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.
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.
Another Kodak Retina …? Yes, yes…. I know guys, but I warned you that I still had a couple of them in the queue to be tested. Now only the IIa remains (still not loaded yet), and then I’ll stop….. maybe… 😉 This IB, however, has long been around in the house (and in the repairman office), because while being in superb cosmetic condition , the shutter was frozen. Once repaired, however had to wait its turn patiently, until it reached its moment.
During the month of August, typically, people is on vacation or otherwise, busy with the many things to do left behind throughout the year. For this reason also the publication on this blog slows down. But, for (probably) the only one of this month I wanted go “big”, publishing an unusual mix of images taken with pinhole cameras. In addition to the Holga WPC you already know, I used for the first time the “Reality so Subtle” 6×6.
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.
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.
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.
thefilmrenaissance 