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Lens-Artists Challenge #347: Break The Rules!
Due to the inclement weather that has been plaguing Portugal for what seems like forever, I wasn’t able to take part in last week’s ‘Cinematic’ Challenge. (Not yet, that is. I will submit an entry once we get to the location that I had in mind.) This week, though, I was determined to take part, no matter what. It’s Ritva’s turn to host the Challenge, and her theme is ‘Breaking The Rules‘. Well, how could I possibly resist that? ‘We work so hard to learn the photography rules,’ says Ritva, ‘but now it is time to BREAK them!!’ Then Ritva raises a salient point, ‘The problem is, that in order to break a rule, you must know that there is a rule in the first place!’
And that’s actually what stymied me. I’ve been making photographs for a long time. Perfectly exposed (mostly), well focused, and (most of the time, I hope) nicely composed, that I’ve never really thought about the rules of photography that I was taught back in the day. It’s only in the past few years, with my renewed interest in film photography, that I’ve consciously tried to make something out of the ordinary with both film and digital media: Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), light leaks, redscaling film, that sort of thing. But even then, I still kind of follow the rules.
Looking at these ICM images, for example. Even though the subject is blurred, I’ve still unconsciously tried to place the boundary between the grass and the trees about one-third up from the bottom of the frame. Dammit! So my idea this week was to take a ‘walk around the block’ and make some ICM images using a Canon PowerShot G12 digital camera fitted with an Urth ND64 (6-stop) neutral density filter.
I’m not really sure if these are ‘rule breakers’, because I’m not really sure what the rules are any more. But I hope that you will like them. Themes for the Lens-Artists Challenge are posted each Saturday at 12:00 noon EST (which is 4pm, GMT) and anyone who wants to take part can post their images during the week. If you want to know more about the Challenge, details can be found here, and entries can be found on the WordPress reader using the tag ‘Lens-Artists’.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Artistic #Blur #Challenge #Creative #Effect #Exposure #ICM #IntentionalCameraMovement #LensArtists #Motion #BreakTheRules #LensArtists
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Keith #Jarrett – The #Köln Concert [Full Album 1975]
#musicyoutu.be/skkiVoI7sBk?si=AC2vns…
Keith JarrettThe Köln ConcertOpera House in Köln, Germany.January 24th, 1975.00:00:00 | - | 01 - Part I00:26:15 | - | 02 - Part II a00:41:11 | - | 03 - Part ...
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New video on my Keith's Universe channel. Thought I'd weigh in my thoughts about the latest failed rapture prediction. I call this one "Another Rapture Bites The Dust"
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Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek - "Belonging" (1974)
#NowPlaying #KeithJarrett #JanJohansson #ECM #ECMRecords #vinyl #VinylRecords @vinylrecords
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Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek & "Nordic Quartet" Oslo 1974 (NRK TV-studio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVVkdgZVXzY&t=414s #jazz #art #piano #ecmrecords #pianist #jazzmusic -
Keith Jarrett, Jan Garbarek & "Nordic Quartet" Oslo 1974 (NRK TV-studio)
https://youtu.be/CVVkdgZVXzY?si=Br3AJW4419uRXGIk
#jazz #art #piano #jazzmusic #instrumental #ecmrecords -
Keith Moon and John Entwistle at the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, December 1968. #music #thewho #keithmoon #johnentwhistle
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Keith Moon'un The Who İçin Yazdığı Dört Şarkı
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Joshua Steinglass asks #KeithDavidson if he knows 2 key witnesses: #DavidPecker, who the jurors already have heard from, & #MichaelCohen, who they’ve heard a lot about. Steinglass is tying Davidson into the case, helping the courtroom understand where he’s situated. Davidson just said that he represented #StormyDaniels as her lawyer — Daniels, whose name has been dangled in front of jurors several times, is of course another key player & potential witness.
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Keith R. Davis
@krdavis
#Guitar enthusiast and #music connoisseur. I used to be a #software engineer and #dataarchitect. I collect cheap #guitars, although I have one #Gibson LP Standard and one #FenderStratocaster.
