photo from week 121 - Olympus Trip 35

Shakespeare's Birthday Parade, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

These are two of the many Shakespeare themed participants in the bard's birthday celebration held in Stratford on Avon.

photo from week 121 - Olympus Trip 35

reflected self-portrait with Olympus Trip 35 camera and B&Q Kids Club cap, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Trip is fully automatic, but when set to flash mode, the shutter speed is 1/40th of a second, and the aperture can be set at will. For this indoor shot, I used the flash setting to force the slower shutter speed (the other speed is 1/200th) and set the aperture at f4, to get a little more depth of field than I would have had at full aperture. I used a tape measure to position myself at the closest focussing distance.

photo from week 121 - Olympus Trip 35

Coventry Cathedral ruin and model, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

In the spirit in which the camera was marketed, I took the Olympus with me on a trip to Coventry and Stratford, I loaded it with a 24 exposure film, but finished this off quite quickly, so loaded it with another.
This is the tomb of the Bishop who oversaw the inception of Coventry Cathedral, I set the focus to the minimum distance, and tried to guess the parallax correction needed to stop the towers overlapping.

Week 121 - Olympus Trip 35

Olympus Trip 35, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Olympus trip was in production from 1967 to 1984, and over 10 million were sold. In the UK at least, they were made famous by the David Bailey advertising campaign. They are very common, and often very cheap, some work, some don't, I have three (costing between £1 and £3 each) and two of these work. I have never actually used one before, so I'm looking forward to taking it on a trip to Stratford-on-Avon.

photo from week 120 - Ricoh Auto 66

cricket, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Sunday afternoon cricket match in the park is a quintessentially British sight, I have no interest in cricket, but am quite keen on little white flags, so this was an ideal subject.

photo from week 120 - Ricoh Auto 66

reflected self-portrait with Ricoh Auto 66 camera and lensless spectacles, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

A combination of close focus, and low light, leading to wide aperture and slow shutter speed has taken the edge of the sharpness of this one.

photo from week 120 - Ricoh Auto 66

two towers, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I went for a walk with the camera, and on my way found this Eiffel Tower model in a charity shop, so I placed it in the landscape in one of the local parks. The plane of focus is a bit off, the grass behind the tower is sharp, but the tower itself was a little too close to the camera.

Week 120 - Ricoh Auto 66

Ricoh Auto 66, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Week 120, so I had to choose a 120 camera, and I haven't used one so far this year.
The Ricoh Auto 66 has a selenium meter, and uses a needle match system to set a combination of shutter speed and aperture, the user has no choice over this, only by using "B" or setting the shutter for flash, could you choose which aperture to use.
I've loaded it with a roll of Shanghai GP3 film, which has virtually illegible backing paper markings, not a problem for this camera which uses a frame counter rather than the red window.

photo from week 119 - Exakta VP model B

Abbey Lane Angels, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Another of my regular subjects, this time I used a yellow filter to bring out the clouds a bit, and kept the aperture fairly wide while focussing on the nearest angel.

photo from week 119 - Exakta VP model B

playing the blue guitar on the red sofa in black and white, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This octogenarian camera seems to work OK, this one was taken using a tripod and the camera's slow range of shutter speeds, four seconds in this case, with the aperture down at f22.

Week 119 - Exakta VP model B

Exakta VP model B, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I've hankered after one of these pre-war SLRs for a while, and acquired this one a few weeks ago. It is in good condition, and the shutter appears to work, even at the very long exposures, it goes up to 12 seconds! I won't know until I've developed the film whether the focal plane shutter runs smoothly, and whether it has any pinholes, though there weren't any obvious holes that I could see.
I'm using Efke 100 black and white film in it.

photo from week 118 - Agfa Isomat-Rapid

reflected self-portrait with Agfa Isomat-Rapid camera and back to front straw hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Selenium cell automatic exposure seems to work OK, but knowing the light here was at the limit of what the camera could cope with, I set it to the manual (flash) position which I think gives a shutter speed of 1/30th second, and I set the aperture to full (f4.5), so depth of field was at a premium.

photo from week 118 - Agfa Isomat-Rapid

The Stokes Horse, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I only managed to squeeze 9 exposures out of my home loaded cartidge before the friction became too much and it refused to wind on any more. This is a decorative frieze on an old paint factory.

photo from week 118 - Agfa Isomat-Rapid

camera sign, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This camera sign seemed like an appropriate subject for trying out an old camera.

Week 118 - Agfa Isomat-Rapid

Agfa Isomat-Rapid, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is one of the "Agfa Rapid" format cameras that uses the "Rapid" cassette system, which is a spool free 35mm canister. The films are no longer made, but the cassettes can easily be re-loaded, which is what I have done this week.
Agfa, and various other manufacturers produced a whole range of these cameras, many very simple, some with a full range of adjustments, and others, like this one, somewhere in the middle. The Isomat-Rapid has an automatic exposure system based on a Selenium cell, it still seems to work, though how well will only become apparent when I process the film.

photo from week 117 - Yashica Electro 35 GSN

ocarina workshop, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Another indoor shot, this time at f 2 where the shallow depth of field is still very apparent.
The film was Kodak ColorPlus from Poundland, developed in the Tetenal kit.

photo from week 117 - Yashica Electro 35 GSN

reflected self-portrait with Yashica Electro 35 GSN camera and Thai hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Taken indoors, I used the full aperture (f 1.7) to ensure a shutter speed that was hadn-holdable, I think maybe I should have focused on the camera rather than on my eye...

photo from week 117 - Yashica Electro 35 GSN

Upper Chapel pews, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I wanted to try this camera in a range of lighting conditions, this is an old church, which has quite good natural light, and this was a sunny day, nevertheless I rested the camera on a pew to allow for a possible slowish shutter speed. There is quite a lot of lens flare on this and several other photos taken this week, next time I'll use a lens hood.