Back In Action

Thanks to the loving generosity of a wonderful friend - I am now the proud owner of a very unique camera, the Zeiss-Ikon 510/2 - also called the Bob 510/2. So many things make this camera so special, first it was made in 1936 and for being 72 years old it is in fantastic shape (it was purchased from the original owner in a small coastal Spanish town). It uses 120 (medium format), which is very common and should (fingers crossed) be produced for many years to come.
It came with this cool leather carrying case which is also in fantastic shape for it's age, inside I keep a notebook, pen, and some exposure charts. Because there is no exposure meter built in, the aforementioned exposure charts are pretty crucial, unless you just want to wing the exposure. Each snap of the shutter I write down the shutter speed, f stop, focus distance, and scene details. Definitely not a rapid approach to photography, but certainly a record for a lifetime. As you can see the shutter speed options are quite limited - 1/25, 1/75, Bulb (open as long as shutter is depressed), and Time (first depression opens, second depression closes), so obviously you won't be stopping much motion with this thing. However, it is quite perfect for long exposures using the Time setting, helpful to have a timer around.
To me the best part of the camera is the aspect ratio, which is 6x9! Pretty amazing for such a small camera, later versions went to the traditional square medium format (6x6). Below you can see that the negative from this thing is nearly 4 times the size of a standard 35mm - talk about resolution. However, this only yields 8 images per roll.
So far I have put three rolls of film through, and last night I developed a batch of C41 film by hand. Unfortunately, 2 rolls were damaged - partly to user error and partly because the new Kodak 400NC film stock really is horrible, very flimsy and hard to load, does not help I use a stainless steel 220 reel (always doing things the hard way). The surviving roll yielded an image I would like to share. Made this one on the platform of Civic Center BART - f/22, distance at infiniti, and winged it on the shutter time as the train sped by. As a 'side note,' which is equally exciting and inspiring - I now have a new laptop! Lots of cool shoots and travel are coming up in the near future, so hopefully I will step up the blog posts.
PEACE to you all!