This Voigtländer Bessa 6×9 from around 1947 has an embossed metal table on the back which allows the photographer to calculate the depth of field based on the aperture and the focus distance. It’s still as accurate today as it ever was, provided you are using a 110mm lens. If you’re not sure how to read the […]
Read more "Voigtländer focus table"This week for the Photo Challenge, Kirsty suggested that we innovate and cobble together some lighting equipment out of household bits and bobs. Before I explain my method, here’s what I achieved. This picture actually involved three cameras, some drinking straws, and lots of glue. I used the through-the-viewfinder (TtV) technique. The small camera in […]
Read more "Through the viewfinder"Last week there was a rare sunny February day, so Paul and I wandered down to Bristol docks to try for a few photos. I was carrying my grandfather’s Voigtlander Vito II, loaded with cheap colour film from Poundland. I developed the C-41 colour film at home using Digibase chemistry. It seems there was a […]
Read more "Bristol docks at lunchtime"A while back I came into a roll of film that expired in 1992. It was Kodak Ektar 125, discontinued in 1991, but famous for its saturated colours. I kept it aside and waited for sunny weather that would make the most of the colours. Eventually, I decided to shoot the film in an old […]
Read more "False colour"Released 1949 I inherited this camera from my grandfather. Notably, he used it to take his pictures of post-war Korea in 1955. It’s my first 35mm bellows camera (although I do have plenty of larger bellows cameras). At a glance Lens Fixed 50mm Color-Skopar f/3.5 Film 135 (35mm) Focus Guess Meter None
Read more "Voigtländer Vito II"When my grandad died in 2008 I inherited his old cameras. Theoretically, at least, since nobody knew where they were. At the time, I knew he’d taken some wonderful pictures of post-war Korea in 1955 which I published – but we weren’t able to find the camera used to take them, nor did we know […]
Read more "Inherited cameras"Released 1929 I’ve wanted a bellows camera of some sort for ages, mainly for their antique looks. Trouble is, it’s hard to find specimens with the leather intact and still light-tight. This one is in poor cosmetic condition, but still mostly works. The shutter is a bit sticky at slow speeds and when I first […]
Read more "Voigtländer Bessa 6×9"Outdated medical technology isn’t normally the kind of thing I’d be interested in, or would write about – but I was given some old glass autoradiographic stripping plates. I didn’t know what they were at the time – I assumed they were normal photographic plates, but I’ve done a little light reading. Autoradiography The gist […]
Read more "Autoradiographic plates"Another week, another new camera, and some more photos from it. These photos are taken with my “new” Voigtländer Bessa. I posted on here recently with some photos from a film that was still in the camera. With a camera from the late 1920s-1930s, it seemed fitting to visit a former industrial site – so […]
Read more "Voigtländer Bessa"Hana’s dad picked me up a folding Voigtländer Bessa camera at a car boot sale in Exeter. To my surprise, it had some film in it – although unfortunately I didn’t find out until I’d opened the back. I developed the film in my darkroom, and found that, as expected, half the film was totally […]
Read more "A face from the past"