View allAll Photos Tagged viewcamera
Linhof Kardan / Schneider Symmar / Agfa MCP direct paper shot
Once I read in an Internet camera forum a statement by an optimist fellow member that most Jupiter 8 lived on Leicas. I find this a little difficult to believe, as many leicaphiles are more Leica bigots than they are leicaphiles, and would never let a Cosina lens tocuh their beloved Leicas; much less a FSU lens.
Anyway, the Jupiter 8 enjoys a sublime reputation among less prejudiced rangefinder users, who praise the superb quality of the optics. As for the mechanics... well, if you can find a good sample you will be lucky. I am one of those lucky. This time Russian roulette in e-bay didn't turn bad, and I got the most pristine J-8 sample in the world, completely mint and with the smoothest operation possible. All in all, some $80, expensive for a normal J-8, but a steal for one in mint condition. This J-8 has found a place to live, it seems...
Sinar P / Industar 51 / Agfa MCP paper negative
When I started collecting cameras, I liked SLRs the most, specially medium format SLRs. Then I started liking inerchangeable lens rangefinders, like Leicas, Nikons and all the Soviet bunch.
It's only recently that I started to appreciate the simplicity and beauty of fixed lens rangefinder and viewfinder cameras from the '30s-'50s. I like their external line, the simple mechanisms and lenses (that could give fantastic results). Their design was elegant and serious, cameras of the '50s very much inspired in the ones from the '30s.
Straight B&W print from the negative, toned in Se (2.5min 1/5) for permanence. 5x4 neg on HP5 in Rodinal 1:50, Chamonix 045n-2. Printed on Ilford MGIV FB.
After more than two years of effort , here is the prototype of the final shape of 'Geometry" .
1500 grams of weight , Asetal/aluminium construction , 15mm shift all directions and tilt/swing limited only by the lens covering capacity .
Twelve month selfie project
After some reflection and study, I was not overly pleased with the perspective, skin tones, and focus of the previous version. To improve the perspective, I used a shorter lens and backed the camera out. Although I had understood that the G-Claron, being a process lens, would likely render an overly sharp and harsh rendition, I decided to take a chance nonetheless; the result was not aesthetically pleasing. Here, I chose an alternative process lens, an Apo Ronar, with an orange filter to potentially improve the skin textures and tones. The skin textures still appear harsh, but less so than with the Claron. Unfortunately, due to work space limitations, I could not achieve total light fall-off on the background. Overall though, I like this rendition much better.
Ikeda Anba 4x5
Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 240mm f/9
Kodak Tri-X
The town of St. Thomas offered up a 25,000$ bonus to CASO if they would build their central station, headquarters, and rail yards in their town. Plus it only made sense as St. Thomas was located in the geographic centre of Canadian Southern's mainline. Completed in 1871 the grand St. Thomas Station was far larger than the average station as the second floor housed all the offices needed to run a railroad. The station itself, built in the Italianate Style in an age where Beaux Arts, Second, Empire, or Romanesque were popular among railroad stations. The beautiful station offered up multiple waiting rooms and a full dining room (at least until 1925). The station remained in operation under CASO, NYC, and MCR. All operations ceased in 1980 and in 2005 the Station became home to the North American Railroad Hall of Fame who continues to maintain and restore the station in addition to housing a museum it is also available as a venue for events.
Graflex Crown Graphic - Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 1:5.6/210 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200
Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C
Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
title: Mooji
Cambo SC2 4x5 Monorail view camera
Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm f/5.6
Expired Forte BN0 9x12 paper negative developed with Tetenal Eukobrom
This Sherman scene was taken back at a reverse angle from the dirt road down to Tie Siding and Laramie. The motive power was another wood burning ten wheeler, 4-6-0, of the series numbered in the nineties. The little tender behind is loaded with wood. Was it the same one seen on the round house track? We have followed the early Union Pacific Railroad from Cheyenne west, up the mountains to the station atop Sherman Hill before the descent. This whistle stop looks pretty rustic in the late 1860s and it is clear they were still building the windmill to pump water. Water was in short supply at Sherman unless pumped or hauled up. There is a trench, still not compacted, up under grade below the tender toward the water tank. The windmill is probably a fraction of the efficiency of the windmills that dot Southern Wyoming today. Everything is fresh at Sherman, even the wind.
