Monday, August 10, 2009

TtV

Wondering what TtV is?  Yeah I thought the same thing until I googled it.  It's short for "through the viewfinder."  And what exactly is that?  Another good question :)  I read on a blog about using a Kodak Duaflex camera, one of those old as the hills cameras that people used to use looooooong before I was born.  It's the one that you hold at your waist and look down to see the subject in front of you.  I made several bids on eBay for a few but always lose out at the very end, and have yet to find one in a second hand store.  I was speaking to my Aunty Bonnie about it and she said she had one, along with several other cameras.  Not too long after that Robert shows up at the house with all the cameras from Aunty Bonnie.  Shame on me I still haven't called her to thank her, but I'm getting to it Aunty B... THANK YOU! :)

So the first thing I do is create an odd looking tube thingy out of a large plastic cup and tape it onto my macro lens that I have on my Canon DSLR T1i.  I then set the odd looking contraption over the viewfinder of the camera.  It's actually a Brownie Hawkeye but it will work the same as the Kodak Duaflex.

1952 Brownie Hawkeye


I snap a few pictures of my Starbucks coffee cup but quickly realize that, no matter how much I love my Starbucks cup, there was no way this picture was going to look authentic because Starbucks simply did not exist in Nov 1952 (the manufacture date of this camera)... or I'm pretty sure it didn't :)

I holler at Sydney, who's down in my room watching TV, move the cup, and tell her to set her head down on the table.  Until I figure out a way to attach my Canon, macro lens, and contraption to the Brownie, the pictures have to be taken from the table because my arms aren't long enough to hold the whole works together.

Anyway... here's two pics I snapped of Sydney.  The many groups I read up on say do not clean the lens; the dirt, hair, specs, fluff, etc., only add to the picture.  I think this one may be a little extreme though.  The only post processing in Adobe Photoshop is a touch of cropping and an action (my memory evades me but I think it was Mocha Madness) from Jodi over at MCP Actions.

TtV Sydney


TtV


I know I could probably do the whole thing without the Brownie in Photoshop, but what fun would that be??  I think this will be great to take pictures of the barn, horses, or anything on the Ranch 'cause we have a ton of old stuff around here ;)

I'm off to Abbotsford tomorrow to pick up Aunty Helen, woohoo she has my new lens with her!  I'm so excited to try it out, it feels like Christmas Eve and I'm waiting for morning ;)  Have a great night everyone!


4 comments:

t said...

Looks like a mirror, an old speckled mirror.

Can you clean the lens just a LITTLE, though? Or will you need to sepia out everything?

I'm so glad you didn't have to spend money for this. It's even better to use the old stuff you and your family already have lying around.

Bottom Feeder said...

Fires no longer a threat (we hope)?

Moonshadow said...

Oh, now I'm feeling VERY old. The first camera I ever took pictures with that my parents owned was a Brownie box and I think it was an older version than the one pictured. I wasn't plastic. Great pictures, BTW. Would anything they use for telescopse work?
http://www.scopetronics.com/digitalcam.htm

So are all the fires under control? Good to hear from you again and see that you're all right. :)

KansasA said...

I think I will clean the lens up and see how the pics look.

Okay maybe the camera wasn't made "loooooong" before I was born but 13 years ;) Sorry if I made ya feel old Moonshadow :)

The fires are a lot better and Lillooet has been downgraded to no alert which is great news. The Della Creek fire (across and down from us) hasn't grown much and Hubby is still working over there.