#follow #following #boost #followfriday #altext #gimp
Country Road Perspective
By Carl J Shoemaker -
@KeithDJohnson
Yes, we cottoned onto this many years ago, most #philanthropy is #fauxlanthropy.A brilliant documentary on how #thePeople have been systematically transitioned from being an active '#citizen' to a docile '#consumer' is The Century Of The Self (#AdamCurtis/BBC, 2002).
It cover a suite of propaganda techniques used to #engineerConsent for all manner of abuse by large #corporations.
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I got an email this morning promoting printed fliers starting at $14.60 for 1,000.
I thought how can that be so inexpensive. So I emailed them and this is the reply.
Hi Keith,
Thank you for contacting Customer Care.
I'm glad that you're interested in our flyer product. Let me help you get the pricing on the advertisement.
After checking our flyer product, I'm able to configure a setup where we can get the 1000 quantity for only $14.60. Kindly go to this link to see the configuration. In essence, it's an 80 lb. paper gloss flyer on a 2" x 2" size.
I hope this helps with your inquiry, Keith. We definitely hope we can work with you on this project.
All the best,
JustinShould I email Justin back and tell him I was asking about their printed flier special. Not their printed confetti special?
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Although I think that I have all of the cameras I need to keep me occupied, I sometimes come across a camera that I’ve been seeking for quite a while. One of these ‘nice to haves’ is a glitchy camera. I don’t mean one that’s naturally glitchy because it was made that way, like the Vivitar Vivicam and its shutter lag, or one that has been artificially glitched, like the circuit bent kiddiecam from Freedom Enterprise, but a camera that over years of use has developed a fault that still allows it to be used but the results are not the natural looking photographs that one might expect.
So I was torn by indecision when I came across a Canon Powershot G12 on the Kamerastore website. Under normal circumstances the Powershot G12 is a solid camera, regularly being awarded 4 or 5 star reviews. Released by Canon in 2010, the G12 is a 10 MP CCD sensor camera described as a premium compact and continuing the prestigious G-series of digital cameras. Over a decade after its launch prices are still quite high for the G12, so when I came across a ‘not passed’ model on the Kamerastore website I was instantly intrigued.
Looking at the description of the camera I could see why it was so cheap. ‘The sensor is failing,’ read the description, and ‘it randomly draws horizontal lines and distorts the colors (sic)’. I paused at this point, do I really want to buy a damaged camera that at any moment could be unusable? But then I reasoned, well, even if it lasts a year I’ll have had a glitchy camera and can cross another project off my photography bucket list. So I pressed tbe’Buy Now’ button and waited.
A few days later the package arrived and I couldn’t wait to open it up and parade my new glitchy camera. So imagine my surprise when I turned the camera on and … there were no horizontal lines, no distorted colours. What was going on? Have I been sold a perfectly good camera? At the moment I can’t tell, it seems to be working properly at the moment. Perhaps when I’ve had it switched on for a while it’ll start glvitching. Here’s hoping. In the meantime I took it across the road for its test frames with my favourite tree and well.
I must say, the Powershot G12 is a wonderful digital camera. It’s hefty in the hand, the features are easy to access and it’s a joy to use. Of course, my first test images need to include some infrared images and the camera behaved admirably in infrared. Indeed, I took a colour infrared image for some colour shifting and it was splendid. Sometimes I get a decidedly blue colour cast with channel mixed images, but in bright sunlight the Powershot G12 performed admirably.
One thing I do fancy playing with is the ‘miniature’ option, where the preset adds blur to the top and bottom of the image for a tilt/shift type of effect. I did have a try with this method and it certainly shows promise. So I shall keep on trying to get some glitches out of the Powershot G12 but in the meantime will just enjoy this lovely camera.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Aerochrome #Camera #Canon #ChannelShift #Digicam #Digitalcamera #Landscape #Photography #Powershot #Retro #TrichromeEverything #Vintage
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As it was a nice and partially sunny afternoon I decided it was the perfect opportunity to take the the supposedly glitchy Canon Powershot G12 out for a walk in the woods and fields behind our house. Of course the main thing I wanted to do was to make trichromes and digital aerochromes with the Powershot set to black and white and using red, green, blue, and infrared filters. These were of mixed success in often challenging conditions. It was sunny but quite heavily cloudy at the same time, but some of the results were really fabulous.
