Mechanical

Unlike my Minolta XD-11 SLR, my Fuji X-T3 MILC has few mechanical parts.

Dad bought his first camera, an Asahi Optical Co. Pentax Spotmatic II SLR, circa 1973, when I was a kid. Dad was still a junior manager at Barclays Bank at that time. He was raising a family, so I expect that the camera was a luxury purchase, especially given how high import taxes were (are) in the Caribbean. I don’t know that he enjoyed photography as much as I do, but I remember he brought that camera on my family adventures. Dad took many photos on family vacations or when he drove us around the islands1, up into the mountains or to a remote beach. I wish I had some of his photographs to share2. I know what it's like to be a new parent and wanting to capture every moment of your child's early life. I don’t have the memories, but I imagine Dad running around behind me or my younger brothers (or maybe Mom) taking photos of us playing on the beach in Bequia or riding our bikes for the first time. I'm sure my mom has those photos hidden away somewhere.

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II + SMC Takumar 50mm F:1.4
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II + SMC Takumar 50mm F:1.4 | Friday 21 December 2012 | Nikon D40 | 18-55 mm f/3.5-5.6

Dad passed away in April 2019, a few years after he gifted me his Pentax and his only lens, an SMC Takumar 50mm F:1.4. Dad most likely kept the camera in a damp basement. The Pentax is in good mechanical shape, but the pentaprism and lens are occluded with fungus. But old things have significance beyond mere utility value. This camera is a memento of Dad. I keep the camera on a window sill behind my computer. I keep it clean and dust-free.

Some of the greatest classic cameras of all time have been mechanical SLRs. These cameras were built like tanks with minimal electronics. At 681g, the Spotmatic II is about 142g heavier than my Fuji X-T3. The camera's operation is entirely mechanical except for a spot metering system (hence the Spotmatic name). Aperture and focus are set manually on the SMC Takumar 50mm F:1.4, while shutter speed and film ISO are set on the camera body. The photographer chooses the aperture and shutter speed and the spot meter provides feedback on whether the exposure is correct. The lenses use the very popular M42 screw mount.

In 2020 on the 2020 commemoration of Dad’s passing I bought a silver bodied Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II. I don’t recall if it was from eBay or Etsy but this one worked and I exposed a few rolls of 35mm film.

Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II + SMC Takumar 55mm F:2
Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II + SMC Takumar 55mm F:2 | Tuesday 14 April 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

In order for auto exposure to work, the Spotmiac has to know which aperture is selected on the lens before it can calculate an appropriate shutter speed. Some camera companies used a mechanical linkage between the lens and the camera that would communicate which aperture was selected on the lens. The problem with the mechanical linkage was that the position of the linkages needs to be exactly the same each and every time. The camera has to know exactly where the position of the linkage is to get an accurate idea of which aperture is selected. Since all Pentax cameras up until this point had used screw mount lenses, there was no easy way to mechanically link the lens to the camera as there would be slight variances in rotation between different lenses.

Asahi Pentax ES II
Asahi Pentax ESII | Thursday 5 November 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF27mmF2.8

Then after that, I bought a Pentax ES (Electro Spotmatic) II and a few more prime lenses. The Pentax ElectroSpotmatic (ES) II was the most advanced camera in the Spotmatic family. This is an extremely well-built camera with excellent ergonomics. It also featured a dual electronic/mechanical shutter that would fire electronically in Auto mode, but would also have a limited number of manual speeds that would work without a battery. The electronic shutter was stepped less from 1 second all the way to a maximum of 1/1000 second.

Minolta X-700 + MD Rokkor-X 45mm F:2
Minolta X-700 + MD Rokkor-X 45mm F:2 | Thursday 8 October 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF27mmF2.8

I was bitten by the mechanical 35mm camera gear acquisition syndrome (GAS) and soon bought another 35mm Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, a Minolta X-700 which I found via Facebook Marketplace. The Minolta X-700 is a mechanical camera that uses the Minolta Bayonet SR Mount which came in two variations, the MC and MD. The previous owner was retiring and moving to Florida to be near her grandchildren. For $70 I had the camera, an MD Rokkor 50mm f/1.7 lens, a Minolta Auto 132FX Speedlight, a Minolta 20 Speedlight, and a JC Penny Multi-Coated Optics 80-200m f/4.5, and an expired roll of Kodak 800. I enthusiastically enjoyed using the Minolta X-700. On the first weekend after purchasing the camera I exposed two rolls of 35mm film one day at the beach.

Minolta X-700 + MD Rokkor-X 45mm F:2, MD Rokkor-X 50mm F:1.7
Minolta X-700 + MD Rokkor-X 45mm F:2, MD Rokkor-X 50mm F:1.7 | Thursday 12 November 2020 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

The GAS increased and so did my love for classic Minolta 35mm SLR cameras and lenses. Near the end of 2020, I sold my Spotmatic II and ES II and all my Takumar lenses (except for the 50mm) and soon I was in possession of a work of art, a black XD-11 (of course) body.

