Monday 27 July 2015

Week 291 - Pentax Espio Mini

Pentax Espio Mini
The Espio Mini is a well specified fully automatic point and shoot camera, it also has a faux-panoramic setting. I found it in a charity shop for £4, there was no battery in it, so I took pot luck as to whether it worked, but all seems to be OK.

photo from week 290 - Gnome Pixie

coloured chairs
These chairs were probably a bit closer than the optimal focus for this simple camera, so they are not quite sharp.

photo from week 290 - Gnome Pixie

reflected self-portrait with Gnome Pixie camera and bowler hat
The exposure here was about 40 seconds, in the "B" setting, the shutter remains open once the shutter release is pressed down, so there is no need to hold it with a finger. I held a piece of back card in front of the lens while I opened the shutter, then whisked it away for 40 seconds or so.

photo from week 290 - Gnome Pixie

mother and baby
The optimal focus for this simple box camera is probably around 12 feet, so it was about right for this Llama and her baby in my local park.

Tuesday 21 July 2015

Week 290 - Gnome Pixie

Gnome Pixie
I found this square little metal box camera in a car boot sale last week and paid £1 for it. What struck me is that it is in exceptionally good condition, and unsurprisingly, the shutter works properly on both "B" and instantaneous settings. There is no focussing or aperture adjustment, so it really is just a question of point and shoot.
The Pixie is made by the British firm, Gnome, probably better known for their enlargers than their cameras. This one dates from around 1950.

photo from week 289 - Smarties Camera

Woodseats Festival
A colourful subject for a colourful camera, part of the parade at the annual Woodseats Festival in Sheffield.

photo from week 289 - Smarties Camera

road train
Inside its stylisg packaging, the camera is the simplest possible point and shoot, and the quality is as to be expected. Seen here is a rather scary looking road train in my local park.

photo from week 289 - Smarties Camera

coloured balls
If I can, I try to find a subject to match the camera, this bag of coloured balls was the closest I could find to Smarties.

Thursday 16 July 2015

photo from week 288 - Keystone XR608

horse chestnut
Same tree, different week, different camera...

photo from week 288 - Keystone XR608

Ladybower
There is a slight delay in posting photos from week 288, as I transferred the film into week 289's camera to finish it off. There is nothing remarkable about the results, this one shows the fishing stage on Ladybower reservoir near Sheffield.

Sunday 12 July 2015

Week 289 - Smarties Camera

Smarties Camera
This is a novelty camera in the form of a Smarties tube. Inside is a basic generic 110 cartridge camera. I've transferred the half used cartridge from last week's Keystone XR608 camera, so there won't be any photos to see from that until I've finished the film off in this one.

Friday 10 July 2015

Week 288 - Keystone XR 608

Keystone XR608
I have at least two other cameras similar to this one, but this is the least sophisticated, with a single speed shutter, fixed focus and a choice of two apertures. I've loaded it with expired Konica Centuria film, which I intend to transfer into another 110 camera for week 289.

photo from week 287 - Kodak Advantix F350

spillway
This is one of the giant "plugholes" or spillways in Ladybower reservoir.

photo from week 287 - Kodak Advantix F350

reflected self-portrait with Kodak Advantix F350 camera and Icelandic hat
There is no way to turn the flash off, and although the light level near this window was quite good, I expected the flash would fire, which would have burnt out most of the photo, so I covered the tube with my finger, seen here as an orange glow.

photo from week 287 - Kodak Advantix F350

found sculpture
The film expired around 10 years ago, and there is considerable drifting of the colours, all in all, this week's results were rather disappointing.