1x1x1 - Auchmithie

At the start of January I set myself a challenge.  I would pick a location on the map, set a 1 mile radius and give myself 1 hour to shoot 1 roll of film.  The idea was that I would do one location per week.  Then it started to rain.

Not entirely keen on taking any of my vintage cameras out in the deluge, I waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Then at last the sun came out.  I loaded my Nettar with a roll of Ektar 100 and headed for Auchmithie.

The old hotel, once a youth hostel.

Looking down at the ruined harbour from the Old Coastguard
Houses.

Waves breaking on the beach.

From a roll of twelve exposures I got three that I'm reasonably happy with.  The last four shots were done in a rush as the hour was running out and I didn't take enough care over exposure.  The others are fine but compositionally lacking.  One of the things I noticed working with this camera is of course the fixed lens.  Normally this isn't a problem, you just move around until you get the framing right or abandon the idea entirely and move on.  With a time limit, however, you can't spend long clambering about trying to get things perfect.  You've got to keep moving.

I'm really looking forward to doing this again.  I'd be interested in trying this challenge with a zoom lens and see if I do any better or differently.  Unfortunately I don't have a vintage camera with a zoom lens, at least not a working one, so I'm either going to have to do some repairs or get myself back on eBay.

© Ross Bull

Zeiss Ikon Nettar + Ilford Pan F Plus test shots

I got these shots back from the Ilford lab a few weeks ago but have been so busy I've not had time to do anything with them.  Overall I'm pretty impressed.  I struggled with the focusing on several of the close up shots and portraits so must get onto eBay and see if I can find a suitable rangefinder.  The portraits were also all shot indoors in really gloomy lighting - not the best for a 50 ISO film such as this, so my guess if that at least some of the blurriness is down to movement.  The group shot was done with my Ziess tripod and a modern cable release.  The tripod was fine once I got it on the carpet but a slippery devil on the laminate floor.

My scanner was having trouble recognising the medium format negatives so these shots are scanned from Ilford's prints.  No editing other than cropping and rotating has been done.

Eduardo Paolozzi sculpture at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Family portrait

Canal, Wakefield

Dad painting a bird table

Coming soon....Ektar 100 colour negs

That's my first roll of Pan F Plus in about 10 years off to Ilford for processing.  Freshly loaded in the Nettar is a roll of Ektar 100 colour negative film from Kodak.  Looking forward to seeing what I can achieve with "the world's finest grain color negative film".

Zeiss Ikon 'Ikophot' light meter

Back in the days before convenient in-camera lightmeters became the norm, photographers could do one of two things to help themselves chose a suitable exposure for their photographs.  They could take their best guess, often judged from rough guidelines in their camera manual, or they could use a handheld lightmeter.  These often used a selenium cell which produced a voltage proportional to light exposure.  In a meter such as the Ikophot this exposure was represented by a needle jumping along a scale which could be read off against the previously assigned value for film speed, giving the user corresponding aperture and shutter speed values.  These were then set on the camera and voila! Perfect exposures every time...


The Ikophot sits in an attractive brown leather case with a short brass chain which allows the photographer to secure the lightmeter to the wrist.  The case flips open and folds back giving a bulk which makes the meter feel secure in the hand.  There's a little push-on hood secured to the case which can be slipped out and attached to the meter for taking incident meter readings.

One of the good things about selenium light meters is that the cell generates enough power to work alone without the need for additional batteries.  When I first got it, I wondered how accurate my Ikophot would be after all these years.  But with no battery to drain, I've tested it alongside the meter on my Canon 600D and got identical results.  Now we have to wait and see how the first roll of film shot with this little vintage meter turns out.  Watch this space.

Zeiss Ikon pocket tripod

This vintage tripod from Zeiss Ikon would have been a very nice piece of kit in its day.  In fact it still is.  The leather case is well stitched with a strong yet discreet carrying strap, two horizontal slits on the rear for attaching to other straps and a Zeiss Ikon branded popper stud.  The length of the case, which snugly fits the retracted tripod is only 22 cm/8 5/8" and with tripod inside weighs a mere  284g/10oz so this is definitely a tripod that could be carried in your pocket with ease.

When fully retracted, the rounded feet on the 8-stage metal legs click into place keeping everything nice and secure.  The legs extend along a pair of matching grooves on each and lock into place with spring loaded studs.  At full extension the tripod will realistically offer about 105 cm/41 3/8" of height (at its lowest you get about 17.5 cm/6 7/8"). It's reassuringly stable both indoors and out, though offers nothing like the support of a modern tripod once the wind picks up. With its standard 1/4" thread you could also use it with any modern camera if so inclined.