Far and farther.
#photography #astrophotography #moon #bird #seagull #shotoniphone

This seagull came to see the ferry off.
(Volume down, it's just wind buffeting the microphone. This is for the visual only.)
#seagull

Today's #Wristcheck is the #Seagull 1963 Bronze

https://kevquirk.com/watches#seagull-1963-bronze

The Seagull Nebula.
Celestron NexStar Evolution 6 + ZWO ASI585MC Pro.
300mm, f2, 200 exposures of 60’’.
#telescope #telescopes #celestron #celestrontelescope #celestronnexstar #nexstarevolution #nexstarevolution6 #zwo #zwoasi #zwoasi585mc #astro #astrophoto #astrophotos #astrophotography #astrophotographer #spacephotography #astronomy #spaceexploration #nasa #universe #space #deepsky #deepspace #nebula #seagull #seagullnebula #ic2177

Another Contender for The Crappy Commie Camera Challenge: The Chaika II Half-frame Camera

I came across this one by accident (if ever anything is ‘accidental’ when I’m browsing the Kamerastore website), and as it’s a half-frame camera there was instant appeal. It also has a lovely little 28mm pancake lens and I was immediately wanting to try this M39-mount lens on my micro four-thirds cameras, but more on that later.

The Chaika II is a heavy beast, weighing over 300g and made of metal with plastic innards. It features shutter speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s, 1/250s and B, and the interchangeable 28mm lens has apertures from f2.8 to f16. The Chaika II was made by Belomo in Minsk, then in the Soviet Union, between 1967 and 1972. It was called Chaika, meaning ‘seagull’ after the call-sign of cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

My model was in the ‘Not Passed’ category on the Kamerastore website and has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’. In this case, there ‘is fungus on the inner lens elements’, though the camera body itself is fully functional. I was interested in this model for two reasons: It was made in the Soviet Union, which is ideal for the upcoming Crappy Commie Camera Party (CCCP), and it’s a half-frame camera, and I’m really getting into half-frame at the moment with the Welta Penti II (which itself is fully CCCP compliant).

The camera body is fully functional, and is in nice condition. Like any Soviet era camera that I’ve ever had it has some unique features that make it an interesting user experience. For a start, the shutter button is on the front of the camera, just above the lens assembly. This is actually quite good, as when you are holding the camera your fingers are automatically directed away from the lens. The shutter speed is set from a little dial on the back of the camera, near the viewfinder,  and the speed is visible through a little window on the top plate.

Like other Soviet cameras I have, like the Smena 8M, and the KMZ Horizont, the rewind knob is tucked away. In this case on the bottom of the camera combined with the film speed dial. If you pull on the knob and turn it clockwise it locks open. Then you can twist the knob to rewind the film.

Because it’s a half-frame camera, and I don’t really have the patience to use 72 frames on a 36 exposure roll, I used an ‘off-cut’ of Harman Phoenix film after respooling some film into Rapid canisters. This gave me a length of film equivalent to about 15 frames, which for me was ideal to test the camera, and a technique that I might use in the future.

For a camera that was supposed to be filled with fungus the images came out great! I will certainly have to get out the lens spanner and see if I can clean the elements, and the Harman Phoenix gave some strange colour shifts, but I really liked the results.

Oh, and about that business of wanting to use the M39 lens from the Chaika II with my micro four-thirds mirrorless cameras. That looks like it’s a non-starter, unfortunately. Apparently, the camera/lens combination was designed to be used with an Belomo enlarger that never actually materialised. So it’s not really an interchangeable lens camera but a dedicated half-frame lens that was could be removed and mounted in an enlarger. From what I gather, you can hack the lens so that it will focus to infinity on micro four-thirds cameras, but that means that the lens won’t then function properly on the Chaika II. So that’s not really something I want to do.

If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.

https://adam-gladstone.pixels.com/featured/juvenile-mew-gull-adam-gladstone.html

Is this #photo for the #birds ?
#photography #seagull #buyintoart #ayearforart #fineartamerica #nature #naturephotography

This was a failed attempt to capture a closeup of a seagull with a city skyline in the background; all the gulls were soaring much too high for any buildings to be included in the shot. I guess they wanted all the attention to themselves that day.
#photography #wildlifephotography #urbanwildlife #birds #birdphotography #seagull #sky #iphonephotography

Time for a #photo of a #seagull

https://adam-gladstone.pixels.com/featured/sitting-seagull-adam-gladstone.html

"Proud Mama"

By Scott Loring Davis, Fine Art Photography
https://pixels.com/profiles/scottloringdavis

A mama Great Black Backed Seagull watches over her newly hatched baby as it takes its first stroll out of the nest on Appledore Island in the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Maine. - Print Info Here:
https://pixels.com/featured/proud-mama-scott-loring-davis.html

A seagull over the fjord ...

Here at the Jersey Shore we don't have any "Purple Mountain Majesty" but we do have some majestic lavender sunrises!