My 928 has been doing well overall, although it's been making a funny scraping noise around right-hand turns that sounds like it might be a pebble between a rotor and backing plate -- otherwise it's been it's usual reliable self. I'll look into that issue this weekend.

What have I been up to? Well, I decided to get back into one of my earliest passions, photography. I have spent the last few weeks researching cameras, then buying a body and cleaning up/testing my old lenses and learning my way around all of the cool features that are now available, having finally made the transition from film to digital. All of my old AF lenses work, though flash metering has changed with the times and my flash units need upgrading to work in any automatic mode(manual flash exposure can be tedious).

A couple of lenses had oily aperture blades, and needed to be disassembled and cleaned:



I'm very pleased with my choice -- and the results -- so far. The old P&S has nowhere near the image quality or color fidelity of the new body. I will still use my P&S for writeups on my site, but at future events I hope to be able to capture and share much, much better shots of 928s and the great folks who own and love them than I have in the past.

Here are some shots I took of a buddy at work and his awesome '66 Chevelle. I'm sure I'll improve as I get more comfortable with the camera body, but for the moment I'm pleased with the direction things are headed.











The above contains a self-portrait(100% crop):







I still have a monumental task ahead in selecting and scanning old negatives and slides now that I have a place to exhibit them, so I'll be back here sporadically as I find time.

 

Hey Dave nice pictures, enjoy the summer

 

Is that a tall deck 10.2" engine?

 

Welcome back Dave. I have a couple of kick-a$$ SLR's from the 80's ... hot schizznit back then, with a nice set of lenses too. So I recently made the switch to DSLR and bought a Canon T1i with a couple of lenses for usefulness ... and I really like it! But I've also become accustomed to compact DigiCams, so the heft of an SLR is a bit of a pain point.

 

Btw tell us what shooting settings and lenses you used!

 

Thanks Stan, I definitely intend to. My plan was to be comfortable enough with the gear to operate it in near-dark conditions by fall, which is when the skies get really interesting. Car show this weekend!
I don't know. The owner is away at the moment so I can't ask till Monday. What I can tell you though is this car is traction-limited in any gear, at almost any speed.
Nice, so basically a 500D... nice unit. For me the weight & bulk is just like old times, not an issue at all. The P&S is now mostly a "garage-cam".

Just curious, since this subject is a bone of contention on camera forums -- How much did Live View & video figure into your choice, if at all? And do you find them useful?
Minolta 20/f2.8
Minolta 28-135 f4-4.5

The second lens is one of the finest wide/mid-tele Minolta Zooms -- all metal and glass, made in the Osaka "G" lens factory before they decided to use the "G" nomenclature. It's a real gem, and I use it a lot as my "walk-around" lens.

All at ISO 200, 20mm f2.8 unless noted... In order:
1/125 @f9
1/200 @f9
1/80 @f10 (28-135 @ 60mm)
1/80 @f11 (28-135 @ 30mm)
1/160 @f9
1/160 @f9
1/160 @f6.3

 

Dave, those are formidable lenses. Especially the 20. Video made a very large factor in my decision. I often find myself wanting to take movies, and have got very used to having the feature. But, while I had seriously condirered non-DSLR models with high-zoom, the artifacts at high zoom with a small lens/body just ended up scaring me away from those. Live view, I haven't spent much time exploring yet and it was not a factor to me. I do find myself getting frustrated with the camera's need to pop the flash up in automatic modes, with no way to disable it. So, I just shoot in program modes now.

 

Welcome back Dave - can't wait to see the pics you post up from the car show this weekend!

 

Very nice and sharp pics but when I first look at them, they make me dizzy for a second. Is this normal, maybe just some sort of a distortion of the lense?

 

Nice pics Dave...I like your perspective. The new DLSR models have improved vastly. I opted for a Nikon D80 a few years ago, and it was at the top of the pile, but the features of the new models offer are more impressive.

I look forward to seeing you images!

 

Dave,
The pics look like they are in HD!!
Nice!

 

Amazing photo's!
I can't believe how crisp they are! Is it you or the camera? Seriously.

66 is my favorite year for the Chevelle.

 

Whoa. On my screen, those pics almost seem to be in 3-D!

 

Glad to have you back!

Those are very nice pictures! Just don't quit your daytime job, yet. There are too many starving photographers around right now.

 

Dave

Quit all this photography BS and get back to working on the 928 and Garage Mahal...

sheesh! - what is this - a vacation?

Alan

PS nice photos

But a thought... if you shoot them too crisply you have to clean and polish extra hard...
sometimes soft focus isn't just for aged female hollywood stars...