Pentax S1a goes walkabout along the canal
Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 7:21 am
Graham Serretta  , jun 22, 2005; 08:34 a.m.
I told you all in a previous thread that I had come by an Ashai Pentax S1a with three lenses, found in a charity shop and I promised to post some shots as soon as I could push a roll through it. It's taken a bit longer than anticipated, as I had only managed to shoot half the roll by last friday, so I took it along on Sunday when the best beloved and I went for a walk along the Grand Union Canal between the towns of Berkhamstead and Tring. Only mad dogs and Englishmen would do this on the hottest day of the year. Temperatures peaked at 32C in the shade that day, which those familiar with our normal temperate, raing climate will know is a real heatwave. Nothing is designed for such temperatures; cars come to a hissing, steaming stop on the side of the roads, air conditioning units can't cope at all, freezers defrost, the tar on the roads melts, and people expire. We go walkabout, in the sun! The first five shots are taken in and around our town of Stevenage, the remainder along the canal. These 511ppi scans do no justice to the quality of the negs - they are from the ASDA/Walmart Frontier machine. All shots are on Kodak HD200 print film, "sunny 16" rule. Just by looking at the 6x4 prints, I can see that I had forgotten just what superb optics the Takumars are. The S1a is a delightful camera to use. It is compact, light weight and so so simple. The viewfinder is great and the mechanism is silky smooth, and it hasn't even had a CLA yet. The only thing that I have reservations about is the accuracy of the top shutter speed of 1/500. Looking at the negs, I think it's more like 1/300th, so a CLA is obviously on the cards.
There are a couple of shots along the Grand Union canal also taken with the Pentax S1a.
Nancy Bueler , jun 22, 2005; 09:18 a.m.
Graham, I love the kissing trees picture! A nice cool spot on such a hot day.
Nancy
Mike Connealy Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 10:04 a.m.
Great results from those Takumars. It will be hard to leave that camera home.
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 10:43 a.m.
Nancy - that it was - could have stayed there dozing under that tree all day.
Mike - You've got that right. Who needs an LX?
Sandeha Lynch Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 01:55 p.m.
Admirable greens among those trees, Graham. (Sometimes I wish my MX was just a little older
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 05:59 p.m.
Sandeha - Go for it!- we'll forgive you!
Alberto Krawczyk , jun 22, 2005; 09:15 a.m.
Very fine pictures Graham, congratulations.
charles stobbs Photo.net Patron, jun 22, 2005; 09:58 a.m.
The "Photoethnography" website says there should be an extra, unmarked shutterspeed click stop above 1/500 on the S1a which is 1/1000.
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 10:41 a.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for the tip,Charles - I'll check it out.
Dennis Gallus Photo.net Patron, jun 22, 2005; 09:40 p.m.
Graham,
My family and I visited Yorkshire exactly five years ago last weekend on exactly the kind of day you describe. All of the locals were walking around with sun-burned noses and cheeks. Your shots make me want to go back to Britain and hopefully find such good weather again.
Thanks for this and your later post, the photos are great. You've got a classic camera that will probably out-perform anything sold today. It's nice to see pictures of places that I would some day hope to visit.
Dennis
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 23, 2005; 02:49 a.m.
Dennis - Glad you enjoyed. I know exactly what you mean by the noses and cheeks! Hah! I hope you can make it back here soon - contact me via grahams at photo.net if ever you do.
Charles - quite right - there is an unmarked shutter speed beyond 1/500 - now I need to run another roll through to check it out for accuracy. This is good news, because when using 200iso film, in bright sunlight the exposure is f16 at 1/250 or f11 at 1/500 and I don't really like to use a lens at or near it's smallest f-stop, which in the case of the 55/2 SMC Takumar is f16. Haven't gotten around to building a shutter speed tester yet.
I told you all in a previous thread that I had come by an Ashai Pentax S1a with three lenses, found in a charity shop and I promised to post some shots as soon as I could push a roll through it. It's taken a bit longer than anticipated, as I had only managed to shoot half the roll by last friday, so I took it along on Sunday when the best beloved and I went for a walk along the Grand Union Canal between the towns of Berkhamstead and Tring. Only mad dogs and Englishmen would do this on the hottest day of the year. Temperatures peaked at 32C in the shade that day, which those familiar with our normal temperate, raing climate will know is a real heatwave. Nothing is designed for such temperatures; cars come to a hissing, steaming stop on the side of the roads, air conditioning units can't cope at all, freezers defrost, the tar on the roads melts, and people expire. We go walkabout, in the sun! The first five shots are taken in and around our town of Stevenage, the remainder along the canal. These 511ppi scans do no justice to the quality of the negs - they are from the ASDA/Walmart Frontier machine. All shots are on Kodak HD200 print film, "sunny 16" rule. Just by looking at the 6x4 prints, I can see that I had forgotten just what superb optics the Takumars are. The S1a is a delightful camera to use. It is compact, light weight and so so simple. The viewfinder is great and the mechanism is silky smooth, and it hasn't even had a CLA yet. The only thing that I have reservations about is the accuracy of the top shutter speed of 1/500. Looking at the negs, I think it's more like 1/300th, so a CLA is obviously on the cards.
There are a couple of shots along the Grand Union canal also taken with the Pentax S1a.
Nancy Bueler , jun 22, 2005; 09:18 a.m.
Graham, I love the kissing trees picture! A nice cool spot on such a hot day.
Nancy
Mike Connealy Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 10:04 a.m.
Great results from those Takumars. It will be hard to leave that camera home.
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 10:43 a.m.
Nancy - that it was - could have stayed there dozing under that tree all day.
Mike - You've got that right. Who needs an LX?
Sandeha Lynch Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 01:55 p.m.
Admirable greens among those trees, Graham. (Sometimes I wish my MX was just a little older
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 05:59 p.m.
Sandeha - Go for it!- we'll forgive you!
Alberto Krawczyk , jun 22, 2005; 09:15 a.m.
Very fine pictures Graham, congratulations.
charles stobbs Photo.net Patron, jun 22, 2005; 09:58 a.m.
The "Photoethnography" website says there should be an extra, unmarked shutterspeed click stop above 1/500 on the S1a which is 1/1000.
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 22, 2005; 10:41 a.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for the tip,Charles - I'll check it out.
Dennis Gallus Photo.net Patron, jun 22, 2005; 09:40 p.m.
Graham,
My family and I visited Yorkshire exactly five years ago last weekend on exactly the kind of day you describe. All of the locals were walking around with sun-burned noses and cheeks. Your shots make me want to go back to Britain and hopefully find such good weather again.
Thanks for this and your later post, the photos are great. You've got a classic camera that will probably out-perform anything sold today. It's nice to see pictures of places that I would some day hope to visit.
Dennis
Graham Serretta Photo.net Patron Prolific Poster, jun 23, 2005; 02:49 a.m.
Dennis - Glad you enjoyed. I know exactly what you mean by the noses and cheeks! Hah! I hope you can make it back here soon - contact me via grahams at photo.net if ever you do.
Charles - quite right - there is an unmarked shutter speed beyond 1/500 - now I need to run another roll through to check it out for accuracy. This is good news, because when using 200iso film, in bright sunlight the exposure is f16 at 1/250 or f11 at 1/500 and I don't really like to use a lens at or near it's smallest f-stop, which in the case of the 55/2 SMC Takumar is f16. Haven't gotten around to building a shutter speed tester yet.
