More 1960s Excellence: The Canon 50mm ƒ/1.8 Leica Thread Mount (ltm) lens

The 1960s was a decade of amazing innovation and creativity for the Japanese optical companies. They sold equipment equal or superior to many of the German offerings at the time and eventually dominated sales in the USA. 

Long-term readers may remember that I bought a Canon 50mm ƒ/1.4 ltm lens in 2019. It was superb optically but was a big cylinder that blocked too much of the viewfinder of my little Leica IIIC. I reluctantly sold it and looked for one of the smaller ƒ-stop Canon lenses. 

As I noted in the earlier article, Canon mounted their early post-war lenses in heavy chrome mounts. I wanted one of the lighter weight mid-1960s versions. Problem: many (most?) of these 50mm black barrel ƒ/1.8 lenses suffer from the infamous hazy or etched inner elements. No one has a solid answer why this happens, but the haze was likely caused by gas from the lubricants used in the aperture mechanism. Many of the 1.8 lenses are totally ruined and cannot be cleaned, but once in awhile, one shows up on the infamous 'Bay with a clear interior. 

There's a fungus among us

Precise engraving; brass and aluminum helical mount

I bought one of the 1.8 lenses with clear glass but minor fungus. The Japanese vendor was honest and the price was right. I have used fungus before. The 35mm ƒ/3.5 Leitz Summaron lens that I bought in Buenos Aires in 1982 was a fungus farm. A technician cleaned off the inner coating to remove the fungus, and I proceeded to use the lens for another 15 years. No issues at all, and barely any flare problems. As usual, I wish I had kept that lens.

Here are some initial examples from my Canon 50mm ƒ/1.8 lens in and around Vicksburg, Mississippi on Fuji Acros film. 

2917 Drummond Street (empty for years)

Kansas City Southern rail yard, Levee Street (1/60 ƒ/4.0½)

Have a seat, Valley Street (1/60 ƒ/5.6)

Stouts Bayou footbridge at Avenue A

Stouts Bayou from Letitia Street

Need a mask? Letitia Street

Morgan Lane (1/100 ƒ/5.6, yellow-green filter)

Alma Street, Vicksburg (1/60 ƒ/8)

1920s or 1930s cottage, 2613 Alma Street, Vicksburg (1/60 ƒ/8.0½)

With Vicksburg's hilly terrain, many older homes have serious steps.

Bowmar Avenue house undergoing endless renovation (1/200 ƒ/8, yellow-green filter) 

Conclusions

This is a nice lens optically and mechanically. I have no complaints. Oops, one issue: this lens uses 40mm filters, an odd size (while dozens of German and Soviet lenses used 40.5mm). With an adapter, I can use Series VI filters. The correct Canon screw-in filters would be more convenient and faster in the field but are seriously expensive from the Japanese sellers. All flaws in the photos above are those of the photographer's. I have sent the lens to Don Goldberg (DAG Camera) for cleaning and checking. When it is back, I will use it regularly, along with my 1960s Soviet Jupiter-8 lens and my 1949 Leitz Summitar. (Yes, I know, I have far too many cameras and lenses....)

Update July 2022:  The little Canon lens is back from its cleaning. Now to make time to use the little Leica IIIC.

Snow in Vicksburg - Twice in a Month??

Here in Vicksburg in the USA South, we do occasionally get snow or ice storms, but the frequency diminished in recent years. But in the last few years, we have been experiencing snows more often as well as other extreme meteorological events. Overall, the climate is getting warmer, as demonstrated by bird species that previously would have migrated south to the Gulf Coast or to South America, but now remain here. (No, I won't get into the debate with denial idiots that climate change is a hoax.)

Snow is rare enough that I can't resist wandering around with a camera and recording the way that snow outlines roads, topography, and rooflines. The following will be some digital snapshots. I also used film, but it needs to be developed. I will post film frames in mid-summer when the temperature is 30+ deg. C.

Storm 1, January 11, 2021

Kansas City Southern tracks, Pearl Street

Pearl Street

Pearl Street

Oops, some rail cars overturned at curve below Washington Street

Sycamore Avenue

This January storm was not too intense, and roads were open. I took a tour around town thinking it might be the last snow of the winter.

