I recently visited Texas to see the solar eclipse. Apart from eclipse photos, I also took a few aviation themed shots.
My main camera is the Pentax Spotmatic SP, first introduced in 1964. This was one of the first SLR camera bodies to have a built in TTL (Through The Lens) light meter. Pentax are a bit of a joke nowadays, but sixty years ago they were a force to be reckoned with, outselling Canon and Nikon put together.
The default lens I use is the Pentax Super Multi Coated Takumar 50mm f/1.4 from the early seventies. It contains radioactive thorium glass.
For more distant subjects, I have a Tamron SP 300mm f/2.8 LD-IF Model 60B with 1.4x and 2x teleconverters. This lens uses Tamron’s Adaptall mounting system, allowing me to use it on the Spotmatic with its awkward and fiddly M42 screw mount. This lens was first introduced in 1984. It weighs a tonne.
No autofocus or autoexposure here, everything is manual. This takes a bit of getting used to, but with practice I get nicer looking photos using this setup than I did with my digital camera. With no automatic modes, only 36 exposures per roll and considerable film and development costs (roughly 50p per photo), I’m required to actually think about what I’m doing instead of blindly spraying and praying.
Anyway, the photos (all taken on Kodak Gold 200):
BA A380 (G-XLEG) upper deck wing view. This was somewhere near the Labrador coast.
Aerial view of DFW.
After landing on 36L at DFW, we crossed 36R to reach the terminal. There’s an American Airlines 737-800 (N996NN) at the end of the runway, waiting to depart for Santa Ana.
N996NN getting airborne.
Spent a couple of days in Buffalo Gap near Abilene. Two C-130s fly over just after sunset, having departed from Dyess AFB a few miles away.
I went to Dyess AFB and saw a B-1B perform several touch and goes.
Bonus eclipse photo.
