The end of year seven!

Well, another year has gone by, this is a selection of some of the hat/camera combinations from year seven.
I'm pressing on with another year, with plenty of cameras still to try out.
Happy New Year!

Week 366 - Konica Auto S3

The Auto S3 is a very compact 35mm rangefinder camera, I also have the S2, which is much larger. This one came from a charity shop for £5, I've loaded it with Agfa Vista film from Poundland.

photo from week 365 - Thornton Pickard Junior Special

The lighting were was very simple, a miniature LED torch placed underneath this sheep's skull. The film is Rollei Retro 80S, and the exposure here was around 20 seconds.

photo from week 365 - Thornton Pickard Junior Special

These manequins were quite happy to keep still for the 30 second exposure needed, I've cropped the image slightly after scanning.

photo from week 365 - Thornton Pickard Junior Special

First up, my mirror self-portrait, the exposure was around 20 seconds and the aperture f8.

Week 365 - Thornton Pickard Junior Special

This is the last week of the seventh year of the 52 cameras in 52 weeks project. Seven times fifty-two makes 365, so this is something of a special week.
To mark it, I decided to wring some images out of a functionally dead camera, the cloth focal plane shutter on the ancient single lens reflex is broken, but I reckoned that if I stuck to table top photography in artificial light, I could use long enough exposures to bypass the shutter and use a lens cap instead.

photo from week 364 - Agfa Billy Compur

I was disappointed with this week's results, the weak winter daylight meant that I had to use a large aperture, so the focusing was not very forgiving. I suspect the lens is capable of better results than my attempts suggest.

photo from week 364 - Agfa Billy Compur

The obligatory, but grossly out of focus self portrait...

Week 364 - Agfa Billy Compur

Agfa used the "Billy" name for cameras over a nmber of years. This is a folding model that takes 120 film, it is named after the Compur shutter, which, as is usually the case, works perfectly even after many years of inactivity. I loaded it with some expired Kodak Portra colour negative film.

photo from week 363 - Praktica GP100

With hindsight it was a bad idea to use this camera in December, the forecast sun didn't materialise, and it was a struggle to get enough light onto the film, as seen in this grainy underexposed shot of a carousel.

Week 363 - Praktica GP100

This is one of many ultra simple faux-panoramic cameras that are found regularly in charity shops. They need good light, and the weather forecast suggested it would be sunny, so I took the risk of loading it up at the darkest time of the year.

photo from week 362 - Contax D

The cloth focal plane shutter has a tendency to stick, but performed OK here, at a speed of 1/25th sec.

photo from week 362 - Contax D

Elaborate balloon figures in the Christmas Market in York.

Week 362 - Contax D

Although the Contax D uses the Contax name, it bears little resemblance to the classic Zeiss Ikon Contax cameras, after world war 2, Zeiss Ikon was split between East and West Germany, initially both companies used the Contax name, but after legal battles, the right to use it was given to the West German branch. The East German part became Pentacon (said to come from "Pentaprism" and "Contax"). These SLRs were the first to use the pentaprism for viewing the focusing screen.

photo from week 361 - Voigtlander VF 101

Another indoor shot, but this time there was just about enough light to get a reasonable exposure.

photo from week 361 - Voigtlander VF 101

The slowest shutter speed is 1/30th sec, and this indoor shot is under-exposed as a result.

Week 361 - Voigtlander VF 101

This is a very compact 35mm camera with a coupled rangefinder and semi-automatic exposure system.

photo from week 360 - Contax IIa

I didn't have long to set this one up as I spotted the London bound train approaching, I think the shutter speed was 1/125th and the aperture f8.

photo from week 360 - Contax IIa

Despite the fast film, I needed to use a slowish shutter speed and wide aperture for this indoor shot

Week 360 - Contax IIa

This precision post-war rangefinder camera belonged to my dad, it has the f2 50mm Sonnar. I've loaded it with Rollei Retro 400S black and white negative film.

Week 359 - Ferrania IBIS 44

This is a simple 127 camera, taking 12 square shots per roll. Cosmetically it isn't in very good condition, and she shutter only works on 1/100th and "B", the 1/50th setting also acts as "B". There are two apertures, and a focussing scale, so it's not the very simplest of models.
I've loaded it with a roll of Vera Pan ISO 100 black and white negative film.

photo from week 358 - Hanimex Snap Shooter

Frame number 6 from the disc.

photos from week 358 - Hanimex Snap Shooter

This is a scan of the whole disc, all 15 shots were taken at a fireworks display.

