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.