Quad Camera App Rules

As much as I’m devoted to my film cameras, I love messing around with my iPhone camera. It’s fun, always with me and is the next best thing to having a toy or vintage instrument to work with. I look at it as a bridge between the digital SLR world and the toy world (see my post New Year, New Camera ). I recently got a couple of new apps for my iPhone that I’ve been really enjoying.

First is the CamTimer Lite. At $1.99 this app is handy for taking the always-entertaining self-portrait and offers 5 or 15 seconds of self-timing action. In addition, it allows you to tweak anti-shake sensitivity, autosave time and put a date or time on your picture. Pretty handy-dandy and brought to you by fellow word pressers NaughtyNuts.

Another helpful app is called Night Shots. It allows you to add a little fill light to pictures while you’re taking them or to shots you already have saved on your iPhone. There are 3 levels of brightness, low, medium and high. This app isn’t going to save a horribly underexposed shot and in my experience tends not to be terribly effective when the darkened subject is against a very light background, but for minor adjustments it’s fantastic! I took a photo of my daughter today and pumped it up first with the Night Shots app. It looks almost HDR!

Then I used Camera Bag, probably my most-used photographic app, and added the Helga effect. I really love the results and for 99 cents, it’s a bargain. Night Shot is from Cocoa Tek.

Last but certainly not least is the cooler than cool, funner than fun Quad Camera from Art & Mobile. I stumbled across this on a Flickr site dedicated to iPhone pictures and noticed the Action-Sampler-esque images. They were really cool!! As the owner of an Action Sampler I was thrilled to find an equivalent in the world of iPhone. I own an Action Sampler and I do have a lot of fun with it but trying to use up a roll of 36 pictures can be tough. I’ve taken some fun shots of the sunset, an old truck and a stroll on the beach using this app. You can not only arrange your four shots in a square, you can also have these shots appear horizonally or go all out and use the 8-frame format in rectangular form or 8 shots in a horizontal line. One of the best features is the ability to pick the color type of the picture. Your choices are vivid, dull, grayscale, bright, hi-con and no effect. These basically mimic the lomographic looks of a Holga,  cross-processed film and over-blown lighting. By far the best bang for your buck for the toy camera lover at only $1.99.

I’ve had a great time playing with my fun, new apps and am thrilled that I spent less than $5!! Up next I’ll be trialing a close-up lens for the iPhone. A what? Yes people, a close-up lens for the iPhone. Stay tuned!

Zenit-E: All it’s cracked up to be

After acquiring 5 new cameras in the past few weeks I’ve been eager to try them out and it was no question which one I was going to test drive first. I’ve been coveting the Zenit-E for months now but just couldn’t bear to pay outrageous lomography.com or eBay prices. It just didn’t seem worth it for a camera that has such an inconsistent reputation in the durability department. After all, there aren’t very many Russian camera repair guys in my neck of the woods. Now that I finally had my very own I loaded it with a roll of Fuji portrait film 400iso and took a trip to my backyard–the test subject for most of my cameras.

The Zenit-E is not a lightweight camera. It’s metal body is sturdy, the knobs and buttons substantial and smooth-moving. The choice of the standard Helios lens is a fine complement to the Zenit for it too is well-made. Nothing on this camera feels cheap. If you’re familiar at all with vintage lomo cameras then you’ll feel right at home when you go to shoot film. There’s the manual film counter that you reset to zero at the beginning of every roll (much like the Fed series cams), the shutter speed knob which you pull up, rotate and drop into placed (but only with the shutter already cocked so as not to screw up the works) and the relatively slim body.

However, there were a few features that were new to me that I had to figure out on my own. The film rewind knob? Couldn’t find it to save my darn life. I went online to rugift.com and checked out their translated manual to see what I was doing wrong. The directions were a bit confusing, even with the accompanying illustrations. You’re supposed to disengage the shutter, push the little button beside it and move the knob counter-clockwise. Not realizing that the knob I needed to be rotating was on the left side of the camera and needed to be pulled up, I inadvertently kept turning the film advance knob counter-clockwise causing that entire knob to loosen (I’m still trying to decide how to fix it). When I finally found the knob I pulled it all the way up to try and rewind the film which didn’t work because the spool is not engaged at that point. This is what you do when you want to take the film canister out of the camera. Pulling it up half-way should do the trick next time and hopefully I won’t have to sacrifice a few frames of film in the process. The light meter is also a new feature. It does seem to work although I’m so unused to having this feature in a vintage camera that I haven’t really paid it any mind. The only feature that doesn’t work on my camera is the self-timer. It’s missing on my model but I don’t really use it that much so it’s not really a concern.

