The shutter on the Belair will stay open for several seconds in low light, so I used a tripod for this one, test firing with the lens cap still on suggested that the auto exposure was likley to under-exposue, so I changed the ISO setting to 50 (I was using ISO400 film) to compensate for this. There is no cable release socket on this camera, and camera shake is an ever present danger, but I seem to have got away with it here.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
photo from week 156 - Belair X 6-12
There are reports from some users that the Belair has problems focussing at infinity, but this one seems OK, the 58mm lens and f16 would tend to minimise any focussing errors, so it is too soon to conclude that all is well, but so far the results are encouraging.
Wednesday, 26 December 2012
Week 156 - Lomography Belair X 6-12
For the last full week of the third year of my 52 cameras project, I am using my latest acquisition, which arrived last week. The Lomography Belair is that rare beast, the new film camera. It uses 120 film, and can take images in 3 formats, 6x6cm 6x9cm and 6x12cm. I was attracted by the 6x12 format, as both 6x6 and 6x9 are found on a whole range of camera, many of which are in my collection. The camera is cheaply made, and has two plastic interchangeable lenses, inital reports form users have been mixed.
Last week I used my smallest camera, the Minox B taking 8mm x 11mm negatives, so I thought it would be interesting to go to the other extreme of the format scale this week.
Last week I used my smallest camera, the Minox B taking 8mm x 11mm negatives, so I thought it would be interesting to go to the other extreme of the format scale this week.
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Monday, 24 December 2012
photo from week 155 - Minox B
A quickly grabbed spy shot of a street vendor, there is a lot of fogging on the left, I'm not syre when this crept in, as it wasn't near the beginning or end of the film, but the process of slitting film and reloading Minox cassettes provided ample opportunity for mistakes to happen.
photo from week 155 - Minox B
There's something slightly disturbing about having xmas decorations among the cuts of meat and sausages in this butcher's window display...
photo from week 155 - Minox B
I knew this one was going to be underexposed, but I didn't want to use a shutter speed slower than 1/20th, and even that was pushing my luck.
Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Week 155 - Minox B
The Minox B is a classic spy camera, taking tiny 8mm x 11mm negatives on 9.5mm film. The "B" was produced between 1957 and 1972, and the styling of the light meter in this one suggests that it is a later model. It's a sophisticated piece of kit, and feels like a precision instrument in use. The mechanical shutter has speeds down to 1/2 second, and makes a very satisfying quiet purr when fired.
I used a home made film slitter to cut down some 35mm film before loading it into a used Minox cassette.
I used a home made film slitter to cut down some 35mm film before loading it into a used Minox cassette.
Sunday, 16 December 2012
photo from week 154 - Minolta X-700
I didn't want to spoil the view of this impressive balaclava that I picked up in Madrid, so I held the camera a chest level for this one.
photo from week 154 - Minolta X-700
Another handheld shot in available light, I used the auto setting at full aperture, and I think this was 15/th or 1/30th of a second, there is some evidence of camera shake.
photo from week 154 - Minolta X-700
One of the reasons I chose the Minolta for this week was that it can be used in low light conditions, and with daylight at a premium I knew I would be having to use available light much of the time.
This was handheld at 1/30th second, I used manual overide to set the aperture to f1:7, and didn't bother metering, but used the slowest shutter speed I thought I could get away with without a tripod.
This was handheld at 1/30th second, I used manual overide to set the aperture to f1:7, and didn't bother metering, but used the slowest shutter speed I thought I could get away with without a tripod.
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Week 154 - Minolta X-700
This one came from a charity shop for £5. There was no lens, and the camera didn't have a battery in it, which meant it was impossible to know if it was working, but I took a gamble, and all seems to be well.
photo from week 153 - Nagel Vollenda
The Torres Blancas is a 1960s brutalist tower block in Madrid. I'm quite fond of this architecture, and this is a particularly successful example in my opinion. The film is Efke 100 developed in Rodinal.
photo from week 153 - Nagel Vollenda
This week self-portrait was hopelessly under-exposed, I couldn't be bothered to get the tripod out and use a longer exposure, and I thought the light was good enough to hand hold 1/25th at full aperture, but it looks as if I was being over optimistic.
photo from week 153 - Nagel Vollenda
I took the Vollenda to Madrid, where the sun was low in the sky and cast some nice long shadows. I'd just walked through the section on mid 20th century photography at the Reine Sofia art centre, so that may have been the inspiration for this composition.
Saturday, 1 December 2012
Week 153 - Nagel Vollenda
This is another of the little black folding cameras from the 1930s that I am particularly fond of. It all seems to work, but I've not put a film through it before, so I won't know how light tight it is until next week.
photo from week 152 - Baby Brownie Special
The low winter sun provided a very contrasty scene, but I like the way the bare branches of the foreground trees frame the church.
photo from week 152 - Baby Brownie Special
The self-portrait is not very good this week to say the least. There is no "B" setting, so I had no option but to find an outdoor reflective surface, also, there is no focussing, so I didn't risk getting too close.
photo from week 152 - Baby Brownie Special
The Efke film I used was pretty out of date, it expired 1995, so I was expecting some degredation in image quality. This film is one of two that I found together, I used the other one in week 80 in a Brownie 127 camera. That time there were easily visible backing paper markings on the negatives, but they are much less in evidence with this film.
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