OT - My first attempt to medium format

[pedro.m.reis]

Sometime ago, in one of those urges of GAS i bought an ancient voightlander bessa. The seller said that it was circa 1940. Dont know exacly it age, not the model ...
I was a bit tired of seeing the camera "on display", unused.... so i bought a kodak 400 VC and loaded it. This was the first time i loaded a 120mm roll 🙂)).
The camera has an Anastigmat Voigtar 11cm F4,5 lens and a compur 1-250 shutter. No rangefinder at all, only a viewfinder, so i guess-estimated the distance ... not very well 🙂. I guessed that the shutter wouldnt be so acurate so i put it at 1/250 and exposed the film at EI 200. Used my Weston V to do the exposure calc.
I'm very pleased with the results, but i need to work on the focus distance better 🙂) Do you know a cheap, acurate pocket rangefinder i can use?
On my gallery are all the photos of this first roll.

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Here is thed camera i used.

 

[doubs43]

Pedro, there's nothing wrong with the shot you posted. It's certainly sharp enough IMO.

Some of those cameras will have a red dot or other marking that is used as a point & shoot setting. I'm not certain what f-stop or shutter speed you'd use as that would depend upon the film. The f-stop, of course, would need to be whatever value included infinity.

Small rangefinders were made by any number of companies in both Germany & Japan. They're fairly common on ebay and not expensive. Keep an eye out and you should find one easily enough.

Walker

 

[Fred]

I think its fantastic that some of the older cameras still get the chance to catch the light. It might be worth just stopping down a tad more to increase the DOF. Your example at 400 ISO should be about F16-22 at a guess so focus should be a little less important.

Being a leaf shutter there should be nearly zero vibration so hand holding at lower speeds would also help although I share your concern for the accuracy. Give it a try.

As for a focus guide, carry your regular RF a while and take distance marks from it, you'll learn guestimation quite quick. I did this with my Bessa L and 35. A clip on RF would be the iceing on the cake for your camera.

Have fun and share the results with us 🙂

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Pedro, there's nothing wrong with the shot you posted. It's certainly sharp enough IMO.

Walker

Thanks, but that was the *best* one 🙂. Take a look on the gallery, the other shots arent that sharp 🙂.
On the back of the camera is a DOF chart... i shot mostly f8-11, but i didnt use the chart 🙂 too lazy i guess 🙂

 

[pedro.m.reis]

I think its fantastic that some of the older cameras still get the chance to catch the light. It might be worth just stopping down a tad more to increase the DOF. Your example at 400 ISO should be about F16-22 at a guess so focus should be a little less important.

Being a leaf shutter there should be nearly zero vibration so hand holding at lower speeds would also help although I share your concern for the accuracy. Give it a try.

As for a focus guide, carry your regular RF a while and take distance marks from it, you'll learn guestimation quite quick. I did this with my Bessa L and 35. A clip on RF would be the iceing on the cake for your camera.

Have fun and share the results with us 🙂

My thoughts exacly 🙂 Lets give these old cameras a go once in a while 🙂.
The low speeds are way off on the camera. I think that a bit of lighter fluid could solve this, but i dont know where to begin disassemble the camera 🙂. Now i think i'll try some bw on the camera. Any sugestion on the film?

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Some of those cameras will have a red dot or other marking that is used as a point & shoot setting.

Found it! 😀
At f8 i've 2 marks, a triangle for range 2,5-5m, and a circle for 6m to infinity 😀

Thanks for the tip 🙂

 

[ben lloyd]

You want a cheap pocket rangefinder? Check here:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003HEV

and here:

http://www.tomchuk.com/rf_hfd/index.php

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Ben, thats cool 🙂
Ever try it?

 

[tedwhite]

Pedro: I like the shot of the woman with the baby in her lap and the wood fence behind her. For a camera that old, and with a much brighter background behind her, you and the camera did a proper job. I can't tell how sharp the negative is, because when you scan and then post to an internet site - unless one is an expert in this arena - quality gets lost.

Hell of a job with a camera of that vintage, and we all appreciate you posting a photo of the actual camera.

Makes me wish I hadn't sold that old Kodak folder. Pero asi es la vida.

Ted

 

[ben lloyd]

Pedro, very!

Yes I have made one, using the generator in the 2nd link, but I never did get round to checking it against a camera for accuracy. Got to be better than guessing though, especially at closer distances.

 

[pedro.m.reis]

Well, my scanner (epson 4180) is going to repair tomorrow morning... is developing some purple lines....So the quality may not be the best. The pictures where scanned in auto with epson sw and resized to web (103Mb at 2400bpi!!).
In that shot you liked (my wife and daughter) is clear (to me) that the focus was on the wood fence and not on the people.....

Thanks for the nice comments 🙂

Pedro: I like the shot of the woman with the baby in her lap and the wood fence behind her. For a camera that old, and with a much brighter background behind her, you and the camera did a proper job. I can't tell how sharp the negative is, because when you scan and then post to an internet site - unless one is an expert in this arena - quality gets lost.

Hell of a job with a camera of that vintage, and we all appreciate you posting a photo of the actual camera.

Makes me wish I hadn't sold that old Kodak folder. Pero asi es la vida.

Ted

 

[doubs43]

Well, my scanner (epson 4180) is going to repair tomorrow morning... is developing some purple lines....So the quality may not be the best. The pictures where scanned in auto with epson sw and resized to web (103Mb at 2400bpi!!).
In that shot you liked (my wife and daughter) is clear (to me) that the focus was on the wood fence and not on the people.....

Thanks for the nice comments 🙂

Pedro, I've just had a look at your other pictures from this camera and your exposures look to be spot-on. In one - the group shot - you may have gotten some sun in the lens but it's still not bad. The only thing I see off a little bit is your distance setting (focus). Get a little better at that and you'll be taking really nice pictures with that 6x9.

BTW, I also use an Epson 4180 scanner. 🙂

Walker