The view west shows a drag of flats, CPRR and another UPRR, down line from the water tank; one could assume returning empty from a delivery of ties or rail. Ties were delivered in barrels. Piles of ties seem dumped on the other side of the rails. Several wooden buildings are just beyond. Perhaps passengers would stop here for lunch and an outhouse break. Several, eight, seem to be waiting and enjoying the wind on the depot dock. It must not be too wild, no one is blowing away! Notice the substantial anchoring of the windmill; perhaps plenty of water could be pumped at the spot and a lot would be used. Few structures remain on top today after UP drove the twin tunnels and regraded, forming up and downgrade lines.
This shot shows the effort it took to complete small sections of the transcontinental railroad. The advent of Westinghouse air brakes and the Janney coupler, saviors of countless lives and limbs, was a year before. Before that, link and pin couplers and vacuum brakes were used. I didn't see any compressor on the number 90 engine at the roundhouse so I wonder.
William Henry Jackson shot this historic place for the USGS "United States Geological Survey." It looks like he was heading west. It almost looks like Jackson used two plates in a stereo camera. Wet plate shooting required a lot of time: darkroom set up, plate prep, shooting and follow up processing. In order to use such a process, glass plates needed transporting and thorough cleanings. The next step involved preparing the light sensitive "gelatin" wet emulsion chemistry needed to coat the glass in a tent "lightroom." That would have been an experience. I assume that the plate was not allowed to dry very long and we can theorize the "emuslion" was more sensitive when wet. At that point, the glass plate needed to be slipped into a light-tight film holder with a dark slide protecting the emulsion side. Finally, the film holder could be taken outside and slipped into the view camera back. I bet that the lightroom tent was always set up close to the camera and tripod. No time to waste. I bet W.H.Jackson already had the better part of an hour involved already setting up the tent, hauling and mixing chemicals to the light of a warm filtered candle lantern. They say that sufficiently advanced science looks like magic to common folk. Kind of like global warming science to steadfast thumpers.
The film holder was slipped into the back of the view camera after thoroughly focusing and adjusting before removing the dark slide whereupon, the exposure calculated and the lens cap removed for the proper length of the exposure, probably for only brief seconds. Fast blue-sensitive film, that! Time was a wasting at that point. The dark slide was returned to the holder and the assembly carried back to the dark tent for immediate processing before the emulsion dried out. Jackson had to have a good eye for the quality of the glass plate in the three processing trays. That process took fewer than ten minutes but washing the plate free of chemicals took the better part of a half hour before setting out to dry. I bet Jackson was nearly ready to shoot another take after a couple of hours. Jackson's Dale Creek was probably shot on a later day, after Cheyenne.
Sinar P / Schneider Symmar 150mm / Agfa MCP paper negative
By 'overcorrecting' I mean this particular sample by badly calculating at the moment of composing with my view camera. Not really the model, cuz Zenit 16 is such a design fail that I don't really think it could be even corrected. The only sensible thing to do for KMZ technicians was to scrap the design and go for something new, which they did. It really says something of how things were made in the USSR: I can be wrong, but I really think that this model didn't go through a serious testing phase before being put into the assembly line, otherwise, KMZ would have recieved negative reviews from testing and this sad thing would have never reached the hands of a photog, or could have done without its many flaws...
Sinar P / Industar 51 / Agfa MCP paper negative
That's my point: if you want to shoot a 50mm 1.4 in m42, you can't do it with a Russian lens. Somehow, the Soviets never produced in any numbers a 1.4 normal prime. There's Volna 4 for K mount and the 50mm 1.2 (yes 1.2) ERA 18 for Nikon mount, both very rare, at least outside FSU. According to Princelle, there was also ERA 6, a 50mm 1.5 lens for M42, fast enough IMHO, and there is also a Zenitar 50mm 1.4, of which Princelle does not say it was not mass produced. I've never seen one of those so far. Would kill for any of the aforementioned relics. Well, maybe not kill. Maim, perhaps.