I also took some colour infrared images for channel swapping. In GuIMP photo editor I swapped the colour data in the red and blue channels. I had discovered on my test the day before that the channel shifted images were really nice, but today, when it was slightly cloudy, the images possessed a strong blue tinge. In some instances, though, especially under the oak tree canopy, this produced some lovely results.
I tried a few things with the Powershot G12, landscapes, close-ups of flowers, the fish-eye lens effect, that sort of thing, and I was really happy with the results. Some of the close-ups were really amazing, though as it was a windy day it was occasionally difficult to get proper focus
Even though it’s not as glitchy as I had hoped, this camera is really wonderful. It’s comfortable to hold in the hand, the controls are intuitive and easy to use, and it produces some lovely results. Hopefully we’ll be going into Aveiro soon and I’m waiting to see how it handles intentional camera movement (ICM) compared to the Powershot A720. Who knows, this could become my new ‘carry anywhere’ camera.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Aerochrome #Camera #Canon #ChannelShift #Digicam #Digitalcamera #Landscape #Photography #Powershot #Retro #TrichromeEverything #Vintage
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@keithedwards.bsky.social discusses #SouthPark going SCORCHED EARTH on #DonaldTrump! As well as discusses #StephenMiller 's wife #KatieMiller revelations about their "sex life" with fellow closet case #JesseWatters. #OverCompensation thy name be 'Katie'!! youtu.be/RiZ9j_diqc4?...
Stephen Miller’s Wife SPILLS S... -
CW: Bird Flu is killing mammals.
@KeithDJohnson Yes! We’re seeing it here in our #NorthernCalifornia #WildlifeRehabilitation facility. Started seeing it in #WaterFowl, now mammals.
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The #FrugalFilmProject, July 2025: The One Where We Tried To Expose Both Sides
This month I thought it would be fun to try something different with the Golden Wonder (a.k.a the Welta Penti II, half-frame Rapid camera). EBS photography, or Expose Both Sides, is exactly what it sounds like. First exposing a film normally in the camera — with the emulsion side facing the subject — but then reversing the film, reloading that into the camera, and exposing the whole film again — this time with the emulsion side facing away from the subject.
There are a few factors that need to be borne in mind when conducting EBS photography, like slightly underexposing each side so that the multiple exposures balance out to give a ‘properly exposed’ film, and deciding whether its important to you if the frames on each side are lined up or not. I loaded the Golden Wonder with a canister of Harman Phoenix, but this time I inserted a little bit of film into the take-up canister and marked the position of the film gate on the film. By doing this I hoped that I could line up the frames when I exposed the other side of the film. I reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to ‘1’.
We took the camera to Barra, where I took photographs around the beach, and later finished the roll in Oliveira do Bairro. When metering the exposures I tried to underexpose the film slightly by taking each image 1-stop under the suggested reading from the Camera Meter app. Once the film was exposed, it was time to turn it over and reload it back into the Golden Wonder. Inside the dark bag I fed the previously exposed film into another Rapid canister, but this time I fed it backwards, as if for redscaling, with the emulsion side facing outwards.
Once loaded into the canister, I pulled a bit of film out of the canister until I could see the gate markings that I made for the first exposure. I marked the emulsion side of the film with the markings in the same position and loaded the canisters into the camera so the film was in the same position. I then reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to number ‘1’. By doing this, I hoped that the frames on each side were lined up.
I took the Golden Wonder on a walk around Águas Boas, a nearby village, and photographed walls, trees and various textures. When taking the photos I held the camera upside down so that the orientation of the images on the both sides would be in the same direction. On completion, the film was taken to Forever Blue in Aveiro and scanned at home with an Epson Perfection v750 Pro flat bed scanner and Epson Scan software. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
On return from the lab, looking at the negatives one thing was immediately apparent: the frames weren’t lined up. In fact they were almost precisely 50% off, so there was a big band down the centre of the first exposure which was the ‘between frames’ unexposed part of the film of the second exposure. Also, the ‘redscaled’ second exposure was well overexposed compared to the first exposure, so most of the details of the first exposure were completely lost. I had tried to underexpose the second exposure by going 1-stop unter the exposure, but clearly it didn’t work.