Storm 2: February 14-18, 2021

What, again? An immense storm pattern blanketed the southern and central United States. Houston, Texas, experienced rare snow and temperatures well below freezing. Here in Vicksburg, the freezing rain began to fall on Sunday, the 14th. Monday welcomed us to a white city. 

Room with a view. Wait, what's all that white stuff? (Morning, Feb. 15, 2021)

The mayor imposed a 24-hour driving curfew, which was smart considering that no one around here has snow tires (or ability). And consider, Bubba Joe normally gets in his truck with the widest and baldest tires and drives as fast as he can. Brakes, friction? What are those? Fire trucks and ambulances installed snow chains.

Confederate Avenue view west (Feb. 15, 2021)

Halls Ferry Road from the Confederate Avenue bridge. Where did the traffic go?

It is so peaceful when there is no traffic. The mayor extended the driving curfew to Wednesday, February 17.

Footbridge over Stouts Bayou, Avenue B (Feb. 15, 2021)

I walked to Avenue B and crossed the little footbridge over Stouts Bayou. I saw six unusual speckled birds with long beaks down at the riprap near the water. They were Wilson's Snipe. Here, in the city? As I crossed, they flew off, and two more followed. Later, I saw a Belted Kingfisher. 

Drummond Street view south (Feb. 16, 2021)

Drummond Street view north (Feb. 16, 2021)

Monroe Street view north (Feb. 16, 2021)

I know you readers in the northern USA or Canada, let alone Scandinavia or Russia, will not be impressed with this snowfall, but for us it is a big deal. It certainly changes the scenery. The Interstate highways are treacherous and dangerous because the highway department has very few plows. 

Oh, oh. About noon on Feb. 17, the rain started, and it soon turned into freezing rain. By late in the day, every surface was coated with ice. This mess continued through the night.

Temporary toaster (Feb. 18, 2021)

OK, skip the toaster; eat Panettone instead

Comfort food for those chilly nights

Hey, where did the electricity go? Fortunately, it returned around 09:30 on Thursday (Feb. 18). We heat the house with a gas-fired hot water furnace, but the system depends on two electric pumps to circulate the water through the house piping and radiators. So, no electricity = no heat.

No, not just snow, but ice-saturated crust (Feb. 18, 2021)

Every surface outside was slippery. I tried to break up some chunks of the crust to fill a bucket, but the crust was rock-hard. The City water came back on mid-morning, but we will keep some buckets filled just in case. And the sloping driveway was too slippery to descend safely, so that ended my limb and brush clean-up. Maybe I should have not sold my crampons and ice axe. 

Some spectacular news for Feb. 18: The NASA Perseverance rover landed on the surface of Mars at 12:55 PM Pacific Time. Bravo!! It demonstrates what science and engineering can accomplish.

 

From the Past: 1989

 

February 6, 1989, ice storm. Polaroid Type 54 print

The 2021 scenes are digital images. I also took photographs with film, which need to be developed. I will post them on a summer day when the temperature is 100º F to help you remember what it is like when it is cool. 

Heading Downtown on Foot: Drummond Street, Vicksburg (B&W film)

In early 2018 in the 35MMC photo blog, I wrote about how I was trying to be a bit more spontaneous with my photography. I wrote a short review of my little Olympus Trip 35 camera, which was was light and handy.

The Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera is a lot bigger then the Trip 35, but it also can be hand-held and is very convenient. I thought, why not load it with some Kodak Tri-X 400, walk downtown, and photograph whatever caught my fancy? What follows below is a walk along Drummond Street heading north, towards downtown Vicksburg. This was early 2020, before the Trump Virus semi-confined us to home. I added a few frames from other dates. In the future, I will write an article about some of the architecture along Drummond Street.

At one time, Drummond Street was lined with these magnificent oak trees. I think they were planted in the 1910s or 1920s to line the street. Over time, many have been felled as they rotted or huge limbs broke off. I do not see any present horticultural program to redecorate our streets. Maybe it is considered unnecessary, but we have a hodge-podge of trees now.

This one of the many crepe myrtle trees. These grow quickly and make pretty blossoms that last for weeks during the mid-summer. They add a nice splash of color to the scene.

Welcome Mississippi style. This 1920s cottage at 2904 Drummond was empty for several years but has been nicely restored. A gent name Mr. Moses lived here many years ago. He told me he was a refugee from a famine in Palestine.

