Tag Archives: Camera Equipment

{Something Borrowed} Zenza Bronica S

December 18, 2014 8:42 am ⋅ 5 Comments ⋅

I should have thought to title a series “Something Borrowed” a long time ago. I’ve borrowed some very fine medium format cameras over the past handful of years. A Hasselblad, a Contax 645, another Hasselblad, and now a Zenza Bronica S.

The Bronica S came to me via Susan, whom you’ve seen featured on this blog before because I photographed her wedding in 2013. She is a fellow film photography enthusiast who has amassed her own little collection of film cameras. Susan knew that I was trying to stave off the desire to buy a medium format SLR and offered to loan me this beauty!

A little about the Bronica S

  • The Bronica S is a medium format 6×6 SLR
  • You can use interchangeable film backs
  • Focusing helical built into the camera body, which is some technical info that I don’t quite understand. But it makes the part of the lens which is outside the camera quite short
  • Its focus and film advance are combined in one knob (with a film advance crank that folds into the knob when not in use)
  • Mirror lock up available, by using a switch on the bottom of the camera
  • A shutter speed range of  1s-1/1000ths
  • Dark slide which cannot remain inserted while film back is attached to the camera. This is the first time I’ve encountered such a dark slide. It slides itself out as a way of reminding you to remove it. Pushing it all the way in is how you remove the film back.
  • Instant return mirror (unlike other medium format cameras such as the Hasselblad or Bronica ETRS cameras)
  • The brightest waist level finder I’ve ever seen!

Focus knob/film advance crank

Bright, bright, BRIGHT waist level finder

It’s like a chromed out car from the 1950s! And it is soooooo heavy. With the standard 75mm lens, it weighs about 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms.) By the way, I love the 75mm Nikkor lens! Partly because it focuses so much more closely than the standard lens on a Hasselblad. You’ll see that I leaned on that close focusing range quite a lot for my test rolls.

That lovely Nikkor-P lens

As I said, the Bronica S’s body’s built-in focusing mechanism means the lens doesn’t protrude far outside the camera. This is at the closest focusing distance, which is the “longest” this lens gets. You can see in an above photo that the lens sits almost flush with the body at its shortest length (focused at infinity.) 

There’s that mirror lock-up switch I told you about

How the camera looks with the waist level finder folded down

 Now. On the the real reason we’re here. The photos this camera can take!

Roll #1 with the Bronica S was my expired Kodak Pro 400MC. I don’t think I did a great job metering for this badly expired film/erred on the side of underexposure when it came to hand-holdable shutter speeds. My bad!

There were so many spiders outside this fall – there were leaves suspended by single threads of web and looked as if they were floating

Totally missed the mark with the exposure here, but I still love this photo of camellia flowers

Blue Corvette at work

Church bus at my dad’s shop

My #basic purchases from Target: Moleskin notebooks, cute stationery, and cute plate

My brother-in-law loves candy corn. At a Halloween party my niece attended, the children played a game where they guessed the number of candies in various jars. My niece won a jar of candy corn by guessing the number closest to the actual pieces in the jar. Coincidence? I think not!

Flameless candle lantern on the mantle

Roll #2 was Ilford HP5+. I hadn’t shot that film in years, and I am kicking myself in hindsight. It is a BEAUTIFUL film and, coupled with the wonderful Bronica S’s lens, I am definitely thrilled with the results of this roll.

Silver tinsel mini Christmas tree and Tower of London snowglobe in my bedroom

 1964 Pontiac Catalina that I photographed at work one day

A wall in my mom’s house. I love her clock!

Pushing depth of field to its limits with close focusing and wide aperture

A bunch of flour fell on my kitchen floor. I dumped it off the porch but some of it landed on the steps. There were leaves on the steps that acted as stencils.

Conclusion?

While I wish I had done a better job nailing the exposure on Roll #1 with the Bronica S, I felt I made up for it with Roll #2. It’s a substantial camera, so it’s not for the faint of heart (or you can build muscle mass by toting it around!) The most important thing on any camera, ultimately, is the quality of the lens. I think the 75mm/2.8 Nikkor-P is GORGEOUS. Now, a word of warning:  I described the sound made by a Hasselblad or Contax 645 as being a “THWACK!” or an authoritative thud. The Bronica S, however, makes a noise that sounds almost as if something catastrophic has just occurred when you press the shutter release. I think that initial “Did I just break this?!” shock at the noise wears off and you don’t notice is so much after you’ve got some experience with the Bronica under your belt. All that to say, you’re not going to be doing any stealthy photography in quiet museums or churches with this camera!

