[Leica] Don's PAW 21, adventures in antique camera's

[dorysrus at mindspring.com (Don Dory)]

It has been a while since I dug up some of my older lenses so it was
time to break out the IIIF and an old Canon 28 F3.5.  It is marked EP so
I assume it dates around 1951 as it has a pretty low serial number.

The first image was taken while I was waiting for some new tires on my
daughter's car.  Next to the tire place was a dealer for high end
pianos.  The graphic was not to be missed so the below is the result.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/On-the-road/grandpianoEnglandNTB2004

The second image is a result of my just walking around the neighborhood.
Near my house is a line of prewar bungalows that have been added on to
through the years, typically adding rooms in the attic.  Home values
have gone up enough that people are now buying the bungalows for 300K to
400K then bulldozing the old house down and building something new.
What caught my eye on this house is the double wall basement
construction.  I have seen this in England but have never seen it done
in the U.S.  Given the rainfall in Atlanta, the double walls make sense
as wet basements are a problem.  Anyway, it turns out that the architect
and the masons are British so it all comes into focus.

What I found interesting is that despite the high price of the house and
the very high grade of the construction (8" walls instead of 6", rebar
every foot in both directions, footing with three pieces instead of
two,...) the masons helpers were using wheelbarrow to mix the mortar
instead of a mortar mixer or a box.  Anyway, this is the image.

http://gallery.leica-users.org/On-the-road/lakeforestconstuction


The newer lenses do have more contrast and fine detail, but this lens
does mighty fine for 1951, or even by modern standards.  I would have to
say that for the $100 or so these things go for, if you want a small
compact wide angle, the Canon 28 LTM lenses are hard to beat.

Comments always welcome.

Don
dorysrus@mindspring.com