I spend so much time using simple cameras, that “real” cameras like the one above shock me a bit when I use them. They force me to slow way down and think about more than composition. The 501CM is a bull of a camera. It’s big and heavy. Especially with the Distagon mounted. It demands a tripod of equal mass. It’s a complex device and even the film loading procedure is an excercise in attention to detail.
I always lock up the mirror before shooting at any speed. The mirror slap is awesome and sounds like a triggered rat trap. The shutter, however, is quiet.
Even people that know little about cameras show interest in the Hasselblad. It’s a beautiful piece of machinery. I often wonder what people think when they see me lugging this monster around on its massive tripod while a Diana flops around my neck.
Cameras are tools. They all have one function, capturing light on film. All cameras do it the same way. They manage light intensity and time.
Some cameras are marvels of engineering and are beautiful to look at and a pleasure to use. The 501CM is one of those cameras.
Covey Wildlife Area – Belchertown, Ma
Barn on Sabin Street, Belchertown, Ma
Barry Thorton’s “Edge of Darkness” is an important book for black and white photographers. It blows away most of your ideas about “sharpness” and how to get it.
“Sharpness” is not the prime goal in my photographic work. But I do like it, so I decided to give a pyro developer a try. Attempting to achieve “sharpness” on a computer monitor is a questionable endeavor. Computers don’t like angled lines. They give them the “jaggies” and jpeg mathematics are not kind to your negatives.
These negatives were processed in a Wimberly- type pyro developer. Exposures were based on readings take off a grey card. The film was Arista EDU 400 rated at ASA 400. Development was normal.
The negatives have a brown tinge to them.
Agfa 400 @ 200