Category Archives: Photographs

The air cooled twin

Motorcycles, Photographs

BMW, of course.

BMW has been making motorcycles with air cooled twin motors since 1921. While the line was discontinued in 1995 in search of more power for children who think that 100hp is called for in a single track vehicle, the design layout continues in air and oil cooled twins to this day from the BMW factory. Sure the charm and light weight have been lost but the design is as right today as it was almost a century ago.

The 900cc motor at left is in a 1975 R90/6 which is now in my 29th year of ownership. The fully faired touring rig on the right is a tad larger at 1,000cc. Both develop around 60hp, perfectly adequate for touring at 70mph all day long. The beauty of these air cooled twins is that the cylinders are way out there in the air stream, so no oil or water cooling is called for. While the later machine sports a small oil cooler it’s quite unnecessary in practice. A related benefit is that the design means that the center of gravity is very low indeed, making maneuvering at low speeds child’s play. Try horsing that high mounted Japanese ‘across the frame’ four around at parking lot speeds and you will get my drift.

Each cylinder has its own carburetor, as is clear in the image. These share the same technology present in the 1921 version and are as reliable as a hammer. Periodic valve lash check-ups and adjustments are very easy as the valve covers are simply removed (two nuts and one bolt), giving full access to the valves and followers. Rapacious and unnecessary demands for ever more power doomed these machines, which remain firm favorites with touring riders for their quietness, freedom from vibration and comfort. 300,000 miles on one of these engines is no big deal.

The last time horizontally opposed, air cooled motors were used in cars was in the original four cylinder VW Beetle and four and six cylinder Porsches, before both went to water cooling. The modern Subaru uses the design in a water cooled variant and the motors are also famously long lived.

iPhone7 snap.

Bartlett Lake, AZ

iPhone, Motorcycles, Photographs

In the Tonto National Forest.

Bartlett Lake is 35 miles northeast of Scottsdale and is deserted on weekdays. The ride through the high desert is lovely, and while the 20 mile approach road through the Forest has seen better days the gentle sweepers and absence of traffic make for a fine opener for the 9 month motorcycling season here, now that daytime highs have dropped to the low 90s.



No traffic in sight.


The map view in Lightroom.


The Last Stop is the only dining place at the lake. Usual burger fare.
Note the matching 1975 historic registration plate on my 1975 BMW R90/6,
now in my 29th year of ownership and a delight to ride.

Boat and JetSki rentals are available.


This was the first occasion on which I aired out the camera in my ‘new’ iPhone7. In contrast to the 8mp files from the excellent camera in the iPhone6, iPhone7 files are 12mp and what little grain there was in iP6 images has disappeared, the crazy azure skies have been tamed a bit (if not quite enough) and resolution is everything you would need for the largest of prints. An incredible technical accomplishment.

The miserable CEO of Apple, Tm Cook, a man devoid of original ideas, claims that one of the justifications for the crazy pricing of the latest iPhones is that you get a great camera thrown in. Well, there’s no question the camera is fine (albeit with the world’s worst ergonomics) but I’ll stick with a separate SLR when conditions get challenging. But for a day-to-day snapper the camera in the iP7 is exceptionally good.

Prescott, AZ

Photographs

Cowboys!

Dating from the 1860s, Prescott is in the center of Arizona, two hours northwest of Phoenix and was once the capital before Arizona became a state.


At some 5,000 feet above sea level temperatures are 10-20F cooler than in Phoenix, and snow in the winter is usual. The town is home to 40,000 residents. Prescott has been somewhat discovered in the two decades since I last visited it, long stretches of ugly strip malls sorrounding the city center testifying to Americans’ spirit of place. But the town center, the square dominated by the turn of the century courthouse, remains special.


The Courthouse.

I was using film on this visit and entry to the Courthouse dictates that one passes himself, his gonads and his film through a variety of irradiation gear because, you know, terrorists will almost certainly target downtown Prescott in their next go around. I asked the goon manning these devices to check with his boss man and he assured me my film stock would survive (status: it did) but no feedback on my privates or future prospects of child creation (status: uncertain). Kodak says that high speed emulsions risk fogging, but 100 ASA Ektar seems to have done fine.


Unending war. America’s commitment to world peace ceased in 1945,
that to unending war starting at the same time. We have yet to win
a conflict since that change in philosophy.



The Palace Saloon on Whiskey Row dates from 1877.


“Come up and see me some time”.
Inside the Palace Saloon. Here’s where the insane flexibility of digital is really missed.
No cranking the ISO up to 1600, so it meant jamming the Nikon F100 against
the pillar and praying that something would come out after a 1/2 second exposure.


Ten pointers and associated dignitaries and desperadoes adorn the walls of the Palace Saloon.


Ektar struggles mightily with the dynamic range here.


Wild West architecture survives on Whiskey Row.


Unpronounceable maybe, but the Hassayampa Inn dates
from 1927 and includes many fine Art Deco touches of the era.


The Elks Theater.


And serving the world’s finest hamburger, too. American Hype never ceases to amaze.

Nikon F100, 24-120mm AFD Nikkor, Kodak Ektar 100.

Ektar! Watch out.

Photographs

A color brute.

I made mention of Kodak’s Ektar 100 film here when I first started messing about with film after a decades long hiatus spent genuflecting to the digital god.

This is not an easy film to use. The contrast is brutally high and even a smidgeon of over-exposure means highlights will blow out and there is no way the limitations of the film medium will permit their recovery in post-processing.

So I have learned to set the Nikon F100 to -0.3 stops exposure correction using the +/- control and expect that for the next roll I will migrate to -0.7 stops, meaning I am rating Extar at 160 ASA and recovering detail thus in Lightroom:

Here’s an image snapped in Prescott AZ the other day – any hint of over-exposure would have blown that roof out:

Sure, the sky came out darker than it really was, but Extar is about drama, not realism. I get enough of the latter from the NYT daily, and it’s not a pretty picture.

Nikon F100, 24-120mm AFD Nikkor, Kodak Ektar 100.

Dewey-Humboldt

Photographs

Small and fine.

The town of Dewey-Humboldt is home to under 4,000 in Yavapai County, AZ, slap bang in the middle of the state and easily missed on the drive from Scottsdale to Prescott.

From Wikipedia:

When a new post office opened in 1898, the community was renamed Dewey, probably to honor Admiral Dewey’s great victory that year at the Battle of Manila — this was the height of the Spanish–American War. Another post office was established at Val Verde (Humboldt) in 1899.

It’s worth a stop as picture opportunities abound, and you can only admire the early settlers of the west for their toughness and resolve. First settled in 1863, it would be many years before Willis Carrier invented air conditioning in 1902 making the desert livable.


Dewey-Humboldt Main Street.

Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.

Another view of Main Street.

The town has seen better days.

How the West was colonized before the steam train.


All images on the Nikon F100 on Kodak Ektar 100 film. Nikon absolutely knocked it out of the park with the F100, which can be found mint for well under $200. The ergonomics are identical to any number of Nikon DSLRs which followed – I especially like the D700 – so there is no learning curve.

Ektar 100 film has exceptionally high contrast and while I underexposed these -0.3 EVs, -0.7 EVs would probably have been better, as it’s very easy to lose the highlights with over-exposure and the dynamic range of film is simply awful compared to that of a half decent digital sensor.

The lens used was the Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AFD zoom, an excellent all-rounder. After sale of the filters this came with, my net cost was under $50. It comes with free barrel distortion thrown in, easily fixed in Lightroom when it matters.