I hope I can put some fresher color film through the camera, and maybe try the 135mm lens that Susan also loaned me for it, before I have to surrender the Bronica back to her 🙂

Posted in: camera equipment, film photography, something borrowed ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Kiev 4AM {Two Rolls In}

September 7, 2014 10:34 am ⋅ 4 Comments ⋅

Everybody knows that I have a deep devotion to film photography. But there was something missing from my camera collection: an interchangeable lens rangefinder.

I know some people on Twitter who are well-versed in rangefinders, so I started asking around to see anyone had suggestions for me as I looked to buy one for myself. One of these Twitter folks, in particular, is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about a several rangefinder varieties. He directed me to the Kiev 4AM, a Soviet-era Ukraine-made copy of a Contax rangefinder. And even better, he let me know about a reputable US-based seller of Former Soviet Union (FSU) cameras, so I didn’t have to buy internationally through eBay.  I chose my camera from Fedka, ordered it, and it was here two days later!

(Shout out to Tony for guidance when I wanted to add a rangefinder to my collection! His help greatly simplified the process for me. I think he’s made Kiev users out of a few of us in the Twitter film photography community!)

I cannot stop looking at this camera. I have dubbed it “my most handsome” camera. I swoon over it!

Shooting with the Kiev takes some getting used to, mostly because you actually need to master a a grip known as the “Contax hold.” I’m not going to attempt to photograph myself doing that, but scroll to the bottom of Matt Denton’s review of a different Kiev camera to see the Contax hold in action! One tricky thing about holding the Kiev properly is making sure you don’t block the rangefinder window (you can’t focus if you do that!) With your Contax hold, you also focus the lens via the little wheel atop the camera. It feels awkward at first, but it’s not so bad once you grow accustomed to it!

The top of the Kiev – you see the shutter speed selector wheel, which also contains the shutter button, and works as both the shutter cocking and film advancing mechanism. Next is the film frame counter, which you manually set at the beginning of each roll (that is automatically set by most cameras I have.) In front of the frame counter is the aforementioned lens focusing wheel. Then there’s the flash shoe (it’s a hot one!) and the film rewind  knob. 

That lovely, lovely Helios-103 53mm/1.8 lens that I got with my Kiev from Fedka

Right then. Being busy with photo gigs and other things, my Kiev test rolls were spaced out between June and July.

Roll # 1 was Kodak BW400CN

Tractor texture. First frame of film shot with the Kiev. The Helios lens is excellent!

I’d received the Kiev right before I shot Jennifer and Chris’s wedding rehearsal dinner downtown. That urban setting was a great place to shoot most of my first Kiev roll!

Rubber shoes

Leaves in rain water

Bokeh!!

The attendance board from my Papaw’s church, hanging in my mom’s house. He passed in 2005, so this means a lot o my mom and our family.

Rooster

Frame

Roll #2 was Kodak Gold 200

Roll #2 was shot almost exclusively on various days I was at the auto auction where my family’s business caters meals a day or two a week. I didn’t photograph a wide variety of subjects with Roll #2, and I tend to burn through frames of film at an alarming rate when I set my eyes on some of the beautiful items I see parked in the auto auction’s sales floor!

CorvetteDecorations for the Fourth of July sale auction

My continued series photographing motorcycles on display/for sale at the auction. This Harley was GORGEOUS.

1964 Ford truck, in the auction bay and bathed in warm early morning light

Honda motorcycle

 Conclusion?

I am LOVING this camera, in a way that I wasn’t expecting to. I’m used to being an SLR kind of girl, where the viewfinder gives you a “what you see is what you get” experience and the lenses have closer focusing abilities. I didn’t think I would appreciate the fact that the Kiev has a knob that you turn to advance the film and cock the shutter instead of  lever, but it’s really not an issue. On paper, those characteristics I’ve listed would be a black mark against this camera. But it’s so beautiful and a joy to use – as I said, I’m surprised by how much I enjoy the experience of using my Kiev. Perhaps more important than how much I like the camera body itself, the Helios-103 lens is proving to be an excellent performer!

