Dimes of reading for nickels of your time

You know, I didn’t think crabs sat on their asses like that.

Shot with a Mamiya C220f

As I may have mentioned, my Mamiya had a severe light leak. Well, last week the call came in and my pad of light seal foam had arrived. After hitting the store to buy some glass-cleaner (good for removing the oily remains of the previous seal, and the glue) and some q-tips, I sat down and looked hard at the guts of my camera.

The only real problem area was the large seal around the back hinge. This was good luck, because the rest of the light seals are very, very thin strips that would have been a huge pain in the ass to cut and lay down straight. As it was, I had to do the big one twice as I missed the starting edge the first time.

Then I loaded up the camera with a fresh roll of 120 film and went to test my repair job out.

At the aquarium in Kagoshima.

Yeah, I tested my camera for light leaks in a place with very low light. But there’s a still a roll in the camera with outdoor shots on it that’s waiting to be finished off, so I still get to see if I have a future as a camera repairman or not…

Scanning this roll, I had my previous suspicions re-affirmed: Aquariums are very difficult to shoot. Between the dim lighting, thick, light-distorting glass between you and the sharks, and the fact that the long exposure times needed with even 400 iso film means that your sea life will be a blur, it’s no wonder medium format is not known as the “Fish format”.

These days it’s not that much of a problem since I rarely find myself in low light situations like restaurants and pubs any more.

What a drag it is, getting old.

But it reminded me that I am lacking a good camera for those conditions. Since I saw a Leica M3 (It looked exactly like this, as a matter of fact!) for sale with an f1.4 lens attached the other day, I’ve been thinking of saving up and hoping that it’s still there when I have the cash for it come my birthday.

Then again, there’s still the DSLR option…