Wednesday 25 April 2012

Замерзанная водка



Put a glass of водка in the freezer and look at the
nice crystals that are formed.

(The picture isn't great, but that's Sony for you. It can't be me, because I drank it afterwards...)

Saturday 21 April 2012

Приходил сегодня: ФОТОН


I still remember my pride in the sixties: the Cornet VX electronic flash on my Lubitel.

This one is the seventies Фотон, and it still works, which I consider a miracle: no batteries, you are always attached to the socket. Yes, the cord is 10 feet, but after some  водка one easily tends to forget that, so not many survived.

Monday 9 April 2012

Еликон 4 и 35СМ

Helikon 35CM and Helikon 4 test.
Two Helikon Camera's, Erwin's 35CM and my model 4. The first one automatic with exposure meter or manual, the second one simple, no metering, just one shutterspeed with an adjustable aperture. Distance can be set by symbol or distance. There is some sort of focaldepth indicator, based on the aperture, so the camera can be used as point and shoot. No shutter lag! Both with built in flash, and both do work! So time to test these camera's.
First, pictures with the model 4. I loaded a Fomapan 400 B&W film. Loading is easy, no problems at all. I discovered that the image counter is stuck on fram 36, so a bit of a gamble,how many pictures one made. Or, always bring a spare film, which is a good idea anyway, but loading @ -35° will be a challenge!
So I played the tourist during this trip. Verdict: A nice camera, a joy to work with. It has some flaws, frames do sometimes overlap, so be careful with the filmtransport and counter does not work. One has to get a feeling for the aperture setting, and one should not forget to remove the lenscap!!!!


to compare, this picture by Erwin  





O, and here a picture with flash



(Erwin:) I had 1969 Ilford in my Еликон, this very old film ± 80 ASA produced some fog, but sharp (Индустар-95) images.
The CM is automatic, lucky me (I couldn't understand the Еликон 4's depth-of-field cum cloud/sun ehhhrm - whatever...). In fact the meter/shutter is totally unreliable, over 60% blank negs, but it's the thought that counts....

Wednesday 4 April 2012

Учебник

A real boost to learn the language: a (children's) book about a passion. This one is in Ukrainian, but that's almost Russian (well, kind of...)
I will at least understand the pictures!



And now look below (label: Photography) at the post В Кассете.
The first thing I find is... how to load the cassette. Wòw!

And my first camera on the front. Yes, I always tell that I still own one, alas not the original bakelite one, and no, this is not me, but I can see this мальчик felt just like I did, a lifetime ago.