A Most Unique Abandoned Home In Northern Virginia

February 3, 2020

#352

Gentle reader,

My wife had spotted this house, which appears to be a long rambler, one day.

She pointed it out to me the next time we were in the area. Seen here through the truck's windshield.
We have an old Ranger which sits 99% of the time. But is there if we need it and is equipped with snow tires.
I "exercise" it once a week and decided to check out the house.
I came home very excited by what I saw and we set out together to check it out.

When we stopped, what we found was a very unique home that sadly was abandoned, still furnished.

County records indicate it was built in 1953 and has three bedrooms and one bath, 1,353 square feet.

Clearly, they have not been updated. As far as we can determine, the original house was added on to, perhaps twice. Guesstimates by yours truly on the two story portion is far more than thirteen hundred feet.

Someone has removed, stolen perhaps, all the gutters and down pipes. As much as new ones cost, well, I understand.

We think the original house was the left portion. As you may see. Check out that roof over a lower entrance.

My wife looking into the added on, rear-loading garage.

What's inside. I would LOVE to have a garage!

This can best be described as a "great room". The front door opens into it, no ceiling to speak of, but peaked inside. Just look at all those windows! The door on the extreme right leads into the garage.

The original house is shown here. The "first step is a doozy" kitchen door one should not walk out. Kids have been in the house and while not destroying things have been busy.

I did not count them, but have never seen a house with so many entrances!

I am still not sure whether the portion of the house to the right is part of the original structure or not.

This entrance is part of the original structure. Crazy roof does keep one dry. No drain at the bottom, so it must have been effective.

Someone also took all of the door knobs except on the front door. I feel strongly that even though abandoned, it is still not my house to enter.

Walking around the left end reveals a unique and overbuilt structure added on to the original house.

Steps from the front yard and back down to the entrance.
Below shows some robust wood to support fiberglass roofing. 

Oil tank for heat. There are a couple of wells and the septic tank is buried beneath concrete below the entrance behind where I stood to make this shot.

I have never seen an outside A/C unit with ductwork attached to it. Open attic window invites bats.

Original house seems to have ended where the chimney is. One can see the difference in the bricks right behind that tree.
The county records show a very small square footage. It also stated there were five acres, the asking price then was over five hundred thousand.

The new grand entrance and covered porch. Still has a Santa decoration hanging from it.

Again, wall to wall window, and the only remaining door knob. There is a mattress and other furniture someone has dragged onto the porch.

Looking to the right from the columned porch. Still not sure if my theory of the portion past those windows was added on, or it's just me.

Looking to the left at what is the garage. 

Looking into the great room. See the brick wall to the right with a window? Originally an outside wall. Peeled back carpet reveals plywood. 
A website I found when it was for sale years ago, shows hardwood floors in the original part of the house.

The far left end which is the wall of the garage. There are markings on the ground showing the buried electric line to the garage, which has had the meter removed recently and a new tag attached. 

But wait, there's more. 

Behind the house is a car guy's dream, a separate, heated, three car garage.
The second house is currently for rent or sale. We think it may be on the same land.  

Not sure why there are different doors. Perhaps the garage was also added on to.

Inside the first garage. All painted with drywall ceiling and lighting.

Through the doorway seen in the photo above is the separate two car unit. Not finished at all.

The furnace, not sure what fired it. But an electric one would not need exhaust.

The good and perhaps bad news, is that the property, all 39+ acres [not five(!)] sold LAST January for $2,195,000, yes that is two million.
One year later, last month, it sold again, this time for $3,795,000! Quite a tidy profit.

What we fear is a developer bought the land and the house(s) and other structures will be razed so that they can build many houses on land that has been forested for countless millennia. Sigh, I hate developers.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. It is our kind words and comments that keep me writing.

Scott
February 3, 2020
#352
 

Trying Panasonic Lumix Micro Four Thirds Cameras Again. With Nikon Lenses. Also Shown, ALL Pentax 110 Lenses.

January 30, 2020

#351

Gentle reader,

I first got into digital cameras because I had started selling things on eBay in 1998. To add photos, I would shoot film and get the shots put on CD-Rom discs. This was time consuming and pricey.

My wife took pity on me and surprised me with a Fujifilm digital camera. All of 1.3 megapixels. 

NOTE: If you are new to blogger.com, and are viewing this on a PC, Mac or laptop, clicking on any photo will open a window OVER this one. All the photos will be thumbnails at the bottom. One can click on any and use their left arrow and right arrow keys to look through them.

I am not sure when I bought my first Panasonic Lumix camera, but it was not new. I have owned almost twenty by now and only one was bought unused. 

This G2 Micro four thirds body is as close to unused as I have, it had a total of 65 shots on it!

I bought it from a collector. He bought one of each color of various digital cameras. He had three G2 bodies, all mint on eBay for $89 each. I jumped on it.

See what I mean? Clean. He had it set on RAW, so when I made a few test shots, there were two of each image. I switched it to highest quality JPEGs. I don't do raw. Unless we are talking fruits and veggies.

