Avotius
Some guy
So ive been hit with the rangefinder bug ever since a friend gave me his old zeiss ikon contessamat, it was great, I loved the colors that tiny little lens gave me. I loved it so much I totally neglected my 3000 dollar pile of canon gear. After messing around with it, and other old cameras I knew I needed to get into the rangefinder game. I picked up a mamiya 6 and thought that was my answer, woops. I hated that camera and its lenses, they were sharp but they felt just like my canon gear....overly contrasty and sometimes very clumsy. So after selling that thing to I was ready to buy a leica, then some family stuff came up and all that money went away before I even stuck the thing on ebay.
So after groaning and moaning about leica for a while I finally picked up two GSN's on ebay and had my father bring them to me when he came here to China to visit a week ago. I was surprised by the new looking condition of the cameras and big piece of glass in the front. I didn’t care much for the cheap looking advance lever or the somewhat hard to make out focus patch (compared to the mamiya and the leica's, maybe im spoiled) but I thought what the hell and went on with it. After doing a little research and cleaning out the old foam seals in the door I decided to shoot a roll through it without light seals for the hell of it. Results are in the attachments:
So after shooting two rolls in the camera im happy I picked them up, even though I only have one working up to full spec now, ill be sure to get on the other one. That advance lever still makes me wonder but at least it knows how to stay out of the way. I only wish it had something in the viewfinder that was like a green "everything’s ok" light ala leica but cant have it all in a camera you picked up for 16 bucks eh?
Some words about the photos:
I spend a lot of time exploring the old roads and paths around where ever I am. New modern roads and the sterile building that pop up next to them like so many other here in China are of no interest to me. I like to take pictures of people in their environments; most of my photos have people, animals, or show some influence that people have had on something. These Yashica GSN's and I will get along well for taking these kinds of photos.
Photo 1: This old man sitting outside a gambling parlor on a hot day had to give me a good once over as I was wandering around his neighborhood, probably wondering what a foreigner was doing way the heck away from everything. Not many “lao wai” (loosely translated means foreigner) travel outside the touristy areas and many Chinese people will take great interest in you and strike up a conversation or simply follow you around for miles.
Photo 2: Its cooler to sit next to the door where the wind blows but even a little kitten can’t escape the heat of Chongqing city, one of China’s 3 “furnaces” where temperatures this year have reached the highest ever in the last half century.
Photo 3: In a lot of the out of the way neighborhoods the local barber is usually your neighbor and the local barber shop is his front yard. It’s really hot out these days so why not just take it all off the top?
So after groaning and moaning about leica for a while I finally picked up two GSN's on ebay and had my father bring them to me when he came here to China to visit a week ago. I was surprised by the new looking condition of the cameras and big piece of glass in the front. I didn’t care much for the cheap looking advance lever or the somewhat hard to make out focus patch (compared to the mamiya and the leica's, maybe im spoiled) but I thought what the hell and went on with it. After doing a little research and cleaning out the old foam seals in the door I decided to shoot a roll through it without light seals for the hell of it. Results are in the attachments:
So after shooting two rolls in the camera im happy I picked them up, even though I only have one working up to full spec now, ill be sure to get on the other one. That advance lever still makes me wonder but at least it knows how to stay out of the way. I only wish it had something in the viewfinder that was like a green "everything’s ok" light ala leica but cant have it all in a camera you picked up for 16 bucks eh?
Some words about the photos:
I spend a lot of time exploring the old roads and paths around where ever I am. New modern roads and the sterile building that pop up next to them like so many other here in China are of no interest to me. I like to take pictures of people in their environments; most of my photos have people, animals, or show some influence that people have had on something. These Yashica GSN's and I will get along well for taking these kinds of photos.
Photo 1: This old man sitting outside a gambling parlor on a hot day had to give me a good once over as I was wandering around his neighborhood, probably wondering what a foreigner was doing way the heck away from everything. Not many “lao wai” (loosely translated means foreigner) travel outside the touristy areas and many Chinese people will take great interest in you and strike up a conversation or simply follow you around for miles.
Photo 2: Its cooler to sit next to the door where the wind blows but even a little kitten can’t escape the heat of Chongqing city, one of China’s 3 “furnaces” where temperatures this year have reached the highest ever in the last half century.
Photo 3: In a lot of the out of the way neighborhoods the local barber is usually your neighbor and the local barber shop is his front yard. It’s really hot out these days so why not just take it all off the top?
Attachments
Last edited:
