photo from week 234 - Samsung Vega 140s

The view across to St. Mark's Square from the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, with nine gold columns in the foreground.

photo from week 234 - Samsung Vega 140s

The obligatory self-portrait with hat, in this case improvised from available materials.

photo from week 234 - Samsung Vega 140s

The Vega has a time-lapse facility, allowing you to set intervals ranging from 10 seconds to one hour. I placed the camera on a windowsill and set the timer to one hour, then left it for 30 hours starting on the afternoon of 20th June. The slowest shutter speed is 1/15th second, so unfortunately there is nothing to see on the night photos.

Week 234 - Samsung Vega 140s

The Vega 140s is one of many mid-range consumer automatic point-and-shoot zooms from the 1990s. This one has a time-lapse function, and rather unusually, a "B" setting. I'll be taking with me on a trip to Venice, and aim to try out the time lapse function on the longest day, 21st June.

photo from week 233 - FED-4

The turret finder is essential when using a lens other than the standard 50mm. This is the Jupiter 135mm.

photo from week 233 - FED-4

Henderson's Relish is an iconic Sheffield brand. This factory is now disused as they have relocated to new premises.

photo from week 233 - FED-4

I used three different lenses on the FED, this one is the Jupiter-12 35mm f2.8

Week 233 - Fed 4

 
The FED-4 was made between 1964 and 1980, and like the FED-3 was a move away from the blatant copies of the Leica range that began the FED range. Like the Leica it has a 39mm screw lens mount, and the most common standard lens is the 52mm f2.8 Industar. I also have a 35mm and 135mm lens and the turret viewfinder which caters for 5 different focal lengths.

photo from week 232 - Ricoh Super 44

This window is of great significance in the history of photography, it was the subject of the world's first photographic negative made by Fox Talbot at Lacock Abbey in 1835. I've left this one as a negative image, as this is how it was seen by Fox Talbot.

photo from week 232 - Ricoh Super 44

I tried to keep the aperture fairly small to improve depth of field at this close range, there is a little camera shake from the resulting slowish shutter speed.

photo from week 232 - Ricoh Super 44

One advantage of using a waist level camera is that it is easier to use slower shutter speeds without getting camera shake by bracing the camera using the strap. I can't remember what speed I used here, but I think it was probably 1/15th sec.

Week 232 - Ricoh Super 44

Back to the 127 format this week with a twin lens reflex. The Ricoh Super 44 has a full range of shutter speeds and f3.5 lens. Although smaller than a 120 TLR, it is quite a bit bigger than the Baby Rollei that I used in week 23.

photo from week 231 - Zeiss Ikon Taxona

This close range photos is probably reasonably in focus due to the aperture being very small on this bright sunny day. It's a shame to Taxona has so many problems, as I like using square format cameras, but I think this one is destined for display rather than use.

photo from week 231 - Zeiss Ikon Taxona

Despite using a tape measure, this one, along with any other close range shots, was very out of focus, so I suspect a previous owner may have removed the front element (which is used for focusing) and replaced it without properly adjusting it.

photo from week 231 - Zeiss Ikon Taxona

This wasn't a very successful week! The camera seized up after a few frames, and seemed to be winding on without cocking the shutter sometimes. This is one of the few pictures I got.

Week 231 - Zeiss Ikon Taxona

The Taxona is unusual in that it takes square negatives on normal 35mm film. It is a later version of the Tenax I that I used in week 48. The square format is not the only unusual feature, it also has a single lever which both winds on the film and cocks the shutter, then acts as the shutter release.
Although everything works perfectly without a film, once loaded it becomes very stiff, and sometimes the film winds on without the shutter being set. I suspect there may be problems this week...