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Capa de By The Southern Grace of God, História em Quadrinhos escrita por Elton Pruitt e ilustrada por Mario Cau.
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Cover from By The Southern Grace of God, indie comic written byElton Pruitt and illustrated by me.
This is the test film of my recently acquired Praktica IV camera. For the test, I choose the normal lens of my Asahi Pentax Spotmatic that fits perfectly to the Praktica. The lens can be used in its "Auto" mode. The diaphragm is stopped down automatically to the selected aperture value by pressing the shutter release.
The Praktica camera was loaded with a 36-exposure Fomapan Creative 200 and exposed for 160 ISO. Expositions were determined using a Minolta Autometer III with a 10° finder for selective measurements privileging the shadow areas. The weather was relatively clear (15h-16h30) giving typical exposures of 1/100s at f/8.I tested here the "high-speed" values 1/50s, 1/100s, 1/200s and 1/500s. I used the regular protective Skylight 49mm filter and the original Asahi shade hood specifically designed for the lens.
Place Colbert, February 2, 2024
69001 Lyon
France
After exposure, the film was processed using Adox Adonal (= Agfa Rodinal) developer at dilution 1+25, 20°C for 5min.
The film was then digitized using a Sony A7 body adapted to a Minolta Auto Bellows III and a Minolta Slide Duplicator using a lens Minolta Bellow Macro Rokkor 50mm f/3.5 at a reproduction ratio of 1:1. The reproduced RAW files obtained were processed in LR prior the the final JPEG editions.
All views of the film are presented in the dedicated album either in the printing framed versions and unframed full-size jpeg accompanied by some documentary smartphone Vivio Y76 color pictures.
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About the camera :
I got the camera body Praktica IV and a set of related KDH Leipzig accessories from an eBay seller near Paris, France.. The whole arrived to me on January, 31, 2024, in Lyon, France.
The Praktica IV was designed by the prestigious KW (Kamera Werk Niedersedlitz) German company in Dresden on the basis of their previous Praktica FX SLR camera's. The camera was produced first under the KW name starting from June 1959 then in the Kombinat VEB Pentacon after the merge of the company in 1960.
166.800 Praktica IV and V (6 models) were produced until January 1966. Praktica IV essentially incorporates a condenser focusing screen plus a pentaprism. Due to the Praktica FX architecture the Pentaprism looks protruding from the camera body with an unusual style. It fits lenses with M42x1 mount and the mirror has no automatic return. The shutter is made of two horizontal curtains of rubberized fabric giving 1/500s to 1/2s plus B in two registers of slow speeds (1/2s to 1/10s) and high speeds (1/25s to 1/500s). The film is advanced coupled to the shutter cocking using either the right upper button or the rapid lever underneath the body.
The Praktica IV handles the "Auto" M42 lenses with the lever for automatic iris closing upon the release. Sequentially, when pressing the shutter release button, the diaphragm closes to the indicated value, the mirror is lift-off and finally the shutter is erased at the given value. If a non-auto (manual closing) M42 is used the pushing lever could be cancelled (declutched) moving a small red button to the right in the mirror chamber.
The camera camera came without lens but with a body cap and the original ever-ready leather bag with et "Ernermann tower" Pentacon logo. This model is likely the second Praktica IV essentially the same as the initial KW one with a different front plate. The camera was likely art of a collection and is completely preserved without use marks.
The KDH Leipzig (Kurt-Dieter Huffziger Foto- und Kinozubehör) accessories set included:
-A panoramic tripod head
-A set of three extension tubes M42x1)
- A big aluminum shade hood (screw-on 49mm) for wide-angle lens.
- A M42x1 metal body cap in its original box.
- An accessory shoe fitting the the Praktica IV eye piece.
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About the lens :
For the test film I equipped the Praktica IV with a normal lens from Asahi Optical Company (originally (旭光学工業株式会社, Asahi Kōgaku Kōgyō Kabushiki-Gaisha) Super-Takumar 1:1.8 f=55mm (screwing M42 mount). The lens came with my ASAHI PENTAX Spomatic SP (acquired in July 2022) camera produced in Japan from 1964 to 1971.
College Project - Although I took a Fine Art A level, I loved introducing text into my pieces, this was an early sign of my interest in image and type.