the presence is just a word, but i've photographed it.

I like to combine two things that I love, for example to photograph my girlfriend. But if she is currently unavailable, I like to go out with my mountain bike and make pictures of the landscape.
Also I like vintage mountain bikes and vintage cameras.
It is now spring in Germany and everything is blooming in wonderful green tones. But some days before this I went out with my 1990s Raleigh mountain bike and my 1970s Porst reflex TL in combination with the Porst 2.8/55mm lens and an expired Kodak Farbwelt 200 film.
Behind the forest is a plateau with fields and old trees. I liked the simplicity and sparseness of this scenario and made some pictures.

the macro effect: the monster macro setup.

Today I want to show a really monster macro setup with extension tubes and the Hama Macro Lens +10.
First I used the Panagor extension tube set (11mm, 18mm + 36mm) in combination with the Porst 2.8/55mm lens at the Porst reflex TL. It's a typical heavy and simple, but cool 1970s SLR made by Cosina. I bought it very cheap at Ebay.

The performance of the extension tubes are very good, but I wanted a little bit more, therefore I attached Hama Macro Lens +10 to the setup. The enlarging factor is really hot!

My PRAKTIsche CAmera collection.

The KW beauties

Here is my Praktica collection! At this moment I have got eleven of them from seven different series:
Praktiflex FX
Praktica F.X3 blue
Praktica IV 
Praktica nova 1st modification (Praktica nova series)
Porst FX4 (Praktica PL nova I series)
Praktica super TL (Praktica PL nova I series)
Porst CX4 (Praktica L series - 1st generation)
Praktica LTL3 black speed (Praktica L series - 2nd generation)
Praktica PLC3 (Praktica L series - 3rd generation)
Revue ML (Praktica L series - 4th generation)
Praktica BMS (Praktica B-System - cameras with manual speed shutter control)

PLC3 and nova

The early models (FX, F.X3 and IV) were still built by KW and then from the nova models by Pentacon.
Therefore I consider the Pentacon FB and the KW Pentona to this collection, too.

BMS and Pentacon FB

advertising from West German fotoMagazin 08/1971 magazine

advertising from West German Colorfoto 11/1976 magazine

advertising from Brazilian Iris Foto 10/1982 magazine

I like a lot to photograph with the Prakticas, because they're simple, but have a very good quality.
Here come some of my favorite pictures, which I shot with Prakticas:

"einsame zweisamkeit", germany, 2005: shot with the Porst FX4

"emancipate yourself from mental slavery", brasil, 2010: shot with the LTL3

"a flor desfocada #3", brasil, 2011: shot with the Porst FX4

"guevara", germany, 2015: shot with the Revue ML

"der kran #3", germany, 2015: shot with the Porst CX4

Say "yes" to the PRAKTICA

buying film today...part 2.

The Zeiss Ikon Days films

In the first part I showed two point&shoot cameras, which I only bought because of the films, which came with them. In the last weeks I found once more two interesting auctions with two point&shoot cameras and films.
The first one was with a cheap Revue whatever camera and three expired Agfa Vista 200 films and an expired Revue Color 200 film made by Agfa. I like a lot the old Agfa films. I bought the set for a really good price. The camera I won't use, just the films.

picture from the ebay seller

Then I found a Sealife SL-100 underwater camera with three expired Kodak Farbwelt 200 films. This camera I'll definitely use!!!

picture from the ebay seller

At Ebay I also look at auctions of film bundles for a good price. Sometimes I have luck and nobody makes a higher bit or even better, nobody makes a bit.

picture from the ebay seller

picture from the ebay seller

Lately I searched for really good films like old Agfa color films, Agfa Chrome films, the Kodak BW400CN and medium format black&white films from Agfa and Orwo. And thanks to serendipity I found a really special film called Sonnenbild, in English sun image. The drawing of the sun with the camera is really sweet! :)

At the moment I've got 88 films in my box, included are 35mm color films with 100, 200 and 400 ISO, 35mm chrome color and black&white films with 100 ISO, black&white films for 35mm and medium format with 100 and 400 ISO and a SX70 color film from the Impossible Project. I've got films from Agfa Germany, AgfaPhoto, Foma, Fuji, Kodak, Konica , Orwo and many branded films, which were made by Agfa Germany, Fuji and Kodak. Most of the films are expired, but this was the reason I bought them.

The Zeiss Ikon Days - part 5.

Now the fifth and last part of the Zeiss Ikon Days, where I also used my Zeiss Ikon pinhole camera in combination with a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod and the 496RC2 compact ball head.
The film I used was the AgfaPhoto APX 100. I used to determine the exposure time with the Ilford Pinhole Exposure Calculator. They were six minutes indoor and eight seconds outdoor.
Everything went very good until the 19th frame as the camera made problems with the transport of the film. The result was that the film ripped. At home I tried to get the film back into the cartridge, which was a delicate matter. But I managed it somehow. After this mess I was lucky that the labor developed the film. It took a little, but here are five of seven pictures which survived this little experiment...

Well, I think I still have to refine a little bit the pinhole camera for the next time.

The Zeiss Ikon Days - part 4.

From the 1890s till the 1950s, the simple box cameras were very popular as the basic camera for everybody. They were cheap and simple to handle. Only remember the slogan from Eastman Kodak: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest". Like today people in the 1920s shot pictures of the persons they loved, which you can see at the following five vintage pictures.

I have two box cameras, a Balda Rollbox from my great-grandmother and a Brazilian KAPSA. But both cameras are still in Brazil. Fortunately my girlfriend has a wonderful camera collection specialized in German cameras of the 1950/60s. Among other medium format cameras she also has a Zeiss Ikon Box-Tengor 55/2 postwar version (1950-1952). The Tengor is an untypical box camera. Unlike normal box cameras the Tengor hasn't the typical and simple meniscus fixed focus lens, but a real doublet lens.

At the Zeiss Ikon Days I used the camera with an Ilford HP5+ film and here are some of the pictures I made:

The Tichý look