Hi Markus -
seems like a nice camera for snow shots, I like this one a lot. Is this a medium format camera and are you a collector of old cameras?
Thanks for you comment - I'm glad you like the shot. It' s been growing on me - the weather was cold and but sunny so the tire tracks came out nicely on the asphalt, and I like how their lines resonate with the other linear repetitions in the scene (the rows of trees and headstones in particular.)
The Ricoflex is indeed a MF camera - I need to work with it a bit to see how it stacks up. It has variable focus and a nice magnifier that flips down over the wait level finder. I was able to clean the shooting lens but the spotting lens and screen are a mess - won't affect the images but one must peer through layers of dust to compose and focus... My first impression is that it will be a regular in my junk camera bag - it's subtle, but distinctive in the feel it produces.
A former list member got me interested in the Holga a few years ago, and I ultimately inherited one from my father a while back. My father (who taught photography) also had some old Kodak folding cameras. Once I figured out how to respool 120 to 620, I got hooked on using unpredictable and imperfect cameras. I then started looking at old junk cameras. So - I'm not exactly a collector old cameras, but rather, old _junk_ cameras :-)
This site fueled the addiction greatly: http://www.junkstorecameras.com/
A lot of what I do with the *st-D and before that 35mm film is aimed at technically perfect, razor sharp images with an increasing thrust towards natural history / scientific work that blend accurate representation with aesthetics. As a counter point - I also love the imprecision and distortion of the old cameras, pinholes, and alternative processing. Last summer I was privileged to have three of my insects shots as part of scientific display on pollination in the US National Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C., while simultaneously displaying this Holga shot:
http://www.markcassino.com/galleries/asga/asga02.htm
in the National Landscape Exhibit just down the road in the Maryland Federation of Art's gallery in Annapolis. Seeing both sets of shots in their respective settings on one trip really got me fired up to pursue both creative directions. (Obviously - I don't subscribe to the "find one thing and do just that" school of thought...)
Right now I'm using a Holga, a couple of old Kodak bellows cameras, an Ansco ready flash, Argus 75 TLR, a pinhole TLR, and Argus brick range finder, and the Ricoflex as the latest addition to the junk-camera crop. I set my threshold for spending at $15 max per camera - the Ricoflex busted the budget by a buck or two but the Ansco only cost $1.50 :-).
The thing is - a some of these cameras are actually pretty good (one of the Kodak 6x9 cm bellows cameras is not bad at all) and some are just soft and lacking in character. It's the rarity to find a camera that with distincitive distortions that produce interesting results. I have high hopes for the Ricoflex, though it is actually relatively sharp compared to the other cameras.It's subtle but nice in it's subtlety. Some of the cameras are also distinctive, but in ways that limit their use. Like the Argoflex 75 takes contrast off the scale, so it produces some interesting results in flat light, but is very hard to get a printable neg from in a high contrast situation. (Having no control over either aperture, shutter speed, or focusing also limits things...)
I really enjoyed shooting some photos with a 1959 Agfa Ambiflex with 35mm SLR and some test shots with a Voigtlaender Bessamatic 1959 with the worlds first zoom "Zoomar" 38-80mm last week.
But, every second shot, I forgot something to set, one time the distance,
then the self timer
did not work sometimes and the flash did not go off all the time..
I used an old fashioned Braun Hobby flash with the Ambiflex.
The qualitiy feeling is incredible, full steel body and heavy (nearly 1 KG)
;-)
Excellent! Sounds very cool - I'd love to see some of the results. I know what you mean about forgetting to set this or that with these old camera. The 35mm Argus Brick I use requires you to wind it, cock it, and unlock it before every shot - whoever designed it must of been pretty worried about accidental exposures or something.
Have fun!
- MCC
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Mark Cassino Photography
Kalamazoo, MI
www.markcassino.com
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