Thirtysix hat and camera combinations from 2015

photo from week 313 - Zeiss Ikon Contarex "Bullseye"

This one was taken in the unrestored area of Sheffield's iconic brutalist materpiece, Park Hill flats. I included the sprocket holes in the scan, as they seemed to suit the grid-like subject.

photo from week 313 - Zeiss Ikon Contarex "Bullseye"

Another indoor available light photo, I think I was able to use f4 for this one, but the depth of field is still shallow.

photo from week 313 - Zeiss Ikon Contarex "Bullseye"

Technically this is not a great shot, but it means a lot to me. This is my grandson Eric, who was born six days after my father died. The photo was taken on Christmas eve, using Eric's late great-grandfather's favourite camera, a Zeiss Ikon Contarex "Bullseye".
It was taken at full aperture and a shutter speed of 1/30th second, with a close range moving target, it's not surprising the focus is a bit off!

Week 313 - Zeiss Ikon Contarex "Bullseye"

This is rather a special camera to me, it belonged to my father who died in October, this was one of his favourite cameras. It's a very heavy, but precision made camera, and was the first of the Contarex series of SLRs made from the late 1950s. I've loaded it with HP5 Plus, ISO400 black and white negative film.

photo from week 312 - Ensign Selfix 820

Another favourite subject, this time the weather was brighter, and I was able to stop down to around f11.

photo from week 312 - Ensign Selfix 820

Another shot at full aperture and 1/25th second, to cope with the indoor lighting. The film is expired Fuji NPC160.

photo from week 312 - Ensign Selfix 820

It was a very wet day when I took the Ensign out and about, the light was poor, and this was shot at 1/25th second at full aperture.

Week 312 - Ensign Selfix 820

This is essentailly the same as the Ensign Selfix 820 Special that I used in week 104, the difference being that the Special has a built in un-coupled rangefinder. Both cameras can be used in either 6x6cm or 6x9cm format, so as I used 6x6 with the Special, I've opted for 6x9 this time.
I've loaded it with a roll of expired Fujicolor NPC 160 colour negative film.

photos from week 311 - Nikon Zoom 300 AF

Five consecutive negatives, all taken in the courtyard at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design in Farnham. It was a wet day, so these colourful tables and chairs were not being used.

photo from week 311 - Nikon Zoom 300 AF

Not for the first time, a mirror has proved the undoing for a camera's autofocus. I used the self timer and a tripod for this one, with the flash set to off.

photo from week 311 - Nikon Zoom 300 AF

The Zoom 300 AF has a "panoramic" setting, this is a collage of two photos taken using this format.

Week 311 - Nikon Zoom 300 AF

This is a point and shoot zoom from the 1990s, it also has a "panoramic" setting using a film plane and viewfinder mask.

photo from week 310 - Minolta Riva Zoom 105i

The weather might have been cold, but there was some blue sky and sunshine this week, as seen in the piece of edgelands detail.

photo from week 310 - Minolta Riva Zoom 105i

Although the camera seemed to be fully functioning when I put a batery in it after buying it, once I'd loaded it with film, it became apparent that the LED display was playing up, it didn't show the frame advancing, and out in the cold, it stopped working altogether, which may have been caused by a tired battery getting too cool. Anyway, I decided to push ahead with it, accepting the risk that there might be problems. This is a scan of three consecutive frames.

photo from week 310 - Minolta Riva Zoom 105i

You can see from this mirror self-portrait that the camera is something of a monster, not the compact model that it appears to be in photos of the camera without any scale reference.

Week 310 - Minolta Riva Zoom 105i

I found this on a bric-a-brac stall for £1. There was no battery in it, but at that price I was prepared to take the risk of it not working. One I installed the correct battery, all seems well. The camera is a bit of a monster, I'd seen photos of the model before, but hadn't realised how big and bulky it is.

photo from week 309 - Canonet QL17

I used expired black and white ISO400 film, which may account for the grain here, though with such a huge dynamic range to contend with in this scene, the exposure was always going to be a compromise.

photo from week 309 - Canonet QL17

The exposure here was 1 second, the 50 year old mechanical shutter still works fine on all speeds.

photo from week 309 - Canonet QL17

I thought I should take advantage of the f1.7 lens on this camera to see how shallow the depth of field can be. In fact the light was fading fast, and I had to use full aperture for this one in order to be hand-holdable at 1/30th sec.

Week 309 - Canonet QL17

This is a large range-finder camera from around 1965. It has a fast lens, and unlike some similar models, has full manual control in addition to the automatic exposure system. I didn't even try putting a battery in, as there was evidence of previous battery leakage, and I'm quite happy to use manual mode.
I found a roll of expired Jessops PAN400 SX black and white film, which expired in 2008, so I thought I'd give that a go.

photo from week 308 - Zeiss Ikon Nettar 517/16

This car park is one of my regular subjects, it seems to suit the colour shifts that result from cross-processing slide film in negative chemistry.

photo from week 308 - Zeiss Ikon Nettar 517/16

This is a crop of my weekly mirror self-portrait, taken at f16 with an exposure of around 8 seconds.

photo from week 308 - Zeiss Ikon Nettar 517/16

I used another of my extensive stash of expired slide film this week, which was cross-processed, explaining the odd colours here. The subject is a large metal spider which hangs beneath a railway arch, through which a foot bridge goes over the river Don. At this time of year, the sun is low in the sky, and directly illuminates the spider, bringing it out of its customary gloom.

