Finding Inspiration

Someone once said,”If you cant find inspiration with the things around you, look for the unusual” Unfortunately, that didn’t work for me over the past couple of days and so I decided that I would simply take photos of metal things! I had a couple of disappointing shots but it kept me occupied and away…

Grain? What Grain?

I am grateful to my friend and fellow photography enthusiast, Pjotr Utkin, without whom I would not have been writing this short article. Apart from putting me on to Spur HRX developer, he also gifted me a roll of Rollei Ortho 25 Plus before the dreaded virus hit. I never got around to using it…

Further tales from the East…

This was another case of me acquiring an East German camera on a something of a whim! (The low price had something to do with it!) This time, it was a Praktica MTL5 which was sold with the standard Pentacon 50mm F1.8 lens, a Pentacon 29mm F2.8 lens and a Peak 135mm F2 lens along…

Tales From The East

Well actually this is the first of two tales that start in the former East Germany, DDR or GDR -Call it what you will! After World War II, Germany was split into two countries. In West Germany a new Carl Zeiss was set up together with a new Carl Zeiss lens makers and half the…

…And Then There Were Four!

Last year, I was kindly donated some old cameras by a lady in our village. One of them was an Altix V. I had never heard of the manufacturer. I must confess that I was immediately struck by how sturdy it was and, dare I suggest, how attractive it is. I decided to find out…

I Think That I Have Bought Part of a Soviet Tank!

One of my latest additions is a Jupiter 21M F4/200mm lens! It weighs in at just under a kilo and when attached to my M4/3 Panasonic G9 with an adaptor, the gear is decidedly front heavy! Having used this setup with a tripod, I am beginning to think that a geared tripod head might be…

Photosnaiper FS12

I put in a bid on Catawiki for this Photosnaiper FS12 kit and promised myself that I would not increase the bid. For once, I kept to my promise and it was only a few hours after bidding closed that I checked and found that I had won!The kit is complete and appears fully functional….

Lubitel 166 Universal

This is a recent arrival for my collection. The seller was reluctant to ship it to Greece from the UK and so it went to one of my long-suffering daughters who shipped it to me. Unfortunately between her shipping it on 21st March 2022 and it arriving here, ELTA, our postal service in Greece suffered…

Decisions, Decisions

For example. Do I go out and shoot digital or do I go out and shoot film? Then, if I decide to shoot film, do I shoot 35mm or medium format 6×9, 6×6 or 6×4.5?

Experimenting With Fantome 8 Kino Film

I have been experimenting with Lomography Fantome 8 Kino film. I shot all of these images with my Canon A1, developed the film in Ilfosol 3 and scanned the negatives with my Epson V600 Scanner. Post-processed with DxO PhotoLab 5 All shots were handheld and taken in very bright sunlight. Upon reflection, The use of…