January 2023, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Whilst visiting my relatives in Vietnam I took the opportunity to join one of the city photo walks organized by an expat local. I took both Nikkormats with me, electing to keep the 50mm standard lens attached to the FTN whilst the EL mounted the 28mm. Generally I prefer a shorter depth of field, so tended to favour the FTN with 50mm combination. The light was strangely grey and flat most of the time I was there with a haze hanging over the city for days, so everyone was a little discouraged.

The food markets are always a favourite subject for visiting photographers and this walk was no exception. The Nikkormat FTN behaved well enough, although I dislike the shutter speed selector lever as when aligned with f/8 the lever also aligns with the lens release button, making it awkward to set. The focus screen is bright and clear and is easy to focus. I did have a serviceable 625 mercury cell to try out the meter too. Setting the ASA rating is a fiddle, the shutter speed selector needs to be pulled back towards the body to allow the ASA rating indicator to slide to the desired value.

This image was made in match meter mode, so all's well with the metering.

As Tet approaches (lunar new year in Vietnam) floating flower markets appear with boats bringing thousands of Mai trees from outside the city. All the boats have eyes painted on them to frighten off evil spirits. Rather than shoot the acres of wildly colourful flowers, I elected to photograph this reelection of one of the boats.

The film used was Konica C41 print film, donated a few months previously. It's a bit blotchy in that big smooth expanse. Mind you, the expiry date was seventeen years ago and it had passed through airport x-ray machines twelve times before being processed.