New year, new resolution

New year, new resolution

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never felt less like a new year. Although the days are already longer (the year turned before Christmas, as far as sunlight’s concerned), they lengthen slowly at first, only a minute a day at first. Now it’s two minutes, soon three: and we’re off on the whirligig again. By the middle of March, there will be a rush towards summer, but it slows down then towards the next reversal in June…

The trouble is that mood lags behind the light, and possibly more so in towns than out in the country. And while 2020 isn’t a year that any of us want to repeat, 2021 isn’t feeling optimistic so far – at least in England, with a third lockdown, and record Covid deaths. It feels like much more of a struggle towards better weather than usual, and it’s a time of year that’s singularly depressing anyway, with the bills coming in for Christmas, and work looking unappealing.

Retired, I’m tempted by the idea of a duvet month.

And then, at nine yesterday morning, came my new impetus to action: a big box, full of cameras that would otherwise have been destined for a skip. Thank you to Colin (nellacphoto) for thinking of me, and for sending them so quickly. In particular, there’s an example of Canon’s first AF SLR, the EOS 650 – and with a fresh battery inserted, it’s going like a good ‘un. My aim is to have a film through it and processed by Saturday, because I know of a young lady who has just discovered film cameras…

So it got me out for my daily walk early yesterday afternoon, and it’s going to get me out today. Probably into the darkroom later on, and the scanner on Saturday. I’ve got plenty of confidence in the camera, which dates from the time that Canon were just starting to slug it out with Minolta over how AF should work. Before they split their range three ways (pro, prosumer, and consumer lenses and bodies), and choosing Canon kit got truly complicated.

A single AF point. Plastic body. Noisy lens. Nose to nose with the first AF SLR on the market, the Minolta 7000, and with significant differences in how the technology should work (Minolta opted for a focus motor in the body: Canon put one in each lens) and style (Canon’s EOS range is futuristic, using the look of the pro-grade T90 from a few years earlier).

Neither would be my choice of camera, and I’d be entirely happy to shoot with either. And I’m off and running for 2021. Cheers, Colin! This year, a tattoo convention, I really hope. I owe you a pint!