Week 358 - Hanimex Snap Shooter

While checking this camera prior to use, I found that the shutter is faulty, and remains open while the release is pressed, effectively leaving the camera with a permanent "B" setting. It occurred to me that this could make it useful for the forthcoming Guy Fawkes night fireworks, so I loaded it with a Kmart branded disc

photo from week 357 - Smena 1

This self portrait used an exposure of about 1 second.

photo from week 357 - Smena 1

A detail from the disued magistrates' court in Chesterfield.

photo from week 357 - Smena 1

As part of "Red Oktober", which celebrates cameras from the Eastern Bloc, myself and three comrades took a trip to Chesterfield, where this disused court house could easily have come out of the USSR.

Week 357 - Smena 1

The Smena 1 is the first of a long series of simple but reliable cameras made in the USSR between the 1950s and the 1990s. I loaded it with expired Orwo NP55 black and white film.

photo from week 356 - Zeiss Ikon Ikomatic A

The film is showing its age here, the graffiti was quite vivid, but the colours are quite muted in this photo.

photo from week 356 - Zeiss Ikon Ikomatic A

This now disused school is where my grandfather was a pupil 100 years ago, during WW1

photo from week 356 - Zeiss Ikon Ikomatic A

This camera doesn't have a "B" setting, but the shutter is faulty, and when in the flash position it stays open while the release is pressed, this allowed me to take this indoor photo with an exposure of approximately 1 second.

Week 356 - Zeiss Ikon Ikomatic A

Another 126 camera which is a cut above the basic. This one by Zeiss Ikon has an automatic exposure system, but it no longer works. The aperture remains at about the half way point, and the shutter only works on one setting, when placed in the flash setting it acts as a "B" setting, but I'm sure this is not meant to be the case.
With 126 film being scarce, I transferred the part used film from past week's camera, so I only have a few exposure to play with this week.

photo from week 355 - Minolta Autopak 600-X

This is the exterior of the studio of the artist Joan Miro. I thought the square elements of the building fitted well with the square format of 126.

photo from week 355 - Minolta Autopak 600-X

Indoor mirror self-portraits can be a challenge for 126 cameras, but this one has focussing, and exposure control, so it coped fine in the relatively low light.

photo from week 355 - Minolta Autopak 600-X

I took the Minolta to Palma, Mallorca. This was taken near the finishing line for the Palma Marathon, and shows an award ceremony with the cathedral in the background.

Week 355 - Minolta Autopak 600-X

The Minolta Autopak 600-X is one of the higher spec 126 cameras, most were simple point and shoots, but this one has zone focusing, an f2.8 lens, and automatic exposure control. Of course the film is now obsolete, and only expired stock is available. I've loaded it with a fairly recent cartridge of Solaris ISO 200 colour negative film.

photo from week 354 - "Dogs show up in every photo" - Novelty Camera

You can just make out the dog in the sky, on the camera packaging it implied that the dog images were not superimposed on the taken image, their example against a clear blue sky shows a very well defined dog.

photo from week 354 - "Dogs show up in every photo" - Novelty Camera

The results were very disappointing, the dog images were pre-exposed onto the film, but were very faint, and on many photos were all but invisible, having been "drowned out" by the light areas in the scene. This indoor shot is the only one to clearly show a dog!

Week 354 - "Dogs show up in every photo" - Novelty Camera

This bizarre novelty camera has pictures of dogs already imprinted on the negatives, with six different designs. Other than that it is a basic single use point and shoot camera.

photo from week 353 - Exakta TL 500

No problems using an SLR indoors, this was shot at f2.8

photo from week 353 - Exakta TL 500

Childrens' drawings on the windows of the Crucible Theatre, shot at full aperture to throw the background out of focus.

photo from week 353 - Exakta TL 500

This was taken in the dimly lit Crucible auditorium, I braced the camera against a seat for the 1 second exposure.

Week 353 - Exakta TL 500

The TL 500 is one of the last "Exakta" range, it bears little relation to the original Exakta SLRs, and this one even has an M42 lens mount instead of the Exakta bayonet. It's in good working order, but not of any particular interest.

photo from week 352 - Le Clic Caption Camera

One of the "Herd of Sheffield" elephants, seen here outside Park Hill Flats.

photo from week 352 - Le Clic Caption Camera

"Merry Christmas" was maybe not the most appropriate caption for this shot, unless of course you live in Australia!

photo from week 352 - Le Clic Caption Camera

The numbers that indicate the caption chosen are very small and seem to be worn away as well, so caption choice was a bit hit and miss. This time I got lucky with a photo of my grandson.

Week 352 - Le Clic Caption Camera

This is a point and shoot camera with the added feature of being able to select 12 different captions to appear on the negative.

photos from week 351 - Taron Eyemax

Two consecutive frames taken in the chapel at the Victorian prison in Lincoln. I included the sprocket holes in the composition, as they echo the divisions between the prisoners on the seats.

photo from week 351 - Taron Eyemax

This was taken at a wide aperture, but the rangefinder has allowed for accurate focus.

photo from week 351 - Taron Eyemax

I used expired Ilford HP5 black and white film this week, this one was taken with a red filter to darken the sky.