tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Some might consider this a pseudo-TLR, as it is a fixed focus camera. But it does have a ground glass focusing screen which can be used to roughly find the proper distance from camera to subject.
The lens has two identical elements, mirroring each other's placement on opposite side of the aperture. This corrects for barrel distortion, but creates an high degree of field curvature. Objects in the center of the frame have to be about 10' from the camera to be in focus. Objects at the edge of the frame need to be about 3' from the camera to be in focus. Although I figured this out a while ago, I never put this knowledge to good use.
A couple weeks ago, the annual vintage VW meet was happening, and I thought I'd try my hand at compositions that would take advantage of this poor lens's faults. I used a yellow filter to help compensate for the camera's slow 1/30 shutter speed, and on Fuji Acros this seems to produce an effect more like you'd expect using an orange or red filter on most B&W films. Pretty moody stuff.
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Last year I took the same camera to the same event, and got this photo which demonstrates the effect of the lens clearly - note the car in the center, and the man walking towards the camera on the left, both are the same distance from the camera, but the car is in sharp focus, and the man is in soft focus.
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
This camera's only adjustment is the aperture, which allows for f/8, f/11, and f/16. It's not much more than box camera, but being metal, it's a bit more durable, and the large focus screen is a bonus for composing. Apparently some of the Halina branded versions had a brilliant finder instead of the ground glass, but I have never seen one in the U.S. equipped like that.
The lens has two identical elements, mirroring each other's placement on opposite side of the aperture. This corrects for barrel distortion, but creates an high degree of field curvature. Objects in the center of the frame have to be about 10' from the camera to be in focus. Objects at the edge of the frame need to be about 3' from the camera to be in focus. Although I figured this out a while ago, I never put this knowledge to good use.
A couple weeks ago, the annual vintage VW meet was happening, and I thought I'd try my hand at compositions that would take advantage of this poor lens's faults. I used a yellow filter to help compensate for the camera's slow 1/30 shutter speed, and on Fuji Acros this seems to produce an effect more like you'd expect using an orange or red filter on most B&W films. Pretty moody stuff.
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Last year I took the same camera to the same event, and got this photo which demonstrates the effect of the lens clearly - note the car in the center, and the man walking towards the camera on the left, both are the same distance from the camera, but the car is in sharp focus, and the man is in soft focus.
June Bug Rally by Berang Berang, on Flickr
This camera's only adjustment is the aperture, which allows for f/8, f/11, and f/16. It's not much more than box camera, but being metal, it's a bit more durable, and the large focus screen is a bonus for composing. Apparently some of the Halina branded versions had a brilliant finder instead of the ground glass, but I have never seen one in the U.S. equipped like that.
