Модест Петрович Мусоргский

Снег!

First snow - at last.
To test the 1954 Москва-2. Without Y-filter, rather stupid, next time better.
Even with my fingertipfree gloves the film advance knob is rather unpleasant, all the other thingies are problemless.

Пельмени Сибирские

Of course I overreact on the word Siberian, but today was (more or less) the start of the cold season, so after a "cool" walk I had some Pelmeni Sibirskie. Nice!

Смирновская Водка

And then I read the label on the back.
"Produced for the Smirnoff co., Lakeside Drive, London UK.
 IN ITALY "

На здоровье - no, sorry: cin-cin!

Красный Октябрь

Red October.

Not 1917, nor the "Hunt..." film, but, very modest, my favourite breakfast. With espresso, of course.
And looking at lovely little Алёнка it can't be thàt unhealthy...

Van onze lerares kregen we de volgende linkjes doorgespeeld:

http://www.rus-on-line.ru/menu01.html
http://www.russianplanet.ru/music/romances/index.htm#korsakov
http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/le-ly-a/post165644585
http://www.baikal.ru
http://www.1-film-online.com/?p=1513
http://moimirvideo.com/32091-smotret-online-bajjkal_legendy_velikogo_ozera.html
en nog een filmpje van youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdqpk41CYiY&feature=related

1954 Москва 2

Yes - the Москва 2 will also go to Siberia.
Because it does fit in the pocket, to keep it warm. Because it is 6x9. And because the CRF does work, and that's a first!

Impossible to handle it with gloves but who cares - 

just look at the monster

Фотоэкспонометр

I will definitely nòt be "guessing the light" in Siberia with this beautiful aluminum фотоэкспонометр. 
Early sixties (or late fifties?) and at Цена 1 руб. 35 коп. (About 4 rolls of film, the Ленинград-2 was 6 руб. but that was in the eighties.)
Easy to handle with gloves, too.

Фотокор

 Yes, I am the proud owner of a working ± 1941 Fotokor. And would love to take it to Siberia.  But with only 4 sheet-holders (digitalics: that means only 4 pictures!) it probably isn't the right choice.
 К сожалению!

Линхоф 220

This will definitely be in my рюкзак: the Linhof 220. No fiddling around with tiny knobs: only big handles, and the Rodenstock lens is só good.
I bought mine june 1977, still works fine today.

One decision made, 237 to go.

Вестерфорт

Het begint er nu echt op te lijken hoor: gisteren ( вчера ) de eerste les gehad bij Алсу en dat gaf hoop voor de toekomst! Binnenkort poekelen wij Russisch (мы говорим по-русский).

Logo

An enterprise like ours, of course, needs a logo (and T-shirt) And while very premature, here is my first droodle:

Испытание

Well, not really testing, because I blindly trust my Проявитель, but today we had also two Фед with us, the fifties 2 and the seventies 4 and of course were nòt disappointed: the Fed will go to Siberia, that's for sure!

And I think the little Чаика is also a candidate: half frame, so around 70 pictures (the digitalics have nó idea what the hell I'm talking about) and rather nice quality.

МИР-3

Oooooh - very nice lens, this 65mm Мир-3.
Probably 1974, on my 1972 Revue6.6 (Салют).
The whole combination is 100 gr. lighter than the Hass/Dist combination, but still very weighty, alas... Not for Siberian walks.

On Jan 1990 Orwo NP22; the blue pic is cropped, left is the whole neg.

About the FED4

First of all, I really like this camera! The transport movement is really very smooth, and the soft clack the shutter makes when released, is very unobstructive. Focussing the lens is not completely smooth, but accurate. The weight is no problem, but the small shoulder strap makes it a bit uncomfortable after a couple of hours. Loading film, for me, is no problem but since the back is not attached to the body and the take-up spool has to be removed to attach the film to it, it is a bit clumsy. Rewinding the film takes a long time. Because there is no crank but a turnwheel, one needs about a hundred turns before the film is rewinded.

But before one can start rewinding, the sprocket wheel needs to be released. The ring for that around the shutter knob has to be pressed and turned, and for that the transport handle and framecounter are in the way. With a bit of practice however, it becomes easier over time.

One thing that needs modification is the fact that the ring to set the dioptr to get the rangefinder image sharp, has sharp ribs and that does damage your glasses when looking through the viewfinder. A metal file (?) will do the job I suppose. And another thing, after loading a new film, I managed to misplace the camera back without noticing it. This gave a tiny light leak right above the exposed film. Nothing to serious luckily, but something to remember next time!


The Selenium metering cell seems to work fine, but I need to test this more carefully. For Negative film, it is good enough I guess.
While photographing, I kept thinking, I want a wide angle lens, but now, after seeing the results of the 53mm industar, I am not so sure anymore. This lens has it own attraction.
All images below were taken last week in Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany.

Чёрная ворота

De porta nigra is waarschijnlijkst het meest bekende Romeinse overblijfsel van de stad Trier.

Dit is een lage resolutie scan en de scanner denkt weer eens dat het een kleurenfilm is, anders kan Picasa de scan niet importeren, maar het is toch echt kodak tri-x in de FED4. Maar sepia past wonderwel bij deze compositie. Meer over de FED4 volgt dit weekend in een andere post, maar ik wilde deze foto vast even delen. In de eerste post over de FED4 liet ik al zien dat de camera werkte, nu laat ik zien dat er ook mooie foto's uit kunnen komen. Ik stel me de houten huisjes in Listvjanka al voor....

Андрэ Кауперс

Okay - André is veilig in Rusland terechtgekomen. Nou wij nog...

FED4

FED4, Russian "Leica-copy" did arrive and seems to work fine!

Mijn FED4 is binnengekomen. Snel gecontroleerd met een stukje FP3 film van de rol van Erwin. Transport en sluiter lopen mooi en de camera werkt zo snel gezien goed. Binnenkort wat meer details over deze camera en wat meer foto's!

I know NOTHING about Russia

Yes I know: these are old pictures, it will be different now.
Is it?
The more I learn, the more I discover how little I know about this - not a land, not a continent: a world.
This will sound strange: I didn't know Russians could smile. 
What does that say about my education? Where Latin and Greek were the most important things?

Сталин

From "Russia in War", pen and ink, by Feliks Topolski

Скаут Русский 1914 г.

Bad picture, good scout, helping the old woman back in 1914 Russia.

9 май

Украïна

Yes, I know, this is about going to Irkutsk. But while Jeroen was testing his Еликон in France, I was "wrestling" with Алексей Голобородко on my draw-blog, not very successfully so every now and then I had a little "intermezzo", and this girl from Украïна was number six (drawing!)

Very peaceful.

http://sportzeichnung.blogspot.com/  for the Russian and Italian drawings.

Еликон 4 in France

I had a short holiday in France and decided to bring along the Еликон 4 to find out how it would be to make holiday snapshots with that camera, as I will be doing in Siberia! It turns out nicely, with all the flaws and pitfalls that come with this sort of photography! For instance, transportation of the film has to be done with great care, otherwise the images will overlap. Also, do not transport after making a picture, since the shutter release button has no lock and it will trigger when put in your pocket! Vignetting is moderate when the aperture is not totally open, and the lens is quite sharp but it is easy to forget to set the distance, and since it is not completely a point and shoot camera, result is not always as expected.

Film used was Fomapan 400, developed in HC110 for 6 minutes which is a bit to much, but the result is not too bad:

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...)

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.

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....