of ladies made their best to warm up the atmosphere.
The queen of the afternoon
But they were not alone.
Even the Chelsea Pensioners were out.
Some people were rushing to parties in the hood.
The party went on until Sunday.
Chinatown
People rushed to the Mall on Sunday morning to see the parade.
But I met Stan Laurel.
and actually walking against the flow, we reached Hyde Park Corner and met the parade, with no crowd at all.
Sunday I changed the lens for the Summaron 35mmF3.5 ltm, a better choice as it is easier to focus without the goggles.
After watching so many horses, we moved to the Belgravia street party on Elizabeth street (the well named).
God save the queenThe queen
And all finished with a bit of music (and beer)
If you are not bored by now, I will have some film shots from Saturday to post as well.
All shots with Leica M262, with in order the Canon Serenar 135mmF4 ltm, the Summaron 35mmF2.8 M, the Summaron 35mmF3.5 ltm
This is bit back to the future as I already posted about rolls 12,13, and 15, but rest assured roll 10 will come in due time. I was complaining last week about life in Singapore being less photogenic since the Covid started last year. Man I did not knew what was coming.
Stands of the floating stadium
For one week now we are in Heightened alert mode, basically we are back in a quite strict mode, mostly : non essential workers are asked to stay home, it is not possible to eat or drink outside (eateries can thankfully to take away), quarantine form most countries are extended to 3 weeks in selected hotels and coming into Singapore is quite difficult (even for residents).
The Padang
Having enjoyed a lot more freedom than most countries since last July, we feel taken a bit aback by this new deal. So my color roll shot a couple of weeks before this soft lockdown 2.0 seems quite joyful and interesting for the place in time where I write from.
Tan Si Chong Su Temple
We were discussing our last holidays abroad, which were in March 2020, when we could still fly (in half empty planes though) and I remembered that I brought the Nikon F3 to Thailand and shot only two or three rolls before putting it back in the box. So it was time to pick it up again and give it another go.
Lonely smoker
I will explain a bit later this month but I am downsizing a few things, so I am shooting what’s left in the fridge rather than go and by fresh film. So I picked up my last roll of Portra 400, which is a bit overkill for just walking around, but ok I an clearing my fridge. The roll was shot over two days around Singapore.
Drink stop
I put the 50mmF1.4 on the F3, because my other lenses are too big for just walking around. I must say I have always been a big proponent of the 50mm, claiming the 28 / 50/ 135 were the trinity of my generation, and only young punks would walk around with a 35 as their normal lens. But I think I have moved my point of view a little bit…
The yellow Burmese girl
I have used many 35mm on the Leica system (film or digital) and I finally came quite used to it (I own 3 😦 ). The versatility of the 35mm, with a field of view larger by more than 30% is quite impressive and I think I really appreciate it on the Leica’s to the point that I find the 50mm narrow. Off course you have to step closer to your subject, but that’s not so much or a problem with a small rangefinder.
Sunday silliness
Getting closer with a SLR, even a small old fellow as the F3 is a bit less easy. Also (I am happy to be corrected) it seems the offer in term of 35mm (Vintage of course) is a bit lesser that the offer in 50mm, where Nikon has a few outstanding lenses.
Sunday Party – Tik Tok style
So ok I feel now that the 50 is a bit narrow but at the same I don’t think I will invest in a new (even a new old) lens for the Nikon at this point) (And remember I am decluttering).
Fishy business
The roll was processed at Whampoa Colours, scanned by their good services, and shared on the web. Damn I still have not collected my negs. The combo F3 + 50mmF1.4 AIS + Porta did a fairly good job. I shot most of the time in Auto mode, meaning the speed is controlled automatically by the aperture I selected, quite easy with a 400 ISO film (shot at 320).
Thian Hock Keng Temple(Really tight shot)
It seems the focusing of the F3 with the 50 is quite ok, I would need to try with the original 35-70 F3.5 AI Pro see if I have any problems. But that’s a heavy lens, not for casual walks.
A well deserved treat.
A final though for the road, a lot of my pictures from 25-30 years suck, I feel very bad, because souvenirs from this time are scarce, but on the upside It looks like my photography has progressed.
The Leica IIIC has shown some defects in the summer after 6 or rolls shot. One of rolls was showing a white line 3/4 horizontally and one roll from Taiwan was half black. Both defec
ts were characterized by the web and the repair man as issues with the curtains. The repair man was quite frank and told me that well this was a nice camera, but not as much though after as a IIIf, so I may consider if I want to repair it or not. But after much thoughts and a bit of walking into various shops I finally decided to have it done.
I am not sure I would dare give the price of the repair; but let’s say that it is more than what I paid for the body. 2 long weeks to wait (Time ) and here is the beast. The old curtain sure shows some holes and the new one looks …. like new. The body is uber clean and the guy has cleaned the rangefinder and the viewfinder and it’s a pleasure to peep through them.
Now for the story I went to my lab next door and bought a roll for test (Kodak trix, what else) but when I started asking for a pair of scissor to proceed with cutting the lead, one “specialist” showed me the proper way to load the film without cutting … 2 hours and 36 shots later I realized the operation failed ! Damn’it
Also after 36 missed shot and two films (including these pictures) the trigger is locked in depressed position and I have to bring it back to the shop (still waiting for the verdict, but I suspect this may be either something that went wrong during the repair or related to the savage loading).
Anyway, I did a bit of way around with the Summitar 50mm F2 for the first roll and here are some shots.I really like this small camera, but I hope I will get it in a better shape soon.
Below taken wide open at dusk, probably 1/60s F2.2
First picture in Chinese Thanks Giving on orchard road in Singapore
Three next are taken during the night at a restaurant in Chinatown Singapore
The best part of the game should be to obtain the beer caps to play with ! Tiger is the Singaporean beer that is brewed under license all over South East Asia.
I brought the Leica and a couple of film rolls allong with the D700 in Penang, just did one film though, I’m slow on film this year (roll number 3). I’ll ellabrorate on the subject a bit longer in another post. Good fun to take the Leica out for a small trip, sure the ratio of keepers is higher that on my 500 digital shots.
Camera::Leica M4, summilux 50mm1.4 Film:Kodak Trix 400 Scanner:Epson V500, Epson Scan Post Processing:Lightroom 3.3 and Photoshop Elements for the frame and dust removel
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