Canon AF35M II
s/n: 3851842
This is the first Auto Focus camera that I’ve owned. I bought it at a PX, a military store like Costco at the ARMY base I lived at. This is when I lived on O’ahu and I flew with it quite a bit. Sometimes I would attach it to a wingtip with a long air bulb tube to actuate the shutter. If I wasn’t flying with it, I gave the camera to a friend quickly instructing them how to frame to take a picture. If we were flying together, and I wanted pictures of me flying, we would trade cameras taking pictures along the way.
After I got out of the service, I gave it to my brother in the late eighties or early nineties.
Today, I meet my brother for lunch and SURPRISE! He gave my camera back!
“Adam, I want you to have this…”
I had forgotten that I gave it to him, it was so long ago. It was a wonderful surprise.
This is one of the three cameras that if I could go back in time to retrieve so I can use today, I would. This is one of those cameras that I got a lot of great pictures out of.
Anyway, I cleaned it up and it works!
I actuated the on and off switch, depressing the shutter, loosening up the mechanism. I’ve loaded a fresh roll of film and I’m going to shoot a roll through it this weekend.
Thank you so much Noel.
It's loud! It always has been. I thought this might be interesting to get a picture of a selfie as I sit in the Subaru dealership waiting for my oil to be changed. They have a nice lounge, and I take my laptop to administer some of the pages I'm working on. When I get the pictures back later today, I'll post the picture I took from the video.
All of the pictures below were taken by this very camera. All before the introduction of GoPro cameras. So exciting to have it back in my kit, truly amazing.
Canon AF35M II – a Camera with a Whole Lot of Automation
This is early in the flight; the camera is pointed back at me hanging off the wing tip (washout tube.) I chose a lightweight camera but even this little bit of weight out on the wing tip puts a turn in the glider. I was constantly having to compensate for the turn with weight shift. When circling up in a thermal, I just used the turn instead of fighting it flowing with it. At the time, I didn't have an infrared or Bluetooth shutter release. I used a hand squeeze bulb that had a long tube to actuate the shutter button. Squeeze the bulb, pushes the air through the tube and it pressed a piston into the shutter release button. I had to fabricate a bracket for the shutter release and set up the shutter release system while compensating for the turn in order take pictures. It really was a big deal but not that big of a deal if I wanted pictures. It was an added distraction from feeling the glider respond to the air but worth it. I knew I was going to like having them in the future and here I am a few decades later writing about it.
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