McLaren MP4/1B Carbon Fiber Composite Chassis – Caesar’s Palace Grand Prix 1982
The beginning of the revolution:
This photograph was taken with my old Hasselblad Super Wide C, a great 120mm film camera with a permanently mounted 38mm Zeiss wide angle lens. It produced staggeringly sharp square images but was slightly difficult to use spontaneuosly because there was only an optical viewfinder on top of the camera for rough framing. For precise architectural and landscape photography I used it on a tripod, removed the film back and replaced it with a ground glass accessory and a chimney viewer from a 500C. On the positive side the SWC was small and light weight and once I was familiar with its performance I could use it handheld. Employing a separate meter for basic exposures I’d set its controls for maximum depth of field and it worked like a very expensive point and shoot camera. I photographed with both 12 and 24 exposure film backs using 120mm Ektacolor 100 ASA negative film. Despite the great image quality it wasn’t flexible enough to handle the fast paced activities of a race and with great reluctance I finally sold it to buy a tool more appropriate for motorsports photography: a second Nikon F3 motor drive camera and additional lenses. Unlike the remarkably stable 35mm Kodachrome slides I regularly used, the color negative images have faded through the years. Despite their technical issues there are some interesting pictures which I will post occasionally.
poeticsofspeed 
You must be logged in to post a comment.