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Cecropias!

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By Sam Ortiz

How big was the largest moth you’ve ever seen?

The largest moth in North America is the cecropia. These moths are part of the silk moth family and can be anywhere from five to six inches in wingspan. Cecropias are said to be common, but you may not see them often because they are nocturnal.

Their wings are a grayish-brown color with the base of their forewings being the same red color as their bodies and having an orange stripe near the edge and an orange teardrop shape closer to the center. The edge of the forewing has a wavy white line and a black circle.

The hindwings of the cecropia look very similar except for the absence of the black dot and a white stripe directly above the orange one.

Its antennae are, just as all moths’ are, feathered. The body of the cecropia is a bright red color accented with white and dotted with black down the sides of its furry-looking abdomen.

Moths are commonly known to have scales on their wings, but what about that fur you see on some kinds’ bodies? This “fur” is actually just more scales. Research has shown that these scales can absorb sound and allow them a better chance against predators that use echolocation, like bats.

However, even if a cecropia manages to avoid death by bat, it won’t live for long. Cecropias can only eat when they are caterpillars. Cecropias, and a few other kinds of moths, lose their mouth during their metamorphosis. Cecropias cannot eat and can only live for about two weeks.

In those two weeks that a cecropia is fully grown, it only has one objective: to find a mate. Cecropias can lay up to 100 eggs in a batch, though most won’t survive until adulthood.

Cecropia caterpillars right after they hatch are black. As they go on and molt a few times, they grow in size and eventually change colors to green. Then, when they are ready, they spin their cocoon and begin the cycle again.

The life of a cecropia may not be very long, but these beautiful bugs are much more than the stereotype of the ugly and plain-looking moth everybody knows.

Beware of the Cecropias!

Bears in Gatlinburg

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Bear Warning in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Nikon FM2n on Lomo CN 100 film with the Voigtlander 40mm f/2 lens.

Neon: Portra vs Ektar

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Neon Star on Film

Kodak Portra 800

Kodak Ektar 100

Hot and Fresh Popcorn

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Donut time

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Fried donut machine in action at the Fair. Nikon FM2n Kodak Portra 800, 50mm f/1.2 lens.

Beach Ektar

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Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Beach on Kodak Ektar 100 film. Nikon FM2n with Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 lens.

Relax... you're here LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA BEACH

HP5 Power lines

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Power lines on Ilford HP5 Plus 400

Power lines on Ilford HP5 Plus, Nikon F6 with Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D Fisheye lens.

A lot of pink

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FLOWERS ON FILM

Kodak Gold 200

Nikon Lite Touch AF (AF600) Review

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Nikon Lite Touch AF top view of the LCD screen.

Nikon Lite Touch AF back view. I painted an outline on the view finder and placed a red sticker below it to help my eye find it when pulled up to my face. The viewfinder is super tiny.

Nikon Lite Touch AF size comparison with two 35mm film boxes.

Nikon Lite Touch AF photo while eatting pizza at Miami's Best Pizza.

Nikon Lite Touch AF photographed out the window of a car.

Photo of PDQ fried chicken taken with the Nikon Lite Touch AF with its wide 28mm focal length. Lomography Color Negative 100 film.

No flash photo of Messer Chups in Chicago, IL with the Nikon Lite Touch AF on Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400 film.

Panoramma mode of the Nikon Lite Touch AF turned on. Thou the switch wasnt all the way so you can see the edges of it on the left.

Nikon Lite Touch AF works great with Backlit Black and White film too.

Kiki Valdes artwork on Ilford HP5 400 film on the Nikon Lite Touch AF .

Nikon Lite Touch AF Review

The every day carry point & shoot film camera

This is a fantastic camera and exactly the camera I want to take with me everywhere. I own a few cameras (F6, FM2n, F80s) with awesome lens but I was looking to add a small everyday camera to enhance my iPhone photography. I found this for about 100 bucks on eBay.

Pros

Small and Light Weight

This is the smallest film camera I have seen or ever used. I’d say it even smaller than most disposable 35mm film cameras. Disposable are lighter but this one isn’t much heavier. Plus it has a flash!

Thin profile

The lens is retracted when the camera is off. Nothing pokes out so it easily slides into my pocket.

Fixed 28mm

This is a perfect focal length for just about any situation. Indoor, outside, at a desk or table. In the city or out in nature. Even in a car or an elevator. I always prefer it than my iPhone for photos. Unless it’s an immediately needed photo for reference like a parking space # or whatever.

Cons

Tiny viewfinder

The viewfinder is so tiny it’s almost unusable. Sometimes I can’t even find it when I pull up the camera to my face. I painted a white outline on the viewfinder and put a red sticker below it to help my eye find it. The view inside the viewfinder is so tiny its almost pointless to compose. I find myself not bothering to use the viewfinder. I mostly point and shoot off the cuff, that could be a pro feature thou.

Mushy trigger button

The tigger is really mushy. I’ve found it best to use 1 of 2 strategies. Option 1) Press the tigger down so hard with my finger I slightly vibrate the camera from the resistance. Option 2) Which I find works better, but a lot slower is pushing the trigger down til I feel slight resistance and hold… About 1 second later the camera is like OH OK and fires the shot. Slow but it works and no shakes. 'Nikon Mushy Touch AF' might be a better name for this camera.

LCD Screen

Has no illumination so it’s impossible to see at night.

The Nikon Lite Touch AF (also knows as AF600) has a few other cool features such as Panorama Setting, Slow Flash, Pause Film Rewind, Two Shot Self-Timer and more. Check out the manual

conclusion

Sample Photos Taken with the Nikon Lite Touch AF camera