Soviet cameras

The rebirth of film

/ mikeosbornphoto / 43 Comments

Zenit macroZenith-3

It’s been more than seven months since I took delivery of my 1968 Zenit-3 camera, a beautiful, mechanical beast from the Soviet Union promising the retro joy of film photography and a new way of looking through the lens.

I soon became used to its weight and vintage clunkiness, the lack of battery and digital function. A flurry of enthusiasm was dampened by my lack of experience, leading to the pain of ruining an entire film of shots.

The heady smell of my Zenit’s leather case was left untouched for months before I dived in for another attempt. This time I minimised the risk of destroying another roll of film by winding it back prematurely. That was after fast-shooting in an afternoon to avoid further long delays.

Well the first results were returned, and it evoked the boyhood memory of checking a sheet of negatives against the light. Yes, I had shots, although some had failed due to overexposure on a very bright day.

This selection of monochrome images are simple, safe and taken around my west London neighbourhood of Hammersmith and Ravenscourt Park.

Click first image to launch the gallery

Was it worth the wait? I love the grain to these shots. They feel entirely different to the crisp images produced by my Fuji X-E1. The focus and depth on the garden wall image is very good, while the floral images have a compelling quality in black and white.

But the initial results of this return to film expose how digital has dulled my instincts for the technicalities of photography. I had to made blunt guesses about aperture and exposures – although analogue aficionado Stephen Dowling says a pocket light meter is a must. These photos, taken on a sunny day, seem a little bleached and lack the strength of contrast monochrome offers.

However, the Zenit makes me think differently about taking pictures and often goes against my usual thinking. It obviously has practical drawbacks and requires the effort we used to exert without a moment’s worry.

Right now the camera is sitting idly and may not be picked up again for a while. But after 45 years in existence, this patient creature is always ready for the next assignment with its latest – still wet behind the ears – owner.

Made in USSRRead the first post about my new Soviet friend here

Soviet disaster

/ mikeosbornphoto / 28 Comments

Made in USSRIn October I excitedly announced the arrival of my new camera – a Zenit made in the USSR nearly 45 years ago. It’s a mechanical beauty which takes film, and I quietly went about getting to grips with analogue.

I’ve been running my digital cameras as normal – more recently a Fujifilm X-E1 – so it’s taken a long time to come near to filling a roll of monochrome film and sending it off to the processing lab to see the first results.

This looked tantalisingly likely this weekend, so I braved the cold to capture those closing shots.

My Zenit-3 seemed to promise a couple of bonus shots, as I was expecting the shutter lever to tighten and signal the film’s end. But it just didn’t happen.

Back in the warm, I decided to manually rewind the film – only to discover there was no tension there at all. I opened up the back to find my worst fears had come true.

The film was torn from its cartridge and the entire roll was ruined.

Well the post-mortem showed that I’d made a very stupid mistake. This majestic old camera doesn’t tell me the film is nearing its end. When the mechanical counter reaches 36, that’s your cue to rewind the film. Don’t try to squeeze a couple of extra clicks.

So this was a Soviet disaster, although maybe not on the scale of Chernobyl. Another film has been loaded into the Zenit and I’m going to start all over again.

This isn’t a digital camera where you receive a polite message if your memory card is full up. It requires an old-fashioned kind of respect. It’s been tempting to give up this analogue journey and its pitfalls, but I’ll keep going.

This camera has been around longer than I have, so I’ll take notice of my elder and learn from her.

A new photographic era

/ mikeosbornphoto / 11 Comments

Fuji buttonsFor years I’ve been a loyal user of Lumix cameras and have become very familiar with their workings and have often been pleased with the results.

The time has come to graduate to a more sophisticated machine, and after considerable deliberation I’ve taken delivery of a Fujifilm X-E1 system, which is an exciting yet daunting move after knowing my trusty TZ-20 with its nifty Leica zoom so well. The Fuji has a range of available lenses with the zoom primed to manual operation.

After studying reviews and asking friends on Twitter, the Fuji prevailed with its excellent combination of old school styling encasing and up to the minute technology and features. You can set the shutter speed with a tactile metal knob, or perform this function with a digital menu.

There is a familiar small screen on the back of the camera and an electronic viewfinder which activates when you place your eye next to it. On the face of it, this is a sophisticated package which should expose the limitations of my old camera.

First impressions

I spent hours with my new camera simply trying to become accustomed with all the functions and their location. And today I went out for the first time to put the system through its paces.

Feeling physically comfortable with your camera is very important to me, and my first port of call was to buy a small shoulder bag for my Fuji to live in – having that amount of costly camera around my neck didn’t feel right. The Lumix slides straight into my coat pocket.

When it came to taking the first shots, I decided to use shutter selection mode, letting the camera choose the aperture. This felt familiar, having always used my Lumix in manual mode. Choosing other settings is handily available through a quick menu.

Having a viewfinder again is peculiar – my instinct is to use the back screen, but I’ll have to retrain myself. While I’m now used to handling the heft of my vintage Soviet camera, the Fuji is a bigger beast than the little Lumix. I kept catching one of the control buttons and was scared of dropping it. Turning the camera for lengthways shots will also require a little practice.

As for the first photographs, I’ve yet to edit them. I would expect punchier, clearer shots and have already found myself using higher ISO levels which the Lumix struggled with. I’ll share them soon and in the meantime show you some more pictures of the X-E1.

Click the first image to launch the gallery