Looking through the viewfinder is quite easy. It seems really roomy in there (if that makes any sense). I don’t feel like I’m missing things in the periphery of the frame. The viewfinder opening itself is probably the largest I’ve ever seen on a camera–the size of a dime. After squinting through tiny range-finders and other assorted cameras this is a welcome treat.

As far as pictures go, I was blown away. Really and truly. Russian glass is so freakin’ great. The Helios-44-2 lens has f/16-2 which gave me remarkable depth of field. It’s tough to find a lens nowadays that goes to f/2 that doesn’t cost a-gazillion dollars so I feel like I hit the jackpot with this lens! It’s got to be one of the best lenses I’ve ever found in a cheap, vintage camera. The pictures really do speak for themselves.

Like the title says, the Zenit-E really is all it’s cracked up to be: a great little SLR that takes amazing pictures and at the same time is technically challenged. As far as repairs go, I’ll try the DIY method until things get super-complicated or until the shutter dies, whichever comes first. Then I’ll probably go right out and buy another one because it’s well worth spending the money for this Russian workhorse.

Update: After trying in vain to tighten the film advance/film counter mechanism I’ve decided to purchase a Zenit body on eBay. It only costs $9 and I’ve already got the most important part of the camera–the Helios lens.

Retro Heaven

I was sitting at home minding my own business when a friend called and said he’d found a  local flea market that sold old cameras.  That was really all I needed to hear, then I got the picture he sent from his phone: A wall of old cameras–from box cameras, to movie cameras, SLRs and bakelites. It was amazing! He said he wanted to go back this weekend for a few more things and asked if I wanted to tag along (well, duh!).

Chesapeake Retro Media, located at 314 Centreville Rd in Queenstown, MD is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday and has a great collection of not only vintage cameras and old darkroom equipment but also DVDs, VHS tapes (including Beta), reel-to-reel machines and tapes, slides and slide projectors, books, amps, speakers, turntables, instruments, well, you get the picture. I was amazed and impressed by the variety of cameras on display yesterday; lots of 35mm SLRs, some movie cameras, a few fold-outs, a box camera and brands such as Ansco, Argus, Minolta, Voigtlander, Brownie, Zenit and Olympus.

The first camera I decided on was a gold-colored Brownie Bull’s Eye from 1950. It’s made of metal and is quite heavy. Since I have a few Brownies I thought this would be a nice addition to my collection. I was thrilled to find my second camera, the Zenit-E among the mostly American inventory. I’d been searching for one of these SLRs for a few months. The Ansco Ready Flash with the big, metal flash reflector still attached was a no-brainer. It’s lovely little Bakelite body needs a good scrub and will then be ready to go. Lastly I chose the Voigtlander Brillant which I originally thought was a TLR camera but upon further research and inspection proves not to be so. Still, it looks cool and I’ve heard nice things about this camera. It even came with what appear to be two little close-up lenses hidden in a little compartment on the side of the camera. I can’t wait to goof around with some macro-type shots with that one.

I also picked up a great stiff pleather camera bag for eight bucks that held all four cameras on their journey home, a little Ansco Cadet carrying case in the original box and a stainless steel single reel film developing container with a stainless steel reel inside.

JoAnne, the owner’s wife, was kind enough to give me a phone number where I can contact her husband, whom she says has hundreds of more cameras at home (gasp!!). She said her husband and son get most of the retro media goodies through estate sales (can I tag along next time?). She said if I left the names of some cameras I was interested in finding he’d keep his eye out for me.

As if these goodies weren’t enough the cool Diana Clone (a Mark L) that I ordered from eBay came in the mail today, complete with the original box and instruction booklet, plus–BONUS–a roll of film from 1960-something still inside. There’s one frame left, too!

I think I’ll be busy cleaning and testing out my new toys for awhile!

Shout Outs

Big shout out of thanks to Andrew at Fuzzy Eyeballs for giving me the opportunity to share some thoughts on foul weather photography and lo-fi photography. He contacted me a few weeks ago after seeing some of my photos on Flickr and asked to interview me about some of the shots I took in rainy, foggy weather last fall (see the Snow and Fog Pictures and Foggy Picture Practice was worth it!). It was fun to answer his questions and really got me to thinking how most of my favorite shots are from my experimental photo adventures. Most of the photos I ‘plan’ turn out nicely, some even great, but by far most of the works I really love come from seeing what will happen if I try something new. It really served to remind me that experimentation is the only way to get better and further reinforces me to embrace imperfection.