It was suggested to me a few years ago, when I was trying Leica M39 lenses via an adapter on my Nikon DSLR, that I buy a M4/3rds body. I did not know they were so reasonably priced on the used  markets.

Here are two articles I wrote which show the blue Lumix G1 and ALL of the many lenses I tried on it. 

Using Vintage Film Camera Lenses on Digital Camera Bodies PART THREE.  

and,

Using Vintage Film Camera Lenses on Digital Camera Bodies PART TWO.

I don't know what happened to part one of the series. But these two articles cover everything.

I have seen other Lumix users getting the most amazing results with vintage film lenses on their M4/3rds cameras. Me, not so much.

Since the only film lenses I have left are Nikon AF ones, I bought this adapter. Why there is a shiny screw sticking into the black interior, I do not know. But, I will be painting it flat black.

It's different than the usual adapter. See those numbers below: 0123456?

This adapter is constructed to allow one to focus with the lens' aperture wide open then stop it down with the ring the numbers are engraved on.

I have to experiment with it to see what works best. For instance, this lens is f1.8 and goes all the way to f22.

Here it is mounted on the camera. The adapter has a 1960's look to it with the contrasting silver knurls.

This is a neat 2X teleconverter with a unique difference.

It allows for TRUE MACRO focusing. Many lenses are marked MACRO, but true macro renders the subject LIFE-SIZED on the film or sensor.

The BLUE NUMBERS show what the actual magnification will be with a 50mm lens at .45 meter, or it's closest focus distance. The white numbers are the size at the infinity setting.

At the normal, non-macro end of the 2X, above. At maximum, below.

A, yes, I see how much dust is on the lens of my Lumix LX5. Not visible normally.
And, 2, I have never used this 2X before. That, plus the learning curve of all this is still new to me.

I placed the lens cap from the 50mm lens in front of my LX5 to have something flat to experiment with.
The cap was in focus about two inches from the front of the lens.

This is about sixteen inches away at the longest extension of the macro portion of the 2X. 

The shot above is ISO 800 at 1:125th of a second at f1.8. Too light and not sharp.

The shot above is ISO 800 at 1:125th of a second at f5.6. Looks perfect to me.

The shot above is ISO 1000 at 1:125th of a second at f16. Pretty sharp, but too light.

I used to have a lot of lenses in Nikon mount. Did you know, that only Nikon and Pentax have kept the same lens mount since the 1950's? In both cases, one can mount and use any lens on their digital bodies, with manual settings.

That is a Nikomat ELW camera with winder and all of the manual focus lenses I gathered for it. From 7.5mm fisheye to 100-500mm zoom. The big one at the bottom is ff-300mm f4.5. Heavy sucker.

Those days are over. I sold off my 200+ camera collection and all of the lenses and such.

I have a Nikon D200 body, I rarely use, since I am so into Lumix cameras.
On the left is a Sigma 28-300mm AF zoom. Tall one is a Tamron 200-400mm AF zoom. One on the right is the only digital-only lens, a Nikon G 18-55mm lens. The 2X to the right of the camera, you have met already. 

Impressive, yes? I hope to make some impressive shots with this big boy.

Lens is so heavy, it has to have it's own wheels. Just kidding.
The "crop factor" for Micro four thirds compared to 35mm or full-frame digital sensors is 2X. So, that 200-400mm lens is equivalent to a 400-800mm on the Lumix G2 camera.
The problem with that is when using wide angle lenses. The Nikon 18-55mm is equivalent to 27-82.5mm on a full-frame sensor. 
But on a M4/3rd camera it is equal to 26-110mm. Which is barely wide angle on the short end.

The sensor size of M4/3rds is almost identical to 110 film which is actually 16mm.
One option for micro four thirds users are Pentax 110 SLR lenses. Above is their 18mm wide angle, about 35mm on full frame.

The tiny one above is the 24mm "normal" lens about equal to 50mm.

Above is the 50mm telephoto lens, equal to 100mm.

Above and below, with an all metal body is the real telephoto of 70mm. The filter size is 49mm.

The one-and-only zoom lens for the Pentax 110 SLR was this 20-40mm. 40-80mm in full frame. Also takes a 49mm filter.

At the 20mm end above and 40mm below.

To show you just how TINY the Pentax 110 camera is:

 The same lens, 24mm, is on the Pentax above and G1, below. If you are viewing this on a PC or laptop, the Pentax is about life-sized, above.

That particular Pentax 110 is the SUPER model which had more features and better accessories.

The lenses have no apertures. The aperture blades are in the camera.

You can see them in the lens opening above. That is the drawback to those lenses on M4/3rds cameras, they must be shot wide open. 

That is it for now. I have only made a handful of shots with the new-to-me G2 and Nikon lenses. I will be reporting on and showing results as I get better at it.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my blog. I am so honored and humbled by all the people who have (more than 1/4 million) that read it.  

Scott
January 30, 2020
#351