It’s been over 5 years since the “visitors” who landed in my back yard took me captive and now that I have finally been set free It’s time to return to my blog. If you believe that then you are at the wrong web post. I like the Twilight Zone too but mostly because it was such a brilliantly written, directed, cinema-graphed and produced show. And it was in black and white, which is a good segue into my first photo topic in 5 years: big old camera and black & white film.
I recently picked up a used circa 1970s Zenza Bronica EC square medium format SLR. It has the standard 75mm Nikkor 2.8 lens and weighs a tad under 5 pounds with the lens. After walking around with just an iPhone in my pocket as my everyday camera which as a camera / photography enthusiast I am somewhat embarrassed to admit the Bronica which felt more like a brontosaur reminded me of what it was like to walk around with a real camera. For starters I just shot a 12 exposure roll of Ilford HP5 Plus 400 speed black and white film. I basically took some typical nature shots in the back yard and surrounding woods. This was mostly a test roll to find out if the camera had any problems such as light leaks, streaks or film scratches, the kind of things only a film run can show. Prior to actually using the camera I spent a good deal of time checking it out, taking it apart - removing the film back, lens, focusing ring and hood. I even practiced running an old roll of 220 film through it just to make sure I’d know how to load the film. Although the EC model of the Bronica does not have a built in light meter (a rather large external one that fit over the focusing screen was sold separately) it does have an electronically controlled focal plane shutter which is powered by a PX28 battery which is still available. I was surprised that the battery test light still worked!
I could go into a lot of boring detail about all the aspects of this marvelous piece of engineering but I’ll just say that it’s an interesting, fun, sometimes challenging way to take photographs compared to using a digital camera. It’s also more expensive shooting film in general and does not provide the instant gratification that one gets when using a digital camera. And that can sometimes be a good thing!
For more information and pictures of this camera you can go to this link:
Same as the photo above but flipped, cropped and adjusted in DxO Film Pack 4
