Red Corvette

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We’d been to Home Depot in Brewster and decided to stop at the nearby DeCicco Market to pick up some groceries. There was a small vintage car show in the parking lot and since I had the Olympus Infinity Stylus (Mju) with me I decided to take a few pictures. One was of this bright red corvette.

Although I love the look of vintage cars I know very little about them. However, after a bit of research I think this one is from the late 1950s/early 1960s – possibly the 1958 model.

According to Wikipedia:

The first generation of Corvette was introduced late in the 1953 model year. Originally designed as a show car for the 1953 Motorama display at the New York Auto Show, it generated enough interest to induce GM to make a production version to sell to the public. First production was on June 30, 1953.

This generation was often referred to as the “solid-axle” models (the independent rear suspension was not introduced until the second generation). Three hundred hand-built polo white Corvette convertibles were produced for the 1953 model year.

The 1954 model year vehicles could be ordered in Pennant Blue, Sportsman Red, Black, or Polo White. 3,640 were built, and sold slowly.

The 1955 model offered a 265 cu in (4.34 L) V8 engine as an option. With a large inventory of unsold 1954 models, GM limited production to 700 for 1955. With the new V8, the 0-60 mph time improved by 1.5 seconds.

1956 Chevrolet Corvette transistorized “hybrid” (vacuum tubes and transistors) car radio option
A new body was introduced for the 1956 model featuring a new “face” and side coves; the taillamp fins were also gone. An optional fuel injection system was made available in the middle of the 1957 model year. It was one of the first mass-produced engines in history to reach 1 bhp (0.75 kW) per cubic inch (16.4 cubic cm) and Chevrolet’s advertising agency used a “one hp per cubic inch” slogan for advertising the 283 bhp (211 kW) 283 cu in (4.64 L) Small-Block engine. Other options included power windows (1956), hydraulically operated power convertible top (1956), heavy duty brakes and suspension (1957), and four speed manual transmission (late 1957). Delco Radio transistorized signal-seeking “hybrid” car radio, which used both vacuum tubes and transistors in its radio’s circuitry (1956 option).

The 1958 Corvette received a body and interior freshening which included a longer front end with quad headlamps, bumper exiting exhaust tips, a new steering wheel, and a dashboard with all gauges mounted directly in front of the driver. Exclusive to the 1958 model were hood louvers and twin trunk spears. The 1959–60 model years had few changes except a decreased amount of body chrome and more powerful engine offerings.

In 1961, the rear of the car was completely redesigned with the addition of a “duck tail” with four round lights. The light treatment would continue for all following model year Corvettes until 2014. In 1962, the Chevrolet 283 cu in (4.64 L) Small-Block was enlarged to 327 cu in (5.36 L). In standard form it produced 250 bhp (190 kW). For an extra 12% over list price, the fuel-injected version produced 360 bhp (270 kW), making it the fastest of the C1 generation. 1962 was also the last year for the wrap around windshield, solid rear axle, and convertible-only body style. The trunk lid and exposed headlamps did not reappear for many decades.

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Westport Fire Department – Station 4

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After I’d decided to try out my July film camera (see: June Film Camera – Olympus Infinity Stylus and Olympus Infinity Stylus – Results) I started off by taking a few pictures in Westport, CT where my wife had gone to meet with some friends for lunch. These two shots are of the Westport Fire Department – Station 4 (also known as the Saugatuck Hose Company No. 4).

According to Wikipedia:

The town of Westport is protected by the paid, full-time firefighters of the Westport Fire Department (WFD). Established in 1929, the Westport Fire Department currently operates out of 4 Fire Stations, located throughout the town, and maintains a fire apparatus fleet of 6 Engines, (4 first line and 2 reserve) 1 Truck, 1 Rescue, 1 Fireboat, 1 High Water Unit, 1 Utility Unit, and a Shift Commander’s Unit. The fire department also has the Fairfield County Hazardous Materials Truck, housed at Westport Fire Headquarters. The Westport Fire Department responds to, on average, approximately 4,000 emergency calls annually.

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Taken with an Olympus Infinity Stylus (Mju). I think these pictures show what the little camera can do in the right conditions.

Olympus Infinity Stylus – Results

by Posted in Black & White, Buildings/Structures, Film, Olympus Infinity Stylus, Still Life, Things Leave a comment
Old Barn Door

I enjoyed using this camera. There’s really not a lot to think about other than turning off the flash whenever you turn the camera on (unless you actually want to use the flash of course). It’s small and fits into the pocket easily and the sliding door offers quite a bit of protection. Just point and shoot.

I’d read a few pieces on the Internet indicating that some people have had trouble with poor focus of distant objects. I’m glad to say that I didn’t experience this problem. I did have a few slight problems with framing though. What I saw in the viewfinder wasn’t what I actually got. I also had another problem with the viewfinder: I found that I could’t see the two LEDs indicating locked focus and flash required unless I moved my eye around a lot.

I also had a few problems with exposure. I suspect (but I’m really just guessing here) that in certain conditions the camera would underexpose and subsequent film processing compensated for this in a way that made the negatives somewhat low in contrast and grainy. Most of it was fairly easy to correct in post processing though. I’d used some long expired Kodek Gold 200 and that may also have contributed to the exposure issues I suppose.

