Venetian Adventure

Venetian Adventure, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This week's Amateur Photographer magazine has a feature about my Venice film photos, eight of the nine of the cameras that I took have been used in the 52 week project.

photo from week 112 - Baldi 3x4

City Hall, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

City Hall on the south bank of the Thames is the headquarters of the London Assembly. I composed this photo to mix the organic trees with the glass and metal building.

photo from week 112 - Baldi 3x4

reflected self-portrait with Baldi camera and beekeeping hat and veil, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

There are two reflected, and one direct images here. I accidentally triggered the shutter while setting it, the hands on the right of the picture are seen in the mirror, while my face fills most of the frame. The intended exposure shows me using the cable release to trigger the one second exposure, which felt like is was probably nearer to 2 seconds.

photo from week 112 - Baldi 3x4

fishing in the river Wey, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

A timeless scene, two boys fishing in the river during school half-term.

Week 113 - Zenit-C

Zenit-C, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

According to the serial number, this camera was made in 1959, so it's the same age as me! One of the earlier (though not the first) of the long running Zenit range of SLRs. This one uses the 39mm screw mount, later models used 42mm. This example is unusual in being blue in colour. It seems to work, but previous experience with old Russian SLRs has shown that the shutter curtains do not always run smoothly, even if they sound OK, so it won't be until I develop the film that I'll know if there is a problem.

photo from week 111 - Olympus Quickmatic

anti-capitalist protestor, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

Another technically poor, but enigmatic image from the thoroughly expired film I used this week.

photo from week 111 - Olympus Quickmatic

reflected self-portrait with Olympus Quickmatic and floppy hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This week's results were disappointing, but not entirely unexpected. The expired film, date unknown, and not even in it's wrapper, yielded very thin negatives with a lot of base fog. I've done my best to rescue them in Photoshop, but technically they are pretty poor.

Week 112 - Baldi 3x4

Baldi 3x4, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is another of the 1930s little black folding 127 cameras that I have a soft spot for. The 3x4 cm size is the 127 "half-frame" format, with 16 exposures per roll. I'm using Efke 100 black and white film this week.
Despite being nearly 80 years old, the shutter still fires on all speeds, but it does need a bit of warming up on the slow speeds, I find that covering the lens and firing the shutter a few times helps ensure that it will be reasonably accurate.

photo from week 110 - Minolta 110 Zoom SLR

access control, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This was taken with the Mark II version of the Minolta. The film is a couple of decades past its use by date, and this probably accounts fo the grain in the shadows.

photo from week 110 - Minolta 110 Zoom SLR

reflected self-portrait with Minolta 110 Zoom SLR camera and Chinese hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This is the Mark I version, I also took a picture with the Mark II, but that was one of the 20% of the frames that were blank, I already knew both cameras were unreliable, so this was not really a surprise.

Week 111 - Olympus Quickmatic

Olympus Quickmatic, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

The 126 cartridge format is now well and truly obsolete, none has been made for some time, and they can only be found on the second hand market. I've loaded this camera with a "Meteor" brnad colour negative film, I can't remember where it came from, and it isn't even in it's sealed wrapper, but it seems to be unused. It is quite possible that I won't get any pictures from it!

photo from week 109 - Baby Ikonta

Eye Witness Works, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

One of the surviving old industrial buildings in Sheffield looks out over the derelict site that one hosted another old manufacturing site. Appropriately, it is the "Eye Witness Works".

photo from week 109 - Baby Ikonta

reflected self portrait with Baby Ikonta camera and leather hat, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

I decided to use an old tripod that goes with the era of the camera, but this backfired on me, as the tripod is not a stable of some of the more modern and bulky models, and I managed to jog the camera part way through the 4 second exposure.

photo from week 109 - Baby Ikonta

Art Deco House, a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

This house dates from around the same time as the camera. I seemed to have problems keeping the camera level this week, not sure if it was user error or some problem with the alignment of the simple viewfinder. This one is fairly level compared with some of the others.

Week 110 - Minolta 110 Zoom SLR

Minolta 110 Zoom (Mark I), a photo by pho-Tony on Flickr.

In week 110, I am using a 110 camera, or to be precise 2 cameras with the same name. The Minolta 110 Zoom is one of the rare 110 SLRs (the only other one I am aware of is the Pentax Auto 110). There were 2 models of the Minolta, the Mark I is horizontally arranged, rather like a bulkier version of the common Kodak Pocket Instamatic cameras, while the Mark II takes the form of a conventional 35mm SLR camera, though it is much larger than the Pentax version. I have one of each, neither of them is fully functional, my Mark I seems to work OK, but there is a several second lag betwen pressing the shutter release and the shutter actually firing, though when it does, it covers the full range of speeds. My Mark II fires only at one shutter speed, which I think is around 1/125th second, the aperture is fully manually controlable, so the camera is quite usable albeit in a limited range of lighting conditions. I have put a cartridge in the Mark II, and plan to transfer it to the Mark I midweek.