Week 308 - Zeiss Ikon Nettar 517/16

The Nettar is just one of the vast range of cameras made by Zeiss Ikon, this is a basic square format folding camera, but is well made and eminently usable. I've loaded it with some expired Fuji Provia 100F slide film.

photo from week 307 - Nikon EM

Another shot at the Ai Wei Wei show, just about hand holdable at full aperture.

photo from week 307 - Nikon EM

For this indoor self-portrait, on a very dull winter day, I used an f1.8 50mm Nikkor lens, at full aperture, even so the exposure was 1/30th sec.

photo from week 307 - Nikon EM

I took the EM with me on a day trip to London, this is a detail of the Ai Wei Wei show at the Royal Academy, it shows a half life size model of the artist in a Chinese prison.

Week 307 - Nikon EM

The EM is a small, light SLR firmly aimed at the amateur market, it has automatic aperture priority exposue, with no manual overide, other than the option to set a single shutter speed, 1/90th sec, if there are no batteries.
This one has an "E" series 28mm wide angle lens on it. I've loaded it with Ilford HP5 Plus black and white negative film.

photo from week 306 - Leica IIf

It was a very dull and wet week, in bright sunlight, these flats have vivid yellow, orange and red detailing. I did not have time to use this camera much this week, and I plan to put another film through it soon.

photo from week 306 - Leica IIf

Taken at full aperture (f3.5) and the closed focussing distance with the slowest shutter speed, 1/25th sec.

photo from week 306 - Leica IIf

This is a good example of the pitfalls of using a different camera each week. The Leica has a collapsible lens, and it looks as if I hadn't fully extended it when I took this one.

Week 306 - Leica IIf

This camera is on loan. The Leica IIf is a 35mm film interchangeable lens rangefinder camera, manufactured by Ernst Leitz Wetzlar, former West Germany and produced between 1951-56.

photo from week 305 - Miranda Sensomat RE

I shot this one into the weak autumn sun, but there isn't much flare in evidence.

photo from week 305 - Miranda Sensomat RE

This self-portrait was taken at full aperture and closest focussing distance, the light was poor, and even at a hand-holdable 1/30th, was a little underexposed. This is a square crop.

photo from week 305 - Miranda Sensomat RE

The Sensomat performed without any real problems, though the frame spacing was rather inconsistent, as seen in this pair of negatives, which almost overlap, some others had gaps of several millimetres between them.

Week 305 - Miranda Sensomat RE

I've had this one a while, I can't remember where it came from. The electronics appear to be dead, but it can be used in full manual mode, and all seems to function as it should. The lens is probably the entry level for this system, as it would seem that there were fater lenses made.
I've put some Kodak Gold colour negative film in it (expired 2009).

photo from week 304 - Agfa Solinette II

The late afternoon light forced me to use a slowish shutter speed, 1/25th second, at more or less full aperture. The cyclist's movement is very apparent.

photo from week 304 - Agfa Solinette II

I was staying in an apartment this weekend, and found both an improvised camera support and hat. The shutter speed was 1 second, and shows that the 60 year old shutter still works well.

photo from week 304 - Agfa Solinette II

This was an easy target on a sunny autumn day.

Week 304 - Agfa Solinette II

The Solinette II is a folding 35mm camera from the mid 1950s, it is very similar in style to the Kodak Retinas of the same era. This one has an f3.5 Solinar lens and a Prontor SVS shutter with speeds down to 1 second, all of which sound to be accurate.
I've loaded it with some fresh Agfa Vista ISO200 film from Poundland.

photo from week 303 - Avon single-use camera

I was trying to find a subject to suit the coloured stripe decoration of the camera, in reality this building is a lot brighter, but the under-exposure has muted it somewhat.

photo from week 303 - Avon single-use camera

There seems to be something of an outbreak of these graffiti foxes in Sheffield at the moment.

photo from week 303 - Avon single-use camera

The light was poor on the day I used this camera, and the expired film is probably grainier than it would have been, but at least I got some pictures!

Week 303 - Avon single-use camera

I found this in a charity shop for 75p a couple of years ago and it's been sitting around ever since. At heart it is a generic "disposable" single use camera, pre-loaded with 12 exposures of ISO200 film. This was obviously a promotional gift to advertise an Avon sun protection product.
As it happens there was no need for sun protection on the day I used it, which was a very dull October day, which will probably result in rather under-exposed negatives.

photo from week 302 - Fuji Rensha Cardia

This is a montage of two sets of exposures, the subject is the same, but in one I kept the camera still, and in the other I rotated from left to right.

photo from week 302 - Fuji Rensha Cardia

This was the only time I used the camera as it is intended, that is with a moving subject. You can clearly see the progress of the cars on the Park Square roundabout in Sheffield.

photo from week 302 - Fuji Rensha Cardia

Unlike the Kalimar Actionshot 16, which has the option to fire each shutter at will, the Rensha Cardia only allows a choice of the rate at which the shots are taken, once the shutter is pressed, all eight shots are take.
The camera is designed to record the positions of a moving subject, but as this subject was stationary, I moved the camera instead.

Week 302 - Fuji Rensha Cardia

The Rensha Cardia is related to the Kalimar Action Shot 16 camera that I used in week 24. This one takes 8 shots in quick succession and uses a double width 35mm frame. It was originally marketed to golfers so they could analyse their swing.

photo from week 301 - Wirgin Baky

Another shot at full aperture, this time with the focus set to 5 feet, the closest possible. You can see a band of optimum focus, with the nearer and further parts of this sculpture, which is called Molecule Man, being out of focus.