Preparing for Victoria Rally + Mamiya 6 folding camera

This coming weekend signals the start of summer. We celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday with a long holiday weekend which usually signals the start of warmer weather; a time for camping and enjoying the outdoors. It is also the Silver Anniversary of the Capital City Scooter Club (<-- click for rally infomation) of Victoria, BC. Because it is a banner year for the club, they wanted to do something special, like . . . restore a vintage scooter and raffle it off to a lucky scooterist.

Here are some pictures of it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaffneue/sets/72157618071759346/show/

It looks like a beauty and a lucky person will win it at the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon. The winner MUST be present to accept the prize

Scooterists are coming from many directions. Well, not everyone. Orin of Scootin' Old Skool (<-- click) has had some electronic gremlins attack his Vespa GTS. Big People Scooters of Seattle are working on it (for FREE) and it doesn't appear likely that it will be repaired in time for Orin to make it to Victoria AGAIN, and he has sold his "backup" scooter, his LX150 which proved to be too slow for his West Seattle commute. While it is nice to have options, Orin's only option at the present is to use his trusty "Estate". Hopefully he will be on the road again for the Hamster Run, hosted by the SOB's (<-- click link) . The SOB's are a fine bunch (Scooters Of Bellingham). Speaking of the SOB's, they plan to travel to Victoria enmasse with their contingent leaving Fairhaven 6am Saturday Morning and take the WSDOT Ferry from Anacortes to Sidney, BC. The Apocalypse scooter club from Calgary, AB will also have members on the way.

It is an excellent time to renew old friendships. It is a good start towards the Rally Season. So I plan to be away for a few days over in Victoria, and I plan on leaving the laptop behind, but I will have my trusty cameras by my side to report the upcoming action. A weekend of riding which includes a scenic ferry ride over to Vancouver Island is NOT a bad thing and while the ferry traffic is usually very congested, 2 wheeled vehicles have priority loading. "First on, First off"


Camera Swap Meet, Cameron Centre, Coquitlam, BC

I feel bad about not having posted any pictures above so I will include a few from our Recent Camera Swap Meet. Having been absent for many years riding my scooters and motorcycles around the area I have been away from my previous hobby which used to consume a lot of my time. I am almost cured of my previous afliction with purchasing anything of collectible value. You know, garage sales, swap meets, antique shows, pawn shops, 2nd hand stores. When ever I purchase anything I have one basic rule, it must be usable (functional).

I recently rejoined my previous photography group, Western Canada Photographic Historial Association, and "our" club has been organizing these Camera swap meets for many years



These swap meets are usually held on the last Sunday in April with another swap meet around November. It was very busy at times and I saw lots of people with newly purchased items under their arms



It seems that there was always a group of people directly in front of what I wanted to see.



There were a few empty vendor tables as it seemed that a few dealers from Seattle did not attend because of the economic situation. It takes time and money to attend these events and no one is sure that they will make enough sales to warrant the expenditures required



There were tables full of cameras and photographic accessories just waiting to be held, bought, and taken home by a new owner. You know the old saying, someone's junk is anothers' gold.



Yes, that is well known Tom Abrahamsson of Rapidwinder (<-- click link) fame. He's the one on the right sitting next to Henning. He is also a mentor on the Rangefinderforum
(<-- click link) . I've known Tom for many years and he was the one that got me started collecting Leicas and into mixing my own developers. He tells me that all those Nikons and Canons belong to someone else, and he is just watching that table for them.

I've become more selective in my purchases and have moved away from being a compulsive buyer. I am almost cured, I can often walk away without buying anything. I was actually on the lookout for a good medium format folding camera, with rangefinder. When I noticed something on this table . . . (can you spot it ?)



Here's what I saw



It's the first version of the Mamiya 6 folder. I checked it out and it seemed to work perfectly. I also made sure that it had the pressure plate, which is often missing



On this particular camera, the focusing is achieved by moving the film plane back and forth. The pressure plate slides into a groove and holds the film plane flat. Since this plate is removeable, it is often "lost" or missing. The lens on the front stut is fixed and does not move so focus is less of a problem because it is held solidly in position.



Here is another view of the slide, half way into position



The focusing wheel is on the rear just perfect for your right thumb



It is a perfect way to carry a medium format camera in your pocket, even though it is on the heavy side



I now have two of these models. I think that they are a very desirable camera to have in anyone's collection. And they are still capable of taking super pictures

Even though we are at a camera swap meet, and the hall is full of photographers, we were confronted with this sign . . .



Have an enjoyable Victoria Day Long Weekend Holiday and see you next week when I get back from Victoria. The weather forecast is for Sunny and Warm, very slight chance of showers on Sunday. Nearly perfect