Top Five, corner of Drummond and Bowmar Streets (Leica IIIC, 50mm ƒ/1.4 Canon lens, BW400CN film)

The Top Five gets a lot of business. It may be the only grocery store for several miles (excluding the Quick Stop a few blocks north). There is an occasional shooting here, but I now see some video cameras on the power poles pointing towards the store.

Bowmar Ave. near Drummond Street (Tri-X film, 4×5" Tachihara camera, 180 mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens)

This is a 1988 photograph of Bowmar Ave near the intersection with Drummond. The Top Five is at the middle right. A friend lived in the apartments on the left in the 1970s. They look pretty rough now.

Continue north and at least two of the Victorian-era houses still have their original fences. The architect must have specified the length of the fence units and then assembled them when he completed the brick retaining wall. Nice workmanship.

This is a view west along Speed Street, which intersects Drummond. The concrete pattern indicates that this is original concrete street from the 1920s. Oddly, while taking this picture, I experienced one of the very rare times that someone objected to photography. A short, pugnacious, Type A white guy confronted me and ranted away for awhile. Then he left. I am sure he felt very macho, penile, and powerful for the rest of the day.

The bees liked this post box. I hope the postman saw the danger before he tried to use it. This looks like an old-fashioned box but is recent.

Letitia Street in 1997 (Agfa Scala film, Leica M3, 50mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens, yellow filter)

Cottage off Letitia Street (Tri-X, 4×5" Tachihara camera, 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens) 

Letitia Street drops downhill from Drummond approximately across the street from the Vicksburg Gas & Water office. 1920s cottages and some newer warehouses line the street. The dark rectangle hulk at the left center is the long-unused Magnolia School on Bowmar Street. It has been empty for decades, status unknown.

Heading north, we reach the Quick Stop at the corner of Drummond and Belmont Streets. This gas station is usually busy.

Kansas City Southern rail line after ice storm, photograph from Monroe St. bridge (Tri-X film, 4×5" Tachihara camera, 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens)

Half a block north, a bridge crosses a valley and the Kansas City Southern railroad tracks. This is an odd alignment, and I assume the railroad used a natural gully when the track was laid out well before the Civil War. Trains need to negotiate this curve slowly. Once you cross the tracks, Drummond becomes Monroe Street.

Kansas City Southern rail line, photograph from Belmont Street (Tri-X film, 4×5" Tachihara camera, 135mm ƒ/4.5 Schneider Xenar lens, green filter)

This is a view of the railroad cut from a parking lot off Belmont Street. In the 1980s, I remember there being more little cottages on the opposite slope. Kudzu has enveloped the slope, covering some gardens/farms that were once below the houses.

Cottages below West Pine Street (Tri-X 400 film, Leica M3 camera, 90mm ƒ/2.8 Tele-Elmarit lens, green filter)

This is a 1996 tele view of some of the cottages on the slope. Compare with the 2002 photograph above, where the lowest cottage has been totally enveloped with kudzu.

This is the American Legion building where some precincts vote in state and national elections.

This ends our short walk on Drummond Street. The former Vicksburg Hospital was on Monroe Street just a short distance north. I will scan some of those photographs some day (when I make time).

A River (Ditch) Flows through Vicksburg: Stouts Bayou

Stouts Bayou (in red), Vicksburg, Mississippi. Map created with ESRI ArcGIS Online.

Definition of bayou. 1 : a creek, secondary watercourse, or minor river that is tributary to another body of water. 2 : any of various usually marshy or sluggish bodies of water. (from Merriam-Webster online)

