My second roll of film through my Minolta Maxxum 3xi was my first roll of Arista EDU Ultra 100 (36 exp) black and white. Since I know from my first shoot with this camera in Franklin, Indiana a few weeks earlier that the camera and lens function well together, and seem to both focus and read exposure well, I was confident it would not be a waste of time taking the Minolta 3xi downtown, where I ask people if I can take their portrait while passing them on the street.

It was mid-day in downtown Indianapolis, so the sun was high and harsh, but that added to the contrast of the film. During the times of covid, the best time to capture people out and about in an inner city is typically going to be lunch time. As more things open up, evenings become more of an option. But from where I am, the evenings are the leanest times regarding people out and about in the downtown area.

One of the selling points of the Ricoh GR III compact APS-C camera is the IBIS system (In-Body Image Stabilization), which is claimed to allow the user to handhold up to one second. I put this to the test in this night video, where I'm able to show the long-exposure by using passing cars in a small town, creating light-trails on Main Street.

This was a spur of the moment attempt, but I was very pleased with the results. Having thought through the process, I would have used the 2-second delay shutter to make sure to minimize camera shake even more while holding it in my hands instead of using a tripod. I also only went down to .8 seconds (next step is one full second), as again, I hadn't thought about going as low as possible, it was just an attempt at the time to get a decent light-trail.