A couple of the images came out really well, and I was pleased there was some success, but most of them were an unintelligible mess. At the end of the roll, there were a few more redscale images, and these came out really well. I’m definitely going to try some EBS with Rapid films again, though, but next time I might use a different camera to the Golden Wonder. Still, it’s now challenging me to get the frames lined up.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#HarmanPhoenix #Agfa #AgfaRapid #Cassette #EBS #ExposeBothSides #FrugalFilmProject #HalfFrame #Penti2 #Rapid #RapidFilm #Redscale #Welta
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The #FrugalFilmProject, July 2025: The One Where We Tried To Expose Both Sides
This month I thought it would be fun to try something different with the Golden Wonder (a.k.a the Welta Penti II, half-frame Rapid camera). EBS photography, or Expose Both Sides, is exactly what it sounds like. First exposing a film normally in the camera — with the emulsion side facing the subject — but then reversing the film, reloading that into the camera, and exposing the whole film again — this time with the emulsion side facing away from the subject.
There are a few factors that need to be borne in mind when conducting EBS photography, like slightly underexposing each side so that the multiple exposures balance out to give a ‘properly exposed’ film, and deciding whether its important to you if the frames on each side are lined up or not. I loaded the Golden Wonder with a canister of Harman Phoenix, but this time I inserted a little bit of film into the take-up canister and marked the position of the film gate on the film. By doing this I hoped that I could line up the frames when I exposed the other side of the film. I reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to ‘1’.
We took the camera to Barra, where I took photographs around the beach, and later finished the roll in Oliveira do Bairro. When metering the exposures I tried to underexpose the film slightly by taking each image 1-stop under the suggested reading from the Camera Meter app. Once the film was exposed, it was time to turn it over and reload it back into the Golden Wonder. Inside the dark bag I fed the previously exposed film into another Rapid canister, but this time I fed it backwards, as if for redscaling, with the emulsion side facing outwards.
Once loaded into the canister, I pulled a bit of film out of the canister until I could see the gate markings that I made for the first exposure. I marked the emulsion side of the film with the markings in the same position and loaded the canisters into the camera so the film was in the same position. I then reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to number ‘1’. By doing this, I hoped that the frames on each side were lined up.
I took the Golden Wonder on a walk around Águas Boas, a nearby village, and photographed walls, trees and various textures. When taking the photos I held the camera upside down so that the orientation of the images on the both sides would be in the same direction. On completion, the film was taken to Forever Blue in Aveiro and scanned at home with an Epson Perfection v750 Pro flat bed scanner and Epson Scan software. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
On return from the lab, looking at the negatives one thing was immediately apparent: the frames weren’t lined up. In fact they were almost precisely 50% off, so there was a big band down the centre of the first exposure which was the ‘between frames’ unexposed part of the film of the second exposure. Also, the ‘redscaled’ second exposure was well overexposed compared to the first exposure, so most of the details of the first exposure were completely lost. I had tried to underexpose the second exposure by going 1-stop unter the exposure, but clearly it didn’t work.
A couple of the images came out really well, and I was pleased there was some success, but most of them were an unintelligible mess. At the end of the roll, there were a few more redscale images, and these came out really well. I’m definitely going to try some EBS with Rapid films again, though, but next time I might use a different camera to the Golden Wonder. Still, it’s now challenging me to get the frames lined up.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#HarmanPhoenix #Agfa #AgfaRapid #Cassette #EBS #ExposeBothSides #FrugalFilmProject #HalfFrame #Penti2 #Rapid #RapidFilm #Redscale #Welta
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The #FrugalFilmProject, July 2025: The One Where We Tried To Expose Both Sides
This month I thought it would be fun to try something different with the Golden Wonder (a.k.a the Welta Penti II, half-frame Rapid camera). EBS photography, or Expose Both Sides, is exactly what it sounds like. First exposing a film normally in the camera — with the emulsion side facing the subject — but then reversing the film, reloading that into the camera, and exposing the whole film again — this time with the emulsion side facing away from the subject.
There are a few factors that need to be borne in mind when conducting EBS photography, like slightly underexposing each side so that the multiple exposures balance out to give a ‘properly exposed’ film, and deciding whether its important to you if the frames on each side are lined up or not. I loaded the Golden Wonder with a canister of Harman Phoenix, but this time I inserted a little bit of film into the take-up canister and marked the position of the film gate on the film. By doing this I hoped that I could line up the frames when I exposed the other side of the film. I reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to ‘1’.
