one lens - one camera - dear diary

[Doug]

Good to see you here again, Dan. Hope things are going well. 🙂

And good luck with your project; it's an attractive idea.
I typically do a one (digital) camera one (prime) lens for a month or two, then switch to a different combination. That's certainly not such a rigorous exercise.

 

[Pioneer]

Dan, we haven't seen you for awhile. Glad to see you've weathered the virus and that you're back to join us.

- Murray

Thanks Murray. It has been an interesting ride for the past few months but we are all still on the horse. I am looking forward to being able to focus on something else for awhile and I strongly suspect that it will be a good tonic for my sanity.

 

[Pioneer]

Wish there were a One Lens-One Camera-One Day....thread.
For all of us who have had ADD all our lives.

Ok, I might make it to three days.

I can certainly relate to this. My last attempt only made it for 3 months. I'm pretty sure the camera will make it this time. We will all have to wait and see how long I can make it this time.

 

[Pioneer]

Good to see you here again, Dan. Hope things are going well. 🙂

And good luck with your project; it's an attractive idea.
I typically do a one (digital) camera one (prime) lens for a month or two, then switch to a different combination. That's certainly not such a rigorous exercise.

Thanks Doug. It's good to be back.

In the early days all I owned was a K1000 and a 50mm lens so there were no other options. Too many choices have really spoiled me. I feel like it shows in my photography and I have been a bit disappointed in the past couple of years. I hope that focusing my mind directly on my photography instead of all the cameras will get me back on track again.

 

[thawkins]

I would say that the 1 lens, 1 camera body is not a purist approach to this Nirvana-esque goal.

Since the lens could come off, I propose that only fixed lens cameras be considered.

My choice would be a Retina 2a!!

 

[Radost]

My choice is minolta CLE with Leica 28mm F2.8 ASPH

 

[Pioneer]

I wish I could be as certain as you guys seem to be. I really want this to work but for this to work I will need as much flexibility as I can get. This will take some thought.

 

[Pioneer]

Dear Diary;
The exercise has begun. One year from today we will know if it has been worth all the hoorah!

The camera, a Leica M-A is loaded with a short roll of Arista EDU Ultra (AEU) 400, and the little Color Skopar 35/2.5 lens is cleaned and ready for action. For the next 360+ days this combo will be my daily carry.

I anticipate that the next couple of weeks will be a bit boring for others, since my initial photography will be aimed at running the film through the various tests needed to help me determine what I can expect in the beginning stages. So, film speed clarification, developer and agitation testing. Not too exciting for people watching this post but quite necessary for me.

Now that I am finally started I am actually looking forward to this. This elimination of unnecessary distraction is exactly what I need in order to focus in on my photography. I know reducing everything to one camera, lens and film may seem a bit over the top to a lot of you but for me it allows me to focus my attention on the photograph itself.

Anyhow, more to come but not too many pictures for starters. A lot of thought has gone into getting to the starting blocks but now that I am beginning to realize that this is going to be fun and challenging.

 

[Doug]

Looking forward to seeing how you deal with this challenge. 🙂

 

[leicapixie]

I have many cameras, many donations or for very little!
I find all film cameras are basically same.
I need tokeep exercised so use different one's all the time!
It's not like 500pages of menus on Digital.. sigh.
I am about to try "Stand Development" to soften variables..

 

[Pioneer]

I have many cameras, many donations or for very little!
I find all film cameras are basically same.
I need tokeep exercised so use different one's all the time!
It's not like 500pages of menus on Digital.. sigh.
I am about to try "Stand Development" to soften variables..

I understand completely. I have a pretty large number of cameras and lenses with shutters myself. I have already established a routine of exercising shutters every quarter myself.

Usually I am focused on leaf shutters when I do this but I have several old zeiss Ikon Contax cameras (my first rangefinder love) which I have found have become pretty inaccurate due to inactivity. So I will be spending some extra time working with those shutters trying to bring them back to life. If I can't I will be forced to send them out for service and a couple of them are old enough that finding someone who will service them is a challenge.

