Friday 27 January 2012

photo from week 108 - Minolta 16

dragon dance (head) by pho-Tony
dragon dance (head), a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
The head of the dragon celebrating the Chinese New Year.

photo from week 108 - Minolta 16

At close range the parallax problem is quite apparent, if I was using this camera regularly I would probably get a feel for where to aim to ensure the subject is where I intended. Hand held, and in poor available light, at full aperture, this was never going to be the sharpest of images.

photos from week 108 - Minolta 16

graffiti triptych by pho-Tony
graffiti triptych, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
The home-slit film worked well, and went in the camera and then the developing tank without any problems. With the negatives only being 10mm x 14mm, the quality is not very good, but at least I was able to use the camera.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Week 109 - Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta

Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta by pho-Tony
Zeiss Ikon Baby Ikonta, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is possibly the smallest folding 127 camera ever made. A range of lens and shutter combinations were available, this is one of the more basic models with a 5cm f4.5 Novar lens and a Derval shutter. I've never used it before, and have loaded it with a roll of Efke 100.

Friday 20 January 2012

Week 108 - Minolta 16 (II)

Minolta 16 (II) by pho-Tony
Minolta 16 (II), a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
This is a recent acquisition, it came with a range of accessories, most importantly a 16mm developing tank. To date I have been using a rather flimsy 16mm reel, but half the time the film comes out during processing, this one seems more rigid, and has deeper grooves, so hopefully the film will stay in place.
I re-loaded one of the cassettes that came with the camera with home-slit Kodacolor Gold film.

DIY film slitter

DIY film slitter by pho-Tony
DIY film slitter, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
In week 108, I am using a 16mm subminiature camera. Film is not easy to find in affordable quantities, and enthusiasts often cut down 35mm film to fit. This is a version of one pattern of DIY slitter, it works fine, the only problem was I managed to slit my fingertips along with the film!

photo from week 107 - Ihagee Parvola

Alcopop Princess by pho-Tony
Alcopop Princess, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
Another photo taken at the minimum focussing distance, this time I was in the stree, with no tripod, and the dull daylight menat I had to shoot at around f5.6 to use the slowest speed I coull risk hand-holding, 1/25th second. The focus is not very accurate, or maybe that's the effect of the alcohol!

photo from week 107 - Ihagee Parvola

Shooting near the closest focussing distance, and in dim indoor lighting, I set the aperture to the smallest, f22 to minimise focussing errors, this meant an exposure of around 8 seconds.

Friday 13 January 2012

Week 107 - Ihagee Parvola

Ihagee Parvola by pho-Tony
Ihagee Parvola, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
This camera was made in the early 1930s in Germany. It takes 127 film, using the 8 frames per roll format. Many cameraa of this era used bellows to make them smaller when not in use, but this one uses a double helical screw barrel, which extends the lens to it's full extent with what seems like only a small amount of rotation. The Prontor II shutter on this one does not work below 1/25th sec, but otherwise the camera seems OK, especially as it is around 80 years old. I've loaded it with a roll of black and white Efke 100 film.

Thursday 12 January 2012

photo from week 106 - Minox EC

reading room by pho-Tony
reading room, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
Retired KGB agent looking for microdots...

photo from week 106 - Minox EC

Llamas by pho-Tony
Llamas, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
I think the Llama on the right has spotted the spy camera...

photo from week 106 - Minox EC

Allowing for the low light and resulting slow shutter speed, coupled with the difficulty in holding such a small camera still, this isn't too bad, probably good enough for a spy to use as evidence!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

The Book of 52 cameras in 52 weeks - Year 2

It doesn't seem like a year since the last book. The new book can be previewed here:
www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2865127
you can even order a copy from there if you want!

There is also a book which covers the first 2 years:
www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/2869629

Saturday 7 January 2012

Week 106 - Minox EC spy camera

Minox EC spy camera by pho-Tony
Minox EC spy camera, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
Minox were famous for making a range of precision, expensive miniature spy cameras. This isn't one of them. Made towards the end of the Minox story, this tiny camera has a fixed aperture of f5.6 and fixed focus, it does however have a fully automatic electronic shutter with speeds from 1/500th to 8 seconds, so it can be used in very low lighting conditions provided there is something to rest it against. The camera came with a 15 exposure film, which though expired will hopefully still have some life in it. The film is 9.5mm wide and takes images 8mm x 11mm.

photo from week 105 - Start (Cmapm)

request STOP by pho-Tony
request STOP, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
Another shot at full aperture and minimum focus, taken on the top deck of a bus on a dull late winter afternoon, the shutter speed was 1/30th second, so various factors have contributed to the lack of sharpness.

Thursday 5 January 2012

photo from week 105 - Start (Cmapm)

Using available daylight indoors at this time of year inevitably meant shooting at or near full aperture, at least with a reflex camera one can be sure of the focus.

photo from week 105 - Start (Cmapm)

hanging socket by pho-Tony
hanging socket, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.
This was taken in a very dark abandoned factory during very heavy rain which was coming through what was left of the roof. I wanted to take full advantage of the limited depth of field, and given the low light I had no choice anyway but to use full aperture if I was going to hand hold. This was 1/30th sec at f2