The DDR Power – Exa Ia

Many film photography fans are fascinated by cameras (and lenses) produced behind the so-called Iron Curtain, in countries of the former Warsaw Pact. The DDR (or GDR) between them has created brands as Ihagee, Praktica, Pentacon (which has absorbed the first), synonymous with high quality construction mechanics, along with names such as Carl Zeiss Jena, Meyer-Optik and the same Pentacon with lenses even at the highest level of quality. Speaking of cameras, robustness is one of the main qualities. The reliability of the models built in eastern Germany is also much higher than that of her contemporaries and even valid Soviet models. It is not uncommon then, to come across more than fifty years old cameras, which seem to come from the factory today and fully functional.

Pinhole – Holga 120 WPC Plus Adox CMS 20 in FX-39

It was a long time I wanted to start shooting with a pinhole camera. To begin with, I got an Holga 120 WPC which was waiting patiently to be used. And so, yesterday morning, taking advantage of a beautiful day in late January, I was immersed in an immensely  fascinating and immortal landscape: the Roman Forum and the Palatine hill.

Unwanted Lomography

Recently, I’m testing some interesting cameras from the Voigtlander Vito Series. In particular, I took a couple of rolls with the Vito Clr. I have to say that this is a rather “unlucky” camera. In fact, during the development of the first roll I had a light leak, due to a broken seal in the  Rondinax and the second roll once developed, I realized that the film was suddenly dragging “crazy” giving random uneven spacing. I will describe in greater detail in another post the Clr, but for now, I wanted to dedicate this one to the random overlapping frames. Involuntary diptychs and triptychs, in perfect Lomography style …… Well, it could be worse! 😉

The Bayern Film Tour – Part Two

As I already wrote in the first part of this post, while traveling in Bavaria, apart from a roll shot with the Leica R-E and one with the Canon P (nightshots), I used two Olympus cameras (OM2n and OM10). I have already expressed an opinion about the films I used (Ilford XP2 Super 400 and Kodak Tmax 400).

Voigtlander Vitoret Test

Voigtlander is another of the names that made the history of photography. It produced many cameras and lenses with the classic German quality. Models such as the Avus and Bessa folding, or the whole Vito series (with various Vaskar, Lanthar, Skopar and Ultron lenses) are well known to fans. The brand still exists but it is not the original manufacturer.

The Bayern Film Tour – Part One

Leica R-E & Vario Elmar 35-70mm – XP2 Labdeveloped

As loyal readers already know, at the beginning of December I faced (after almost 15 years) traveling exclusively using film cameras only. In this post I showed the equipment that I planned to use. Furthermore, I also had an Olympus OM10 with three Zuiko lenses (28, 50 and 135mm) as a backup just in case. Once in Munich (Bayern), I bought a nice Olympus OM2n, accompanied by a Zuiko 35-70mm f/3.5-4,5 and a Tokina RMC 24mm f/2.8. The films I used were Ilford XP2 Super 400, Kodak T-Max 400 and Ilford Delta 3200. In total, I took 8 rolls of 36 frames. A ridiculous number of shots when compared with those obtained in a half-day with any digital camera. But this is precisely the reason that led me back to the film, so I am absolutely delighted to have chosen this path.

By the Sea – Contax 159mm Test

Today it is raining so, instead of going out to photograph (that is the thing I love the most), better stay dry and write a nice post on my blog. This time we’ll talk about a high-end camera …. lent by a friend (yes, the same one who gave me the Leica R5) for this test. Some general thoughts before strating: the history of photography, especially of lenses, before the advent of Japanese ones, was made almost entirely by two brands: Zeiss and Leica. Two houses that have marked the mass diffusion of 35mm photography and  in the case of Zeiss, also of medium and large format.

Never seen a… Voskhod?

The Voskhod (Восход), which means “Dawn”, is a rare (approximately 59,000 units produced by Lomo factory) Soviet camera made during the mid ’60s.  At the height of scientific and economic power in the former Soviet Union and in full Cold War, the Voskhod  was designed to demonstrate the technological (and stylistic) autonomous capabilities  behind the Iron Curtain. So, no more one of the many clones of famous Western cameras, but a completely new, cutting-edge project and well built camera. It must be said that one can not remain indifferent to the shape (very 60’s) really unusual for a camera, as well as in front of some technical characteristics.