Autumn in Sutton Bridge with the Hanimex Automatic MC 1:2.8 35mm

Another cheap lens with a poor reputation on the internet.

The Hanimex Automatic MC 1:2.8 35mm is apparently a cheap and rebranded bag of crap that you could pick up from Argos when people were wearing big hair and shoulder pads.

I can't quite remember when I got this lens. I can think of 2 possible times both easily 6-7 years ago and it has sat in a cupboard ever since. But put it this way, both possible times were bulk buys of camera and lenses so this lens cost me around 50p at a guess. It can happily sit in the cupboard.

But 2022 was the year for the Hanimex 35mm lens. Out it come, pretty much looking brand new apart from a loose manual focus ring and by that I mean the grip is loose; it focuses perfectly fine.

Another head clearing bit of exercise out in the cold and grey of Autumn/Winter in Lincolnshire; a little village photowalk with my headphones on just shooting what I see.

So leaves, leaves and more leaves.

The lens wasn't as bad as what I thought it would be; it's not super sharp in the middle and the corners are smudgy but just don't put the subject in the corner and it will be fine.

Shoot close and you can soon get out of focus backgrounds too.

Happy.

A month with the Pentax Q10. The smallest interchangeable lens camera ever made.

Now I'm a self confessed camera geek!

I see a camera and I think "I want that!"

And more often not it's not even a good camera, I've got good cameras I don't need anymore (as of yet), so it usually ends up being some quirky thing that just looks like fun.

I'd seen the Pentax Q range before and thought it looked cool.

Early March, I was watching a Youtube video and see a Pentax Q on the shelf and that was it, the eBay search begun.

These cameras and lenses are not cheap!

Yeah they're not extortionate but after all they are over 10 years old and they're not great either.

So let's just say they hold their money well.

I didn't know what to expect when mine arrived in the post.

This little bad boy is tiny! I haven't got massive hands at all but the camera and  lens fits easily in the palm of my hand.

So what can you expect from such a small camera?

Autofocus; Yeah it's got autofocus but it's not going to set any records. In fact make sure you've got plenty of time.

Battery; the battery is tiny so therefore the battery life is awful!

Image quality; nothing special. I think I'm right in saying that a modern mobile like an iPhone has a similar sized or  even a larger sensor. So you could be better off just getting your phone out to take a photo.

The rear screen; oh god it's bad, good luck with seeing anything in the daylight. I did try turning the brightness up which did work a bit but that drains the battery even quicker.

But!

Did I mention that this camera is cool already?

It's a challenge. 

It's tiny!

With the Pentax Q10 body I purchased 2 lenses; SMC Pentax-Q 02 Standard Zoom 5-15mm F2.8-4.5 & Pentax Q 15-45mm f/2.8 06 Telephoto Zoom.

The 02 standard lens combined with the small sensor; image quality is terrible, I've only used it twice starting with a photo walk in the park.

Shooting the flowers; pointing the camera towards the sun with a crap autofocus and a rubbish rear screen was a little trial & error. And because these were some of the 1st photos taken with the camera I didn't know how the images were going to stand up with regards to highlight and shadow detail. So I erred on the side of caution and went for a darker look.

The next time I used the 02 standard lens was during some street photography in Wisbech.

I used to shoot a lot of street photography in Wisbech and it was great to be back again documenting local life; the good, the bad & the ugly.

It was like a trail of bread leading me to a photo opportunity.

I love a bit of lens flare and the 02 standard lens flares like mad.

As always it was a difficulty composing using the rear screen and getting the focus right.

The next challenge; the Pentax Q10 is no athlete. When you press the shutter button there's a delay whilst it thinks about it. So I admit that shooting people I'm using the continues shooting mode hoping that one of the images will capture the people before they disappear.

And usually I've pre focused because I haven't got time to wait for the camera to try and do that again!

All of the below images are taken with the 06 telephoto zoom.

The image quality is better than the 02 but don't go zooming in and pixel peeping because it's not that great.

Being more than a little rusty at street photography, I'm not so confident at getting up in peoples faces anymore. So using a zoom lens has been a nice easy way of getting back into it. 

Plus I'm usually pushing Florence in a stroller so I can stand a little further back with her and stay as inconspicuous as possible.

Street photography in Spalding; playing with light and documenting details.

So let's see where my journey with the Pentax Q10 leads.

