"The world will be different, because I have understanding."
"Understanding of what, master?"
"Digital watches."
Thanks to a wonderful rummage summer I've been able to expand my knowledge in a number of different fields at well under anticipated budget. Photography, computer recording, sandwich making of course. My programming survey has been at 90% complete for a while now. Writing of a fictional sort has been neglected but my 13,000+ page journal has grown at its normal rate. Travel, well... there hasn't been as much of that as I would've liked.
Photography
I've picked up a number of cameras on the cheap at yard sales, the brown elephant, the Salvation Army in Evanston, off of Craigslist. Amongst the many cameras obtained:
Yashicaflex: This one I'll need to get fixed. There's a tired spring in it and I've almost no idea how the film advance works. Still, the one picture that did turn out turned out nicely although the camera itself doesn't instill any character to the photos (i.e., the camera is accurate).
Polaroid Spectra 1200i: I was all excited about this one. The Spectra is supposedly the king of the point and shoot Polaroids. Unfortunately for me the SI model is the one with all the knobs and doodads.
Polaroid 101 Land Camera: This one has a lot of character. When using black and white film there's noticeable light leakage, and the rollers do a terrible job of spreading developer evenly.
Zenit: Haven't tried this one out yet. It's missing a few parts that might come in handy - like a film rewind arm.
Yashica Electro 35: Rangefinder camera. This one wasn't much use to me itself but the wide angle and telephoto attachments have made my minolta much more versatile.
Kodak Instamatic: This one is more than likely a bust. It uses a type of film that's not common and as far as I can tell there's only one place in America that still processes the film. I could process the film myself now but from what I've seen of sample pictures there wouldn't be much point in doing so. There is, however, a cartridge of kodachrome inside which would require positive processing if I were to do it right. I'll probably just use the rest of the film and then negative process it (which will yield weird colors but it's mostly a curiousity thing at this point).
Stainless steel tank, two 35mm reels: Free! Thank you craigslist.
Jobo Press Kit: You'd assume this being a Jobo product that you'd need their automatic developer machine for it but the chemistry works with dip and dunk tanks. $20, and I've already processed five rolls with it.
Recording
My favorite item so far is my DOD wah/volume pedal, $25. This one was a surprise to me - I went to pick up a mac classic (it's more practical than my manual typewriter, if only slightly moreso) and the seller had this sitting out too. Matt says that I need a distortion pedal as well - it's one thing that computer plugins really can't do well.
Runner up is my audiophile 24/96 pci card, obtained at a very reasonable price off of craigslist. This fellow reduced latency to where it's almost imperceptible, and allows me to record with vsts on the track being recorded. The nice thing about this is it's possible to create a fuller song sketch quickly, and then fill things out at a later point. Lay down a simple drum beat, paint some notes. Toot sweet.
Accordion: I'm not sure what use this will be as of yet, most likely I'll just use it to record a few riffs.
Anyways. Time for a donut and to stop in at the Tummala's garage sale.
