Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:35 p.m.
Here's another camera I know little about. My understanding is that this m42 camera was first made in 1972 (a year after the Nikon F2 to provide some context) and was produced until 1977. I got a lucky bid on an auction and was pleasantly surprised when I received this minty camera in a minty case.
First impressions: it's handsome in an angular, utilitarian, Germanic way but it certainly posed no threat to the Japanese cameras of the time. I would go so far as to say that technology-wise this body is no match even for a Spotmatic that was released almost a decade earlier. The build quality is solid but it has no finesse or sophistication (e.g., the film transport is primitive). And the rewind lever takes some muscle to actuate -- I swear the camera has a recoil like a small calibre handgun when the loud vertical metal shutter fires. But having said that, this all-mechanical camera feels very reliable and it has a very cool built-in selenium lightmeter that is still accurate and quite ingenious in its simplicity (see below).
Anyway, I recently went to meet a friend for lunch and decided to take public transit. I loaded the LB with some Kentmere 400 and used the built-in meter to time these exposures in and out of the subway...
Praktica LB circa 1972
Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:38 p.m.
Clean and simple design. But it's certainly not the buttery smooth wind of a Topcon...
Shutter speeds seem accurate
Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:43 p.m.
Here's the very cool selenium meter. You set the ASA (or should I say DIN in this case) and rotate the black outer ring until the needle is centered on the circle. Then, simply read the corresponding fstop and shutter speed combo and transfer manually to the camera.
Simple and effective
Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:49 p.m.
Here's a shot I took of the tunnel right before the train came barrelling through. I placed the camera on a ledge and let the meter give me an exposure (I think it was 1/8th at f11). The image is pretty grainy so I'm not sure if it's because of the cheap Kentmere film or my new neg scanner....
subway tunnel
Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:50 p.m.
For the middle of the day, the subway platforms wer remarkably empty...
escalator
Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:53 p.m.
But the lack of people let me set up my handheld shots in a leisurely fashion so I'm not complaining...
bloor & yonge
Capital Q , Jul 13, 2010; 11:56 p.m.
On my way back from a pleasant lunch, I decided to walk outside and take a few shots but the mid-day heat soon drove me back underground...
old apartments
Frank Schifano , Jul 13, 2010; 11:59 p.m.
I love that first shot of the tunnel, and no I don't think it's excessively grainy. That's pretty much what I'd expect to see from a 400 speed film shot under those conditions. Anyway, that looks like a deep tunnel subway, one made with a tunnel boring machine. It's not at all like the subway tunnels we have here in NYC. Most of ours were are very close to the surface, with the platforms really no more than about 20 ft below street level.
Capital Q , Jul 14, 2010; 12:00 a.m.
For bonus points, can anyone identify this car? Very retro but it also has a few anachronistic touches such as the modern trunk-level brake light at the back. Very cool car that would certainy not be out of place with my classic cameras. It would look great in my driveway...
retrocar exterior
Capital Q , Jul 14, 2010; 12:03 a.m.
retrocar interior
