Spotlight: Zenit C

The Zenit C is a diminutive 35mm SLR from 1955. It was made by the Soviet company, Krasnogorsk Mechanical Works (KMZ). I picked mine up from the Chicago Photorama camera show earlier this month. What initially attracted me to the camera was the Zenit C's tiny size for a camera with a mirror. I mean, the little guy fits right in the palm of my hand!  The all-metal construction means it still has some heft, but it's still compact enough to take pretty much anywhere without annoyance. It'll fit easily into a coat or sweatshirt pocket. 

Like most primitive SLR's, the Zenit C is painfully slow to operate. This is mostly due to the Zenit C's lenses having no sort of automatic aperture diaphragm. You have to focus the camera with the lens wide open, then manually stop the lens down to the desired aperture before exposure. The 50mm f/3.5 lens that came with my camera has no aperture stop ring, so I had to take my eye away from the finder after focusing, carefully change the aperture to the desired setting without changing the focus, recompose through the finder again, and then make the exposure. Of course, I could have focused and composed with the aperture already at the correct setting, but then the finder would be incredibly dim and the focus imprecise. Capturing any kind of moving subject without resorting to hyperfocal distances is near-impossible. 

One other annoyance I had with the Zenit C is its focusing screen. It's pretty dim, and the eye needs to be basically touching the viewfinder to see the entire screen. For glasses wearers like myself, it's only possible to see about 60% of the screen at any given time. There is no focusing assist; the screen is entirely a matte surface. The shutter has to be cocked before you can look through the finder (no instant- return mirror here). 

The Zenit is basically a Zorki (KMZ's rangefinder line) with a prism attached, and the Zorki was a Barnack Leica clone. That said, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Zenit operates very similarly to a Barnack Leica. Like a Leica, film is loaded by removing the bottom panel of the Zenit C. The take-up reel is removable, so take care not to lose it! I forgot to check for a reel before purchasing the camera, but luckily one was included. :) Film is advanced via a knob that surrounds the frame counter. Like pretty much any frame counter of the period, this one does not reset automatically, and must be set back to zero manually before each roll. The shutter only has five speeds (1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/250, 1/500) along with bulb, and must be set after cocking the shutter. I've read from multiple sources that changing the speed before cocking the shutter can damage the mechanism. Rewinding is done by turning a dial on top of the camera, then turning the knob opposite the advance knob. It takes forever to rewind a roll. 

After lately using mostly 1990's autofocus cameras (as well as modern digital cameras), it was a fun change of pace to play around with the slow and archaic Zenit C. My results were... not great. I was impressed with the sharpness of the 50mm f/3.5 lens (especially considering it had lots of tiny scratches), but the camera's focal plane shutter had multiple issues. Almost every image I made features a white line, which leads me to believe the shutter is capping. There also may be some light leak issues. Take a look below. All photos were made with Kodak Tri-X. 

October Woods

A few multiple-exposure photographs I made in the woods at dusk this past Saturday.

 

Spotlight: Canon EOS 650

Lately I've been into early autofocus SLR's from the 80's and 90's, an era of cameras that I'd previously ignored because I wasn't into plastic builds and expensive batteries. Well, all that's changed, and the 1987 Canon EOS 650 is the latest camera to pique my interest.  My curiosity for the camera stems from the fact that the EOS 650 is the first Canon EOS camera, as well as the first to ever use the now legendary Canon EF mount. Previous manual focus SLR cameras such as the F-1, A-1, and AE-1, used the FD mount, but when it was clear that autofocus was the future, Canon decided to start over from scratch with a new electronically driven focusing system in the form of the EF mount. The EF mount was novel because focusing and aperture functions were controlled by motors in each individual lens, and not the camera body (like with Nikon AF lenses). This being the case, there are no levers or plungers on the rear of EF lenses, only electronic contacts.

As the first EOS camera, the 650 definitely succeeds as a proof of concept. Though there is only one autofocus point (in the center of the focusing screen, of course), focus is damn snappy. Like on a modern camera, the shutter release is pressed halfway to focus, and all the way to take a picture. I couldn't believe the speed of the autofocus, as the camera quickly locks on to the subject with next to no hunting! In comparison to other dedicated autofocus consumer cameras that I've used from the same period like the Minolta Maxxum 7000 or Nikon N2020, the EOS 650 is on a whole different level. Pretty much every shot I took was in good focus, and if it wasn't, the user was to blame. :) 

While the focusing system is certainly impressive for 1987, the rest of the camera is fairly pedestrian. The 650 was not aimed at the professional crowd, but rather the mid-level consumer. Advanced amateurs would have to wait a few additional months for the more feature rich EOS 620, and pros another two years for the EOS-1. The feature set on the 650 is pretty basic. There are four main exposure modes: manual, shutter priority, aperture priority, and program. Actually, there is a fifth mode, called "Exposure AE," which is designed to help calculate depth of field for people who don't understand the concept. It's cumbersome, and I never touched it. 

The camera works great in aperture and shutter priority modes. It's when you switch to manual that things get a bit ugly. In manual, there is no traditional light meter. I thought there was something wrong with my 650 at first, but no, this is normal. To meter light in manual mode, you must hold down an additional button on the side of the camera (The button marked "M"). Then, on the readout screen, the camera will read out "CL" or "OP" based on your current shutter speed. "CL" means close down the aperture, while "OP" means (you guessed it) open the aperture. If the camera deems your current settings correct, "OO" will display on the LCD screen. So, in short, manual mode sucks on the EOS 650. Stick to the auto modes like I did if you value your sanity. 

To compliment the automatic modes, there is also an exposure compensation feature that goes all the way to +/- 5 EV. If you want to shoot action, there is a continuous shooting mode that goes up to three frames per second. Not so impressive now, but good for the time, especially considering the size of the camera. Speaking of size, the 650 has an excellent form factor, and though a little on the heavy side for a simple camera, it feels great in my hands. The grip is comfy, and I love how the auto exposure button falls within easy access of my right thumb. Unless you're constantly fiddling with exposure compensation or switching through exposure modes, it's easy to use the 650 with just one hand. I also love the look of the 650; the raised bottom portion of the camera is funky, and for whatever reason, the overall aesthetic to me feels very cyberpunk. It definitely wouldn't look out of place in the hands of Harrison Ford on the set of Blade Runner.

Below are some photos I made with the EOS 650 on a recent trip to Indianapolis. I used a 50mm f/1.8 Canon EF lens, and Ilford HP5+ 400 film. 

Base Ball Portraits (Part 3)

Another six portraits starring members of the Chicago Salmon vintage base ball team, including yours truly at the top. 

 

Base Ball Portraits (Part 2)

A continuation of the drawings I'm working on for the Chicago Salmon vintage base ball club. These portraits will eventually be featured on the team website, chicagosalmon.org. Each portrait is 6" x 6". 

Base Ball Portraits (Part 1)

This summer I'm working on making graphite pencil portraits depicting members of the Chicago Salmon vintage base ball club. These portraits will eventually be featured on the team website, chicagosalmon.org. Each portrait is 6" x 6".