Old camera looking for a new home

PeteHall

Moderator
Not sure if this is of interest to any of the photographic types on here.

It belonged to my late grandfather, and since I know nothing about old (or new) cameras, I'd prefer to give it to someone who will appreciate it, rather than leaving it in a box or trying to flog it online.

Any takers?
 

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Antwan

Member
That's very kind of you, I would love to try out a roll of film but I'd ultimately do just that and then it would probably sit in a box or on a shelf.

Hope you can find someone who will get some use out of it
 

ZombieCake

Well-known member
Film is still very much available, which is nice.  One issue on old cameras with a selenium light meter they can cause issues, ironically, if it's been exposed to too much light.
If that happens there's the 'Sunny 16' rule you can use completely manually.  If it's a sunny day set aperture to f16 and shutter speed to film speed.  So if you have 400 ISO film, set the the shutter to 1/400.  In practice this means either 1/500 or maybe 1/250 if not so bright.  Print film usually has lot of latitude for shuttler speed.  You can then guess from there - really bright - faster shutter, duller day slower shutter.
That camera is a Voigtlander so a good make and a good lens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

 

pwhole

Well-known member
Funnily enough I've never heard of that rule before, so thanks for sharing. I've got a large-format camera I'd like to start using again and my old Weston meter died many years ago, so this might work - I didn't really fancy having to take the SLR out too just for the light meter as I'll have enough to carry, and buying a new one seems a little excessive just for a bit of fun. Only problem is if it's cloudy...;)

One 'rule of thumb' I always observed with film, especially Tri-X, was to overexpose if in doubt, and over-develop. It's far better to have too much density in the neg than not enough.

Anyway, a friend of mine used to swear by Voigtlanders, so it's worth having if you're into film.
 

ZombieCake

Well-known member
They still make light meters.  I've one of these, works fine.  Of course you need to work out what you are pointing it at...  Don't need a flash meter at present so it's good for me. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0blZgtwUVKQ
 

Fulk

Well-known member
Years ago I did a lot of photography using film, and found that the 'sunny 16' rule was a good guide. Slide film generally works better with a slight degree of under-exposure, while negative film can stand over-exposure, so if using slide film I'd stick to the S-16 rule, but go to, say, f/11 when using print film. Of course, if it was not a sunny day, you had to use a bit of judgement  ? bright and sunny, f/16; bright with hidden sun, f/11; overcast, f/8 or /5.6 and so on.

I also had a Voigtl?nder a bit like that in the picture but without the built-in flash; it was an excellent camera, sturdy, robust with a good lens.
 

PeteHall

Moderator
For the record, the camera now has a new home, but don't let that spoil your sunny 16 (is that even legal these days???) discussion.  (y)
 

ZombieCake

Well-known member
Voigtlander still exist, although I think they are owned by Cosina now.  https://www.voigtlaender.de/?lang=en
 

TheBitterEnd

Well-known member
Hi Pete,

just to let you know that the camera is working fine. I have put a roll of duff film through it to check for light leaks and see if the shutter was sticky, etc. but it all seems good. I'll put some decent film in it and hopefully get some decent shots. Here's a couple from this roll


 

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