Big shout out #2 to Nic Nichols of Four Corners Dark.com for his candid and spot-on thoughts about Photoshop and it’s place in photography. Nichols helped develop and taught for the University of DE’s digital imaging program. Not credentials you’d expect from an accomplished toy camera photographer. Check out his article, it’ll make you think and give you some encouragement. I’m also VERY thankful he reviewed the new Diana Mini, a camera I was seriously considering buying (with piggy points, but still). Again, another honest article from Nic reminds us of the old saying ‘if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.’

Plastic Rules!

Plastic Camera Van

Artscape is held each year in Baltimore and is one of the largest free arts festivals in the nation. If you’ve never gone you should ABSOLUTELY make the pilgrimage one year–it is well worth it! Not only are there fantastic works of art in all the traditional mediums, there are also great ‘unconventional’ works of art. This year I saw tons of items made from recycled goods; bottle-cap necklaces (of which my daughters fell in love with), t-shirts made from other t-shirts, watch bands and bracelets made from old belts (got one and I love it!), broken tile jewelry and so much more.

My favorite thing to see every year is the art cars. Fantastically decorated by insanely talented individuals, these art cars really are moblie masterpieces. This year featured the ‘Handy Van’, a beach car, Yellow Submarine car, Music car, a van with metal things attached and, my personal favorite, a van covered entirely in PLASTIC CAMERAS!

It was UNREAL! Covering this old van were Polaroids, Brownies, a Diana clone and even a Hassy! On the driver’s side was an enourmous circular lens-looking object made of lenses that had been removed from various cameras. The passenger’s side included three monitors which may or may not be fuctional. They weren’t on for this exhibit.

Everyone there must have thought I had lost my mind because I couldn’t stop snapping pictures of this crazy thing. I specifically brought my Holga loaded with Ilford and my Vivitar UWS filled with none other than Fuji Velvia that I planned to cross-process. I couldn’t find the owner of this magnificent vehicle but when I do, oh boy look out!

Here are a couple of my black and white shots. Check out my Flickr site for the Vivitar UWS cross-processed pictures. Plastic Rules!!

Gone to the Dark Side?

Alright. So I finally broke down and got that digital SLR I’ve been lusting after for a good two years. Well, not exactly the same one. This one is a refubished Nikon D40 that, in a former life, served as a factory demo.  It’s fancy alright and in great condition too; way too many buttons and knobs compared to my toys, but I digress.

I was pretty excited to play with it and I haven’t been disappointed so far. It really is a nice camera. No shutter lag, beautiful pictures–except for a little fuzziness in the corners but I’m used to that. The more I played with it the more I wondered–have I gone over to the dark side? I’ve gotten some fantastic shots from this camera but have had to tweak some of them in Lightroom to make them true standouts. I felt very dirty after I did this the first time. Almost like I was trying to sneak candy out of the 7-11 beneath my jacket. But the results were undeniable. The pictures were better after the tweaking. After a few sessions of deep thought I came to peace with my new toy.

While my digital camera will be the go-to consistent camera in my bag of tricks, I still love my toys and get the results I want–no tweaking required–when I use them. I gave my husband and Dad a great photo of my kids for Father’s Day and guess which camera I used to take it? My Holga. I have a vibrant set of prints hanging on my living room wall of some fall foliage taken on Fuji Velvia run through my Lubitel. When you really break it down, I just don’t enjoy sitting in front of my computer editing endless frame after frame of digital shots. I’m super excited to have the technology but my true love will always be film and cheap cameras. I guess you have to stray sometimes to find out where your heart truly lies.

I think I get it

Ever since playing around with vintage film cameras I have had to explain to my fellow digital photographers why I love them.  They can’t comprehend why one would want to goof around with a $10 camera when one could play with a- zillion mega pixels and digital editing software that would make a Pixar filmmaker jealous. I understand most of the arguments for digital, including the convenience factor. But I really never understood why digital? Really? Is it an artform or just pixels in space? Why sit for hours at a computer monitor and tweak your picture until it’s your idea of perfect?