Minolta XD-11 + MD Rokkor-X 45mm F:2
Minolta XD-11 + MD Rokkor-X 45mm F:2 | Friday 1 January 2021 | FujiFilm X-T2 | XF16-55mmF2.8 R LM WR

The Minolta XD-11 was produced from 1977 to 1984 in collaboration with Ernst Leitz of Germany, the company that makes the highly valued Leica cameras. The first product of this joint cooperation was the Leica CL and Minolta CL. The Minolta CL and Leica CL are essentially the same cameras with different labels and prices. Leica sold about 35,000 Leica CL units in the first year. The story is that Leitz was unhappy with Minoltas success and was reluctant to work further with Minolta. However, Leitz later relesed the R4 which was also built in collaboration with Minolta. Minolta brought the XD-11 to market by themselves. It was the first SLR camera to offer both aperture and shutter-priority auto exposure, plus manual control. It has classic styling, excellent ergonomics and performance. I love my Fuji X-T3 but I wish it looked more like the XD-11.


  1. We moved around while Dad climbed the corporate ladder. We moved around the British West Indies quite a bit. We lived in St. Vincent, Bequia, St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Kitts. 
  2. I need to chat with my mother about that. 

Light and Shadow in Asbury Park

A few weeks ago, on a late Sunday afternoon in late April, Bhavna and I took a long walk on the Asbury Park boardwalk. I learned that day that Bhavna had only visited Asbury Park once before, and that visit was with Shaan and me. Let me put that into perspective. I am two years older than Bhavna. We’re both immigrants. Since she was six years old, she has lived in New Jersey. Her family emigrated from Gujarat, India. I have lived in various states, including New York, Georgia, and Michigan, since I emigrated from the West Indies in 1986. I moved from Michigan to New Jersey in 1994. In that short time, I have visited more places in New Jersey than Bhavna has since she started living here. It seems her family was not the adventurous type.

We arrived at the Asbury Park Convention Hall around 2 PM. I noted that the sun was on the western side of the boardwalk. I took a lot of photographs that afternoon, photographing whatever appealed to my eye. Later, while looking at the pictures on the Mac Studio, a pattern emerged; people sitting, people walking dogs and bicycles.

24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

Dog ownership must be a thing in Asbury Park. I don’t know why. We saw little dogs and big dogs. Short hair dogs and shaggy-haired dogs. Dogs! One of the local bars, the Wonder Bar, has a yappy hour. The outdoor space was packed with dogs and their owners when we walked by.

24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

The following Saturday, I returned to Asbury Park with a group of photographers. We were students of photographer Freddy Clark for the "Down the Shore" in Asbury Park workshop by Princeton Photo Workshop. We explored subjects on the boardwalk but also around downtown Asbury Park. During the workshop, Freddy provided some history of Asbury Park. I had no specific plan for what I would photograph, but I tried to avoid benches, dogs and bicycles. I failed.

30 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
Asbury Park Casino
30 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

This week’s Lens-Artist Photo Challenge brings up the topic of light and shadow. I scrolled through some of the photographs from the two Asbury Park trips, looking for examples that worked for this challenge. These images were processed in Adobe Lightroom from the original RAF image. The default (standard) mode on the Fuji X-T3 is PROVIA film simulation, but I prefer CLASSIC CHROME for street photography. I originally intended to post-process these are colour images, but the topic of light and shadow pushed my mind toward choosing to edit in black and white. I switched to the ACROS+G profile in Adobe Lightroom and used that as a base for all the images.

30 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

In this image, I was hoping to photograph this restaurant with two people chatting on the bench for scale and to add a bit of story. The lines and shapes and the shadows had caught my eye. However, as I composed my photograph, a third person sat down. I increased the exposure and shadow sliders in Adobe Lightroom to reduce the shadows around the people. I then used an inverted subject mask to adjust the exposure and shadows to my liking. I then cropped out a distracting trash can on the right and reduced some of the sky's dead space.

24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

I like how the shadow on the boardwalk leads the eye toward the back of the image. I like the contrast between the bright clothing of the children playing and the darker clothing of the two people walking toward the camera. This was processed similarly to the one above. I cropped in from the right. This one does not follow the rule of thirds.

24 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

I love the look of joy on her face. She’s looking down, almost as though she is chasing her shadow.

30 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

Duke Farms in Thirds

[Duke Farms] was opened to the public on May 19, 2012, and has been among my favourite spots for photography for many years. Located in Hillsborough Township New Jersey the Duke Farms estate was created by an American entrepreneur James Buchanan Duke who founded Duke Power and the American Tobacco Company. After the passing of James' daughter, Doris, the property was put under the management of the Doris Duke Foundation.

