Tuesday, June 11, 2024

A 1954 Canon Rangefinder Camera and 50mm f1.8 Lens : Street Photography with Wide Lens Opening

 


I like using vintage cameras that are known to be eccentrically engineered or have original lenses that are average, at best. And the reason is simple – I believe that such cameras bring the best in a photographer in thinking about how to bypass these limiting factors and plan for a shot that sometimes can envy the most celebrated photographic tools of the 1940's and 1950's.

Of course, the ultimate result, or at least the final one, is decided in the darkroom, first in experimenting with the development time of the negative strip, then under a vintage enlarger that is just a lens, enlarging glass and a 40 watt light bulb.

… So, this weekend I decided to take my 1954 Canon rangefinder Model L3 to a gathering on the city square of Prescott, AZ where artists and territorial days’ cowboy reenactors allowed the public to know more about the past and present characters of Prescott.

First, about the camera which I have owned and used for decades.

The Model L3 is a simplified version of Canon rangefinders of the 1940's and 1950's. These were the golden years of rangefinder cameras and Leica was the undisputed favorite of professional and advanced amateurs of the days. And for all the good reasons, pushing Soviet, Japanese and to a lesser extend American companies try to get a slice of the market. It was all rangefinder then, till Nikon, in the misd-1960s, came out with the venerable Nikon F and established the dominant superiority of the SLR as the most versatile professional camera.

Yet, in the 1950s, Canon had introduced many advanced features to its rangefinders that Leica did not have. These included incorporating selectable viewfinders thus minimizing the need to use various external viewfinders for the most commonly used focal length lenses; loading the film by opening the back of the camera rather than struggling with the “bottom feeding” of Leicas, and having a single viewing viewfinder instead of the two step viewing-focusing and framing of the Leica models.

But, no competitor of Leica was able to “design” that poetry of holding a rangefinder that worked like a Swiss watch, sounded like the first morning breeze of a July day, and had the ergonometric of a heirloom piece of jewelry.

To make the point, here are my Canon Model L3 and Leica IIIF Red Dial, both from 1954. I sometimes called the Leica around my neck akin to a “male necklace”, and the Canon an unassuming and totally reliable photo maker.




Ok, so my experiment this week end was to use the magnificent Canon 50mm f1.8 lens at wide aperture, hence as high speeds during the high noon sun of the desert. This, I had never done before since I favor using the Sunny 16(1) rule for quick shots – leave the speed at 1/125th of a second for ASA 100 film, and shoot either at f11 or f16 for rapid follow ups. My experiment was to shoot at 1/250th and 1/500th second in bright sun by opening the lens diaphragm wider and exploring what effect the lens would have on the background. And to try f4 at those speeds if I could find shady spots.

To do this, I needed to rely on a light meter. So, I took a 1940's Kodalux (by Kodak, of course) cold shoe mounting selenium light meter out of retirement to see if it was still able to react to light appropriately.  Here is that vintage light meter:

 


 

Pictures

 

The Nordic vessel

 

The photo atop the page is about an art kiosk where the artist had displayed his woodwork using fallen wood in the desert. Branches from indigenous Arizona desert trees made most of what was displayed. The main work was in oiling, polishing the natural shape of the wood as the artist found them.

As I worked around the kiosk, at a certain angle, I could see a Medieval, almost Nordic sea faring vessel. To blur or minimize the background and enhance my vision of the “vessel”, I decided upon a shutter speed of 1/500th second and a lens aperture of f4.

As I was about to press the shutter, the artist came out of the kiosk, leaned against the tree trunk, and spoke to a visitor.

I took one photo before he moved, and I like the result – he looks like the captain at the bow, cutting through the water!

 

Yavapai county Fallen Officers memorial

 



This is a memorial that depicts an 1890’s law officer looking down at the empty boots of his partner who lost his life in the line of duty. It is a solemn corner of the courthouse front where many stop and hang their heads.

I saw two reenactors walk toward the memorial and I wanted to make this photo an o\”old fashion” one. I took it at 1/500th shutter speed and f8. The Canon lens captured the transition of shades perfectly, and I was able to get the man and woman holding the white umbrella think respectfully about the memorial and what it represents.

 

The cowboy bar without cowboys




During the art show, there was a reconstruction of the 1890’s cowboy bar to be used as a setting for visitors to dress in the period’s clothing and pose for old time photos. No one was there yet and the tall tree provided plenty of shade for me to try the maximum aperture of the lens.

So, I finally tested the f1.8 under the high noon dessert! Well, it was really shady actually, but for the decades I have owned this lens, I always used the f1.8 indoors, with minimum light, at 1/30th speed.

I will try to find more moments like this as the atmosphere given by this 1954 lens is delightful.

 

… When I took these photos out of the fixer bath tray and hung them to dry, I was thinking:

after decades of using the Canon rangefinder, it sure was time to test the camera beyond the Sunny 16 rule framework!”

 

 

Reference link

(1)  https://liveingray.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-sunny-16-rule-in-b-street.html

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