In one case I had what looked at first like a light leak, but it didn’t appear on any of the other pictures so I concluded that since the picture was taken into the light it was probably flare. I also detected some slight vingnetting in some the of the pictures. Other than that I was not displeased with the results, and some of them I really liked.

Although I liked the camera, I’m not sure that I’d every use it much even though the results were pretty good. The need to turn the flash off whenever you turn the camera on is a minor annoyance and not enough in itself to stop me from using the camera. Nor are the quibbles to do with framing, viewfinder issues, focus etc. I guess the main reason I wouldn’t use is because of an issue which concerns all cameras of this type: ignorance of what the camera is actually doing. I bothers me that I have no sense of what the aperture and shutter speeds are. Maybe I want to blur the background. I’d have absolutely no idea how to do that. Stop the motion of a moving object. How could I know how to do that. I’d trust the camera to usually get the exposure and focus right, but beyond that I’d miss having any kind of control.

Still from time to time it’s nice to get away from all the complex controls that more complex cameras have, and not to have to worry about anything other than composition.

Above: Old weathered barn door.

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African mask. Not particularly sharp. Maybe I got too close? This was also the last picture of the roll, taken late in the day. Possibly the relatively dark conditions led to a slow shutter speed and blur?

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Lettuce and other vegetables. The lettuce in the foreground is quite sharp and then blurs nicely into the dark background. Shows something of the camera’s out of focus areas.

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Yellow corvette.

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Old Ford.

For more pictures taken with this camera see:

June Film Camera – Olympus Infinity Stylus

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This is the original Olympus Infinity Stylus (known outside the US as ‘Mju’), not the rather more famous (and more expensive) Infinity Stylus Epic (see Back to film: Olympus Stylus Epic and Finally found something at the thrift store.  It’s known outside the US as ‘Mjuii’). I have two of them: one I bought myself (it was really inexpensive) and the other was given to me by a friend.

There’s not much to say about this camera (and in any case it’s all been said already in the many reviews on the Internet) so I’ll just provide a short summary of my impressions.

Visually it’s an attractive camera, all curves and shiny black bakelite. Yet it feels solid, like something that won’t break all that easily. It has the signature – also found on the Stylus Epic, the XA (see: Olympus XA) and many other compact Olympus cameras) Olympus sliding door. When opened it turns on the camera. The Infinity Stylus is quite small and fits easily into a trouser pocket. In terms of features it’s quite spartan having only three main buttons on the top plate: one to control the various flash options (I don’t like small on camera flash and so don’t use it), one to control the self timer, and the other the shutter button. Mine is the quartz date version so it also has a small window for you to see how the date options are configured and two really tiny (you have to set them with a pointed object such as a pen) buttons for changing and setting the date options. I don’t like date backs so the first thing I did was to turn this off. There’s also a small LCD on top which tells you the status of the battery; how the flash is set; and which frame you’re on. Film loading is easy: just slide the catch on the left side of the camera up to open the back; put the film cartridge on the left side; extend the leader to the appropriate point and close the back. There’s a fairly loud ‘whirring’ sound, which eventually stops and you see the number ‘1’ appear in the LCD. The ISO (ISO 50-3200) is set automatically using DX codes and there’s a small window in the back where you can see what film is in the camera.

The lens is a 35mm f3.5 and is reputed to be quite good. Reading around I’ve discovered that it focuses down to 1.1 feet. Focus and exposure are locked together with a single half press of the shutter. When the shutter button is fully pressed the picture is taken and the camera automatically advances to the next frame. Shutter speeds range from 1/15 to 1/500 of a second, but neither shutter speed nor aperture are displayed anywhere. All you get is a green light to show that focus has been locked and an orange light to indicate that a flash is required.

A few quibbles. As been said in all of the many reviews, the most annoying feature is that when you turn on the camera the flash is set to ‘automatic’. As mentioned above I don’t like on camera flash, so I have to remember to turn the flash off every time I turn on the camera on. It’s not hard to do – just two presses of a small button – but you have to remember to do it. I also found the viewfinder to be a bit ‘touchy’. If you don’t get your eye in just the right place it tends to black out (either partially or completely) and you have to move your eye around to see through it again. Another consequence of this is that I found it hard to see the two (green and orange) lights. I knew there was a green light when focus was acquired, but I just couldn’t see it until started to move my eye around to find it. I imagine that focus was locked even if I couldn’t see the light, but more worrisome was that since I’d turned the flash off the ‘need flash’ light never came on. I imagine it’s possible that I’ll end up with a blurry pictures because the camera selected a slow shutter speed.

Still, as the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and we’ll see more when I get the results back.

I have to apologize for the poor quality of the picture. I usually take more time – arranging the background, putting the camera on a tripod, focusing manually etc. However, I was in a bit of a rush and since I’d recently acquired a camera with better high ISO performance (more on that later) I thought I’d try just hand holding it. Well, while the camera’s performance is certainly better, mine isn’t. I still can’t hand hold slower shutter speeds and consequently the image is not as sharp as I would like it to be. Update: I redid the picture – this time with the camera on a tripod.