Until next time.

Thanks for reading and keep shooting.

Tweet Share

A return to the mean streets of Sunny Hunny

It’s been almost 1 whole year to the day since I last wrote this blog.

A lot changes in a year.

The past 12 months have been crazy busy for me.

Busy’s good. Busy means money, busy means mortgage payments. Adult, grown up stuff, tick. ✔️

Photography for fun?

Photography for the love of the hobby?

That’s a fail. ✖️

No street photography, no urbex.

But all that changed a couple of weeks ago when I had a free Friday. Laura and Charlie were on a play date at Farmer Freds in Heacham. So I had a walk round Sunny Hunny on the hunt for some street photography action.

Recently at the Photography Show, I purchased the Sigma 35mm Art lens. A buy I’ve been considering for a while now, so the credit card took a beating.

Sigma lenses come with that nagging feeling of slightly off focus. So I wanted to get some real world usage in before I make any adjustments.

So far I think it’s spot on, though perhaps infinity could do with a little fine tuning, I need to get in the habit of photographing far away things but where’s the fun in that?

It’s all about getting in close for that killer shot.

Being very rusty at the art of street photography and carrying around a big full frame DSLR with abig lens on the front of it, instead of a smaller Fujifilm model that’s just not so in your face, it was was quite the exercise getting close.

People were definitely aware of the big camera.

That’s not a bad thing, I really focused on capturing that moment when they spotted me.

I sat perched on a step for at least a minute with the camera glued to my face just waiting for him to look at me but alas he didn’t. 

Maybe I need a bigger camera so I’m even more obvious!?

If there’s ever the possibility of getting a bin shot then I’m always game.

Now I waited for ages for him to look my way but it never happened, I’m sure he clocked me in the corner of his eye and just plain refused to have a look.

Walking along the promenade with the mind to wrap up and go home, someone shouted to me “you can take a picture of me if you like”.

Frank, I’m sure it was Frank, forgive me Frank if it isn’t Frank, loves taking photos himself and loves to watch the world go by.

This couple of hours spent just walking around and enjoying my favourite hobby was fantastic.

I really need to do it again.

I just don’t know when.

And here’s a photo of Laura to finish with.

I don’t think she wanted to drive!

Same place. Different person. Wisbech.

If you stand in one spot and wait, things will eventually happen. 

Just pre focus, set the exposure and wait. 

And if your really lucky, well not that lucky because the majority did, people will look at you and give you that 'ugh!?' face.

Half Frame, Lots of Frames

So, when its -1'c outside and I'm sat in my dressing gown, I am not going outside to look at the camera.

Ill just say, I'm not sure what model it is because I've look at loads of google images and wikipedia comparing to pictures on my Instagram and I can't find a camera that look s the same as mine; they all have different shutter buttons.

So mine looks like a PEN EE but has the shutter button of a PEN EE.S. If I braved the cold and gave the neighbours a fright id be able to figure it out, I'm sure by the maximum aperture. But right now I'm happy with just not knowing.  Stay warm!

Either way the camera comes from sometime between 1961 & 1981. It's half frame, fixed focus & fully automatic, meaning it does what it does when you point it at things.

I picked it up for something like a £1 from the Sunday market. At 1st I wasn't interested until I opened it and noticed that the frame mask was tiny and in my head alarm bells rang with a 'its a half frame camera, get it, shoot loads of exposures'

This half frame camera, shoots twice the amount of exposures on a roll of 35mm film. so 72 shots on a 36 roll etc.

But the negatives are small. So don't expect detail and large prints.

Ive only shot 1 roll, not including the few shots that were left on the roll in the camera when I purchased it. A lot of that roll was ruined when I opened the back of the camera not knowing there was a film in it. But who buys an old camera without checking it 1st.

The camera joined us on a weekend away in Norwich, December 2016, a roll of Fujicolor C200 in tow.

Point and shoot.

And sometimes you scratch your head and wonder how so much dust got on only 1 or 2 frames of the whole roll.

I like Anglia Square in Norwich. It's like the place that Norwich forgot. Once the big shopping centres were built there's no real reason to go there and so either shops sit empty or are used by discount chains but who doesn't like Poundland??

Theres a massive vacant office building, trust me I've looked round it for a way in, which is absolutely covered in graffiti.

A perfect subject to capture via a 20+ frame stitched image;