Tag: Welta

Concrete Cucumber

For the past year I had a roll of Fuji Superia 200 loaded into my vintage Welta Weltini camera from the 1930s. It works really well, but the fact is I really don’t like the camera all that much. It’s a 35mm camera, a small folder, and an excruciatingly small viewfinder. It does have a built-in focusing “spot” for lack of a better word, but the reality is that the tiny, tiny viewfinder makes it an extremely awkward camera to use, and it is not a pleasant experience. I think I may decide to sell off some of my collection. I doubt I could make a profit on this, but anyway . . .

Here, a cucumber on my patio this summer. Even though its leaves are not the most healthy looking, it has produced, and continues to produce, very tasty cucumbers. I thought I had planted lemon cucumbers, but these are what came up. Awhile back, I just planted every seed I had left, and there you are. I also planted some vining beans in the same pot. Out of all the seeds I stuck in there, planning to thin them after I could discern what plant was which, only two came up! Both were non-lemon cucumbers. I just water it every day, sometimes twice when it is nearing the 100s or high 90s, and the result is we have been enjoying our small patio crop.

The tiny viewfinder caught my knee in the original scan, so I cropped this to make it a square and did some post processing along the way.

Spiney Leaves, Berries, and a Light Leak

I decided to send the Welta Weltur our for a bit of a CLA.  The rangefinder / viewer is a bit foggy and makes it difficult to focus easily.  That is taken care of by using a smaller f-stop, thus increasing the DOF.  I am not sure how this light leak occurred – perhaps when it was being developed.

Taken with Ilford XP Super 400, Welta Weltur from 1937, Xenar lens.  Guestimated exposures.  Scanned with Epson V600.

Tra-La-La Along the Garden Path

Another view of the local botanical gardens.  Today’s image is much sharper than yesterday’s – less muddy from a bit of blur.  Again, Weltur, Ilford, and Xenar.

It seems the Xenar is quite good at handling contrast.  The LR historgram shows both in its display.  As well, the Epson V600 handles C-41 processed B&W film with Digital Ice – very little clean up done in post.  With one roll of the XP Super film left, I am tempted to get some more . . .

Canyon Oak

A tree, a sunny day, a canyon, a 1937 folding Welta Weltur camera, a colored filter, 120 film shot in6x4.5 film, Ilford film, a Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 2.8 80mm lens.  Such a delight to get back from the lab (even if I have to do a bit of cleaning up in LR)!

If you look closely, you will see there is blur in the image.  I finally figured out that the way I was pressing the exposure button was the fault.  I did it too quickly, and the result was a sort of little jerk.  Motion and blur.  That is why some pictures from this roll are sharper and others softer.  Interesting how you have to really think about things differently depending on the camera you are using.