I have just treated myself by buying one of these cameras, and am awaiting it‘s arrival as I write this.
This is one of the best, and most informative articles regarding the use of a camera that I’ve read, and I’ve read a few over the years. Rambling lectures on specifications are of little interest to me, but empirical knowledge learnt from practical experience is. Your tips for opening the lens and using the plunger are something I’ll keep in mind when I’m familiarising myself with the camera.
I‘m well used to Voigtlanders, and regularly used a Vito iia, a Vitomatic ii, a Vito B and also a Perkeo 1, which is like a Vito iia on steroids.
I’ve bought my Vitessa, (which I now know to be an L, thanks to your article) as it has the Ultron lens. I bought it because (a) I like Voigtlanders, and (b) I fancied something a little smaller than my Konica iii, which is a fabulous camera but quite bulky. Both cameras have similar specs and well regarded lenses, so it’ll be interesting to compare them.
Thank you once again for a most informative article.
Here’s a special one for me of my twins having a paddle. They grow up so quick and I’ve been using an instax wide printer to print out my favourite analogue scans. Would be amazing to have an actual Polaroid like when I was a kid. 😍
I got a message from Lomography today that said, “…in recent years we’ve noticed the wider analogue Community grow increasingly reserved about this distinctive and charming format.” They were talking about 120 film.
Indeed, 120 is harder to scan; it has fewer frames per roll and thus is more expensive if you are to count dollars per shot. Having recently done an unpleasant exercise of tallying up the costs of shooting film (analog.cafe/r/film-photogr…), it’s plain to see that MF film is not cheap, particularly in the current inflation-driven environment.
But medium and larger format films are not like 35mm. They have a potential for vastly more resolution and finer grain — which is especially helpful on stocks like Lomochrome Color ’92 (analog.cafe/r/lomochrome-c…). MF cameras also have significantly more pronounced background separation and huge ground glass finders.
Say what you will about Lomography, but since they were founded, the brand has been all-in on film. They’ve supported our shrinking niche for over twenty years and even released some brand-new films, which hasn’t been done by anyone, even Kodak, in over a decade.
Today, they’re announcing discounts, up to 30% off, on their 120 film to encourage more photographers to use this format (and maybe to clear some of their stock, but that doesn’t make the above claims any less accurate).
Hello! I‘m sharing this image of myself and a friend from school I connected with in the past year. We‘re both heavy nerds, so this particular day we visited my city‘s planetarium. It was a lovely time and a wonderful memory.
I’m still hopeful that I can find a development method that can reduce the grain and the fog further with Ilfosol 3. I’m thinking of pulling the film by keeping it in the tank for just four minutes next time or using an entirely different developer.
I’m also really pleased that despite my exposures being all over the place (the camera I was shooting this film is quite limited in shutter speeds and apertures, plus I guessed the light every time), the results have almost always come out. Over- and under-exposures seem to be really easy to correct and some sort of an image is almost guaranteed no matter how this film was shot.
I must add that I bumped the contrast to most of the new photos in Photoshop, but that’s mostly to suit my taste and hide some grain in the shadows. Overall, the contrast profile hasn’t changed.
Now that I’ve got some images, I moved on to the next roll. This time, I developed my very expired ORWO NP20 in Ilfosol 3 for SIX minutes at 1:9 dilution.
Oddly, the results seem nearly identical. The base fog looks to have about the same density, and there’s little change to contrast, grain, or image clarity.
I live on the edge of the Cambridgeshire Fenlands and constantly photograph the landscape. One of my favourite images that sums up this odd and complicated landscape was made with an old Polaroid 600 box camera.
Love the IR trichromes! Have you seen what Jason and a few others is doing with his Nishika N8000 camera? Thought it’s pretty cool also (but not the same quality, of course): youtube.com/watch?v=vREz-Q…
What incredible timing. I just came into two rolls of this film. I don’t know how it was stored, unfortunately. But now I’m much more emboldened to shoot it.
steviemac1.sm
SAMIRAN PODDAR
Dmitri
Paula Smith
Dmitri edited on Mar 13, ‘24
Dmitri
Paolina Guerrier
Dmitri
Dmitri
Dmitri
Dmitri
Dmitri edited on Mar 7, ‘24
Dmitri
annteegen
Dmitri
andrewbartram66
Dmitri edited on Mar 14, ‘24
ratsrule67
Dmitri
Jim Grey