Inside the Abandoned National Silk Dyeing Co.: Paterson, NJ's Forgotten Textile Mill (Photos)

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  The text message from my friend J was simple: a list of addresses in Newark and Paterson. An invitation. An urban treasure map with Xs marking forgotten places. I picked the one on Piercy Street. Pulling up, I saw the building wasn’t exactly hiding. It was a behemoth of brick and colorful lettered graffiti, a whole city block of decay. A door gaped open next to an old loading dock, but the scene gave me pause. Mounds of illegally dumped trash lay along the floor of the loading bay. This part of Paterson has a tough reputation, and the open doors felt less like an invitation and more like a dare. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The air was thick with the smell of dust and damp. I found myself in a vast, open space littered with plastic containers and skeletal metal shelving. I moved deeper, drawn toward the old boiler house section. Before I reached it, I walked into a room that stopped me cold. Everything was stained a deep, blood red. A fine crimson powder coated the fl...
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eBay Vintage Lens Buy: Asahi Super-Takumar 55mm 1:2


Opened up my new lens out of the box and upon close inspection found a cluster of dust resting all around the back lens element like shampoo in the eye. It made me cringe. Just a bit of moisture or water inside and those huge dusk particles could turn into the dreaded fungus spores they can be. Unfortunately I paid around $16 dollars for this gem and returning could be prohibitive. Asahi Super-Takumar lenses go upwards from $30 from average to around $160+ for those with apertures of f1.4.

A quick test below shows that the dust particles do not affect image quality as I thought but useable for my purposes for now. The lens Gods have been merciful on my soul. So double check and scrutinize eBay listing pictures of lenses before you bid or buy.

Ashai Takumar @ f2.0, ISO 100, 1/125

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