I wrote these a while ago, and had previously removed them as they're pretty bad and outdated. They're just here to be preserved. The date is just a placeholder to make sure they're at the bottom.
Currently my main camera is a Canon A-1, with the following lenses:
All photos as of now on the site are shot with this setup. I also have a Zorki-4k with a Jupiter 8 lens which I will occasionally experiment with. My favourite films are FujiFilm Superia Xtra 400 and Ilford HP5+.
I have now shot two rolls of film with the Zorki-4k now, one roll of FujiFilm Superia Xtra 400 (which is not uploaded here, I’ll get to that) and a roll of Ilford HP5+. Firstly, I will talk about the overall experience. I found it did slow me down a lot which gave me more time to think about framing, light, and so on. This is because of the several quirks the camera has. The main ones I noticed were as follows:
These are both things that I have not had to think about when using the Canon A-1, therefor contribute to using the camera being a much slower experience. As I have said, this is not a bad thing at all, it made me take more time on each shot. As opposed to the Canon, where exposure settings can be set by the internal light meter, making everything much faster when taking similar shots to what I took on the Zorki-4k.
That is another difference between this camera and the Canon A-1, no internal light meter. Therefor everything is set manually. This is something I have only really done with long exposures and astro-photography before, so is a relatively new experience. Although it was not particularly difficult as I used an app on my phone and a few (somewhat) educated guesses. So, this is also not a hinderance at all. I like it as it will help to get me more used to judging light myself.
But I did experience a few issues with the camera which I discovered after getting the photos developed:
My suggestions for the causes of both are complete guesses as I have not had a chance to investigate them properly. But they are quite concerning. Especially the second issue. The problem with frames is the reason the colour roll I shot was not uploaded here at all. It impacted every photo on the roll. My guess is the film being diagonally held by the teeth near the take-up spool due to me not aligning it correctly. This seems likely as the colour roll was the first roll that I shot, and I did have issues with rewinding that did not occur with the second. So, I will have to keep an eye on that. As for the light leaks, that is something I will have to ask around about.
In conclusion, while there are some issues with the camera, they do seem to be due to lack of practice (hopefully), and I will be using the camera again. Although maybe not regularly, at least until these issues are solved.