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4 July 2011 

[collection] Yashica Electro 35 GSN

[Mamiya RB67] Yashica Electro 35 GSN

Another camera in our collection that I really like is the Yashica Electro35 GSN, it’s a coupled-rangefinder, leaf-shuttered 35mm camera with aperture-priority automatic exposure. It has an f1,7 45mm lens. I found it at a flea market a couple of weeks ago, but I shot already a couple of rolls with it and it’s a no nonsense, fast camera. With a shutter speed of 1/500th of a second it’s a camera built for using during the day with low iso settings. The viewfinder is very clear and the parallax focus is very easy to see, even in dark circumstances.

I love this camera for a couple of reasons, first and foremost, because of it’s easy and fast use. You can set an aperture, the camera will meter for you and indicate through a red or orange arrow if it’s too bright (red) or too dark (orange) to use this aperture. I’ve noticed that although the metering is quite exact, I prefer to use the smallest aperture on which the camera says it’s to bright, this is mainly because I like very bright, saturated and contrasty pictures. The Yashinon lens is very sharp and because it uses 6-elements, has not too much problems with flare.

The only thing that’s not so great on this camera is the battery, it uses a obsolete 5.6v PX32 mercury battery. Luckily enough there is the Yashica guy’s pro , he has made a patent pending battery adapter which you can order online. It cost 16$ and once it arrives, it arrives fairly quick (only 4 days for me), you can start shooting, because the package also includes a battery. It’s a great deal and awesome solution.

It’s a great camera and I love using it. It will not be a camera I will take with me on commercial assignments, but as an everyday camera it’s perfect. It’s fast, silent, sharp and pretty light. I love using it

9 May 2011 

[collection] Fed Zarya

[Mamiya RB67] Fed Zarya

While browsing for analog cameras on eBay I found this Fed Zarya at a very good price. When it arrived it triggered my love for russian cameras, since then I’m collecting Fed cameras. The Zarya is a simplified Fed 2b camera and the Fed 2b is a copy of the leica II. As with all russian cameras it was released after World War II and based on german technology. The Zaryas were produced in Kharkov, Ukraine from 1959 till 1961, it was intended for the Soviet domestic markets and was just a copy of the Fed 2b without a self-timer and coupled rangefinder. It has shutterspeeds ranging from 1/30 to 1/500 sec, it also came with an industar 26m instead of a jupiter 8 lens.

It’s a fun fully manual camera, it’s kind of annoying to use the focus, because you have to guess the distance to your subject, but that works out most of the time. The most annoying part about the camera is as with most Feds the way you load the film. But once you get the hang it, it’s not that big of a deal anymore, for a little help you can check out Filip’s post over here. Off course as with almost all early Russian cameras you have to advance the film before setting the shutter speed, otherwise you could have gap between the curtains when advancing, which would ruin your film.

29 April 2011 

[Collection] Yashica 35MF

[Mamiya RB67] Yashica 35MF

At a local flea market a while ago I picked up this little charm for only 7 euro. It’s a Yashica 35MF, a half automatic manual focus camera. It’s a fixed lens, fixed shutterspeed camera. It has a 38mm 2.8 lens with a double distance scale, at the top of the lens there are little pictograms, while at the bottom it is a scale with numbers. The camera also has a built-in flash.

The coupled light meter sets the aperture and shows in the viewfinder through a needle which aperture it is going to use. The built-in flash is not very powerful or even interchangeable in power, but it is decent enough to have an interesting effect on night pictures.

I kind of like this camera because it is the perfect party cam, you pop in the film, adjust the focus and start shooting without worrying too much about anything but framing. Sometimes you just want to shoot without any hassle or thinking. So I’m going to take this cam to parties and just snap away.

Also the last day to enter our Easter give away

14 April 2011 

How to load a Fed or Zorki

The first time I had to load a Fed camera, it became clear, that it’s not the easiest thing to do, so I thought I create a small tutorial on how to load these kind of cameras.

Loading film

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

First, you need to turn the switches on the bottom plate, left and then turn 180 degrees, this allows you to slide the back off the camera.

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

The easiest way to load a film, is to take out the take-up spool of the camera, and attach the leader to it.

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

Then put the canister in the camera, pull out the film with the take-up spool and place the take-up spool in the camera also. Make sure you turn the take-up spool a couple of times before putting it in the camera. Most Feds and Zorkis turn anti clockwise, so keep this in mind when rolling the film, otherwise your film will detach and roll around the transport mechanism. It’s no fun to try and take some film out of that mechanism, I had to do it once and had to ruin the whole film.

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

To make sure you put the film in correctly and to put some tension on the film before closing the camera, wind the camera a half turn. Make sure to put some pressure on the film, so that it attaches correctly to the small teeth of the transport mechanism.

[zorki 4] Loading a fed or zorki

Now close the back, by sliding it on again and turn the switches on the bottom the other way, check if the back is properly closed, take 2 testshots and you should be fine for shooting.

Rewinding film

When you want to rewind the film, make sure you fired the shutter, then either turn or push the knob around the shutter button as far as you can. This will release the lock on the transport mechanism and allow you to rewind the film. If you don’t do this, you feel a lot of tension when you want to rewind the film and if you keep on trying you can rip your film. I have unloaded my first 2 rolls in a changing bag, because I didn’t know this and couldn’t figure out how to rewind the film without detaching the take-up spool.

4 April 2011 

[Collection] Zorki 4

[Mamiya RB67] Zorki-4

Another one of the russian camera collection we have over here, is the Zorki 4. The Zorki cameras are derived from feds which on their turn are derived from the Leica II. Zorkis were manufactured by KMZ in Krasnogorsk, a suburb of Moscow. The design of all the rangefinder Zorkis stayed basically the same over the years and the Zorki 4 contains all the advantages of the Zorki I, 2 and 3 in it’s design. That are the shutterspeed from 1 sec to 1/1000th of a sec, the variable flash sync speeds and the self-timer on the front. As most Russian cameras it’s built like a tank and the rewind knob is just a PITA. My Zorki 4 is manufactured in 1962, you can find the year of manufacturing from the first 2 numbers in the serial number on the back.

Some tips about using a Zorki 4. First and foremost, as with most Russian cameras don’t set the shutterspeed before you cocked the shutter by advancing to the next frame. Another thing that’s hard to find out the first time using a Zorki is how the rewind works. You need to fire the shutter and then turn the small wheel clockwise until it completely stops, raise the rewind button on the left side of the viewfinder and turn the wheel clockwise till you can’t feel any pressure anymore. On certain take-up spools it can happen that at the end of rewinding it feels like the film is stuck, don’t pull too hard or you could tear the film. That type of take-up spool takes so much film that it’s hard to pull the leader out of the spool, so don’t and open up the camera to take the film out of the spool by hand. The Zorki also has a little lever for changing the viewfinder diopter level, if the viewfinder seems blurry change the position of the lever and it will be better.

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