Tag: folding camera

Wine Country, Paso Robles

Wine Country, Paso Robes

This is from a summer or two ago. We drove along Hwy 49 in the central coastal area of California. It is a lovely drive – quite unpopulated in many ways. The hills and valleys spread out on either side of the road, with trees dotting the grassy slopes. Grapes are grown here, and the Paso Robles area is known for its wines. If you take some of the side roads off the highway, which is a nicely paved two-lane roadway, you can find yourself under the canopy of old oak trees, deep in the gloom of shade on a bright summer’s day.

Zeiss Ikon Ikonta, Tri-X 400 by Kodak. Scanned and processed with Epson V600, VueScan, and Negative Lab Pro.

Winter Sky (and then some more!)

Besides acquiring a bit of old glass, I have also, as said before, been wandering through my digital archives. Here, a photo taken in March 2017 using the Retina IIIc with the Xenon 50mm f2 lens and Agfa Vista 200. Some images I desaturated to B&W because I thought they looked better that way. Digitalizing film can be quite a good thing!

When I first used this camera, I found it rather trying. It has an EV metering system which made absolutely no sense to me, even after reading the manual. Yes, I do RTFM! However, YouTube came to the rescue once again, and there are several good videos about the Kodak Retinas from the 1950s. Many consider these to be some of the finest Kodak cameras ever produced. I won’t disagree. Nearly every American in my age group has used Kodak cameras, and many were rather cheap and produced rather poor pictures. But, for a kid, they were just perfect!

This camera came to me about 4-5 years ago from Chris Sherlock at Retina Rescue, across the sea in Australia. He’s great. You can find his videos on YouTube. Playing with it again, and having more experience with older cameras. I really appreciate this camera far more than I did before. I think I am going to throw some film in the camera and see what this puppy can do yet again.

The Olde West

Living in California meant traveling across country to move. We did this when I was 12, and I did it as an adult in my 30s.

Driving through the vast reaches of this country always amazes me. First, it is just BIG. Open miles of open land, a house or ranch or roadside attraction.. Huge mountains seen across miles. Winding roads where dust behind you flies in a cloud as you bump along, looking for rocks and holes. Freeways, local highways, dusty country lanes – this is what I enjoy when I travel. This fall we plan a trip across northern Nevada and into Utah, when the weather is cooler, and perhaps we will even enjoy colored leaves at the higher altitudes.

Awhile back I loaded up one of my old cameras – a Voigtlander Bessa RF 6×9 with a Heliar lens, ca. 1935 – with Ilford Ortho 80 Plus film. I forgot about it until I opened the back of the camera and slapped it shut as quickly as possible. As the camera only gets 8 pictures per roll, I lost a few – like 3. One image was too dark for use. But, the remaining 4, while not great, were fun to manipulate in post.

The Ilford film had just been released, so I bought a few rolls to test out. In my 35mm film camera, it worked beautifully, but my exposures were marginal in the 6×9 at best. I worked on them a lot to bring in discernible contrast – most were over-exposed. The lens on the camera is a beautiful Heliar, but my guestimates with 80 speed film were too high. As well, I used no filter since I don’t own one to use with the lens. So, above, a test shot to look at contrast – white flowers on dark green foliage. I created a preset in On1 Camera Raw that I liked; it brings out the details but doesn’t create too much contrast.

This photo makes me think of old dirt roads and stagecoaches jouncing along – like you see in 50s movies! The image got a light leak, but the details of the distant mountain – Mount Clef – and cacti are worth a look

Again, more detail and a bit of LR dodge-and -burn. This is the dried landscape nearby. When the winters are wet – which ours was not this year – the grasses and mustard can grow up to 8 feet. Easy to get lost in, but don’t – stick to the paths or ticks and other critters will get you.

Backcountry is beautiful and dangerous. I remember turning back here – a rattler was basking in the sun. That’s another good reason to walk where you can see ahead of you!

So, a bit of my West with my old camera and newer film and technology. The Voigtlander did not let me down, nor did the film. I am looking forward to taking this camera with me up to Morro Bay next week – along with more modern cameras – and out to Nevada and Utah. More Olde West to come!

Tomatoes in Suburbia

Nothing like a mistake that is rather a fun one – here, double exposure in my Certo Six folding camera. I forgot to advance the film and thought there was an issue, so released the exposure button again by choosing the “bypass” button. (If you have a Certo Six, you know what I am talking about.) It makes me think that it might be a fun exercise to deliberately, rather than accidentally, create double exposures. Maybe even triple. Or quadruple. Such is possible!!

This is with Portra 400, a film I always find way to delicate in color for my taste, but it could be I will change my mind after cataract surgery. This is pretty much SOOC with just some spot removal in post. I don’t like spotty film . . .