Film Camera 2019/10 – Moskva 5 – Results

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I struggled with this camera – not the fault of the camera, more my lack of familiarity with it and some basic mistakes I made. Loading was easy enough, but after that things started to go downhill.

Admittedly I was rushing. I was leaving on vacation and wanted to finish a roll quickly before I left. I had the camera set for 6×9 and so only had 8 frames available. I composed my first picture and pressed the shutter release. Nothing happened. Maybe I needed to advance? I did this and still nothing. Now getting flustered I tried again. Still nothing. Eventually I realized that I’d forgotten to cock the shutter – three frames lost, five to go.

It was a fairly dull day and I was using 100 ISO film and in one of the shots I think the shutter speed was too slow for me to hand hold – four frames down four to go.

Only occasionally having used medium format cameras I didn’t realize that depth of field is less than I was used to with 35mm. Only a small area was in focus, with the foreground and background badly out of focus. Five down, three to go (the images above and below),

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I found the camera quite cumbersome to use. I couldn’t seem to hold it comfortably and the focus mechanism at the end of the lens was also uncomfortable. I left with the impression that it’s really designed to be used on a tripod, which is what I’ll do next time I use it.

So while I didn’t really like the camera all that much the 6×9 negative is hard to resist so I’ll certainly try it again.

Film Camera 2019/9 – Agfa Click I – Results

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Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY.

I was pleasantly surprised with the results. It was a cloudy day and I think I took all of the pictures on the cloudy setting with the yellow filter. I thought that, if I got anything at all, it would be blurred, out of focus images with light leaks all over the place. Instead I got halfway decent pictures. OK, they’re not incredibly sharp, there’s obvious vignetting and quite a lot of barrel distortion, but all in all for a very, very basic camera that’s as old as I am they weren’t bad at all. Of the eight anticipated frames I only lost two, and those because of operator (i.e. me) error i.e. too much camera blur.

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View from the Hudson River Museum across the Hudson to the Palisades.

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Roaring Brook Lane and, in the background, Roaring Brook Lake.

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Tappan Zee bridge (officially the Maria Cuomo Bridge).

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Small bridge across Roaring Brook.

Film Camera 2019/8 – Nikon FG – Results

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My first attempts to use this camera (without film) showed a few problems. I put a battery in and opened up the back. When I closed it again the frame counter didn’t reset. Ah well. Who needs a frame counter. I’ll know when the film stops that I’ve finished it. However, after opening and closing the back a few times the counter suddenly reset and has since worked as anticipated – at least for now. Second I couldn’t get the meter to work. This was more disturbing, but at a push I could use it in manual mode (with an external meter or “sunny 16”. Although I was getting a bit “down” on this camera I could still try it out although I was starting think that I probably wouldn’t be using it much. Then browsing the web I discovered that the meter won’t function until the frame counter reaches ‘1’. I tried this and sure enough this solved the meter problem. Another problem turned out to be related (I think). When I wound on and pressed the shutter release the mirror would stick in the up position. Setting the camera to ‘M90’ released the mirror. When doing the same thing after the frame counter reached ‘1’ the mirror did not stick.

After that it was all plain sailing. I set the camera in aperture priority mode and went out to take some pictures along nearby Peekskill Hollow Road. There were a few operator-related (i.e. me) errors e.g. not noticing that the camera was selecting too low a shutter speed for me to hand hold, but generally I was pleased with the results. Above the former Tompkins Corners Baptist Church (Now the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center).

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Red barn with geese.

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Old wooden shack on Peekskill Hollow Road.

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Rusty, broken wheel.

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Red Barn.

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Porch at the Tompkins Corners Cultural Center.

Film Camera 2019/8 – Nikon FG

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The Nikon FG is a compact 35mm Single Lens Reflex (SLR) Manual focus camera with an electronically controlled focal plane shutter. I bought it after my two attempts to acquire a Nikon EM failed. I like the look of the Nikon EM and its size, weight and aperture priority automation appeal to me. Unfortunately, neither of the two examples I’ve got my hands on work properly (at least I don’t think they do. However, I could be doing something wrong.) Luckily they don’t cost much and I was about to get a third when I read about the Nikon FG. Although much derided by hard-core Nikon users it sounded like a souped up EM i.e. increased functionality in a similarly small body. I found one at an attractive price and decided to give it a try. It came with a Nikon Zoom Nikkor 43-86mm F3.5 Lens (not shown. The lens in the picture is a Nikon 100mm f/2.8 Series E that came with one of the EMs).