Then, the fastest normal 'production' lens remained the really excellent Zenitar 50mm 1.7, a wonderful lens... but you know, we GAS afflicted idiots are always looking for that extra half point...
Using the Ideal 10x12 field camera in my studio for the first time, to photograph my 1941 Anniversary Speed Graphic camera. I used 8x10 RC photo paper taped to 10x12 glass in the original glass plate holders to get the photo, and I developed it in my darkroom (which I had just recently set up). Photo taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 II.
2hr exposure of performance at Playwrights Horizons. June 2019.
Shot on an Intrepid 4x5, with Ektar film.
Tachihara 8x10
Goerz Dagor 12 inch f/6.8
(C.P. Goerz Am. Opt. Co.)
Kodak Ektar 100
Developed at Northcoast Photographic Services, Carlsbad, California
While again I only ended up with a single frame of four working, what made it odd was that in HC-110 I got more frame where I could actually see the image. While the times I found saw the film rated at 6, it is this frame, rated at 12 that saw the best results. Despite the camera shake.
Crown Graphic - Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 1:5.6/210 - Kodak Fine Grain Positive Film 7302 @ ASA-12
Kodak HC-110 Dil. B 6:00 @ 20C
Meter: Gossen Lunasix F
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
The Unionville Station was originally completed by the narrow-gauge Toronto & Nipissing Railroad arrived in the village in 1869; the station saw completion in 1871. A small, unassuming shed-like structure set the standard for other T&N stations, including the original station in Uxbridge. It featured a single waiting room, office, and freight room. Despite the move to Standard Gage and purchase by Midland Railroad followed by Grand Trunk in the mid-1880s, the station continued to see use. Even when Canadian National took over, they saw value in the old station, and it was never replaced. CN did cover it with red insulbrick in the 1950s. Passenger Service ceased in the 1960s. A fire in 1971 threatened the station with demolition. But the local community rallied around the station and raised funds to restore the station. It continues to serve as a railroad station for GO Transit since 1982. GO ceased using this station in May 1991, with a new station opening that same year south of the 1871 station.
Crown Graphic - Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 1:5.6/210 - Ilford HP5+ @ ASA-200
Pyrocat-HD (1+1+100) 9:00 @ 20C
Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
Thirty second exposure (hence fixed expression!) taken with a Lizars "Challenge" camera in week 471 of my 52 film cameras in 52 weeks project:
www.flickr.com/photos/tony_kemplen/collections/72157623113584240
For the first full week in 2019 of my 52 cameras in 52 weeks project, I decided to use my dad's Lizars Challenge folding plate camera.
The film is Rollei PAN 25, an ISO 25 black and white negative film, devloped in Rodinal 1:50 for 11 minutes at 20 degrees.
New-Vue VC-3
Newton Photo Products
Los Angeles, CA circa 1947
4x5 view camera with Front Swing, Shift, and Rise, plus Rear Swing and Tilt and Rotating Back.
A product of post-war Southern California, with thousands of out of work aircraft workers and tons of surplus metal to work with.
I used to see these littering the corners of the old camera stores in Hollywood and LA when I moved to Whittier in 1972. Some of the old places were so packed you could barely walk through them, and we would spend hours looking under the tables for treasures in the boxes. When saw this the other day listed at the KEH Outlet I couldn't resist getting it. The dirt you see is how it came out of the box from KEH. I'll clean it a little, but I like the funkiness of it, so I won't get too carried away. I also really like the original lens board.
Now I need to find an age appropriate lens for it.
I could actually walk out pretty far into the creek bed.