So I turned the tables on someone and got an interesting answer. Digital, this person stated, is MY medium. What I create out of pixels is art to me just as your tangible film negative and resulting print is art to you. Interesting. But I was still having trouble wrapping my mind around it all. 

Enter a particularly challenging photo gig and the need to tweak some horribly exposed pictures in something other than PS. I was contemplating switching to Lightroom to ‘perfect’ digital shots of an 80th birthday party.  I understand the need for the sharp, crisp look, especially when folks are actually paying you for that type of product. An innocuous how-to video really crystallized the answer to this question for me.

The video was explaining how the photographer got these fantastic colors in the sky of a gorgeous landscape shot of what looked like the Grand Canyon. Immediately I looked at the shot and thought “Wow,that is so fake” and it was. This guy made no bones about it in the video and explained that he took the original picture, which was very drab and unimpressive, and turned it into what he remembered the shot ‘feeling’ like in the moment. It was intriguing to hear his explanation. This picture was taken in the warm light of the morning and the original just didn’t capture that warmth. He felt that the altered version of the sky really captured the what he was feeling in that environment and what he was trying to convey in his photography. So THAT’S what it’s all about! 

Just like those of us in the film community love the retro, grainy and imperfect look of our shots, digital photogs love the sharp and perfect look they can attain through mega pixels. I look at the film way as a more ‘organic’ view of the world; relatively unaltered, imperfect and natural, while the digital view of the world is ‘enhanced’; saturated, perfected, possible cut-and-pasted and totally in the electronic realm until one actually prints a copy of the photo onto paper.

Understanding the digital photographer’s need to fill their pictures with surreal colors and shapes helps me appreciate what they do a bit more but I have to say, as a film girl I resent the fact that the public has become accustomed these overly-saturated shots as the norm. It seems as though popular tastes have shifted towards a more unrealistic view of the world through a lens. My film shots look really drab in comparison to digitized ones and they always will because I don’t like making them look fake. Oversaturation due to crossprocessing is one thing while vibrant reds, purples, yellow and oranges in every sunset picture you’ve ever taken is quite another.

I guess that’s why us film-o-philes don’t outnumber the digital heads. And that’s okay. Each art form has it’s place. Understanding what compels someone to work in the fully digital world has taken my acceptance of it to a new level. Next time I see an unnaturally colored sky or flower I will know that it represents more than just mad PS skills. That’s cool with me but I think  I’ll stick with the natural, organic film look.

iPhone shot on travel website!

Who says the iPhone camera takes crappy pictures? I was recently contacted by Emma Williams of the Schmap Baltimore Guide. They were in the midst of putting together their seventh edition of the guide and one of my iPhone photos was short-listed for inclusion. I was pretty stoked but figured nothing would come of it. A few weeks later, wouldn’t you know, Emma contacted me saying this shot would be included in their guide! Yay! 

Low and Long Exposures with Holga

On our recent trip to NYC my family and I made a stop at the Natural History Museum. What a fantastic place and very visually interesting as well. The place was full of possibilities for low-light shots. With my Holga on bulb setting and using walls, columns and sometime the exhibits themselves to brace the camera, I was able to capture some pretty unusual shots. Here are my favorites.

Foggy Picture practice was worth it!

Wow, OK, so it’s been awhile. You know how life gets in the way. The good thing is I’ve been able to take some pretty cool pictures lately.

My little family and I visited some friends and relatives in NYC at the end of March and I loaded up my Holga and Brownie with B&W film and went to town. Coming from my rural home, it was quite the sensory-overload experience and I must say, this small-town girl had a few panic attacks from the claustrophobia I felt with all those people around, not to mention trying to keep track of 3 children who have little big-city know-how. Yikes!

Our visit was on a weekend with mostly foggy weather and the remnants of a recent snowstorm. I was THRILLED that I had conducted my foul weather experiments in January because the lessons learned came in handy.

I love using the Holga for long-exposure shots. It turns out I guess the shutter time right most of the time. Here are some of my favorite outdoor shot taken in Central Park. 

My favorite is the reflection of the fence in the puddle with No Carriages, No Dogs, No Bikes painted on the curb. After I took it I couldn’t wait to develop my film and see if it turned out as I expected and it actually did! That’s happening more and more often, which I love. I used Ilford FP4 + iso 125 and developed it in Ilfosol 3. I haven’t developed the Brownie shots yet but I finally got a 127-sized film reel so they should be finished soon.

Up next, some low-light shots I took in a museum.