Okay, that's an exaggeration. It didn't ruin my weekend, but it pissed me off some. And, really, it was my fault, not the camera's
Actually, it was a pretty good weekend. My middle daughter celebrated her 17th, and she had a good party. Of course, pix taken, in this case with the LX/K1.2 50mm/TriX. The next day, my youngest had to go up the road to Gananoque, about 20 miles from Kingston, to be in the local Santa Claus Parade. Seems the playhouse that put on the play that she was in over the summer had a float in the parade, so she went to help decorate it. She found out that she was then going to be on the float, which thrilled her to no end. She got to put on one of the period costumes from Anne of Green Gables, and sing caroles whilst being pulled through town. So, my ex and I go to see the parade. It was quite wonderful. Being used to "big city parades" with expensive floats and world-class marching bands, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. Quite the contrary! It was wonderful. The streets were packed, and every float was full of local folks, who seemed to know everyone along the parade route. There was an incredible sense of community and joy that seems lost in the huge multi-million dollar parades in big cities that I've seen before. So, I have about 1/2 roll in my LX, with a roll in my pocket. I can see Claire's float coming, and by then I have about 5 shots left, so I quick fire them off, so I can load a fresh roll, so I don't get stuck at the end of a roll whilst shooting her and her float. I put the lens cap on, change film, change the shutter dial from Automatic to 1/2000th so that the shutter doesn't stay open interminably while I fire off the first three "pre-shots" (you can see where I'm going), and suddenly my ex yells, "here she is". I run off to snap about 20 or 25 shots of her and her float, quite thrilled to have gotten that many of her. On the way to the car, I notice that I'd left the shutter speed dial at 1/2000th. I was shooting at about f5.6, and on the overcast day, the meter was reading between 1/125th and 1/250th. I was between 3 and 4 stops underexposed. Poop! Oh well, that's what I get for not paying attention, I guess. Plus, that's what I get for regularly switching between 3 or 4 bodies. I think I got about 1/2 roll of pretty good parade shots, but missed all of them of my daughter. Luckily, someone else got lots of shots which they'll share with me, but it's not the same. :-( Still, a wonderful weekend was had, and most importantly, both my daughters that still live at home had terrific times! -frank, back at work on Monday morning... -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
