Film Axtar
Bradly Brauer
No sooner does a person enter the film photography community today than they are confronted by the cult of the rangefinder. Point and shoots are maligned as a fashion accessory, and SLRs are a dime a dozen, but the rangefinder occupies that upper echelon of 35mm gear. The mythos of rangefinders snakes its way through social media with tales of better lenses and famous photographers.
The flange-to-film distance and the stopped-down composing allows rangefinder lenses to be smaller and, in some cases, optically superior to SLR lenses. This is because there is no need to either clear the mirror (which means lens elements can extend further into the camera body) or house components for automatic stop-down. So on and so forth.
For me, part of the reason I so pined for a rangefinder was that mystique. Anyone and everyone can find an old Canon or Pentax SLR, but only so many walk around with a rangefinder in its svelte form factor.
The Canonet 28 scratched that itch early on for me, but after some time, I knew only an M mount camera would do. I started with a Leica CL, which lasted only a few weeks. Next I owned a Voigtlander Bessa R2 in olive green. The Bessa was fun and gorgeous, but ultimately felt cheap in my hands: it was constructed out of magnesium (a low density metal), the exposure indicators flickered in the viewfinder, the shutter release had too little resistance.
I laid my options out on a mental table: the Minolta CLE, the Konica Hexar RF, a couple Voigtlander Bessa models, the Zeiss Ikon, and, of course, the Leica M7. The Voigtlanders were out. The Ikon was out here pulling costs over two grand, while the M7 was even greater than that. Left with the CLE and the Hexar, my choice was easy.
Maybe the most standard aspect of the Hexar is its meter, a center-weighted TTL silicon photodiode and no TTL flash metering. Would I prefer evaluative metering and/or the option to choose spot metering? Undoubtedly. Did the Hexar ever botch the exposure in my time with it? Not in my judgment.
The Konica Hexar accompanied me on hikes, a wedding, an anniversary getaway to Walden Pond, walks in Manhattan, night jaunts on the Ocean City boardwalk, and quotidian tasks throughout the 21 months I owned it.
By August 2021, I found myself compelled to somehow get my hands on an Oris Aquis Date. I had tried the watch on in 2020, but never pulled the trigger. Looking at my poor Hexar RF sitting on the shelf having not been used since June and continually losing out to the Pentax when times came to grab a camera as I headed out the door, I decided it would have to be sacrificed on the watch alter.
So out went the Hexar and in came a beautiful Oris Aquis Date 39.5 with the so-called Mint Green dial. I have to say, as much as it pains me to say this in a Casual Photophile article, that I do not regret the swap. I suppose, after all, I really am just a casual photophile.
Part of the fun of being a casual photophile is trying lots of cameras for the heck of it. And tried many I have! But another satisfying realization for me in the past year and a half has been refining my sense of what I really want in a camera and being satisfied with that preference.
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Drew Chambers is a former high school teacher and current master's student at Harvard University. He lives in Waltham, Massachusetts with his wife and their perfect dog. Outside of teaching, reading, and writing, Drew spends most of his time listening to indie rock. He is happy when photographing.
My experience of the RF was that there was a delay between hitting the shutter and it actually firing. Was this something you ever encountered? Made it very difficult to use and why I got rid of mine.
I bought my CLE about 10 years ago, for a lot less money than it`s going for now. It served me well and it was always my favourite camera, even more than the various Leica Ms I had, because of the compactness and auto exposure. I even managed to find a repair technician in Germany to give it a pricey service after some exposure problems.
I bought a Hexar RF new, to use with my then Leitz lenses. Nice camera, felt kind of big. But what turned me off was how loud it was. The motor drive seemed to scream after each shot. It was louder than my then current Nikon N80, which had a nicely dampened and muffled mirror sound. A rangefinder louder than an SLR was a no-go, and I let go of it pretty quickly, with some disappointment.
Don 2 (Don 2: The King is Back; Don 2: Kral Geri Dnr) 2011-ci ildə dyş və detektiv janrlarında istehsal olunan Bollivud filmidir. Fərhan Axtar həm rejissor, həmdə Amit Mehta və Amriş Şahla birlikdə filmin ssenari məllifləri sırasındadır. Filmə Riteş Sidvani, Şahrux Xan və Fərhan Axtar prodserlik etmişdir. Bu film 2006-ci ildə əkilmiş Don filminin davamıdır. Filmdə əsas rollarda Şahrux Xan, Priyanka opra, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Boman İrani, Kunal Kapur digər rolda Hritrik Roşan kamea grnşn ifa edir. Əvvəlki filmin davamı olan bu filmin məzmunu belədir: Malayziyadan Avropaya gələn Don hal-hazırda Asiya yeraltı dnyasının kralıdır və O Avropa narkotik kartelini ələ keirməkdədir. Filmin əkilişi Hindistan, Tailand, Almaniya, Malayziya və İsverədə baş tutub.