Crown Graphic - Fuji Fujinon-W 1:5.6/125 - Agfa APX 100 @ ASA-100
Blazinal (1+50) 10:00 @ 20C
Meter: Pentax Spotmeter V
Scanner: Epson V700
Editor: Adobe Photoshop CC
Located at the intersection of Emmitsburg Road and West Confederate Avenue on the Gettysburg National Historic Site. Confederate forces of Hood's division are said to have marched past this house and across the surrounding land during their attack on July 2, 1863.
Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera.
Lens: Schneider 90mm f/5.6 Super-Angulon lens in a Copal 0 shutter mounted on recessed lens board. B+W brand #29 red filter on lens to bring out a bit more contrast.
Exposure: 1/4 second @ F45 with film rated at box speed.
Film: Ilford HP5+ B&W 400 ISO Negative Film.
Development: Self Developed film in Kodak Xtol 1+2 in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 15 1/2 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Tap water stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo. Hung on shower curtain to dry on film clips.
Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.
View into the garden made with a Linhof Kardan Master TL and a Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150/5,6 MC on Fuji Provia 100F.
Sinar P / Schneider Symmar 150mm / Agfa MCP paper negative
This, the Prod 20 is one of those rare cameras that were produced in limited numbers and never made it outside of Japan, where I get most of my gear. A strange beast: a compact auto-all with built-in flash and an external line obviously inspired in Barnack Leicas. Of course, it doesn't have the touch of the real thing, but it is a funny gizmo after all.
Karlos No.55 6x9 fixed flat bed SLV & Topcor Horseman 105mm f3.5 in a Seiko-SLV shutter. Cloth bellows, with lift, swing and tilt on the front and on the back, rise (giving fall on the front). Reversing back with the baby graflok fit. Horseman 6x9 film back.
Fomapan 100 @ iso 100. Adolux APH09 (Rodinal). Dilution 1:100, (4ml in 400ml), 19c, 90 minutes. Agitation - 4 inversions 30 minutes. Two water baths (stop). Alkaline fix for three minutes.
To see more of my Food and Still life images check out my blog here:
blog.karenwise.com/karen-wise-photo-blog/food-and-still-l...
4x5
I'm not cleaning up the negatives because they are all not in good condition. i just felt like sharing them. So please don't point this out to me.
Linhof Kardan Standard / Schneider Symmar / Agfa MCP paper negative
Some things in the world of cameras will neer stop to amaze me. Up here, you see a clear example: this is a regular FED 5 modified by some nuts camera repairman in the Ukraine into a EURO 2012 Football Championship commemorative edition. It even has a brand new serial sumber (the original one cannot be found anywhere), mine is 24, so if you wanna try, maybe there's still some on evilbay. Or maybe it is one of a kind disguised to be part of a series.
I guess if the forgers in Russia and Ukraine really think that people in western Europe and America really think that these cameras actually left the factory like this, as it is of public domain that the FED factory, as well as all other major camera factories in the FSU, have left consummer camera business by now. Anyway, in ebuy you can find dozens of 'leica copies', which mainly fall in three cathegories:
-Special Edition Leicas; FEDs and Zorkis with all sorts of crazy leatherettes resembling wood, snakeskin, ivory or the like; the chrome parts, including the lenses, are usually polished to give the cameras a 'luxury' look. The coated collapsible Industars are engraved Elmar, ofter they're also painted in colores mathcing the body. Now add all sorts of crazy engravings, mainly nazi paraphernalia in the form of swastikas and military engravings (luftwaffe, kriegsmarine, panzerkampf...) or commemorative ones (most seen is the 1936 Olyimpics). Sometimes you can find some copies with mispellings, reversed Ns and forgotten cirillic engravings in the baseplate. I am amazed at how this things find a market, especially with all the nazi markings. Not all of these are FED o Zorki 1, as there is the occasional later model in this guise.
-Modified FEDs. Yes, they're FEDs and not Zorkis because, for some reason, the forgers think the FEDs have more cache. These include the FED 'Siberia', the 'Standart' and the '250 reporter special'. Somtimes they're also engraved Leica, but you don't usually find them with Nazi engravings. Too much work, maybe. Many of these are simply wonderfully done. They require very specialised craftmanship, and often they're sold for faily high prices.
