A New Film: Foma Retropan 320 & Voigtlander Vito B

After some time, here is the return of a Voigtlander Vito. More precisely, the Vito B, built between 1954 and 1960 in two versions that differ mainly in the size of the viewfinder: the one in my possession is the last, with the biggest viewfinder. A very simple camera, with neither a rangefinder or a lightmeter. However, the lens is the renowned Color Skopar 50mm f/3.5 (or f/2.8), in my case mounted on a Prontor SVS central leaf shutter. What is amazing about this camera is the weight! In a body of small size and rounded lines, holding it you will be surprised by the robustness of the construction. Very beautiful to behold, and pleasant to handle. To test it I wanted to use a film recently introduced on the market: the Foma Retropan 320. The small but fierce house from Czech Republic has decided to propose Retropan as a soft and “retrò” effect coupled with an extended exposure latitude. As first time I rated it to 250 ISO.

World Pinhole Photography Day

Today has been the World Pinhole Day. A day dedicated to the simplest forms of photography: stenopeic (Aka:pinhole) photography. Just a light-proof container, a tiny hole (such as that made by a needle) and the sensitive material (film, paper, liquid photographic emulsion etc.) and we can experience an image that materializes. Despite not having much time and not being able to find the most significant places, I also wanted to pay my humble tribute to this fascinating and ancient technique.

Olympus XA 4 – Ilford Delta 3200 @ 1600 in DD-X

FIRST YEAR POST!

Yes, dear friends, it’s been a year since I published the first post of this blog! And it’s thanks to you that followed and helped it grow, that this experience has become day by day more enjoyable and exciting. It’s nice to know to be able to contribute, albeit in small part, to the preservation and indeed, to the spread of Analogue Photography. Getting readers from all over the world, and still rising, is a very satisfying element: a sign that I’m working well, in the right direction and with credibility. A small bunch of words and opinions, but many images that speak for themselves, so that readers can always evaluate the results and decide if and how these can be useful for him. A film / developer pair? An old camera? A lens you heard about? Here, maybe, on this blog you can find something of interest to you, written and photographed by an enthusiast, just like you, and exactly in the conditions of use that anyone can experience in his real life. Thank you, once again, my friends, to support me following this blog! I will do my best to always live up to your trust.

Postcards from Todi – Trix in DD-X & Leica M2

A beautiful spring day, a friend who invites you to accompany him on a short trip to the beautiful Todi (one of the many jewels of Umbria) and the constant desire to photograph: what to ask more? And in fact, I immediately accepted the invitation and loaded my Leica M2 with a Tri-x, setting the Voigtlander VC-Meter @ box speed. As you know, in the past I had some problems with this film, when rated @ 400 Iso, but this time, I had on my side the ILFOTEC DD-X and I was sure that the outcome would have been much better.

Ilford Delta 400 pushed to 800 & DD-X Developer. Using a Kodak Retinette IB

One of the fun things of film photography is the opportunity to experiment, and I take it widely. Some time ago, I saw on the web some images made with Ilford Delta film and as you may have noticed, I’ve started using it recently. The interesting thing about those images was the performance at high ISO obtained with a specific developer, produced by Ilford: the Ilfotec DD-X. After the first experiments with the Adox FX39, this time I wanted to start personally to test these features. So I loaded a beautiful Kodak Retinette IB (Type 045) with a roll of Delta 400 Professional and set the exposure meter to 800 Iso.

Fed 5 and Jupiter 8… By The Sea

Fed, along with Zorki and Zenit is one of the best known Soviets brand by photography enthusiasts. Since the early 30’s  of the twentieth century in fact, have been built millions and millions of  Fed cameras. Just to give an idea, the initial model that was simply called “Fed” (ФЭД), since 1934 and until 1955, were produced (in many variations) about 720,000 copies, while for the model 5 in production from 1977 to 1990, I have no data  (according to the website Sovietcams, which I suggest to refer to anyone interested in identifying and learn more about these cameras) but are surely made in hundres of thousands copies.

A “Rare” Series of Kodak Retina II

This time I want to talk a little about the Kodak Retina II (Typ 011). A camera (for the era in which it was built) high performance. Indeed, it was equipped with a coupled rangefinder and a Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 50 mm f/2 lens. What makes a bit special the copy in my possession is a small white triangle (which means not coated) between marks that identify the lens  and which is present only in a small number of copies, produced in Germany during 1948 for the domestic market. Of course this is only a little curiosity that adds nothing to the value of the camera itself, if not from the historical point of view.