The Albuquerque Rail Yards

  I visited the Rail Yards which hosts a craft and farmers' market on Sundays.  Margaret was looking for some fresh corn and garlic, but my interest is always in exploring the massive old locomotive repair shops.  The City has invested millions in the location with several proposals to make use of the site.  Extensive restorations are now in progress to devote one of the big buildings to a new media school.  There has also been a building housing the Wheels Museum at the site for some time.

The site was active for about a century, used primarily for the repair and periodic rebuilding of steam locomotives.  

My camera on this occasion was my Minolta X-700 with the Minolta MD 1.7/50mm lens. I shot a roll of Kentmere 400 and processed that in PMK Pyro.

More from the Felica

 

The Felica is compact and easy to carry.  The focusing and exposure adjustments are limited, but adequate for dealing with a pretty good range of circumstances.  I haven't yet made much use of the built-in yellow filter, so I'll try to look for opportunities for using it with my next roll through the camera.

Coming to Grips with Classic Kitsch

 I only shot a roll or two of film in my Anscoflex II when I acquired it in 2012.  The camera was interesting because of its unique design features, but in operation it seemed a little too simple for actual photographic purposes.  Recently, however, I have seen some pretty sharp images from the camera posted in the PSEUDO TLR group on Flickr.  So, I loaded a roll of Fomapan 100 and started it off with another walk around the neighborhood.

cornered

The close-up lens option considerably enhances the camera's versatility, though the reputed 3.5-7 foot range may be a bit optimistic.  With the normal meniscus lens selected the f/11 aperture provides a good range of focus from 10 feet to infinity.

bungalows

I got out the next morning to finish off the twelve frames at the Albuquerque RailRunner station.

Albuquerque Station

Arrival

Southbound

The close-up lens and the yellow filter definitely extend the practical capabilities of the Anscoflex II.  The ratcheting film advance is novel, but clunky and slow in operation.  The large and brilliant viewfinder screen puts the camera into a class of its own, unrivaled in the world of film cameras.

Like all the brilliant-finder cameras beginning with the Voigtlander Brilliant, the Anscoflex II has a massive biconvex magnifying lens under the viewscreen.  In addition to that, however, this camera also has a very large-aperture front-facing viewfinder lens which further illuminates the on-screen image.

While most of the modern-day popularity of the Anscoflex II is likely due to the capacity for making through-the-viewfinder (ttv) digital images, the superb view also greatly enhances the task of composition prior to committing the image to film.

I enjoyed my recent outing with the Ancoflex II and I'll likely take another spin with it some time soon.

Back to Basics

 I have been wanting to get back to shooting some of my simple cameras, so I thought to start with my Vredeborch Felica.  Though hardly bigger than my Ansco Panda, it sports adjustments for distance, speed and aperture.  The lens looks to be a simple meniscus type, but the curved film plane helps with sharpness out to the edges.

I got out into our yard before getting caught up in my usual morning routine at the computer and shot up all twelve frames on the roll of Fomapan 100 in about twenty minutes. 

The thing that makes taking pictures fun with these simple cameras is that they always produce images that exceed expectations if some care is taken in choosing subjects that are a good match for film speed and the camera's capabilities.  In addition to which, in this case, it is fun to say "Vredeborch Felica". *

* From Ask Oracle:

Felica is a name with a rich history and diverse origins, primarily associated with the Latin word "felix" meaning "happy" or "lucky." It has been used as a given name for both girls and boys throughout history, though it is more common for girls today. The name holds a sense of joy, prosperity, and good fortune, making it a popular choice for parents seeking a name with positive connotations.

Felica is easy to write and pronounce, with a pleasant sound and a timeless feel. It has a few common nicknames like Fely, Fee, and Lica, adding a touch of familiarity and endearment. While not as common as some other names, it still holds a unique charm and a connection to historical figures and literary characters.

and

From Camera-wiki.org:

Vredeborch was a camera maker based in Nordenham, a town on the German North Sea coast. The name of the company come from the Vredeborch castle (Friedeburg in standard German; Peace Castle in English) established at the beginning of the city's history, circa 1407. The company Vredeborch GmbH was founded in 1945. Several of its cameras were sold under names given by other distributors. It stopped camera-making in 1970. 

(They made a lot of medium format camera models in twenty-five years.  I wonder if anyone has collected all of them. )

The Ulrimate 35mm Folder

 The Vito III was a contemporary of Kodak's Retina line and the last folding camera made by Voigtlander.  I was attracted to the Vito III by my previous long familiarity with its model II predecessor.

Vito II and Vito III

The five-element f/2 50mm lens is one of the finest produced by any maker in the 1950s.

Once the Synchro Compur shutter is cocked, the film advance knob and shutter release are easily accessed with the right hand.

Focusing is quick and easy on the left.

While the controls are quite logically laid out, having the viewfinder window to the right seems best suited to a user with a dominant left eye, and I find myself glancing at the camera back prior to making each shot to make sure I know the correct placement.  I suppose with enough use I would get used to that feature, but it has been a challenge given the left side location of virtually every other rangefinder camera I have used over the years.

LIke the Vito II the III lacks strap lugs; that seems of little consequence with the little Vito II, but the size and weight of the Vito III make a carrying strap seem like it would have been a good idea.

Quibbling aside, the confidence instilled by the Ultron easily motivates picture making with the Vito III.  Here are some pictures from a roll of Kentmere 400 recently put through the camera:

That's my T100 in the background.

The Mediterranean Conservatory at the Botanic Garden

Monsoon clouds over the Sandia Mountains

Critical Writing about Photography

 Good writing about photography is a somewhat rare commodity.  One place it survives is in the Photo-Booth on the New Yorker magazine website.  The most recent article there is an essay by Geraldo Cadava about Low Rider culture as portrayed in the photos of Stefan Ruiz in the 1990s.

The New York Times used to feature a regular column called LENS about photography, video and visual journalism.  That was discontinued in 2018, but a selection of the articles in the NYTimes archive is still accessible online.