stephen_dowling1

<p>Thanks Tony E and Tony L for your kind words.</p> <p>The TTL is going off to my friend in France who wants to try film - guess the Zenit 12XP should be on the list now for the Zorki Photo review treatment.</p> <p>Cheers all<br> <br />S</p>

<p>I picked up one of these last year for less than £10, and in perfect working condition; the meter is exactly the same as that on my Nikon F100.</p> <p>I've enjoyed shooting with this over the last few months, and reviewed it on my blog.</p> <p><a href="https://zorkiphoto.co.uk/2016/07/03/zenit-ttl-review/">Zenit TTL review</a></p> <p>The TTL metering makes it faster to use than the Zenit E on which it's based, as long as the metering's working OK. I get the feeling mine might have been one of the old TO&E models that were stripped down and recalibrated once they came into the UK to make sure they were up to scratch.</p> <p>The proper rewind crank is a godsend after the E too; that knurled knob is hell on my fingers.</p> <p>I wish they could have kept the bright screen of the E, however. It's definitely harder to see stuff in poor light.<br> <br />S</p> <p> </p>

<p>Nice - that's a pleasing coincidence...<br> My old workmate at the BBC is from Albania and waxed lyrical about the scenery - and my best mate has already been and loved it.<br> Always seems a good idea to take the old FSU stuff to those parts of the world... when I took my Zenits on the Trans-Siberian I got many slaps on the back.</p> <p>Cheers<br> <br />S</p>

<p>I've had two Kiev 19Ms, and they've both had issues (worth bearing in mind that the 19M wasn't as highly regarded as the 19 or the 17). Neither metered as it should</p> <p>What they didn't have issues with was the lens - the Arsat 50/2 is a cracker. Beautiful with saturated color feel especially.</p> <p>I've heard great things about the Kaleinar 100/2.8 aswell. I've been meaning to pick one up for a while.<br> <br />S</p>

<p>The Vilia's very like the Smena 8m, which is a Lomo camera built in the millions.</p> <p>They look like junk, but the lens is actually pretty good - real glass, Triplet construction.</p> <p>I plan on taking a Vilia or Smena 8M with me on a trip later this year to Corfu/Albania, and pair it with some nice saturated colour film.</p> <p>S</p>

<p>Hello all</p> <p>I spent a lot of 2015 shooting on an old FED 50 compact - a viewfinder camera with zone focus settings like the Lomo LC-A.</p> <p>It's very much like the Olympus Trip 35, though made with a more agricultural feel.</p> <p>I posted a review of it on my blog:</p> <p><a href="https://zorkiphoto.co.uk/2015/10/31/fed-50-review/">FED 50 review on Zorki Photo</a></p> <p>I was massively impressed with the Industar lens on the FED 50; it's got more vignetting than the Trip lens, but is impressively sharp. </p> <p>Anyone else used this camera?</p> <p>I also had its 60s ancestor, the FED Micron, which is much better built but I don't really get on with half-frames; it was nice to shoot in low-light though, as it generated some dreamy looking pics.</p> <p>Cheers</p> <p>S</p>

<p>The MTL 5B was the first manual camera I ever bought - and is partly responsible (along with the Lomo LC-A) for me still being such a devotee of analogue photography.<br> <br />I found it a fanstaically reliable camera. I bought mine from a really good dealer in London - still with us today - and didn't have a single bit of trouble with it. I ended up giving it to a mate who wanted to learn how to shoot on manual gear, but it got me hooked on using the old M42 gear, which is what I mainly shoot with these days. <br> Last year I bought an MTL 50, which is broadly similar, apart from an LED meter instead of a needle. It's a great camera and works perfectly.</p> <p> </p>

<p>I shoot slide as much as I can - unfrotuantely that means combing eBay rather than buying ffresh most of the time, because slide film is so expensive these days.</p> <p>If I'm buying fresh, I tend to grab Agfaphoto Precisa 100 (actually Fuji Provia 100) and Kodak Elite Chrome or Ektachrome on eBay.</p> <p>I actually love the results from expired Agfa RSX - there's a slight redness that's accentuated in it as it expires.I really like it.</p> <p> </p>

<p>Hello all...</p> <p>I run a film photography blog, where I've been posting reviews, pics, and stories from my travels shooting film for the last 15-odd years....</p> <p>www.zorkiphoto.co.uk</p> <p>I want to introduce a new series for it, called 52 Photo Tips.</p> <p>It's will be photography advice aimed at those shooting film - some can be directly related to film, others could be more gernal advice.<br> <br />I wanted to know: what's the best single piece of photography advice you ever received? The one that changed the way you shot or that you wish you had known earlier one. The one that you'd unhesitatingly offer if someone asked for a simple tip.<br> <br />I'd love to hear what the sage minds here think. I'm currently pulling together a list - any I use from here I'll be sure to credit the author (and to link tho their site/Flickr/blog etc if they wish) when i write it up.</p> <p>Many thanks in advance.</p> <p>Stephen</p>