We took the camera to Barra, where I took photographs around the beach, and later finished the roll in Oliveira do Bairro. When metering the exposures I tried to underexpose the film slightly by taking each image 1-stop under the suggested reading from the Camera Meter app. Once the film was exposed, it was time to turn it over and reload it back into the Golden Wonder. Inside the dark bag I fed the previously exposed film into another Rapid canister, but this time I fed it backwards, as if for redscaling, with the emulsion side facing outwards.
Once loaded into the canister, I pulled a bit of film out of the canister until I could see the gate markings that I made for the first exposure. I marked the emulsion side of the film with the markings in the same position and loaded the canisters into the camera so the film was in the same position. I then reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to number ‘1’. By doing this, I hoped that the frames on each side were lined up.
I took the Golden Wonder on a walk around Águas Boas, a nearby village, and photographed walls, trees and various textures. When taking the photos I held the camera upside down so that the orientation of the images on the both sides would be in the same direction. On completion, the film was taken to Forever Blue in Aveiro and scanned at home with an Epson Perfection v750 Pro flat bed scanner and Epson Scan software. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
On return from the lab, looking at the negatives one thing was immediately apparent: the frames weren’t lined up. In fact they were almost precisely 50% off, so there was a big band down the centre of the first exposure which was the ‘between frames’ unexposed part of the film of the second exposure. Also, the ‘redscaled’ second exposure was well overexposed compared to the first exposure, so most of the details of the first exposure were completely lost. I had tried to underexpose the second exposure by going 1-stop unter the exposure, but clearly it didn’t work.
A couple of the images came out really well, and I was pleased there was some success, but most of them were an unintelligible mess. At the end of the roll, there were a few more redscale images, and these came out really well. I’m definitely going to try some EBS with Rapid films again, though, but next time I might use a different camera to the Golden Wonder. Still, it’s now challenging me to get the frames lined up.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#HarmanPhoenix #Agfa #AgfaRapid #Cassette #EBS #ExposeBothSides #FrugalFilmProject #HalfFrame #Penti2 #Rapid #RapidFilm #Redscale #Welta
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The #FrugalFilmProject, July 2025: The One Where We Tried To Expose Both Sides
This month I thought it would be fun to try something different with the Golden Wonder (a.k.a the Welta Penti II, half-frame Rapid camera). EBS photography, or Expose Both Sides, is exactly what it sounds like. First exposing a film normally in the camera — with the emulsion side facing the subject — but then reversing the film, reloading that into the camera, and exposing the whole film again — this time with the emulsion side facing away from the subject.
There are a few factors that need to be borne in mind when conducting EBS photography, like slightly underexposing each side so that the multiple exposures balance out to give a ‘properly exposed’ film, and deciding whether its important to you if the frames on each side are lined up or not. I loaded the Golden Wonder with a canister of Harman Phoenix, but this time I inserted a little bit of film into the take-up canister and marked the position of the film gate on the film. By doing this I hoped that I could line up the frames when I exposed the other side of the film. I reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to ‘1’.
We took the camera to Barra, where I took photographs around the beach, and later finished the roll in Oliveira do Bairro. When metering the exposures I tried to underexpose the film slightly by taking each image 1-stop under the suggested reading from the Camera Meter app. Once the film was exposed, it was time to turn it over and reload it back into the Golden Wonder. Inside the dark bag I fed the previously exposed film into another Rapid canister, but this time I fed it backwards, as if for redscaling, with the emulsion side facing outwards.
Once loaded into the canister, I pulled a bit of film out of the canister until I could see the gate markings that I made for the first exposure. I marked the emulsion side of the film with the markings in the same position and loaded the canisters into the camera so the film was in the same position. I then reset the frame counter to zero, closed the camera, and fired off two shots to take the counter to number ‘1’. By doing this, I hoped that the frames on each side were lined up.
