Film Camera 2021 -2 Kodak VR35K14 “Medalist”

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Kodak sold a number of 35mm cameras (Ponys, Retinas, Signets etc.) in 1950-1960 period and then sometime towards the and of the 1960s stopped making 35mm cameras to focus on their new instamatic cameras.

In the 1980s other camera manufacturers started to introduce moderately priced 35mm point and shoot cameras. Of course Kodak could not be left out so they introduced a new line of 35mm cameras: the Japanese made (Chinon I believe) KR35 series, of which this camera (the VR35K14) was the top of the line.

For more information on the camera please read Mike Eckman’s usual interesting and thorough review here.

Film Camera 2019/11 – Leica IIIf – Results

by Posted in Black & White, Buildings/Structures, Film Leave a comment
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I was in New York City and decided to wander around Tudor City and take some pictures. Overall it was a pleasant experience and I was happy with the results.

Of course at first it was difficult to get used to the lack of an exposure meter and only manual focus, but after a while I got used to it. It was a cloudy day and the exposure didn’t vary much so I only rarely had to change the settings.

I’m still not keen on having to trim the film leader, nor am I happy that the rangefinder and viewfinder are separate and the rangefinder window in particular is rather “squinty”. Apart from that I have no complaints. It’s small and with the collapsible Serenar lens fits easily in a pocket. It’s clearly a very well made camera.

I also have a Leica M2 that I’ve never used. Can’t wait to give it a try.

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Film Camera 2019/10 – Moskva 5 – Results

by Posted in Black & White, Camera Collection, Cameras, Film, Moskva 5 Leave a comment
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I struggled with this camera – not the fault of the camera, more my lack of familiarity with it and some basic mistakes I made. Loading was easy enough, but after that things started to go downhill.

Admittedly I was rushing. I was leaving on vacation and wanted to finish a roll quickly before I left. I had the camera set for 6×9 and so only had 8 frames available. I composed my first picture and pressed the shutter release. Nothing happened. Maybe I needed to advance? I did this and still nothing. Now getting flustered I tried again. Still nothing. Eventually I realized that I’d forgotten to cock the shutter – three frames lost, five to go.

It was a fairly dull day and I was using 100 ISO film and in one of the shots I think the shutter speed was too slow for me to hand hold – four frames down four to go.

Only occasionally having used medium format cameras I didn’t realize that depth of field is less than I was used to with 35mm. Only a small area was in focus, with the foreground and background badly out of focus. Five down, three to go (the images above and below),

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I found the camera quite cumbersome to use. I couldn’t seem to hold it comfortably and the focus mechanism at the end of the lens was also uncomfortable. I left with the impression that it’s really designed to be used on a tripod, which is what I’ll do next time I use it.

So while I didn’t really like the camera all that much the 6×9 negative is hard to resist so I’ll certainly try it again.