What is an issue is that my particular Kiev seems to be suffering from a problem where the shutter curtain hangs open when I change from a slow shutter speed (1/10 second or below) to a faster one. It’s sporadic, but you can see its presence on two frames of film I used to photograph the truck during Roll #2. Light fogs a portion of the film frame when the shutter sticks open. I’m currently trying to figure out if there’s something I’m doing incorrectly, or if there is a simple fix that would prevent the shutter from hanging open like that. I don’t foresee myself using those slow shutter speeds extremely often, but I still want to resolve the problem with the shutter. Other than that, I’m looking forward to integrating the Kiev into my arsenal of cameras.

Posted in: camera equipment, film photography ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Canon Sure Shot Sleek {Two Rolls In}

May 8, 2014 9:36 am ⋅ 11 Comments ⋅

(This is actually “one and a half rolls in,” as the first roll I took with this camera only had about a dozen frames on it.) 

As I said when I bought this camera, “I needed another compact 35mm camera like I need a hole in the head.” Because I really didn’t need it. I’d just been hunting  down a Canon Sure Shot Sleek for awhile after I’d read about it on a website, searched the internet for examples of photos taken with the Sleek, and liked what I saw. I finally found one for $3 on eBay and thought, “Why not?” The answer to “why not?” should have been “Because you just got a Konica Big Mini last year for free, so you have the point-and-shoot category covered.” In fact, I will be comparing the Sure Shot Sleek to the Konica throughout this post, because my recent experiences with the Konica are fresh enough that I can’t help but compare the two.

The main draw of the Sleek was its 32mm/3.5 lens. The Konica has a 35mm/3.5 lens. Same maximum aperture, but I wanted that slightly wider lens!

About the Canon Sure Shot Sleek (aka Prima Mini II):

  •  The Canon Sure Shot Sleek is an auto-focus, auto-exposure 35mm camera
  • As mentioned, it has a 32mm/3.5 lens.
  • The lens protected by a cover that slides away when the camera is powered on.
  • User selectable modes, via dial atop camera: auto flash, flash on, flash off, self timer
  • Automatic aperture range of f/3.5 – f/22
  • Automatic shutter speed range of 2s – 1/250s
  • Minimum focusing distance 17.72 in. (45 cm)
  • Self timer is 10 seconds long, with a blinking indication light on the front of the camera.

What my $3 got me. A package deal!


Mode dial on the camera

Roll one was Kodak Gold 200 (partial roll)

My mother hosted a Gospel singing the first weekend I had the Sure Shot Sleek. It was in an old community center near where my family lives in Mississippi. It reminded me a lot of the churches my family visited when my siblings and I were growing up – my mom was invited to sing at churches, and we did a lot of traveling around the region for that. The community center was musty, the floorboards creaked, the air conditioning wasn’t working properly, and it had uncomfortable wooden pews. It actually brought back memories of visiting my grandfather’s church in Arkansas, which he built himself from the ground up and pastored!

We had to open some windows before the air conditioner kicked in. I liked how the breeze was blowing the curtains as it came through the window.

My brother-in-law, reading something on the wall in the community center’s main room. This is actually quite sharp, and I thought the Sleek did a good job handling the exposure. Notice the door in front of me, at the upper right corner of the image, says “ballroom.” It was just a room with some tables in it. I wonder if any balls were ever hosted in it?? (You can click on this photo to see a larger version, so you can see how sharp it is!)

“Theater” – this was the door to the area where the singing would take place. It was like a sanctuary of an old country church, not like a theater. Though there was a stage…

The Big Mini’s +1.5 exposure compensation would have been handy in for this photo.

Arrow sign outside the community center. It would have letters on it, indicating what sort of event was being held there, and obviously the arrow was pointing towards the building where said event was being held. In our case, there were no letters saying what was taking place that night!

Also like the churches we visited growing up, the community center had a small kitchen adjacent to what we would call a “fellowship hall.” That’s where you’d eat after the church service. That’s where we ate after the singing service that night. The kitchen was painted turquoise and red, which I loved.

I guess they’d call this the lobby of the community center. Decked out with fine furnishings.
 Steps leading up to the small stage of the community center.