I took the Golden Wonder on a walk around Águas Boas, a nearby village, and photographed walls, trees and various textures. When taking the photos I held the camera upside down so that the orientation of the images on the both sides would be in the same direction. On completion, the film was taken to Forever Blue in Aveiro and scanned at home with an Epson Perfection v750 Pro flat bed scanner and Epson Scan software. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
On return from the lab, looking at the negatives one thing was immediately apparent: the frames weren’t lined up. In fact they were almost precisely 50% off, so there was a big band down the centre of the first exposure which was the ‘between frames’ unexposed part of the film of the second exposure. Also, the ‘redscaled’ second exposure was well overexposed compared to the first exposure, so most of the details of the first exposure were completely lost. I had tried to underexpose the second exposure by going 1-stop unter the exposure, but clearly it didn’t work.
A couple of the images came out really well, and I was pleased there was some success, but most of them were an unintelligible mess. At the end of the roll, there were a few more redscale images, and these came out really well. I’m definitely going to try some EBS with Rapid films again, though, but next time I might use a different camera to the Golden Wonder. Still, it’s now challenging me to get the frames lined up.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#HarmanPhoenix #Agfa #AgfaRapid #Cassette #EBS #ExposeBothSides #FrugalFilmProject #HalfFrame #Penti2 #Rapid #RapidFilm #Redscale #Welta
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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Further and Further Down the Rabbit Hole: The Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid
Every time I say to myself, ‘I have enough cameras now,’ somehow another one always seems to grab my attention. I wasn’t looking for another Rapid camera, but then a Voigtländer Vitoret D popped up during a random browse on eBay, something, ‘Inspired by your recent search ‘. It was reasonably priced, and with several days to go before the auction came to an end no-one had made any bids. I added it to my watchlist and left it alone, popping in to see what was happening from time to time.
With a few hours to go before the end of the auction there were still no bids for this Rapid camera. I had checked the reviews of the seller already, which were positive, and the condition of the camera was described as, ‘beautiful, fully functional condition (tested) with only minor signs of wear’. With this in mind, I put in a minimum bid, and waited until the auction was closed. There were no further bids, and the Voigtländer Vitoret D Rapid was mine.
The Vitoret D is a manual focus camera made by Voigtländer and introduced c.1962. There is a ‘normal’ 35mm version, but my model is the Rapid version that uses Agfa Rapid film canisters. It has a rounded body, which dates it to before 1966, when a modified model was released with squarer body corners. It comes with a 40mm f2.8 Color-Lanthar lens, with apertures between f2.8 and f22, and a Prontor 300 leaf shutter, with speeds of 1/30s, 1/60s, 1/125s and 1/300s (+ B).
According to the description, the ‘optics are clean, with no dust, fungus, or fungus residue. The shutter speeds run smoothly and even at long exposures. The leather trim is not worn.’ So it should be in good condition. The Vitoret D Rapid has an uncoupled selenium cell in a window to the right of the lens, and you can see the suggested exposure reading on a little window on the top of the camera, where in a normal camera the rewind knob might be. I’m not sure if this works properly but I can use the camera meter app and set the camera manually.
On its arrival, I could see that the Vitoret D was in lovely cosmetic condition, with few signs of use and a lovely clear lens. However, on checking the shutter speeds and apertures, although the faster speeds of 1/125s and 1/300s sounded fine, the slower speeds of 1/60s, 1/30s, and B, lagged terribly. This is something I will raise with the seller. The apertures were fine, though.
Naturally, I was keen to see how the camera performed, so I loaded the Vitoret D with a canister of Harman Phoenix and set off for a walk ‘around the block’. For exposure I used the Camera Meter app and rated the film at ISO 160, which is the speed I normally use with Harman Phoenix. In the event, the exposure was fine. Harman Phoenix kept its high contrast tonality, and some of the images came out really well. However, there were also a lot of light leaks, and in some instances the image was more light leak than subject. Despite these faults, I really like the camera, and will certainly try it out again. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow my WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline on Mastodon.
#AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #VitoretRapidD #Voigtländer
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
If you are on Mastodon, you can now follow this blog directly. Just go to Mastodon and follow the ‘Snapshot’ WordPress account at @keithdevereux.wordpress.com. All new posts will be automatically updated to your timeline.