Stouts Bayou starts its circuitous path in northeast Vicksburg somewhere in the gullies below Beulah Cemetery, according to the US Geological Survey topographic map. It flows approximately southwest through town, passes by the Lee Street ball field (near Vicksburg High School), continues south near the Vicksburg water treatment plant, and eventually discharges into the Mississippi River just north of Letourneau Landing. I asked a friend, a former city engineer, about the bayou. He said that a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in the 1930s channelized much of the creek as it wound through the then-developed parts of the city (which, back then, meant the areas occupied by white residents). But the city did not acquire the right-of-way. Private property owners own the land on which the bayou flows and the city does not have a perpetual easement or permission to have access. In decades past, when labor costs were low, city workers would regularly clean trees and debris from the channel. I do not know how they got permission to access private land or if they bothered with such bureaucratic business in the past. City workers still clean brush and trash from the sewer or water pipes that cross the bayou in various areas. But the pipes are often located near bridges or roads and have easy access. But for general cleaning, the city now needs to secure written single-use access permission and hires contractors for the work. I read in the Vicksburg Post in 2017 that some land-owners refused to grant the city single use permission and the contractor could not reach some areas of the bayou. As usual, as an outsider not employed by the city or trained in law, such nonsense baffles me.

Since the channelization project in the 1930s, the bayou has received little maintenance. Some of the banks have been rip-rapped (stone placement) or concreted, but many of the 1930s panels are buckled or lifted. That means there is more friction for the flow.

We will take a short tour of Stouts Bayou from various bridges in town, starting upstream and moving downstream. (Click any photograph to enlarge it.)

1920s bridge at Grove and 4th North Streets, Vicksburg. Photograph from 2012.

This brick arch bridge on Grove Street is an example of the robust infrastructure built in the 1920s. The bridge seems to be sound, but the weeds and brush could use trimming.

Stouts Bayou from East Avenue (near Olive Street).

Looking south from the bridge at East Avenue, the stream bed is a mess. Trees have displaced some of the original concrete channel, blocks have been uplifted, and trash and debris have been discarded into the channel.

Stouts Bayou west from Drummond Street bridge.

Stouts Bayou west from Drummond Street

The bayou passes under Drummond Street just south of the Bowmar Avenue intersection. The channel is a dirty mess with brush, broken concrete slabs, and trash.

Avenue B footbridge, January 2018.

Stouts Bayou from Avenue B footbridge, January 2018.

West of Drummond Street, the land drops into a valley occupied by a series of small streets with letter names. A steel footbridge crosses Stouts Bayou from Avenue B to Valley Street. The photograph above is the view south taken during the January 2018 snow storm.

Stouts Bayou from Avenue C. Kodak Ektar 25 film from Hasselblad camera.

The view south from Avenue C shows carelessly placed riprap for stream bank protection. Some of the 1930s concrete channel appears displaced.

Stouts Bayou, National Street. Kodak TMax 100 film.

At National Street, the Bayou still has the concrete channel. During low water, I have walked in the channel here.

Stouts Bayou from Lee Street. Kodak Ektar 25 film from Hasselblad camera (50mm Distagon lens).

The bayou flows south under a bridge on Lee Street, just west of where Stadium Drive joins Lee. Not a pretty sight. This an example of what is happening to infrastructure all over the USA.

Stouts Bayou at Patricia Street (Moto G5 photograph).

Stouts Bayou at Patricia Street (Moto G5 photograph).

Patricia Street is a little known street that extends off Army-Navy Drive, past the City's maintenance and vehicle shops. Patricia dead ends, so there is no through traffic. The bayou marks the west edge of a small community of houses. I have photographed there before, but over the years, many houses have been demolished.

Stouts Bayou bridge (approx. 1903) was replaced in 1937 with a similar girder span and then again in the 1960s with a modern concrete span.

The bridge in the photograph above is in approximately the same position as the contemporary concrete span that carries the North Frontage Road. The Kansas City Southern Tracks are in the same position as a century ago, and the bayou runs under one of the spans on the right (from a 2000 brochure titled Highways in Harmony, Vicksburg Military Park Tour Roads from the National Park Service, documented in 1997 by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER)). Photograph attribution:

46. Steel viaduct spanning stout's bayou and railroad on South Confederate Avenue. Destroyed circa 1938. - Vicksburg National Military Park Roads & Bridges, Vicksburg, Warren County, MS

Title: 46. Steel viaduct spanning stout's bayou and railroad on South Confederate Avenue. Destroyed circa 1938. - Vicksburg National Military Park Roads & Bridges, Vicksburg, Warren County, MS
Creator(s): Faust, William A. II., creator
Date Created/Published: 1997
Medium: 4 x 5 in.

This ends out short tour of Stouts Bayou. South of town, it is less accessible, and I have not seen where it flows into the Mississippi River.