International Commie Camera Day

The results are in for International Commie Camera Day 2009. Or more correctly, the film was developed and the negatives scanned.

I'm pleased with the results, considering it was my first outing with the Zorki. It's a nice camera, feels solid, looks superb, and is relatively quiet. It was almost a disaster on May 1st, as it was bucketing down with rain in the morning, and holding both a camera and an umbella proved too much for my sleep addled brain. However, the afternoon was quite sunny, and leaving 5 minutes early from work allowed me to take advantage of the light. And seeing as I'm reliant on Sunny-16 for shots with the Zorki, difficult light is best avoided if possible.

They seem to have come out alright...and I didn't forget to cock the shutter before messing with the speed.

Zorki 4 - 'the Golden Rule'

"Cock the shutter, set the shutter"

I imagined this would be a fairly easy thing to overlook, however, I was surprised by how easy it was to not get this in the wrong order. I guess maybe I'm used to using the Minolta, where I never set the shutter speed anyways (as it's constanly in Aperture Priority mode - yeah, lazy, I know), so it's not something I often think about. And with the Vilia, I stick strictly to Sunny-16 as well, so shutter speed is hardly ever in my thoughts.

I like to take snaps, I do pay attention to aperture, focus, and metering, but shutter speeds have always been a distant second.

It's like I was training myself for the Zorki.

Yeah, right. Convenient, though.

It arrived today...

It's beautiful. Not as heavy as the Zeiss Ikon, but a lot more compact, but like the Zeiss (West Germany/FDR), it was made in a country which no longer exists (USSR/CCCP). Extra bonus points for that.

We'll see how it goes. I'll be studying the Zorki 4 manual (in English) quite thoroughly before putting film through it.

I also must remember the golden rule of FSU cameras: "Cock the shutter, Change the shutter". Important to get it in that order, it's an easy way to end up with a paperweight, changing the speed before you cock the shutter...

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In other news, I've asked the local camera monopoly to order in some Fuji Pro 800z, and some Ilford Pan F 50. They seem to offer a fairly competitive rate for both films, but it'll have to wait until I get paid next anyway before I can afford to pick them up. Picked up a couple of rolls of Reala as well while I was at it.

Fuji disposable

Pictures taken with Fuji Disposable.

We did a bit of sea kayaking near Nelson during our honeymoon. We took a waterproof disposable camera, which thankfully was a Fuji - loaded with Superia 800. I'm quite pleased with the results. I really appreciate Fuji film, the results are always pleasing. And they seem to still care about film, and I'm not sure Kodak do.

Ebay

Isn't it a beauty? I'm sure it will be a bit more scuffed up than this pharmacy-catalogue-style image (update: camera was pretty much as new! not scuffed at all!), but I don't mind a few dings here & there (as long as they're not in the lens). I've wanted a Zorki/Fed for a while, and only recently have I managed to get into a position where I can justify the admittedly small spend. They're a good looking camera, and yes, I'm aware it's a Leica copy - but as I can't afford a Leica I'm happy to rely on the precision Soviet craft of ripping off someone else's design.

I just bought it through ebay using the buy-it-now function. Much better than the disappointment of being outbid (as always) because I have the money now, but inevitably don't when I get outbid, and hence can't afford to up my bid. Savvy?

Anyways, this is coming from the Ukraine, not sure how long it will take. With a bit of luck, it'll be here for Commie Camera Day, 1st of May 2009. If it's not, I still have the Vilia, which is a neat little beastie anyway. And I can always use it for Red Oktoberfest, the follow-up to International Commie Camera Day. Honestly, I am not making either of these celebrations of communist cameras up

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In other news, I am planning on putting the Contaflex to work doing star trails this week. It's the only camera I own which accepts the cheapie cable release I bought last year. I've never done star trails before, and I'm sure it's something that's done to death...doesn't mean I don't want to try it myself!

Film arrival

My Fuji order arrived yesterday. That meks it 7 days from the UK. Not bad for a parcel destined for the antipodes.

They also gave me a nice choose-film.com pen.

Now I have to find an occasion to test the 160S. I've been promising to do some portrait shots for some friends whose wedding i missed while I was overseas (a gift of contrition), so I'll probably use that as it is supposed to be good for skin tones & stuff.

The Neopan? I just got it because I wanted to have a nice stock of B&W film.

And these last few days I have been eyeing off the Holga thinking "what can I do with you?", so I may even see if they have any short-dated 120 film, as the exchange rate + the postage makes for a good deal at the moment. I had a look at Calumet's website & they wanted to charge me $70US for the same films, + $111US postage! No thanks, I'll stick with the mother country, thanks.

I'm just not sure what to take photos of now. I like taking photos, but I have no idea what I really like to take photos of. Except Heidi & Ava. And one of them's a cat.

NZ Photos

A small selection of the first bunch of photos from the NZ Honeymoon. Developed three rolls, straight to CD. I like the results. Beautiful colours, and the Minolta did an exceptionally good (quite sharp) job. First time I've taken the Minolta overseas, now I really wish I'd taked in to Europe, but ehhh...too late now.

I'm impressed with this Reala stuff. Might have to get some more soon.

film order update

I've ordered:

10 x Neopan 400
5 x Fuji Pro 160S

from Fuji Lab UK. A much better deal than ordering from Vanbar, despite the higher postage. It helps that the films are short-selling stock, but the Neopan is still good until July, and the Pro 160 is good until April. I understand that it will still be fine well after it's "expired" (it's like a serving suggestion), so I'm not too fussed. Even a slight colour shift or minor fogging can be corrected these days.

It's sad that it's a better deal to order from the UK (on the other side of the planet) than to order from within Australia. But I guess the issue is that Vanbar probably pay postage to get their stock, and then add their markup. Can't blame them, but then I can't be blamed for enjoying the benefits of a global marketplace. I prefer to buy local if possible, but if the deal is significantly better non-local, what would you choose?