The Collection Grows!

Well, what an exciting few weeks it has been!

My wife (Kim) and daughters went on a weekend trip north to Macksville.  One of my daughters was going to a wedding there and the girls decided to make a weekend of it.

Imagine my surprise when I get a photo from Kim of a film camera! They had been browsing in a bric-a-brac shop and she spied a Praktica LTL3 (35mm)!  It was priced at AU$39.  I zoomed in on the photo and it appeared in very good condition.  Kim must have been watching me and paying attention whenever I checked out vintage cameras in other stores; she wound the film winder, cocked the shutter and pushed the button to see if it would work ok.  She then opened the back and checked inside for any corrosion or damage and looked into the lens to see if it was clear.

She haggled with the store keeper and bought it home for me for AU$35!

It came with a Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Tessar 50mm f2.8 lens.  I had to replace the light seals and it has come up very nicely after a clean.  

I have loaded it with a Cinestill 50D film (crossing my fingers on that one considering the hassles with the last roll) and can't wait to get out and about on a sunny winters day!

A very spoiled husband!

I am always keeping an eye on (of all places!) Facebook Marketplace for film cameras.  Often people have a clean out and it seems most people aren't interested in a film camera anymore.

About a week and a half ago, a Zenza Bronica ETRSi (medium format) camera popped up in my feed.  It was very reasonably priced AU$300 and, appeared from the photos posted, to be in very good condition.  The seller had purchased it in the UK for a project that never quite got off the ground and she had never used it.  

Included in the deal was a Zenzanon EII 75mm f2.8 lens, a 120mm film back, waist finder and a 35mm film back also!

I was pretty excited to see the 35mm film back which, from all reports I read on line, was a panorama back.  That would be a lovely addition to the package.

I messaged her but the reply was that she was waiting on payment from an overseas buyer who was transferring monies the next day.  She did say that she would message me if that did not eventuate.  Well, true to her word, she messaged me the next day; she had not heard from her overseas buyer, would I be interested to have a look?

The next day, I went and checked it out.  Not a scratch on it!  Lovely clear lens and, the sweet sound of that shutter gave me goosebumps!  She did admit that she was not sure if the 35mm film back worked at all, hence the very reasonable price for the whole kit; she was throwing it in because it went with the camera.  It turned out that it was not the pano film back but just a normal 35mm sized back anyway.  I was not perturbed if the 35mm film back didn't work; I have quite a few 35mm film cameras!  If I can get it to work though, it will be a different way of shooting 35mm film.

So, done deal!  For AU$280 I bought home something I had been looking for for ages; a 2nd medium format camera!

The medium format camera I already have is a Voigtlander Bessa 1.  It shoots in 6x9 format and although I love the giant negatives, I only get 8 exposures from that camera.  This camera shoots in 6x4.5 format and will give me 15 exposures from the roll!

Tonight I have loaded it (that was an experience!) with a Fomapan Classic 100 black & white.  

It may take me a couple of weeks to get through both of these films but watch this space!

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