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.

Revolutionary

The box cameras and pseudo-tlr cameras with brilliant viewfinders became very popular in the decade after WWII.  I've enjoyed shooting quite a few of them, including most recently the Kodak Duaflex and the Ansco Panda. It seemed time to try out the granddaddy of them all, the  Voigtländer Brilliant, which first appeared in 1932.

Voigtländer Brilliant, First Model

Later models were bakelite, but this first model had an all steel case.  The shutter is a simple self-cocking type with 1/25, 1/50 and B settings.  The lens is a three-element f-7.7, 75mm Anastigmat Voigtar.

The picture of the VW is full-frame.  The following 100% enlargement of the lower-right corner of the picture shows the excellent edge sharpness the lens can deliver at f-22; quite a lot more impressive than anything you are likely to find on later cameras of this type.

I cropped down the shot of the sewer pumper to show the nice over-all sharpness and tonal qualities which the Voigtar can achieve.  All the negatives on the roll look under-exposed; I think the camera was working fine, but my HC-110 developer is down to the dregs.

The portrait suffers from under-exposure and a bit of backlight flare, but I think the sharpness still looks pretty good at the Voigtar's wide open f-7.7 setting.

I'll get a new bottle of developer and put another roll of 120 through the Brilliant soon.  It's a fun little shooter.