Roll 2 was Lomography Color Negative 100

This is part of my unintentional “stuff I see in parking lots” series, as detailed in a previous blog post of photos taken with the Konica Big Mini. This was under a truck in a parking lot where we were shopping.

Hanging flower pot on my sister’s porch. I’ve linked to a larger version of this photo, so you can click through and see that, where it’s sharp, it’s VERY sharp. I just chose the point of focus poorly.

Trying to recreate a black and white photo from the Big Mini

I call this one “An allergy sufferer’s worst nightmare.” So much pollen! This was a puddle outside my house. 

Fungi on a felled tree outside the house

Tools in my dad’s shop

Harley-Davidson at the auto auction where our catering company works. I didn’t frame this shot. I just sat the camera on the ground and pressed the shutter button.

The same Harley, the next morning when the sun was coming up (I get to work early, ya’ll)

This isn’t a great photo, I was just in awe of how YELLOW the sun made it! Is this the Kelvin filter on Instagram 😛?

Pretty Annie. My niece’s dog. 

Leaves on my walk around our neighborhood. Look at the bokeh!

I guess this falls into the “stuff I see in parking lots” series. It was Good Friday.  A man was carrying a cross down the road. He rested it outside Wal-Mart while he was inside.

I call this one “MURICA!!” American flag on the man’s cross, with Wal-Mart in the background.

I call this one “Happy Easter tho” – As it was Easter and I was donning my purple tights because they’re festive.

Finishing up the roll on the (artificial) succulents at my sister’s church (where she works, actually.) Trying out the closest focusing distance. 

Decoration on a wall at the church (that’s quite a sharp photo, too!)

Things I like about the Sure Shot Sleek:

Slightly wider angle lens than other compact 35mm cameras I have.

Hey, the 32mm lens is what made me buy this camera in the first place.

Various modes selected by turning a dial atop the camera.

As opposed to pushing a series of buttons until you find the right setting, which is how most cameras of this type operate.

The fact that there is a mode dial also means you can leave it in whichever shooting mode you wish, even when the camera is switched off. Most cameras of this type lose the settings you’ve selected when you switch the camera off, which is a real pain when you want to turn a camera on a shoot quickly. Score one for the Sure Shot Sleek!

Lens cover

One drawback to the Big Mini is that its lens is not covered when the camera is powered off. There’s a glass filter, of sorts, over the lens but nothing protecting that filter or the lens itself. At least the Sleek has a cover that slides over the lens when the camera’s not on!

Things I didn’t like so much about the Sure Shot Sleek

Operational weirdness:

I feel like some of these Sure Shot cameras have weird ways of operating. I passed on getting the Canon Prima Mini, which is the model that preceded the Sure Shot Sleek, because you have to press two buttons simultaneously in order to get the flash mode you want. Similar to the weirdness of my Sure Shot Supreme, where you have to depress both the shutter button and a small button on the bottom of the camera to disable the flash. Technically, there is slow sync flash available on the Sleek, but only in self-timer mode. Most situations where I personally would choose slow sync flash would be, for example, taking photographs at parties or photographing bands at gig. Neither of those scenarios would pair well with a self-timer. Even though you had to simultaneously press the “flash on” button while pressing the shutter button on the Sure Shot Esprit, at least doing so would automatically put the camera into slow sync flash mode! (Now I kind of wish I had that camera instead of the Sleek 😛)

Additionally, you cannot turn the flash off when using the self-timer. This is no good for me. The only time I use a self-timer is when I know the shutter speed is going to be longer than I could hand hold without blur. I generally don’t combine flash and self-timer.

Squinty viewfinder:

Small viewfinder. Difficult to see through sometimes, especially with it knocking up against my glasses! The Big Mini has a much better viewfinder, in my opinion (as well as frame lines for when you’re using the closest focusing distances.)

Plastic construction

It’s not the most substantial camera I’ve ever held in my hands. The Big Mini’s shape may be less ergonomic than the Sleek, but the metal front on the Big Mini makes me feel as if I’m holding a “real” camera.

Conclusion?

When the Sure Shot Sleek is good, it’s pretty good. When it’s not good, it’s very mediocre. But I’m also taking into account that I didn’t necessarily have access to the most thrilling subjects during my one and a half test test rolls with it. I’m not counting it out yet though. I’ll give it a fighting chance to win a place in my heart.

