522 Cameras in 522 Weeks

This blog has been dormant for a couple of years, but the project is very much alive. 

At the end of 2019, I had completed 522 weeks of using a different film camera each week, without missing any. In 2020 I used a different camera each month, using in chronological order the various cameras that I owned for use rather than display, and covering 5 decades of photography as a hobby.

In 2021 I'm using a different film format each month, working my way up from the smallest to the largest, kicking of with th Minox format in January.

Further information will follow, in the meantime here is an image showing all 522 cameras that I used.

Still going strong!

Recently I've not had time to update this blog, but the project is still going strong, now in week 383. You can see the cameras and their photos on my Flickr stream:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_kemplen/

photo from week 366 - Konica Auto S3

King Kong in Leeds

photo from week 366 - Konica Auto S3

I set the shutter speed to 1/15th sec in order to get enough exposure, but just about managed to keep the camera still enough.

photo from week 366 - Konica Auto S3

The camera was simple and intuitive to use, but I did find that the plastic strap was very stiff in the cold weather, and kept poking me in the eye!

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.