Sputnik Success

[Brian Reynolds <reynolds@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'm back from a week long vacation in Massachusetts, Vermont, New
Hampshire and upstate New York.  I brought along a whole collection of
cameras and astronomical instruments.  I wound up using my Speed
Graphic and Yashicamat (which is showing some problems) for non-stereo
work and the Sputnik for some stereo pictures of a sheep dog demo at
the Dutchess County (New York) Sheep & Wool Festival and the
flightline at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome.  My K1000 came along as
ballast.  (Actually I was going to do some astrophotography with it,
but used the Yashicamat instead.)

I hadn't had time to modify my Sputnik before the trip but things
still went better than previous attempts.  I think I just work better
when the camera is on a tripod and I have to stop and think about what
I'm doing.

Because I was shooting into the Sun on a clear sunny day, none of the
sheep dog shots are any good.  There is an incredible amount of flare
and a light leak on the left (I think) top of the camera.  I've gotten
a couple of PVC caps and will be building lens shades soon.  I'm also
going to flock the interior and add yarn to the light trap.  Does
anyone want to recommend a glue for doing this?

I tried using my ground glass loupe to focus on the ground spot in the
view finder of the Sputnik, but it didn't really help.  I wound up
setting the aperture to f/16 (or f/22) and focusing on the hyperfocal
distance.  The view finders on my Lubitels are much better than the
Sputnik's.

The Aerodrome pictures turned out pretty good.  After I mount them I
have to check them against a pair I took of their Sopwith Camel on an
earlier trip.  The Camel pair is really sharp (although almost nothing
else from that trip is), and I want to see if hyperfocal focusing is
that different.  Focusing the Sputnik is pretty random.

My antiquing find of the trip was a pair of Linhof Prontor
Professional shutters (with the aperture and time setting devices) for
$20 each in an antique shop in Chester, Vermont.  They didn't have the
retaining rings, but at that price I wasn't going to haggle.  :) I'm
going to talk to Steve Grimes about having him make some rings and
mounting a couple of barrel lenses on these shutters.  Anyone want to
recommend barrel lenses I should be on the look out for?  I have to
measure the shutters to verify their sizes.

-- 
Brian Reynolds                  | "Dee Dee!  Don't touch that button!"
reynolds@xxxxxxxxx              | "Oooh!"
http://www.panix.com/~reynolds  |    -- Dexter and Dee Dee
NAR# 54438                      |       "Dexter's Laboratory"