Tuesday 21 April 2015

Week 278 - Science Museum Pinhole Camera

Science Museum Pinhole Camera
This week includes "World Pinhole Photography Day" which falls on Sunday 26th April. I will be in Lisbon then, and am taking the camera with me, loaded with expired Jessop brand colour negative film.

photo from week 277 - Holga 120 CFN

blue chair yellow chair
Two colourful chairs on the pavement at the Sharrowvale Market in Sheffield.

photo from week 277 - Holga 120 CFN

reflected self-portrait with Holga 120 CFN camera and tall hat
A colourful camera calls for a colourful hat! This was taken using a tripod and the "B" setting, with an exposure of 1 second.

photo from week 277 - Holga 120 CFN

Baptist Church
This one demonstrates the relatively sharp definition of the lens in the centre of the field, but the falling off towards the edges.

Week 277 - Holga 120 CFN

Holga 120 CFN
This is a very basic toy camera, with the addition of a built in flash which has four different filters, selected by rotating the knob on the top. It was in a terrible state when I got it, sticky and fikthy with the batteries corroded and he flash no longer working, and the wind on knob had come off. Also, rather puzzlingly, the swing in Waterhouse stop to reduce the aperture is absent, so there is only one aperture, f8.
I was able to revive the flash by cleaning the contacts, and apart from the problem with the aperture, all seems well.

photo from week 276 - Folding Ensign 3¼

Chatsworth House
Chatsworth House, looking rather the worse for wear with light leaks and blurring!

photo from week 276 - Folding Ensign 3¼

reflected self-portrait with Folding Ensign 3¼ camera and yellow hat
The exposure here was around 10 seconds. There is evidence of light leaking on all the neagtives.

photo from week 276 - Folding Ensign 3¼

horse chestnut
All of the photos were grossly out of focus. I haven't yet had a chance to investigate the reason, but it doesn't seem to be a case of using the wrong focusing scale (plate instead o f film) as there is only one scale on this model.

Thursday 16 April 2015

Week 276 - Folding Ensign 3¼

Folding Ensign 3¼
The Folding Ensign 3¼ uses the long obsolete 118 roll film, which is 3¼" wide, hence the name. The negatives are 80mm x 105mm. As the film is no longer available, I'm using 120 film, with the take-up spool "padded" to accommodate the narrower format. Using an old film/backing paper combination, I worked out how many turns of the wind on knob would be needed between each exposure, I should get around six negatives from a 120 film.

Wednesday 15 April 2015

photo from week 275 - M&S branded colourful actiontracker

blue windows
Multiple windows, multiple images, it's all getting a bit confusing!

photo from week 275 - M&S branded colourful actiontracker

reflected self-portrait with M&S actiontracker camera and coloured hat
This is one of the four images, taken in direct early morning sunlight.

photo from week 275 - M&S branded colourful actiontracker

sycamore
This tree didn't look as if was going to move, so I moved the camera instead!

Thursday 9 April 2015

Week 275 - Marks & Spencer colourful action-tracker

M&S multicoloured actionsampler
I found this in a charity shop a couple of years ago, I've not seen one like this before, inside it is simply one of the generic action-tracker/action-samplers, that take four shots in quick succession. This one is shaped and coloured to appeal to children.

photo from week 274 - Halina 35-600

Away Supporters Only
The sunny spring weather provided plenty of light, and this may even be a little over-exposed.

photo from week 274 - Halina 35-600

reflected self-portrait with Halina 35-600 camera and mourning hat
I removed the battery for this indoor shot, and this apparently forces the shutter speed to 1/40th sec. Combined with full aperture, this was just enough to get the exposure right. I guessed the nearest focus distance at around 1.2m.

photo from week 274 - Halina 35-600

Portland Works
The Halina 35-600 didn't really enthuse me, it works well enough, but doesn'y have much character in my opinion.

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Week 274 - Halina 35-600

Halina 35-600
The Halina 35-600 is similar to the Olympus Trip 35, but it uses a CdS cell for the exposure meter, and therefore needs batteries. Like the trip there are two shutter speeds of around 1/40th and 1/200th, and the aperture is set by the camera according to the light levels and film speed.