A New Town

[nikkortorokkor]

I'm in a new town (new for me, that is). Masterton, a provincial centre of about 20 000 in the Wairarapa (thats in e North Island of New Zealand).
Its a photogenic spot, so there will be more to come as long as a poor grad student can afford a bit of film every now and again.


Ciche in the Cemetery - but it does show off the wonder that is the 135mm MC Rokkor. I love this lens.


The poshly named Cafe Cecille in Queen Elizabeth Park. It used to be the Coronation Hall & was built in 1912 to celebrate the coronation of King George V (we were very loyal colonials weren't we?) The Bowls green looks rather scraggy and deserted, it being winter and all. Rokkor 35 - 70, taken at the wide end.
The lenses were hung off a Mnolta XE 1 that I'm learning to love.
Film was garden variety Fuji 200 print, warmed up a bit in the digital darkroom (we're having a gloomy "blue" winter!)
I'll post more tomorrow - there might even be people in them to keep Peter W happy.

[Randy]

Nice....I like the patina in the first photo.

[SidW]

One of the best cameras ever. And the lens - is it the macro verson? My favourite combo for many years until autofocus lured me away about 15 years ago.

[nikkortorokkor]

Thanks for the kind feedback Randy; I know it's morbid & cliched, but the textures and colours in the cemetery are seductive. I'll be taking the camera in there some more, especially when I get my tripod up here.
Sid, I think that I agree with you on the XE. Every time I release the shutter I get a little surprise - the quietest SLR of all time, or so they say I'd believe it.
I'll fess up and say that I haven't developed the real love for the XE that I had for my battered old F3. I really do think that the ergonomics of the Nikon were of a new era (maybe they pioneered that era). I never had a strap on mine, it just stayed glued to my hand whenever I was out with it. The XE has not got the same "hand appeal".
Perhaps that just serves to remind us that the XE was of an earlier era, and provided Minolta users with an accurate, stepless quartz focal plane shutter, the likes of which Nikonistas would have to wait another 6 years for. & it has a few neat little ergonomic tricks of its own that Nikon would never match. I love the way the DOF preview toggles on and off (you don't have to hold it down for on, it self-locks in either position). Really handy for shots like the 1st one. And my complete XE "system" (Rokkor primes ranging from 24 to 135mm plus the 35 -70 and some 3rd party zooms) cost me about 250 bucks - about what I'd pay for a half decent F3 body even in these "film bodies ain't worth a damn" times. I'm thinking of getting into E6 processing so that I can process and scan my own film, then I can keep the old rig going indefinitely.
Rant over - yes the lens is the lovely Macro version, I can see why you kept it on your camera so much. It IS very ergonomic and instinctive to use. I did make one blue though, it isn't marked Rokkor, Just Minolta MD.