My lovely new Bronica EC

What does a good person do when they can’t go to the pub for months?
That’s right - save up that cash and buy a Bronica!

Yes, I went and bought something I’ve wanted for quite a while.
A proper system-based medium format camera.

I couldn’t afford a Hasselblad. I’d been eyeing up the Bronica ETRS for a while, as well as the Mamiya 645 (but both have recently jumped up in price quite a bit). I’d even been contemplating a Kiev 88 or one of its spin-offs (reliability put me off). The Bronica S2A was very attractive, but once again - quite expensive unless you went for the slightly older S2 - and I’d heard that they could be a little bit tricksy with the gears stripping over time.

Which brought me to the EC. People were scared of the EC because of it having an electronic shutter. But I’ve got two other film cameras (Olympus OM10 and Yashica Electro 35) which rely on electronics and they work like a dream. And with all my research, I couldn’t find anyone who’d actually owned one say that the electronics were crap. So the naysayers make the EC a bit of a bargain… and I went for a nice all black one!

A detail of some boat rigging in Charlestown.

The first thing you notice with the EC is the weight. This is not a light, chuck-it-in-yer-bag camera. But that’s OK - I still have my Yashica 635 for lighter days. However, even though it is heavy it is a work of beauty.

And the CLUNK of that mirror! Even my wife had to admit, “Yeeeeah, that is a good sound.”

I ran a test roll through as soon as I got it and all looked good. But the proper test was going to be taking it to Cornwall for ten days on a family holiday/visiting the in-laws trip in October. I know what Cornwall can be like - quite changeable in weather, so I wanted a film that could (a) let me test the camera and (b) handle lots of different kinds of light. I settled on Fomapan 200 - a film I’ve shot with a lot. It hasn’t got as wide a latitude as some others but still perfectly workable for what I needed. Also, familiarity is always important when getting to know a new toy.

Shadows on the floor of a cafe in St Just.

Straight off the bat I was in love with this camera. Yes, it’s heavy. But after a while I didn’t notice that whatsoever. The viewfinder is stunningly bright - I found myself composing and focusing shots quicker than I’d ever done with an unfamilar camera. I was feeling so confident with it that I didn’t even meter every shot, as soon as I had a good measurement for a scene I just went for it and used my instinct.

Much as I love lighter cameras, I am thinking maybe I’ve found a near perfect camera for me. It has a phenomenal lens (a Nikkor 75mm f2.8), it feels great in the hands and - for a medium format - is quick to work with. I love the modular aspect of it - at present I’ve only got the one back but I will buy more so I can load up with different films. But further on from that I can build it with different viewfinders, lenses, grips, even viewfinder screens. It is a fantastic camera that can grow with me.

Film from https://analoguewonderland.co.uk
Dev and scans by https://www.silverpan.co.uk/

The little guy’s gonna end up in here somewhere, hasn’t he?

The quarry at Wheal Martyn. It is BIG. And I love all those textures.

Also at Wheal Martyn, a gorgeous wooded area.

One of the old railway trucks at Wheal Martyn.

Ruan Lanihorne on the Roseland Peninsula. Losing the light whilst metering on something quite delicate.

Waiting for the King Harry Ferry back over the River Fal.

Zorki 4

As an addition to the Jupiter 8 lens I bought last month, I thought it only right that I also had a nice rangefinder which it would have originally been paired with.

So I got myself a Zorki 4.

The Zorki 4 came out of the Krasnogorsk factory near Moscow and was the first Zorki to be sold in large quantities to the west, which is probably why there are quite a few examples around. And which also keeps the used price low!

Built between 1956 and 1973, my model is from 1960. I could have got one for the same price from '58, but they upgraded them slightly in '60 and added some extra shutter speeds in. The Zorki 4 was basically an update of the Zorki 3, which itself was a copy of the Leica III. And it's a very nice thing. Feels like a decent solid camera to have in your hand.

I'd not used a rangefinder before. So the focussing took a bit of getting used to. And the photos I got back show that I need more practice! But the shutter is lovely and quiet - I can see why so many street photographers in the past liked these. I've also been a bit wrong footed with the focussing distance of the Jupiter 8. Unlike a lot of modern lenses which allow me to focus up relatively closely, the closest I can get with this is 1m, so I'm having to rethink some shots. Added to which, there is also the parallax of looking through the rangefinder/viewfinder window to what is actually captured on film.

I loaded the Zorki up with a roll of Foma 200 film as I had a few kicking around. I think as a film it works quite nicely with this vintage of camera and lens. Although not my best shots ever, there's a certain way this camera, lens and film combination is capturing the light which I really like (the shot of the bottles above being a good example... if you'll forgive the slightly dodgy focus!). It reminds me of the look some European cinema was getting in the 1940s/50s; in particular Luchino Visconti. It's grainy with a real nice three dimensional feel to the shadows.

It looks old. it isn't about the precision, but capturing the tonality beautifully.
I've loaded it up with some more Foma 200, so with a bit more practice I'm hoping to start capturing some really nice images with the Zorki.

It would also have been rude not to have bought yet another of my favourite straps for the Zorki. So I went shopping at www.1901fotografi.co.uk. Check out their straps. They're lovely.

Fomapan 200

Recently I've been playing with some Fomapan 200 film in my OM10. I've previously tried Foma 100 before in 120 format and read some good reports about the 200 speed variety, so thought it might be good to try out as it's a pretty cheap film.

As with pretty much all my photography on film nowadays, I tend to rate the film so I overexpose. Having read that Foma 200 had a couple of stops of latitude, I rated it as 100. And I'm liking what I'm getting (although some reports say rating it at 160 is even better).

It's got a nice bit of grain to it, which is something I quite like in black and white film. And it has what I'd consider quite an old look; slightly vintage. It doesn't have the precision that some newer films have, it sort of has the feel of street photography or documentary photography from the 1950s/60s, of which I'm a bit of a fan.

Tonally, it was really nice to play with afterwards. I could get some nice deep blacks whilst keeping a nice range of greys up to white to give the kind of contrast I like. I think I'm a bit of a fan of this lovely Czech film!