I have walked the property independently and with a group of photographers. In January, I exposed a roll of Eastman Kodak Double-X 5222 black and white film at Duke Farms, which I mailed off to Boutique Film Labs to be developed in February. The negatives were returned in March, so I still had Duke Farms on my mind in April when the weather improved. The weather forecast called for partially cloudy but sunny dies with crisp cool air temperature for the upcoming Saturday. During the early days of the global pandemic, when residents were desperate for outdoor spaces to fend off the prison feelings from the lockdown, the park would fill with people. This created social distancing issues. Duke Farms implemented a pre-registration process for parking and to limit the number of people on the property at any one time. I suggested to Bhavna that we get one of the free parking passes and go for a walk around the property.

According to Wikipedia.

Starting in 1893, "Buck" Duke started to buy land next to the Raritan River in rural New Jersey. His vision was to create a farm similar to those in North Carolina where he had grown up. He engaged a number of architects and engineers to fulfil his dream, including Buckenham & Miller, James Leal Greenleaf and Elizabeth Biddle Shipman. Eventually, he had assembled about 2,700 acres (11 km²) of farm and woodlands that contained 45 buildings, 9 lakes, 18 miles of roads, 810 acres of woodlands, 464 acres of grassland bird habitat and 1.5 miles of stone walls.

Duke died in 1925, and his 12-year-old daughter, Doris Duke, gained control of the property after suing her mother, who had wanted to sell it. She restored it and moved in at the age of fifteen. She was very invested in the property and made it her main residence. She incorporated innovative ecological farming methods she learned from Louis Bromfield's Malabar Farm. Starting in 1958 she created and designed over a five-year period a unique botanical display in the Horace Trumbauer conservatory and greenhouses known as Duke Gardens. Duke Gardens opened to the public in 1964. Doris Duke died in 1993.

23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

When we arrived, the parking lot was nearly full. We were not the only ones who thought a walk in the park was a great idea. When I described Duke Farms to Bhavna, I learned that she had never visited the property. There are so many small and large trails on the property that I didn't know if I should take Bhavna along the routes I have previously walked or do something new. I opted for something new. We walked around the larger outer loop.

23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

The Coach Barn clock tower has rustic walls made from fieldstone cut from local quarries. This building was completed in 1903. The Coach Barn contained stables for horses on one end and office space for J.B. Duke and the estate manager on the other end. On the second floor was an apartment used by a carriage coachman but, in modern times, an automobile chauffeur.

23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

One of my favourite spots on the property is the Orchid Range, designed by Boston architects Kendall Taylor & Stevens. The indoor Tropical Orchid Garden is filled with a wide variety of orchid species from tropical regions, along with some of the magnificent orchids that have been cultivated at Duke Farms throughout its history. It's easily the most popular attraction on the property, and it can get quite crowded. I have spent hours photographing the orchids. We didn't visit the orchids on this trip.

23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

This week the Lens-Artists Challenge challenge is focused on the so-called "Rule of Thirds", a rule that Tina and Pablo Picasso agree is meant to be broken. Tina provides an easy-to-understand description of the rule of thirds.

Basically, the rule is a compositional guideline that encourages placement of your primary subject on at least part of three equal rows and three equal columns, as illustrated below.

I have nothing to add to Tina's description. While generally, I follow the rule of thirds, I often break the rule when I feel that the composition will have more impact. Sometimes, I crop the photographs in post-processing to improve the composition. I'm not sure all of the pictures I included from our walk follow the rule of thirds. Below are three examples showing the original SOOC JPEG image and the crop that I think closely aligns with the rule of thirds.

Original | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
Edited | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

I had learned about composition and the rule of thirds in my college 35mm film photography course. Still, after decades of family photography with 35mm film and digital point-n-shoot cameras, I had lost this knowledge. A few years after I bought my first DSLR in 2006, wishing to regain lost ability and improve my skills, I attended a course on composition with photographer Frank Veronsky. Frank helped me regain that which was lost.

I was drawn to the couple on the park bench in the photograph above. The trees frame them, and the green of the grass is duplicated in the man's shirt. In the original picture, there are some extraneous branches in the upper right corner that I found distracting, and the positioning of the bench in the frame felt a bit off. With a little bit of cropping, the couple is moved to where the eye naturally falls, and the distracting branch is no longer in the frame.

Original | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
Edited | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

I wanted to capture the sense of walking, so I composed keeping in mind the leading lines of the paved pathway and following the rules of thirds. I think I included too many of the tree branches on the right in the original photograph. With a tighter crop on the right and the top, I think I have a stronger image that still adheres to leading lines and the rule of thirds concepts.

Original | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
Edited | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

In the original image above, the space of the grass is a prominent feature. In the edit, the focus is on the sky and the colourful treeline. I think it makes for a more interesting composition.

Original | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR
Edited | 23 April, 2022 | FujiFilm X-T3 | XF27mmF2.8 R WR

I included the family walking on the path in the original image to give the composition a sense of scale. The cropped edit is more balance and aligns with the rule of thirds, but I think the photograph has lost the sense of scale. This is one situation where I feel I must ignore the rule of thirds to achieve the original vision.

What are your thoughts? How do you focus (pun intended) on photography concepts when making images? When do you ignore the rules and follow your feelings?