#Agfa #AgfaKarat #AgfaRapid #Bilora #BiloraRadix #Canister #Experimental #Karat #Rapid #RapidFilm #Vintage #Radix
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A Karat Film Camera That Wasn’t Made By Agfa: The Bilora Radix 35 BH
I came across an odd one the other day. I was searching for some history on the Karat film system, the original version of Agfa’s Rapid system launched (or relaunched) in the 1960s, and naturally Chrome suggested an article by Mike Eckman. Keppler’s Vault 84: AGFA Rapid Film, is a thorough history of the Rapid film system. It delves into the history of the format, notably that the Rapid film system was based on a revival of Agfa’s Karat film from the 1930s and 40s. (Interestingly, Karat film was an attempt to compete with Kodak’s 35mm cassette.)
In the post, Mike Eckman discusses the history of the Rapid film system with reference to a couple of contemporary articles from the 1960s. ‘The second article’, Eckman writes, ‘is from August 1964, and … tells some of the history of the format, even alluding to a very rare Bilora Radix Karat camera that was introduced in 1949 ….’ Mentally, my ears pricked up. What? A Karat camera not made by Agfa? Of course, my curiosity was raised so I started a search for this elusive ‘Bilora Radix camera’.
Turns out that there is quite a bit of information out there about the Radix. It was only around for a few years, from 1948 until about 1952, and it was bad timing by the Bilora camera company, better known for its cheap box cameras, to launch a Karat format camera just as Agfa was winding down its own operations in favour of using the dominant 35mm film cassette. There were a whole range of Radix cameras, from models with a fixed shutter speed, but a variable aperture, to models with five shutter speeds.
Well, by now I really wanted to get my hands on one of these cameras, so turned my attention to that popular auction site. There were a few variations available in Europe, and prices were not that bad. I found one interesting item in Germany. ‘For sale is an old camera that shoots in the 135mm square format using 24×24 film’, the advert for the item said (in German). ‘I found it in a store, bought it home, and used it to shoot two rolls of FomaPAN200.’ Unusually for an eBay post, this advert actually included two or three images taken with the camera, and they weren’t bad.
‘Although this camera isn’t famous,’ the description continued, ‘it’s still an improved version of the RADIX series with adjustable shutter speeds. The lens is clear and scratch- and fungus-free, and the shutter is precise and stick-free.’ According to the description and photographs the camera even included two Rapid canisters, so now I was really interested. Fortunately, I won the auction, although someone did try to snap it up at the last second, but didn’t bid higher than my max bid, and the auction closed.
The Bilora Radix is a strange beast. Yes, it looks like a normal camera, but the shutter button is not a button but a serrated lever that slides left to right. The shutter speed dial is a knob on the front of the camera to the right of the lens, and the back is removed by twisting the two lugs on the back of the camera which comes off in one piece. The aperture is changed by a small lever on the front of the lens, and this model was known as the Radix 35 because it is fited with an f3.5 lens. Another model, fitted with an f5.6 lens is known as the Radix 56. I think this version is one of the later models in the Radix range, and I reckon that it dates from the early 1950s. All in all, it’s in pretty good condition for a 70-year-old camera.
This version of the Radix is quite sophisticated compared to others in the Range, with variable shutter speeds and apertures. It also came with two Rapid canisters, which was really useful. The take-up canister is nice and lose in its space, but the full/delivery canister was really tight. I’m wondering if this is because of a difference between Rapid and Karat canisters, and I’m going to have to compare these later, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to the function of the camera.
In the meantime, I’m going to load the Radix with a roll of Harman Phoenix redscaled film that I have loaded in a canister and take that to Aveiro. One thing I did find about the Radix is that when you open the back it doesn’t reset to 0, the numbers just continually cycle around. I wound the camera back to the dot after ’16’ and loaded the canister of Phoenix. I fired off two frames, but instead of a ‘1’ appearing for the start of the film, an ‘A’ appeared, followed by a dot. In fact, it looks like these frame indicator goes, ‘1 … 16 . . . A . 1 …’. But hopefully it’ll work OK.
As the film was redscaled I rated it at ISO 100, and set the shutter speed to 1/200s, the fastest shutter speed of the Radix. To judge the correct exposure, I used the Camera Meter app. It was a cloudy day, and around Aveiro the suggested aperture for the redscaled Harman Phoenix film was mainly between f16 and f8.
