though while on Flying Medical Service duties I always carry a digital Nikon, D200 or lately D300s, I never fail to take a film camera with me. Below was a Zorki II with a 50mm and some Fujichrome slide films. We had landed in Engoveroni in the Rift Valley near the volcano Lengai. Late afternoon for a beautiful light. as always if the nurses don’t need me for jabs, I wander around, in the hills or the village.
this is volcanic turf, here is the Lengai far away, quiet nowadays. The village itself is built on the slope of a crater, Empakai in the Ngorongoro Highlands.
here is the Zorki II with its collapsible lens. This very model was made in USSR in the 50’s but the Soviets had been copying the Leica II since the 30’s. In 1945, they even looted many other German factories and went home with blueprints and crates of prime gear. Quality was to improve seriously for these copies for instance. I say ‘looted’, they say war reparation…anyway nowadays for 50 euros you get those lovely cameras and one can step, well try to, in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s shoes. I don’t mind this cheap camera to suffer under the African bush conditions whereas I’d be reluctant to bring a real vintage 1930 Leica.
looking and comparing those slides and those made on newer cameras, the difference is noticeable. Contrast and sharpness are not so remarkable. Newer lenses are multicoated and this explains that. On top this old lens might have slightly fogged over the years…but interesting exercise anyway. Nothing is automatic, focus is made through one tiny window, framing through another tiny visor, the aperture ring is poorly located, the shutter button is stiff and and noisy…as said before my respect has increased deeply for the old masters.
notice the little flaw, a clear streak on the right side. It looks like once in a while the shutter gets briefly asthmatic.
this is a harder picture to shoot. The girl is moving towards me so I have to refocus while keeping her in the frame but 2 tiny windows to switch my eyes between, remember? Nevertheless I love the challenge, no doubt.
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