Voigtlander Perkeo I & Agfa Flash

 My Perkeo I is seen here being fitted with an old vintage Agfa flash holder and a new flash bulb. Acquisition of these extra redundant accessories was never intended if not for some incidental estate lot purchases. Oh well....

Dressed them up just for my own satisfaction, the flash holder's battery of course is no longer available and therefore it is non-working.

All these were from the 50s' and isn't it nostalgic to have a glimpse of what casual photographers have had to go through just to snap some night shots; bring out the holder, fix it up, fit in the bulb and lastly the wire connecting to the camera!

 My Perkeo has just been loaded up for snapping to have a feel of this vintage classic 6 x 6. Of course, the flash and bulb have  to stay home and away from the curiosity of onlookers!

It's actually comfortable having a Perkeo around for some 120 films snapping since it is quite light and quiet.

Cheers!

Classic Voigtlander Perkeo l Medium Format 6x6

Never tried any single-lens 6x6 before, I decided to pick up this Perkeo_l just for fun and convenience. As compared to my heavier though much more reliable Rolleiflex TLRs, this camera is so much lighter and can be very convenient to carry around.
Accordingly, this camera can be haunted by the issue of planarity due to possible wobbling of its bellow when shooting. We just can't have both worlds, can we?

I managed to open up the top plate to clean out any dust while the lens is still very clean despite its age.  It's fully manual mode of shooting can be an issue with exposure values and definitely have to switch on my sunny 16 rule again. If not, my Rollei 35S/T can always tag along and manage the metering issue, just in case!
Meanwhile I am so eager to try out this camera after viewing so many wonderful shots of other users with this classic!
Cheers!

Trying out Konica C35 FD with monochrome 35mm film

A trip to China offered me an opportunity to bring along my rangefinder Konica C35 FD (aka auto S3) for a wild spin. I was much eager to try out the latitude of the Delta 100 Pro and Lucky SHD100New monochrome film and of course the camera's metering and exposure accuracy. Backing this trip with my smallish digital Panasonic DMC-ZR3 just in case I wouldn't miss out on any nice good take.


The chinese-made Lucky SHD100 appears to be smoother (ie the naxi woman & the trail) and less grainier than Delta 100Pro (the woods) though I wouldn't mind using both of them occasionally as long as their price is justified and economical. Knowing their latitude probably make sense for various photographic occasions.

My Konica FD served me well on my trip to Kunming, Dali and lijiang with every opportunity to snap on anything monochromatic- like old buildings and rock etc which is quite redundant anyway for colour films.



Rangefinder cameras are known to rather quiet since there is no noisy flipping mirrors like those SLRs and this Konica did just that during the trip. Adding any colour filters to this camera is easy without any manual adjustment with its TTL's metering.

I definitely have to try out some night scenes with colour films with this camera on my next few takes. By then who knows how those photos might turn out!

 


My Konica C35FD set can also be viewed in flicker
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/68719137@N04/)

Some films bought from Thailand.

Thailand seems to be the perfect place to purchase some 35mm and 120 films for my cameras . Here are some of the films that I bought in Bangkok few weeks ago. Thailand appears to have many analog camera users around which is reflected by the whole range of films available in their camera shops. Developing those films is not a problem and one can get them ready the next couple of  days which is just  perfect for analog-camera tourists. Compared to Malaysia and Singapore, the films are quite reasonably priced and are never out of stock, well at least at the moment which sounds too good to me and other users. 

Bought some china-made monochromes just for fun and just hope these lower priced films can be made available to us. 

Exakta VX1000, "The Last Official Exakta Camera"

Bought this SLR Exakta off UK Ebay and much attracted by its classic East German features. From the appearance of the leather case and the camera itself, I believe the camera was seldom used. All expected mechanism works fine and maybe awkward with the left hand winding and shutter button. It's perfect for my eastern hands too considering this camera was much designed for the big-hands Europeans. No wonder this camera was not popular in the east and no wonder the Japanese cameras captured much of the Asia's market and now the world. 

The interchangeable viewfinder is so bright and comfortable. The interchangeable lens are still very expensive especially those wide angles and zoom lens. Heck, I never want to carry those heavy metal and long lens again and attract much pathetic looks from those digital guys out there! A simple lens for this camera is sufficient for me now. 

Nonetheless, I like this camera and perfect for me! You may read more about this from Wikipedia here.

Enjoy!

Konica Auto S 1970s'

Bought this vintage off ebay together with another as 'sold as ' and 'don't know it works or not' accompanied with so much free dust all over the lens. A few rather sharp reflected lights off the dusty lens 1:1.9 f/47mm caught my eyes prompting me to take the risk to purchase this. The camera was unexpectedly clean all over after brushing off all the dust and the mechanism is confirmed working perfectly. Quite happy with this purchase with a small outlay for my collection.
The camera is so well built with heavier metal body and the previous owner apparently took good care of this camera.

Zeiss Ikon Contessamat

Another simple classic from the Zeiss Ikon series of 35mm film camera which needs no battery for its perfectly working light meter. This camera was barely used with its rather new strap and case. The shutter is so quiet and barely audible!
Quite happy to keep this one for my collection.