Week 217 - Olympus Pen FT

Olympus Pen FT, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I've been after one of these for sometime, and finally picked one up on eBay at a price that wasn't too absurd. This is a half frame SLR, and there were a whole range of lenses made for it. It all seems to work, so I'm looking forward to giving it a spin.

photo from week 216 - Zeiss Ikonette

HINGES, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

A little bit of Sheffield's industrial history, adorning a perilously dilapidated old factory.

photo from week 216 - Zeiss Ikonette

reflected self-portrait with Zeiss Ikonette camera and under-sized boater, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I took two mirror self-portraits this week, one handheld at 1/25th second and full aperture, and this one with the lens stopped right down and a four second exposure using a tripod.

photo from week 216 - Zeiss Ikonette

smiling tractor, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Another rainy day in the UK! At least this farmyard tractor seemed cheerful, maybe he was enjoying some peace and quiet, normally on a Sunday afternoon he is covered in small children.

Week 216 - Zeiss Ikonette

Zeiss Ikonette, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Many dozens, if not hundreds, of cameras were made under the Zeiss Ikon brand. They included many fine precision models, but with such a large catalogue, I suppose it's inevitable that there would be the occasional failure. The Ikonette is a stylish plastic finished camera, but apparently the body wasn't light-tight, and Zeiss recalled many of them. This one belongs to my dad, he carefully painted the innards matt black, and there is certainly no light leak in this example, whether there ever was will remain a mystery. The Ikonette borrows the single lever advance/shutter release from earlier Zeiss models, notably the Tenax and Taxona ranges. They are quite rare, and are often described as not working, which in some cases may be due to the seller not realising that a film needs to be loaded in order to cock the shutter. I'm using a roll of Agfa Vista 200 colour negative film from Poundland.

photo from week 215 - Konica Z-up 150

museum goose, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This was taken in the local museum, I braced the camera against a display case in order to keep it still for what I anticipated would be a slow shutter speed, it sounded like about half a second.

photo from week 215 - Konica Z-up 150

reflected self-portrait with Konica Z-UP 150 camera and camouflage net, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Using available light it was inevitable that the camera would select a wide aperture, with the resulting reduction in depth of field. I just about got away with it.

photos from week 215 - Konica Z-up 150

trees with guests, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Two separate shots taken with the lens towards the telephoto end of the zoom range. Bright light is needed to keep the shutter speed fast enough to avoid camera shake.

Week 215 - Konica Z-up 150

Konica Z-up 150, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Another fully automatic camera from the 1990s, this one is fairly stylish compared with some, but it's basically a pretty bland point and shoot.

photo from week 214 - Agfa Karat 4.5

busy bee, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

A piece of graffiti of a bee (or wasp?) near the Beehive Works in Sheffield.

photo from week 214 - Agfa Karat 4.5

reflected self-portrait with Agfa Karat camera and stripy hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

It's always a bit of a gamble taking close ups with a scale focusing lens at full aperture. This is one of my less successful efforts.

photo from week 214 - Agfa Karat 4.5

cobbles, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Technically all went well this week, with the possible exception of the focusing, especially at closer distances. It was a gloomy week, and the results are rather somber, here is a low level shot of a back street in Sheffield.

Week 214 - Agfa Karat 4.5

Agfa Karat 4.5, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The Agfa Karat range were made between 1937 and 1957, they evolved markedly on the way. For the first decade or so the cameras were made to use the "Karat" cassette, a forerunner of the "Agfa Rapid" system, which used 35mm film in a spooless cassette, the unexposed film was advanced into a second cassette, which could then be removed without any re-winding being needed.
I found this one in a car bootsale and paid £4 for it, it is in poor condition, but all seems to work, when I got it it was absolutely filthy!

photo from week 213 - Pentacon Six

circular pond, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

A circular water feature made a good subject for the fisheye lens, as any distortion of straight lines is masked by the already circular subject.

photo from week 213 - Pentacon Six

reflected self-portrait with Pentacon Six camera and elephant hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Using the self-timer and a one second exposure allowed me to show the hat's ears to their full advantage.

photo from week 213 - Pentacon Six

peeping into the maze, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is a heavy camera, and the Zodiak 8 is a heavy lens, but the waist-level finder allowed me to hold the camera up above my head to see over the walls of this maze. I didn't spend too long composing the shot, as my arms were starting to ache!