Skip to main content

My Two Camera Month Project - #6, October 2021: Redscaled 800 ASA Film, Minolta Hi-Matic C & Beier Beirette

Each month for a year I will use one pair of cameras, then next month switch to another pair. They are all fixed-lens compact cameras. I will use the same film stock in both cameras. Each month I will share my impressions from using the cameras, while showing the photographs I make.

Part #6: October 2021

Film type: Kodak/Fujifilm 800 ASA redscaled and exposed at 100 ASA.

It took me more than seven months to get the films developed, and I didn't make any notes, so I don't have much to say about the photographic process.

What I can tell you is that both cameras are favourites of mine. One - Beirette - is fully manually controlled, with a 45 mm. The other - Hi-Matic C - is semi-automatic, with a 40 mm. I wrote about both cameras in the past here and here, for instance. 

The films: Redscaled Kodak and Fujifilm 800 ASA

I redscaled two fast films and exposed them at 50-100 ASA. See how I use redscale here.

Minolta Hi-Matic C photos


These are the only two that came out without damage or lightleaks. The film came from a camera that I bought and was cut, which gave me 12 exposures. Age or storage or something else funked it up. This was all I got, which isn't much. But it's redscaled. I did some editing to make them eligible.

Beier Beirette photos






I have problems with camera shake with this camera. The shutter release is a bit awkward, which often results in too much movement. I am rather happy with these photos, though I had to edit them quite a bit due to dust and my scanner being not too bright.

In conclusion

I love them, but this time things got complicated. I will definitively cling on to the Hi-Matic C which is an all time favourite of mine.


Visit my Etsy shop for cameras and related stuff, the facebook group on modding lenses and cameras or my Instagram account ourbooksmalmo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Chaika Leica

Well, here's a Chaika 2M that I bought from Alex Helios via Instagram.  It's a great full manual viewfinder half-frame camera. The wheel on the top is for shutter time selection, from B to 1/30th to 1/250th of a second. The square button on the front right of the camera is the release/exposure. The lens mounted on the camera in the picture is not the original Industar-69. The Chaika is a rare model compact camera since the prime lens is detachable. What is more is that it has M39 screw mount. But - like with the Paxette M39 system - you can't get focus with a lens from another M39 system. Unless you adapt the lens or - in this case - the camera (mount)! The Chaika mount is easily detached from the body by loosening four screws. If I want to mount the Leica thread mount M39 (LTM) lenses on the Chaika - which is my goal with this mod - I have to add 1.3mm to the mount. That is what is needed to change the camera's flange focal distance (FFD) from Chaika system to L

Leaving a House - Departure from My Childhood Home with a Lumix GF2

My father left his house for a much smaller apartment this summer. My and my brother's families helped with some of the transition, and I documented parts of it with my Panasonic Lumix GF2. My father's house was where I grew up - from my 6th to my 19th year. He lived there for 43 years - 1979 to 2022. The light in this house was always amazing. Its situation on a western leaning hillside offers playful beams of light or reflections during every stage of the day. Little brother (me, 49), big brother (52), dad (80). Visit my  Etsy shop  for cameras and related stuff,  the  facebook group  on modding lenses and cameras or my Instagram account  ourbooksmalmo .
  These great cameras show up everywhere in Europe. Flea markets, second-hand shops, car boot sales, you name it. AGFA cameras were sold for decades, in many models, much like the Kodaks. I've had the pleasure of using two of them. And I own three. The magic shutter buttons! The AGFA Compact. It's an auto exposure compact camera with manual focusing! The lens retracts when you shut the camera off. AGFA Silette LK which has full manual exposure control and a built-in light meter. The lens is super duper sharp with pleasant out-of-focus areas. It does not have a rangefinder. Nor does the... ... AGFA Optima 335 which has auto-exposure and manual focusing. The aperture numbers you see are for flash photography with 1/125th of a second fixed shutter. I will not write much about these my cameras now, but will in the future. The Compact isn't working properly, so I am in search of advice on how to repair it. It (auto-) winds the loaded film to its end, without giving me an opportu