Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Now, to load up the '76 VW pop top and head into > the hills for the day! October 12, 1996 Today was a good day to test drive my "new eyes." I have been through a series of surgeries in 1996. Tests at my optometrist's office revealed my corrected eyesight to be 20/15. Not bad at all for someone who was legally blind in January, and a real tribute to the surgeon. However, eyesight under ideal lighting and eyesight in the field under bright or uneven light may be entirely different. Today was the day to find out. I loaded the 1976 VW pop top with a tripod, a monopod, an *N* (the Nikon word) F4s, M6 and a very understanding wife. We drove first to the Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal . . . Anglican to those readers outside the United States) in San Gabriel. Near the front door is a bronze statue of General George Patton, "A Son of the Parish." In the church parking lot there are gingko trees in full yellow/pink flowers. The San Gabriel Mountains hang in the background. However, this *is* a parking lot and it is full of automobiles parked in the shade of the gingko trees. The Church of Our Saviour is a good location, but better Sunday morning before church. Off to the Angeles Crest Highway and out of the San Gabriel Valley. The lower slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains are sun blasted and dry. Weekends are made for sports car drivers and motorcyclists on the Angeles Crest. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputies patrol the road in four wheel drive vehicles. It is not a quiet country road, and you cannot stop to take a photograph without a great deal of care. We left the Los Angeles smog behind at three thousand feet. The yucca spikes are dead and dry now. There are bright yellow flowers, relatives of the mustard weed, sprinkled here and there on the sides of the mountain. Mixed with the yellow flowers are white puff ball seed clusters. Sometimes the flowers are next to straw dry red flowers. I think the combination looks good. We found a safe place to park and photograph near the fork leading to Mt. Wilson (right) and the Antelope Valley (left). I used two lenses with the M6. They were the 35mm Summilux 1.4 and the 90mm Elmarit-M 2.8. The film was Agfa HDC 100 (color print). I photographed the bright yellow flowers, pine cones covered with sticky amber resin hanging in clusters against a blue sky, and a frost cracked granite rock with interesting shadows and tall bone dry grass. It was bright. The flowers, with the lens nearly wide open, required a shutter speed of 1000. The pine cones F16 at 250. The rock, about F8 at 1000. As the saying goes, "Your mileage may vary." I dropped the film off on the way home. It should be ready Tuesday. Sunday morning, early, back to the Church of Our Saviour and the pink flowered gingko trees. Perhaps a shot or two of the San Gabriel Mission at dawn. I never did use the Nikon. The black and white film went unused. I enjoyed the drive and the challenge. As far as I can tell my eyes and the M6 were sharp. I'll know Tuesday! My lovely wife has suggested a trip to Death Valley later this month . . . camping under the stars and dawn over the desert. What a great idea! Glenn -- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Glenn Wm. Thrall gthrall@ix.netcom.com Southern California "Here Phaethon lies: in Phoebus' car he fared, And though he greatly failed, more greatly dared." Ovid. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++