Basic Specifications:

Lens Mount: Nikon F mount usable for AI/AIS/AF/AFS lenses (with some exceptions)

Shutter: Electronically controlled vertical travel, metal focal plane. Shutter release accepts AR-3 screw type cable release. Pressing lightly on the shutter release activates metering circuit, the meter remains on for approx. 16 sec. after removing your finger and then shuts off automatically.

Shutter speeds: Stepless from 1 sec. to 1/1000 sec. on P(Program) and A (Auto) mode; 11 speeds from 1 sec. to 1/1000 sec. on Manual mode; mechanical 1/90 sec at M90 (mechanical shutter setting, no battery required) setting and long exposure on B setting.

Exposure modes: P(Program) mode Light intensity feed-back; shutter speed and aperture set automatically and steplessly; A (Aperture priority); aperture set manually and shutter speed set automatically; M (Manual mode) Aperture and shutter set manually.

Audio Warning Signal: Warning sound activated when shutter release is pushed half way in if shutter is approx. 1/30 sec and below or above 1/1000 sec. Can be turned off via lever locared adjacent to film advance lever.

Viewfinder: Fixed eye-level pentaprism; 0.84 magnification with 50mm lens set at infinity; 92% frame coverage.

Viewfinder display: Shutter speed with LED display; exposure warning signal, flash ready.

Focusing screen: Fixed. Matte/Fresnel with split image rangefinder spot and microprism (K2 screen).

Reflex mirror: Automatic instant return.

Self timer: 10 second delayed; setting cancellable.

Flash: TTL; hot shoe provided; M90 setting for 1/90 second sync. Flash ready light provided within viewfinder.

Exposure metering: Through the lens, center weighted, full aperture with AI/AIS/AF/AFS and most (with exceptions, see above) AI modified lens. Auto and program exposure. Meter does not work in M90 or B and viewfinder LED’s don’t light.

Metering range: EV 1 to EV 18 at ASA/ISO 100 with 50mm f/1.4 lens.

Exposure compensation: +/- 2 EV in 1/2 increments.

Film speed: ASA/ISO 12 to ASA/ISO 3200

Film winding: Single stroke lever. Lever also serves as shutter release lock. Accepts MD-14 (3.2 fps-2fps) or MD-E (1.5fps) auto film winder

Frame counter: Additive, auto reset to S when back is opened.

Film rewind: By crank after rewind button is depressed.

Camera back: Interchangeable. Standard – hinged, swing open, removable, memo holder provided. Accepts data back MF-15.

Battery: (1) one 3V lithium or (2) two 1.55V silver-oxide or (3) two 1.5V alkaline-manganese batteries. Battery is used for shutter timer (digital quartz timing), audio warning and metering.

Dimensions: Approx. 136.0 mm(W) x 87.5mm(H) x 54.0mm(D)

Weight: Approximately 490g.

Functionality not provided: Memory lock; Multiple exposure; Mirror lock up; Depth of Field Preview.

For a more thorough review see Nikon FG on Casual Photophile.

Film Camera 2019/7 – Konica C35 – Results

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I put the film into the camera, closed the back and started to advance the film. Somehow it didn’t seem as smooth as with other similar cameras I’ve used. However, I pressed on and as I took shot after shot the film seemed to be advancing well albeit with a little roughness. When I got to the end of the roll and started to rewind it seemed much harder than usual. Had I done something wrong? Maybe I hadn’t put the film in properly? Maybe the film had not advance properly and was ruined? So it was with some trepidation that awaited the return of the scans from the lab. Maybe I’d get nothing usable back?

I seemed that I worried over nothing. The scans came back with 38 pictures. Unfortunately a good number of them were badly underexposed. At first I thought this might have been because of the battery I was using. However, as you’ll see from the pictures below not all of the pictures were underexposed. When the lighting was fairly even the camera exposed well.

It was quite a gloomy day and the underexposed pictures tended to have dark foregrounds and a bright sky. Could it be that the meter could not handle such a large dynamic range and underexposed because of the bright sky. Any of course because you can’t change any of the settings there’s not much that you can do to compensate.

The Rangefinder patch was relatively clear and I had no difficulty focusing.

All things considered it was pleasant to use. Not too much to worry about so you could focus on composing the shot. However, I suspect that I was expecting too much of the camera. I think it’s probably best for use outdoors on a bright, sunny day: a classic point and shoot camera with easy focus and, in the right conditions, accurate exposure.

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