Aside from a couple of images in Oiã, I only managed about 6 exposures in total from what turned out to be a really short piece of film, and only one was from Aveiro. There were a few light leaks, and I’m still not sure where these were from, but I was delighted with the images that turned out and I can’t wait to get out with the Bilora Radix again soon. I’ve posted the whole roll in an album on my Flickr, light leaks and all, if you want to see the rest of the images.
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A brief interlude: The Agfa Silette Rapid F
From 1953 until 1974 Agfa released a family of 35mm cameras known as the Silette series. A basic manual focus viewfinder camera, these came in various forms and with different features. In the early 1960s, Agfa released a Rapid film version in competition with Kodak’s introduction of instamatic film. In fact, they released three Rapid versions, the Silette Rapid I, the Rapid L, and the Rapid F.
All three Rapid cameras had the same characteristics as their 35mm counterparts, but instead of a cold shoe for an external flash, the Rapid F (and Silette F) had a small translucent window and a flip up lid into which a flash bulbs could be plugged. The flash bulb was powered by a Pertrix No. 74 battery, but otherwise the camera was wholly mechanical. The Agfa Rapid F has a 45mm f2.8 Agnar lens and a Parator shutter with speeds of 1/30s – 1/250s (plus B and a synchro flash speed, but I’m not sure what this is). It has a four leaf iris, with apertures from f2.8 – f22.
Being a Rapid camera, the top of the camera is plain with the wind on lever on the bottom left of the camera. One wind of this will push the film one frame from the full Rapid canister on the left to the empty canister on the right.
On the bottom of the camera is a tripod screw and the film counter, which counts down from 12 to one. When the count reaches 1, the shutter is disabled and you can only wind on to finish the film. The position of the ratchets that catch the film sprockets to move the film suggests that a leader of about 40mm of film is left outside the canister.
My particular model, the Agfa Silette Rapid F, was picked up for 20€ from the Not Passed category of the Kamerastore website. Although it has ‘flaws that will affect typical use’, the only thing that was wrong with this camera was that the little translucent window for the flashgun was missing. Otherwise, it was perfectly sound.
The aperture selection, shutter speed selection, and zone focusing is all set on the lens assembly. Selecting the shutter speed and aperture is quite straightforward, but the focusing confused mess for a second. On the focusing ring, at the top and bottom are two arrows. Rotating the lens moves little icons on the top of the lens, a church and a mountain for infinity, a group of people for middle distance, and two heads for portrait/close up. At the same time, at the bottom of the focusing ring are shown distances in metres and feet. Choosing the right symbol, or setting the distance, should give reasonably close focus.
As I have several Rapid canisters filled with Harman Phoenix film for the Frugal Film Project, I took one of these to use with the Agfa Silette Rapid F. Loading the Rapid F was simple enough, just a question of making sure the wind-on ratchets lined up with the sprockets of the film and slowly advancing the film so that it fed into the empty canister. Then close the back of the camera and shoot two frames until the counter was at zero.
It was a lovely sunny afternoon, so I took the Rapid F to Águas Boas. I took a range of images, long distance, middle distance, and close-up using the symbols on the lens and also the distance markers. To measure the exposure I used an app called Camera Meter. After exposing the film, I decanted the 35mm back into a 35mm cassette and took it to the lab.
The first thing to say about this camera is that it’s a really nice camera to use. All the movements are smooth, and a single wind of the lever moves the film from one frame to the next. The only thing that confused me early on was the focusing with the symbols. But even that became intuitive after a while. I was a little unsure whether the film was feeding properly into the empty canister, but there’s a different ‘feel’ to the wind on lever when film is present in the film gate and when it is not. I noticed that with the Lomo Smena SL, too.
The images came out really well, although with the high contrast Harman Phoenix emulsion some of the highlights were really blown out. I’ll put that down to my faulty exposure reading rather than the camera. One the whole I was really happy with how the Agfa Silette Rapid F performed, and it’s certainly earned its place as a backup camera to the Welta Penti II ‘Golden Wonder’ and the Lomo Smena SL.
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#Agfa #AgfaRapid #Canister #Experimental #HarmanPhoenix #Rapid #RapidFilm #Silette