As mentioned in the previous post on the Canon 55 Qd, I went back after a year, in some of the places affected by the disastrous earthquake of 2009 in L’Aquila. This time, I used the camera with the 50mm f/1.8 II lens in some locations where the light was very poor. That’s why I had to push the Kodak Trix @ 800 Iso and in spite of that, in some cases, I had to use very slow speeds handheld. The results, however, do not seem despicable at all.
My humble contribution to World Pinhole Day 2017. This shot was made on a 5″x7″ paper negative on April 30th 2017.
Lately I published very few posts on this blog. For various reasons I didn’t use film during the first months of this year, but I’m going to get it back, so I’m starting here a series of posts where I will talk about two Canon slrs, used with different films and lenses. The Eos 3000n canon has already been known on these “pages”, while today I propose the Eos 55 Qd. Recently, I returned to L’Aquila for the official presentation of the State of Things, the great collective project of documentary and social photography to which I had the honor and the pleasure of attending (I warmly invite you to check it). I have returned to places of suffering that has been going on for nearly 8 years, renewed since last August by the new earthquake swarm that hit the central Apennines.
Ok guys, I am back again. The beginning of the new year was a bit ‘busy and for various reasons, I have not posted anything during January. This does not mean that I have not continued to take pictures, of course. 😉 Before moving on to other cameras and lenses, however, I wanted to finish the series of “experiments” with the Praktica. This time, on Mtl5B I mounted a Pentacon 29mm f / 2.8.
It has been a long and intense year, the one that is about to end. This blog has grown thanks to the many readers around the world. Many things have happened and others will shortly happen. The most important was the Darkroom I built, where finally be able to print the best shots made with film. Soon, I will also print using ancient techniques, such as Platinum/Palladium and Cyanotype, when will be ready the U.V. contact printer that I’m building. Thanks to contact printing, I’ll be able to better use large format cameras too. Already a couple (M.P.P. Mark VIII 4″x 5″ and Reality so Subtle pinhole 4″x 5″) are already waiting to be used. But it will also, print (via internegative) images from digital files. So even intangible electronic images will become real. This post by the end of the year is dedicated to another East Europe’s camera, but this time it is not only manual, but electronics controlled with aperture priority exposure: the Praktica Bc1.
It is true: we’re back in the …. Eastern Europe’s phase. The fact is that the cameras and film rolls accumulate, remain there for a while in half use and then finally, it is their moment to be finished, developed and published. So, it happens that concentrated within a period, similar types or even different versions of the same models. This time it is the turn of the small, but very pretty, Werra 1. Obviously, produced in the former GDR. Simple, spartan (no range finder or meter), but well performing (Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8 lens) and with some super-technologic “surprise”, at least for the time.
There are many excellent Eastern Europe lenses of the past with the M42 screw mount, and I have some, e.g. the Helios 44M4 58mm f/2. Built in the former Soviet Union to equip Zenit cameras. The latter, while if robust, often have limits, both operational, and reliability. To play it safe and always staying behind the Iron Curtain, should turn to production in the former GDR. Still were German! And so, I did not miss a couple of Praktica Mtl5 bodies . One normal, and the other in B version. These differ between them practically only in the power source of the TTL CdS meter. The second in fact, uses the current LR44/SR44 batteries, while the first was designed for use with the PX625 mercury.
The Moskva 5 is a big Soviet made camera, which follows forms and performance of the most renowned folding Zeiss Super Ikonta. Snap 6×9 cm frames and 6×6 through a special removable mask. For the technical specifications of the camera back to the previous test readers: here and here. This time, taking advantage of a typical winter day, I wanted to use it in its native format, for large negatives (if any) to print.
I promised you, my dear readers: this would be the last Retina test. Actually it had been there for a bit of time and waited for his chance to be used. The Retina IIa is one of the most sought after on the market and in fact, I struggled just to find a copy in good condition at a reasonable price. The reasons are soon said: small, handy, but at the same time, equipped with a rangefinder and especially, the prestigious and fast Schneider Kreuznach lens Xenon 50mm f/2.
These days I am quite busy (even testing and optimizing my new Darkroom and enlargerss) and then I had little time to shot and develop. But I can not overlook this blog too. So I’m writing this quick post with some results from a roll of Ilford Delta 400 Professional pusheded to 1600 ISO and developed in DD-X. This time I used the Olympus XA4. Nothing particularly new for this blog, but it’s always a pleasure to share our film experiences … 😉
thefilmrenaissance 