 

[Pioneer]

Dear Diary:
The first film has gone into the soup. I have started with Rodinal which I will stay with for awhile. Lots of various dilutions to explore. But I will be moving on to other developers as time progresses. After all, I have an entire year to play with various concoctions. 😀

 

[agentlossing]

Dear Diary:
The first film has gone into the soup. I have started with Rodinal which I will stay with for awhile. Lots of various dilutions to explore. But I will be moving on to other developers as time progresses. After all, I have an entire year to play with various concoctions. 😀

Rodinal can have several different personalities with different methods. Right now I'm very partial to 1:25 and about 7.5 minutes, specifically with Foma films. 1 minute initial agitation and then 10 sec every minute. It brings a lot of crispness out of Foma 200, which can look a bit muted and drab with some development methods.

 

[konicaman]

Been there, done that - 40 years ago when I only had my Konica T3 and a 52/1.8. Sure got to know that lens 😀 I am tempted to try again, but I doubt that I have the discipline...

 

[oldwino]

Dear Diary:
The first film has gone into the soup. I have started with Rodinal which I will stay with for awhile. Lots of various dilutions to explore. But I will be moving on to other developers as time progresses. After all, I have an entire year to play with various concoctions. 😀

I do hope we get to see some results!

 

[Pioneer]

I do hope we get to see some results!

Certainly. Still going on this but have not yet had the opportunity to get the developed film scanned. Lots going on in this little household. Refrigerators dying, coolers to be serviced, granddaughter moving for college.

I am not really complaining because it is nice to be needed but it seems that when you are retired you become everybody's handyman. 😀

But I am carrying the camera with me.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

I'll be eager to see your results, and to read how it feels to carry through a project like this. For myself, I don't know whether it would be a challenge or a relief. Maybe both!
Best of luck!

 

[Pioneer]

Dear Diary:
I have been a bit delayed in getting some results posted but it appears things are settling down for a bit. I will start working at getting some film scanned during this week coming up. I hope to get some contact prints of each roll made before scanning so I don't waste a lot of time scanning negatives that aren't worth wasting too much time on.

In the past I have hung a small 7 watt light bulb inside a housing in the bathroom that also allows me to use contrast filters if I want. Unfortunately over the 4th while family was visiting one of the grandkids knocked the housing off the shelf so it needs a bit of repair. I'll get that done today and then get some fresh d-72 mixed up so I can do some printing.

Good lord willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be getting some things posted here soon.

 

[Pioneer]

Dear Diary;

Time to update again.

It is day #26 since I started this project and I am beginning to get more used to the 35mm focal length. I can't say I am particularly fond of it yet. But, one month, more or less, does not make a year so I will continue to push on. I will either figure out what a 35mm lens is good for by the time I'm done with this exercise or I will be throwing the damn thing out the car window at 75 mph on July 1, 2022. I have shot 16 rolls in my camera and have scanned 7 of them. Attached is the first "contact sheet" and I have to say that I am not terribly impressed with the results from the first several rolls.

I will continue to look through my results and I will post the contact sheets over the next few days but so far nothing has popped up that I am interested in printing. I guess, according to the rules of the game, I am supposed to pick something to print at least once every week but that may be tough to do.

It is starting to get easier to stay with it. In the beginning I was always pulling a 50 or a 90mm lens out of the drawer and lovingly fondling it. It was tough to resist putting one on the camera. Or picking up another camera. A couple of times I have actually loaded film in another camera and then pulled it back out. However I think my normal stubbornness is starting to kick in now because lately I haven't looked at another lens or camera for about a week.

These contact sheets are generated digitally through photoshop but I am slowly getting my bathroom darkroom set back up (we had visitors for awhile who were using the spare bathroom) and as soon as I can I'll start printing actual contact sheets. I've never tried posting contact sheets so I'm not sure this is going to work out. But, you never know until you try.

 

[Cyriljay]

Dear diary,
Since I am using my Leica m8. I am using 35mm (= 50mm ) only on this camera. That is one of my favourite out of there lenses fo my other Leica cameras. On my 35mm cameras I use only three lenses and they are from 50mm- to 35mm- to 90mm.
My medium format has a zoom and limited three lenses and it is a general photography choice.