Hi,
I have a few questions to ask before leaving. I just returned from
outside (-10celsius) where I photographed some dusk landscapes lit
by multicoloured fireworks (I didn't plan on the fireworks, but
they lit indirectly the landscape very nicely). With the LX on
auto, and M lenses (the "new" M75-150/4 proved itself nicely).
I used a small canvas "camera" bag, which isn't sealed. So upon
returning home, the LX and lenses got lot of condensation...
I was pretty confident that the LX can take it without any problems
(is that so? it was dripping with moisture, but metered and motored
fine), but what about the M lenses? I kept the zoom in a sealed
case, but a M 2/35 was on the body and was "dripping" too (no fog
inside though). How well are the M lenses sealed? Should I worry?
How about shooting in rain? Again, the LX can cope with it, but the
lenses? On some reportages, I shot in rain because there was no
other option, and it wasn't raining much. But still I would like to
hear some of the experts opinions.
And now the sad story (extreme example of above theme)
Yesterday I saw my friend, a Pentax collector (he had big problems
with several LXes, even AFTER sending them to Pentax Belgium for
repair). He has an eye on K2DMD plus MD motor for his collection.
He was persuading one person to sell him both, partly in exchange
for a modern AF SLR. But the K2DMD can grow on you, sentimentally
(mine certainly did). Yesterday I saw the K2DMD in his shop! "You
must be certainly glad that you finally persuaded the person. It's
more pride of your collection that your LX". Sadly he brought the
camera to me, and said "Lahovice". That's one of the suburbs of
Prague that got about 4 meters of water during the summer
catastrophal floods. Opening the camera revealed completely rusted
inside, the film rails were partly eaten away, etc - ruined, a wreck.
Just the brass outside survived well. He then told me, that the
person owning the K2DMD came to him three months after the flood,
with the K2DMD and wanting him to get it repaired... while all the
time it had been stored with water inside. He has a Vivitar S1 zoom
which still has water inside the optics, there is about two cups of
water sloshing happilly inside, even after so much time. It's a
great pity because if restored immediately, the camera could have
been saved, maybe. Now, after so much time in water, it's a wreck
(there are sadder parts to this story, as anybody who has been
flooded knows. It's nothing wonderful). There is also a brighter
(although cynical) side to this story: with the demise of this
K2DMD, all our working nice K2DMDs just got somewhat rarer and
more pricey...
Good light,
Frantisek Vlcek
