Week 152 - Baby Brownie Special

Baby Brownie Special, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

From the oldest camera to the simplest, also made by Kodak, this is one of the ultra basic models taking eight frames on a roll of 127 film. The format is now pretty well obsolete, but I have a couple of rolls left, so it's not quite dead yet!

photo from week 151 - No. 1 Folding Pocket Kodak

Horse Chestnut, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

For this oudoors photo in rahter dull dayight, I used aperture setting number 2, which I guess is around f16. The single shutter speed is simply marked "I" (for instantaneous) and is probably around 1/50th second.

photo from week 151 - No. 1 Folding Pocket Kodak

reflected self portrait with Kodak No.1 folding camera and bowler hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Shanghai film proved to be rather poor quality, and the backing paper markings are clearly visible, especially in under-exposed negatives like this one. The apertures are numbered 1-4, with no "f" number given, I stopped right down (beyond number 4) to get the most depth of field, as there is no focussing, and I suspect the hyperfocal distance is further away than the demands of this close shot. Using the "B" setting, I gave this 30 seconds, and was worried that I might have over-exposed it. In fact is was markedly under-exposed, the f number is probably f32 or smaller, as in identical lighting, I have found 30 seconds should be plenty long enough at f22.

Week 151 - No. 1 Folding Pocket Kodak

No. 1 Folding Pocket Kodak, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is the oldest camera I have used so far, it was made over 100 years ago, and has subtle differences from the more common, later folding models. There is a single speed shutter with B and T settings, the un-named lens has a diaphragm with 4 marked stops, but no "f" numbers are given. It takes 120 film, and I have loaded it with my last roll of Shanghai GP3 black and white film. We will see what state the bellows are in in due course...

Photos from week 150 - Yashica Rapide

Piccadilly Circus, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

It can be a problem with the half frame format is having so many exposures on a roll, one way round that is to take lots of photos from the same spot and make a collage, that is what I've done here with 14 exposures taken in Piccadilly Circus. With the rapid wind on strap, this can be done very quickly with this camera.

Photo from week 150 - Yashica Rapide

reflected self-portrait with Yashica Rapide camera and bowed top hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

In the poor winter light, this was hand held at 1/30th sec and near full aperture. I set the focus to 1m and stood 50cm from the mirror, and have got the focus about right.

Week 150 - Yashica Rapide

Yashica Rapide, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Rapide is a half frame camera with an unusual vertical design. The film is advanced and the shutter cocked by tugging on a short leather strap (seen here bottom left). There is a built in un-coupled Selenium light meter, and the shutter speeds range from 1sec to 1/500th. It's made of metal, and quite heavy.

Photo from week 149 - Vivitar 742XL

reflected self-portrait with Vivitar 742XL camera and small sombrero, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The coupled range-finder proved very useful for this close up indoor shot. I kept as still as I could, and the shutter speed felt like about 1/15th second.

Photo from week 149 - Vivitar 742XL

junk shop, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Vivitar has a fully automatic exposure system with slow speeds down to a couple of seconds at least. This was taken by resting the camera on a table in a dimly lit junk shop. The exposure sounded like about half a second.

Photo from week 149 - Vivitar 742XL

charity shop relocation, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is the charity shop where I bought the Vivitar. I happened to be walking past it and noticed it was moving.

Week 149 - Vivitar 742 XL

Vivitar 742 XL, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is one of the more sophisticated 110 format cameras. It has a coupled rangefinder and electronic shutter with speeds down to several seconds. I found it in a charity shop, where it was ina basket of assorted cameras, and was filthy and sticky, I considered buying it, as it had a part used cartridge in it, but for £4 I decided it wasn't worth it. It was still there a couple of weeks later, and the price had been reduced to £2, so I bought it. It wasn't until I got it home that I realised it was quite a high spec model, so I cleaned it up and improvised a replacement electrical battery contact using a paperclip. The batteries had been left to leak and corrode, but with a little TLC I got it working again. I've loaded it with a Konica Centuria cartridge which expired in 2006.

Photo from week 148 - Petri 7s

ghost ship, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Taken at "Fright Night" using a slow shutter speed and a flashgun with a coloured filter taped over it.

Photo from week 148 - Petri 7s

reflected self-portrait with Petri 7s camera and halloween mask, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is a good (or bad!) example of the focus problem, even though this was taken at a wide aperture, that doesn't explained the poor focus.

Photo from week 148 - Petri 7s

spooky pianist, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The results from the Petri were rather disappointing, there seems to be a problem with the coupled range finder, and many of the shots were completely out of focus. Some of the photos were taken at night, and I could easily believe that I had mis-focused in the dark, but the problem remains on many of those taken in daylight.
I took it to "Fright Night", Sheffield's annual Halloween event, and used a slow shutter speed and a flash with coloured gel.