Zeiss Ikon, Ikonta C 520/2, 120 folding roll film camera, results gallery

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A trip along the cost in Vietnam didn't really produce the lighting conditions I'd hoped for, the humidity and cloud producing a rather flat result. This Ikonta had sat unused for many years because, despite looking externally very tidy, it was badly rusted internally. It was given a good clean and repaint inside before this trip in late 2019, but the negatives were badly spotted with rust particles working their way out of the linen bellows liner. After three rolls it was lessening, but a good deal of the images were unusable.

The Ikonta C, along with many of its contemporaries has a tiny waist level bright finder, which is very difficult to get a level horizon.

LIBRARY PLAQUE

Always fascinated by Soviet era sculpture, this concrete fresco is one of several adorning the library along Lesi Ukrainky Blvd, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Each one depicts a subject, be it the arts, natural sciences, science, philosophy, social studies and religion. Pinned behind a row of parked cars made it difficult to select one to record and being rather high, I held the camera upside down over my head and did my best to aim using the all but useless miniscule finder... Let's say a certain amount of cropping and straightening up was required for this print.

Expo Center of Ukraine, on one of my regular cycling excursions when living in Kyiv. The great Ansel Adams would have suggested overexposure then under development for this subject. This will bring out the detail in the shadows but stop the highlights filling in on the negative. This is the luxury afforded to those with a plate camera taking individual images. The snapshot camera user has to do their best since many shots under different conditions will be exposed on one film, then all processed together. In this case two films from two different cameras in the same tank. The negative was a tad dense in the background, I made my best guess. Considerable "burning in" has been used to render the building acceptably. I spent a good deal of time making sure the verticals were about right when taking the image, and this is the full negative for once.

The National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life of Ukraine is another favourite cycling destination in Kyiv. This image was snatched on my last full day in 2020 before returning to the UK in late July. All the films from the Ikonta were processed in two batches, although most had to be discarded due to the horrendous spotting caused by rust particles inside the camera. This one escaped largely, just one or two obnoxious blobs being removed digitally.

Two frames remained unused on my return to the UK, so a quick run out to Winchester Cathedral in company with another newly restored camera, just to finish off the roll. The sun obligingly filtered through a largely overcast sky to spill it's warmth onto the grass and make the building glow against the backdrop. In truth the horizon was a bit drunk again, but a bit of selective cropping brought things onto an even keel. The finder is fairly pessimistic in fact, and the view taken is greater than suggested by the finder.