Don 2 buraxılışından əvvəl məlliflik hququ problemlərilə zləşib. Filmin buraxılışı 25 Oktyabr 2011-ci il tarixində Reliance Entertainment tərəfindən həm 2D, həm də 3D formatlarında gerəkləşib. Həminin filmin Tamil və Teluqu dilli versiyaları da əkilib. Buraxıldığı zaman Don 2 Hindistan resepsiyonunda qarışıq olaraq msbət tənqidi qiymət almasına baxmayaraq, lkə xaricində mumi olaraq msbət nəticə əldə etdi. Film 62-ci Berlin Beynəlxalq Film Festivalında nmayiş olundu.
Avropa narkotik kartelinin başıları Asiyada yaranmış yeni təhlkəni mzakirə etmək n Fransa Rivierasında toplanırlar. Donun (Şahrux Xan) işləri təhlkəyə dşr, nki onun narkotika malları mştərilərinə ucuz qiymətə satıla bilər. Başıların məqsədi Donu ldrməkdir. Don son beş ildir ki, Tailandda yaşayır və o iərisi kokainlə dolu olan gəmiyi ələ keirmək n uzaq bir yerə gedir.Daha sonra O Malayziyaya gəlir və Romaya (Priyanka opra) təslim olur. Məzuniyyətə ıxmaq istəyən İnspektor Malik (Om Puri) belə yenidən işinə qayıdır. Don lm cəzasına məhkum olur və onun khnə rəqibi olan Vardanın (Boman İrani) olduğu Malayziya həbsxanasına gndərilir. Don Vardana dostluq təklif edir. Vardan razılaşmanı qəbul edir və onlar məhbusları zəhərləyib habsxanadan qaırlar. Onlar Srixə gəlirlər. Don z etibarlı yoldaşı Ayeşa (Lara Dutta) ilə grşr.
The film starts off indicating the parallels of the story with that of Adam and Eve. Here, Adam is Ranjeet, Eve is Sharda while the apple is Nirmala. Ranjeet is newly employed in a company, whose pay scales can be gauged from the fact that he goes to work on a bicycle. However, this bicycle itself brings him face-to-face with Sharda, when he bumps into her by accident. Sharda's bicycle gets badly damaged and Ranjeet drops her off. The same evening, Ranjeet goes to the wedding of his friend Harish whose bride happens to live in Sharda's colony. Sharda is also present at the ceremony. Sharda and Ranjeet's love blossoms from there and soon they get married.
In the course of a few years, Ranjeet is Sales Manager of the company and father of a son. Sharda and Ranjeet are still living in marital bliss. That is, until Nirmala, Ranjeet's new secretary, shows up. Ranjeet is inexplicably attracted to Nirmala. She is an honest girl who is trying to make two ends meet. She is much more beautiful compared to Sharda. But most of all, she knows nothing about Ranjeet's true intentions and his married life. Ranjeet is initially upset with his thoughts about her, but finally gives in.
He carefully plans his further steps. He pretends to be the helpless grieving husband of a cancer stricken wife, who won't live much longer. Nirmala feels sorry for him, thus making it easier for him to get close to her. Nobody, not Sharda, not even his closest friend, suspects a thing. One day, Ranjeet bluffs to Sharda that he will be late coming home as he has a meeting. He takes Nirmala out to dinner. Next day, Sharda finds Nirmala's handkerchief, with lipstick marks on it, in Ranjeet's pocket.
She immediately confronts Ranjeet, who makes up a story about a co-worker whose handkerchief he may have accidentally taken. Sharda reluctantly believes him. Ranjeet decides to take his next steps more carefully. Sharda too starts thinking that her fears were unfounded. Ranjeet makes even more interesting back up plans: He prepares two books of poetry, professing his love. The poems are the same in both, only one book contains Nirmala's name, and the other contains Sharda's.
Ranjeet courts Nirmala without Sharda's knowledge. The turning point comes when Sharda sees him in a hotel with Nirmala. She later asks him about his meeting, about which the clueless Ranjeet lies. Sharda's fears are confirmed. She starts spying on him and Nirmala, taking incriminating pictures. After sufficient evidence is obtained, she secretly meets Nirmala, posing as a journalist. Nirmala, who hasn't seen Ranjeet's "ailing wife" yet, thinks Sharda intends to blackmail her. But Sharda reassures her that she won't.
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