Saturday 28 February 2015

photo from week 269 - Brownie Twin 20

Three Dummies (and a reflected self-portrait)
Another reflected self-portrait, this time in the window of a menswear shop.

photo from week 269 - Brownie Twin 20

reflected self-portrait with Brownie Twin 20 camera and baseball cap
This one shows the effects of poor lighting, the negative was very underexposed, and I have found that this esults in a very orange hue when the film is scanned.

photo from week 269 - Brownie Twin 20

St George's Tower
This is a simple camera, so good daylight is essential, though using ISO400 film did allow a bit of leeway. The film is Fuji Provia 400X slide film, the pinkish colour cast is due to cross-processing in negative chemistry.

Sunday 22 February 2015

Week 269 - Brownie Twin 20

Brownie Twin 20
The Twin 20 presumably takes its name from the twin viewfinders, one eye level, the other waist level. There is a single fixed shutter speed, and three apertures set by using "EV" values. The camera, like many from this era, takes 620 film, which is now obsolete, so I re-spooled some 120 Fuji Provia 400X onto a 620 spool.

photo from week 268 - Miranda 35 ME

February 15th, lost heart
I came across the rather poignant little scene the morning after Valentine's day. An abandoned heart, bobbing around in the breeze, tied to a bus shelter.

photo from week 268 - Miranda 35 ME

reflected self-portrait with Miranda 35ME camera and plastic képi
Taking a mirror self-portrait indoors in winter with a simple camera is always a challenge. I found a sheet of mirrored plastic, which was not entirely flat, hence the distortion in the reflection.

photo from week 268 - Miranda 35 ME

Old Magistrates Court
There were intermittent problems with the film transport, so some frames are overlapping, and there were some double exposures towards the end of the film.

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Week 268 - Miranda 35ME

Miranda 35ME
Superficially this camera resembles the Lomo LCA, but inside it's a much more basic camera with a single fixed shutter speed and three apertures, which are not identified, but are each associated with an ISO setting. There is a built in flash which operates when the light level is low. I can't remember where it came from, I think it was in my dad's junk camera box.
I've loaded it with Agfa Vista ISO200 film from Poundland.

Monday 16 February 2015

photo from week 267 - Smena Symbol

museum mishap
Most of the time the camera was well behaved, but on a couple of occasions there were overlapping pictures as the film did not advance a full frame.

photo from week 267 - Smena Symbol

reflected self-portrait with Smena Symbol camera and basket hat
In order to minimise focusing errors, I stopped the lens down, and used a tripod and the "B" setting to enable the longish exposure of around one second.

photo from week 267 - Smena Symbol

uprooted
Taken at full aperture and closest range, the shallow depth of field separates the broken tree trunk from the background.

Tuesday 10 February 2015

Week 267 - Smena Symbol

Smena Symbol
The Smena range was made in the USSR for 5 decades, there were around 25 versions produced during this period, though the basic specs remained the same.
The Symbol is one of the later models, the serial number on this one dates it at 1976.
I've loaded it with "Wells" a black and white film from Six Gates Films of Milan.

Sunday 8 February 2015

photo from week 266 - Coronet Rapier II

Arts Tower Microclics
For this one I took six exposures on the same frame, rotating the camera slightly after each click of the shutter.

photo from week 266 - Coronet Rapier II

reflected self-portrait with Coronet Rapier II camera and grey hat
There is no "B" setting on this camera, nor does it have a tripod bush, so I held it firmly on the tripod head, and fired the shutter 25 times on the 1/50th sec setting, giving an exposure of half a second, which turned out to be about right.

photo from week 266 - Coronet Rapier II

sun, flare and gates
I used Lomography Redscale 50-200 film this week, I picked up a few rolls a couple of years ago in a clearance sale.
The Rapier takes 16 exposures on a roll, each 4x4cm square.
I pointed the camera into the sun for this one, knowing that there would be flare, but not exactly what it would look like. I quite like it.

Tuesday 3 February 2015

Week 266 - Coronet Rapier Mark II

Coronet Rapier Mark II
This is a very simple eye-level box camera from the early 1960s. It uses 120 film, and takes 16 4x4cm square photos per roll. There are two apertures, labelled "B&W" and "Colour" which probably equate to around f11 and f8 respectively. There are two shutter speeds, 1/50th and 1/100th sec.
I've loaded it with Lomography Redscale XR 50-200 which I picked up very cheaply in a sale a couple of years ago.

Sunday 1 February 2015

photo from week 265 - La Sardina

triple tree
This time, a deliberate triple exposure of a pollarded tree against a winter sky.

photo from week 265 - La Sardina

reflected self-portrait with La Sardina camera and golden Robin Hood cap
Unlike the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim, which also has a 22mm lens, La Sardina has a tripod bush and cable release socket, so indoor photos are no problem with the aid of a tripod. The exposure was around 1 second.

photo from week 265 - La Sardina

road works
Lomography cameras are not known for their quality control or reliability, and this one seems to fire the shutter while winding on at times, hence the overlapping exposures.