CMC Someday #18 - “Classics” - do they take 'great' pictures?

Two similar, extremely banal pictures, and crops thereof, that compare and show the performance of the two standard lenses that were available for a True Classic CMC.<br>These two pictures could not have been taken with any other camera or lens(es), since the subject matter of these banal pictures really is how these Classic thingies perform.<br><br><img src="http://home.tiscali.nl/qnu/PN/Testar.jpg"><br><br>Kodak (left) vs Zeiss (right).

<p>I am somewhat disturbed to see the quality of the photos from these old CMC's. They could have easily been taken with a proper camera :)<br>

Doug, you have a ....er....great set of photos, and cameras! <br>

I am now going to affix my sycophant hat.... Adam P, I just love that pic of the girl on the steps...nice one, and JDM, these threads are amongst the most entertaining on CMC. I shall add my banality soon!</p>

<p>Here's a pic I may have already posted. This was done with a rebuild from a Graflex Jr. I sat on the body with no lens for 20 years and then finally got both the lens and the lens mount. A real SLR from the 1920s.</p>

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Taken with the Graflex Jr. not too interesting but shows the Bausch and Lomb (made under license)

Tessar (probably first formula ) was a capable workhorse lens<div></div>

<p>FWIW, something I like about this particular forum is that most of the people are very experienced, and when they decide to take non-banal photos, wow.... can they shoot!</p>

<p>I'm really enjoying this feast of camera porn and photos.</p>

<p>This is great! Why don't we see such banality on a regular basis? Here's another old wreck that doesn't really take very good photographs, the Certo Super-Sport Dolly from the late 1930's. It has the not-so-great Corygon-Anastigmat f/3.5 lens, and I'll post a couple of examples of it's not-so-good work.</p><div></div>

<p>Certo 2</p><div></div>

<p>Certo 3</p><div></div>

<p>Tony, I'm happy you liked my photo, but there are much better works in this thread. To me, particularly Raymond’s “Lower Manhattan” and Doug’s “Al Grosjean, 2009” stand out.</p>

<p>My Leicaflex SL takes GREAT pictures without even trying</p><div></div>

<p>Although a red flag pops up in the corner of the viewfinder when I attempt to combine my hobbies. </p><div></div>

<p>The Voigtlander Vittessa T is my only classic camera. Purchased at a flea market for cheap, it has since been to different shops for repair and is now one of the most expensive cameras I own. If it were not for the ability of this camera to produce "great images" it would have become a paper weight.</p><div></div>

<p>Pic of the camera.</p><div></div>

<p>Rick, since you're inviting abuse I'll abuse you. Your sample Certo 3 shots are dreadful. But I can do worse, even with a better camera.</p>

<p>Thanks, <strong>Dan</strong>. It's refreshing, posting work I really dislike.</p>

<p>Don't have any sample pictures of from this one since it just arrived yesterday, but thought I'd share this accidentally hipster-ish snap of my most recent acquisition (the F2). I was actually just playing around with the 50/1.4 AI lens that came with it.</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17724438-md.jpg" alt="Untitled" width="679" height="453" border="0" /></p>

<p>The room was dim and the camera was previously set to underexpose. This is what came out.</p>

<p>Hello all. For one who cut his teeth with a Nikon F and Luna 6 in the 60's, the 1954 Voigtlander Vito II is giving me some chills ! Most exposures are sunny 16 and I am now getting darn good at gestimatting the focus (gotta get a range finder up on the electron auction site).<br>

So here is my contribution. Taken at a local sunday farmer's market. APX100 @ 80 with a Weston V (I can get technical). Semi stand developed in 3.0ml Rodinal for 50 minutes.<br>

Enjoy, Bill</p><div></div>

<p>Another banal photo with my Burke & James 4x5 Press camera. This one is my dad & my son, in my dad's Model T Ford at the East Toledo (Ohio) 2008 Christmas parade. Miserable day. Snowing like crazy. I followed to the staging area in my Jeep, watching those skinny little tires cut through the snow drifts.</p>

<p>While waiting stoically for the parade to start, and looking around at all the other participants, my Dad quoted his late mother: "Well, I see all the fools aren't dead yet."</p><div></div>

<p>And then there's the Widelux FV, another swing-lens panoramic camera that I really enjoy. For those not familiar, the lens is mounted in a rotating turret. The film parallels that turret, so the film plane is actually a radius. When you take the photo, the turret swings from left to right, and the image is painted onto the film in sequence through a vertical slit, much like a modern scanner.</p>

<p>First the camera.....</p><div></div>

<p>One potential problem with the Widelux is that the camera captures a much wider angle than the viewfinder does. So sometimes things show up in the finished photo, out there at the extremes, that despite the photographer's best efforts, truly weren't in the viewfinder.</p>

<p>Such is the case with this photo. This photo would be cliche, a snapshot of a bunch of raft guides on their day off, about to set out on the Cheat River in West Virgina.... Except for the guy on the far left making some last minute adjustments to his bladder.</p><div></div>

<p>Doug, the photo of your dad and son is not banal at all. Great stuff. And I love the Widelux, too, it has been my dream camera for a while. Can't afford it now, but I just HAVE to buy it sometime in future. But yes, one has to be careful -- this camera sees everything!</p>

<p>Thanks, Adam P.</p>

<p>This thread has me realizing that I've shot a lot of..... I mean, captured many images on old classics. Some back when they were new, and some in modern times.</p>

<p>Here's an Olympus XA. It was my first real camera, purchased after I'd been out of high school for a couple years, brand-new in 1982.</p><div></div>

<p>And this is perhaps my favorite shot taken with it, a photo of my then-boss, Tom Callahan, hamming it up for the camera on a new GPz-750 Kawasaki at South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona; late 1982 or early 1983.</p><div></div>

<p>Better late than never...just a recent acquisition.</p><div></div>

<p>...and a pic.</p><div></div>