Saturday 26 June 2010

Week 26 - Lomography Spinner 360° camera

This is my new toy! Although I've got a few of the Lomography novelty cameras, I've never bought one new before, the others were picked up cheaply in boot sales or charity shops.
This is a slit camera that rotates through 360 degrees and gives about 6 exposures on a 36 exposure 35mm film. It feels quite well made, and is really very simple, but would be time consuming to build myself (and probably beyond my construction skills anyway). I've already put one film through it, just to check it works, and the results are encouraging, now I've started to get a feel for its characteristics, I'll try to find some subjects the work well.

Friday 25 June 2010

photo from week 25 - Agat 18k


St Pancras station, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.

This camera is hardly a pleasure to use. It feels brittle and plasticy, and the shutter release needs to be pressed hard to fire, sometimes the only way to be sure that an exposure has been made is to attempt to wind on. The frame spacing is quite variable, with some overlapping, and some wider spaces. That said, the quality of the images seems reasonable, but I don't think this camera will become my regular shooter.
Two consecutive frames.

pterodactyl dyptich


pterodactyl dyptich, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This camera is hardly a pleasure to use. It feels brittle and plasticy, and the shutter release needs to be pressed hard to fire, sometimes the only way to be sure that an exposure has been made is to attempt to wind on. The frame spacing is quite variable, with some overlapping, and some wider spaces. That said, the quality of the images seems reasonable, but I don't think this camera will become my regular shooter.
This is two consecutive frames.

photo from week 25 - Agat 18k


Southwark building tryptich, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This camera is hardly a pleasure to use. It feels brittle and plasticy, and the shutter release needs to be pressed hard to fire, sometimes the only way to be sure that an exposure has been made is to attempt to wind on. The frame spacing is quite variable, with some overlapping, and some wider spaces. That said, the quality of the images seems reasonable, but I don't think this camera will become my regular shooter.
This is three adjacent frames.

photo from week 25 - Agat 18k

This camera is hardly a pleasure to use. It feels brittle and plasticy, and the shutter release needs to be pressed hard to fire, sometimes the only way to be sure that an exposure has been made is to attempt to wind on. The frame spacing is quite variable, with some overlapping, and some wider spaces. That said, the quality of the images seems reasonable, but I don't think this camera will become my regular shooter.

photo from week 25 - Agat 18k


walking the dog, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This camera is hardly a pleasure to use. It feels brittle and plasticy, and the shutter release needs to be pressed hard to fire, sometimes the only way to be sure that an exposure has been made is to attempt to wind on. The frame spacing is quite variable, with some overlapping, and some wider spaces. That said, the quality of the images seems reasonable, but I don't think this camera will become my regular shooter.

Friday 18 June 2010

Week 25 - Agat 18k

This half-frame Russian camera was made from 1988-1991, it has a 28mm f2.8 Industar lens, and a coupled shutter and aperture setting with symbols to guide exposure. There is no way to depart from the fixed combinations of shutter speed and aperture, which range from approximately 1/60th at f2.8 to 1/500th at f16.
I've loaded it with a roll of "Rollei Retro" black and white film, which is re-labeled Agfa stock.

photo from week 24 - Kalimar Action Shot 16


Tango in Tudor Square, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.

photo from week 24 - Kalimar Action Shot 16


Mop 180 degrees, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.

Thursday 17 June 2010

photo from week 24 - Kalimar Action Shot 16

Taken in single shot mode, this is my shadow cast on a range of surfaces in the local park.

photo from week 24 - Kalimar Action Shot 16


Park Hill Flats spin, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This was taken in "normal" mode, the camera was moved in a circular path during the 2 seconds or so that it takes to make the exposure.

photo from week 24 - Kalimar Action Shot 16


Park Hill Flats, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This was taken in single shot mode, moving the camera between each shot to make a collage panorama.

Friday 11 June 2010

Week 24 - Kalimar Action Shot 16


Kalimar Action Shot 16, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This is probably my favourite novelty camera. It was made for golfers to analyse their swing, and takes 16 pictures in 2 seconds using 2 frames of 35mm film. The shutters can also be fired one at a time, and this is the way I prefer to use it, allowing a planned sequence to be taken, or a 'joiner' composite image to be made.

Tuesday 8 June 2010

photo from week 23 - Baby-Rolleiflex


receeding busts, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This wall of busts by the Sculptor Francis Chantrey (1781-1841) is in the new part of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Chantrey was a local lad, and I walk past his grave in St James Church Norton several times a week.

photo from week 23 - Baby-Rolleiflex


The Radcliffe Camera, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
it was a bright sunny day, and this one was rather over-exposed, there's also a suggestion lof slight fogging at the edges.

photo from week 23 - Baby-Rolleiflex


highland cattle, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
an idyllic scene in the local park...

photo from week 23 - Baby-Rolleiflex

Failing to take account of the parallax error at close range, so I lost the top of my head, and caught the bottom of the mirror!

Wednesday 2 June 2010

Week 23 - Rolleiflex 4x4


Rolleiflex 4x4, originally uploaded by pho-Tony.
This is one of the pre-war (mid 1930's) twin lens reflexes made for 127 rollfilm. After the war, the model was updated and became the "Baby Rollei". Although this example has a fair amount of cosmetic wear and tear, it seems to work OK, so I have loaded it with a roll of Efke black and white film. This takes twelve 4cm x 4cm square photos per roll.

Tuesday 1 June 2010