As I said in the beginning of this post, I find myself comparing the Sure Shot Sleek to the Big Mini. The things I like about the Sleek are missing on the Konica, and the things I don’t like about the Sleek are found on the Big Mini. I’d make a Franken-camera of the two of them if I could!

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{Two Rolls In} Konica Big Mini

January 24, 2014 9:51 am ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅

So the Konica Big Mini. Here’s how I came to own this camera:

I WON IT FROM A BLOG GIVEAWAY!

Urban Hafner was giving away three Konica Big Mini cameras through his photography blog. I was so happy when I awoke to a Tweet saying that I was one of the three winners.  A couple of weeks later, I had my prize package from Germany!

Urban sent me the Konica Big Mini, a roll of film, and an awesome postcard of one of his photos

About the Konica Big Mini:

  • The Big Mini is an auto focus, auto exposure compact 35mm camera
  • 35mm f/3.5 lens
  • Automatic shutter speed range of 3.5s – 1/500s
  • Automatic aperture range of f/2.5 – f/16
  • It’s a slick little thing, with a recessed lens that zooms out when the power switch is turned on.
  • There are menu buttons on the back that allow you to select flash modes, exposure compensation, and self-timer.
  • Flash modes are: auto flash, flash on, flash off
  • When “flash off” is selected, you can also choose exposure compensation: +1.5 or  -1.5
  • Automatic slow sync flash  when “flash on” is selected in low light situations.
  • Self timer is 10 seconds long, with a red indication light on the front of the camera.
  • Automatic close-up mode, which focuses between 13.78 in. (35cm) and 23.62 in. (60 cm.)
  • Date/time imprint available (and goes all the way up to the year 2019! This camera came out in 1990…)

Roll #1 was the Rossman 400 film Urban included with the camera

Mini pumpkins, before we painted them for Halloween

My niece decorating her pumpkin

Lunch with me mum

This is a kiosk my family’s catering business owns and our clients decorated with a patriotic theme

A very rainy day

I don’t know why I always take pictures of dead birds. There’s one on this camera review post, too.

Trying to soothe a sore throat with a cup of tea one afternoon

Roll #2 was my old faithful favorite film, Kodak BW400CN. I took roll #2 before I saw the results of roll #1, so take that for what it’s worth.

I actually used +1.5 compensation for this, and it still came out quite underexposed

The angle on this looks kind of zany, but I kind of like it! (and probably a result of parallax problems)

This must have been the day I was testing out my Keystone Everflash to see if it was still working (it was)

My sister’s wall decor

After we had a bit of ice fall in Memphis

Christmas pressies under the tree

Globe

Visiting Mallory. I love photographing all the cuteness in her house.

Thoughts on the Konica Big Mini?

  1. I usually like my compact 35mm cameras to have f/2.8 maximum apertures, but the f/3.5 on the Big Mini wasn’t as problematic as I’d thought it’d be. Decently shallow dept of field was achievable at closest focusing distances!
  2. All things being equal, the lens is pretty darn sharp!
  3. The main issue I see with this camera is that the exposure system is easily fooled. I felt like the +1.5 exposure compensation was needed for a lot of the photos, even ones that weren’t really backlit.
  4. Hamish over at 35mmc.com reported problems with the focusing system in a specific situation, but I haven’t encountered that so far (since I haven’t exactly been to the beach with my Big Mini!) If I’ve had any troubles achieving correct focus, it’s probably been due to the fact that I usually push the limits of the close-up feature.
  5. I’m a bit scared of the lack of a lens cover. I predict that, even handling the camera with kid gloves and trying to store it properly, I’ll have dust in the lens.

I actually enjoyed learning to use the Big Mini and will continue to do so. When it’s good, it’s VERY good!

Big thanks to Urban for giving me this camera! Please visit his website and then maybe buy postcards of his work! (The postcards are VERY high quality and awesome!)

I’m going to try this thing where I don’t review a camera on the SWP blog until I’ve used it for two or three rolls. Because a review really can’t be all that complete if you’ve only used a piece of photographic equipment for one roll of film! And this post was the first of the “Two rolls in” series.

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