Have Space Suit, Will Travel

2009-06-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

In Heinlein's sci-fi novel, the main character enters a contest and wins a vintage space suit. He decides not to sell it but spends a good deal of time tracking down old parts, schematics and rebuilds the thing to nominal operating specifications. He takes a walk in the suit one evening and wild stuff ensues... Great novel, one of Heinlein's best. But that sequence where he rebuilds the suit just resonated with the 11 year old version of me, I reread it probably a dozen times. Something about technology that still works, is still viable, but passed by in the march of progress interests me. Must be genetic, my father spent a lot of time and attention on a pair of classic Lincoln Continentals. I do woodworking with a basement full of vintage/antique handtools and a 1947 era Shopsmith. I bought a dSLR last year and while I do love my Pentax K200D, I have slowly but inexorably gravitated to film cameras. This started when I bought some vintage Pentax and Vivitar glass for the K200D. Ok, I had a few 35mm lenses so naturally, I wondered what it would be like to use them with the cameras they were designed for. I bought a Pentax ME Super off of Ebay a couple of months ago and then a Pentax P30t - $20 including the shipping. I've shot a few rolls of color film with these cameras and well, it's a slippery slope. A slippery, greased slope and I'm rocketing down towards the Abyss with a jetpack on.

Blacksmith demonstrating at Carroll County Farm Museum near Baltimore, MD. Taken with ME Super and Pentax-M 135 f3.5 with drugstore generic Fuji 200 ASA color film:

Loves Cameras, Still Shoots Film

Have Space Suit, Will Travel