-Finally, the commemorative editions. That Euro 2012 FED up there falls into this cathegory. If you see a shiny brand new soviet camera commemorating some landmark event in Soviet history, you can bet your boots on it, it's a fake. Well, sort of, as there ARE some commemorative editions (Moscow 80, for instance), but these only sport tiny markings, and never special edition serial numbers, special paint or anything like that. There are also post-FSU editions like the one above, in Leica's best tradition of celebrating the most whatever events with specially engraved/painted cameras with edition serial numbers. Needless to say that I don't think these are legally sanctioned as official merchandise or anything like that, the engravers would simply choose one random event and make the job.
You know, I bought this one because it looked like a superb job, and in many ways it is. All the chrome, including the lens, has been given a shiny coating, the decorative rim in the body has been painted dull silver. There are very well made engravings in four differents places, including the lens barrel and the lens cap, not just tipography, but also the logo of the event. The original leatherette has been replaced with a more glossy one and dull metal parts on FEDs have been painted shiny black, like the winding lever. The nameplate has also been repainted in a new style, without the model name, just the brand name. It is not obviously new, as there is some dirt in the most difficult places to reach, like the innermost parts of the body or the insides of the tipod socket, but it has been cleaned with care.
It is, anyway, a FSU technician job. The devil is in the details: the dull silver paing in the rims is out of the line in some spots, whcih is visible when you remove the back; the shiny leatherette is peeling here and there, and is not well cut, the paint in the nameplate is the weakest point, as its edges are a little bit rough. The rangefinder flares badly, but this is not as much a finish issue as a planning mistake: the glossy coating causes reflections that blind the rangefinder. All this work just to end looking sloppy because of small details.
Well, but what has really amazed me is the fact that, bad or well done, someone has put a pretty big amount of time CLAing and modding this FED 5, and it was sold to me at a price well under 100$, shipping included, when here where I live no repairman would even touch a RF for that much. Oh well.
Developed some Plus-X which expired back in 1979.
This time I used a yellow filter which introduced a little more contrast into the negative which seemed to be helpful in breaking through the fogging on this old film and made the negative jump out a little more.
Captured with my ShenHao HZX45-IIA & Fujinon-W 135mm f5.6 lens
Shot @ f32 @ 1/2 sec exposure with Yellow Filter
I exposed the film at 25 iso and developed in HC-110 H @ 14 minutes
Sinar P / Schneider Symmar 150mm / Agfa MCP paper negative
See my article about this camera in my blog at
C'mon, give it a try!
Verlaten (abandoned)
Model: Jessica
Artist: Paul van Bueren
Cambo SC-1
Fomapan 400
Copyright by Paul van Bueren
This Photo was taken on a Linhof Kardan Camera on Fuji Provia 100F Film.
Lens: Schneider Symmar-S 150/5,6 MC
Omega 45D
Rodenstock Sironar Copal #1 210mm f/5.6
expired Agfa APX 100
Fast flowing Grand River through Caledonia at the Argyle Street Bridge
I’ve got to confess, I’m in love with this picture. But I can’t be objective, so I’m not sure how good it actually is. The picture is a first for me in many ways, and it came to be under less than ideal circumstances. It was the first time I ever shot Fuji Provia (back in the 90s I only shot Kodak 35mm slide film). It was literally the first exposure I made. It was also the first time I manually metered for slide film. I actually metered several times, as the sun was slowly but steadily disappearing behind clouds as I was setting up, taking all the beautiful light away. It was also the first time I ever developed colour film myself, so I didn’t expect anything good to come out of it. Despite reading through the E6 kit’s instructions many times, I used a wrong agitation scheme for most of the first — and most critical — development stage. However, once I took the slide out of the development tank, I was just blown away. It was still looking a little foggy, but that cleared up as the film was drying. It was in the middle of the night and I couldn’t wait to scan the picture the next morning. Looking at this photo on a hi-res screen is insane and makes me want to get a 40x50 inch print. It’s almost as if I can reach out and touch those leaves.