The Franka Solida III Medium Format Camera

A folding camera build in West Germany in the American Sector.

The Franka Solida III advertisement is a nice Medium Format Folding Camera.
Its design is the standard bellows design of its time.

The Camera is lightweight and fits into a pocket when folded.

Before I tell you more here are the (what I think) most important specs of the Franka Solida III:

Wight: 559g (without Film inserted).
Shutter: Prontor-S
Lens: Schneider Kreuznach Radionar 1:2,9 / 75
Film type: 120 film
Image Format: 6×6 (square)
viewfinder: Look through only, no range finder. (can be bought separately)
1/4 inch screw mount.
Light meter: none (you need an external one)

Additional Equipment: Leather grip,

A Quick Guide on how to use The Franka Solida III

After inserting a film into the Camera you obviously need to unfold it, therefore you push the little button on the bottom left of the camera next to the screw mount (Image below). Attention, the camera will unfold automatically.

Now that the camera is Open, you can watch through the viewfinder and compose your image. You will see that by watching of through the viewfinder of the Franka Solida III, a part of the image is covered by the lens and also you will not be able to determine the depth of field since it is a very rudimentary viewfinder. Also, there is no built-in light meter, so you will have to use an external one as well.

So how to focus?

Focusing on the Franka Solida IIIadvertisement

To correctly focus the image of the Franka Solida III there are two options:

1. You can estimate the distance between you and the subject and choose the corresponding settings at the front of the lens.
2. You can buy an external Range finder such as the Watameter advertisement or a BLIK from the Russian company LOMO advertisement . You use these range finders to determine the correct distance and set the corresponding settings on the lens. (image below)

All you have to do now is to take your light meter readings, focus the picture crock the shutter and take a shot.

The Small red Window on the back

on the back of the camera, you will find a small red window (image below). This window is covered on the inside by a piece of metal, showing the film and image format. If you remove the cover you can see the number of the picture on the film. It also helps you to correctly forward the film to the next frame. Don´t forget to close the red window again (with the lever under it) so no light will accidentally enter the camera. Do not trust the red window to much!

You forward the film by using the turning wheel on the top left of the camera. An arrow shows you the right direction.

The scale at the Top

The scale at the top of the camera (image below and above) shows you the depth of field to be expected at the different lens settings and distances.

The Schneider Kreuznach Radionar 1:2,9 / 75

The Radionar is a great lens, with great overall sharpness when stopped down to about F 4.5, at F 2,9 slight unsharp areas at fringes of the image could occur but they give a nice artistic look to the image.
The shutter of the Franka Solida III is a German Prontor-S shutter with the following shutter speeds:
1s 1/2s, 1/5s, 1/10s, 1/25s, 1/50s, 1/100s, 1/250s and a bulb mode B.

To use the Bulb mode set the lens to “B” now you either have to use a cable release or you use the small lever at the front of the camera next to the “T” (See the first picture under the header image). Push it towards the “T” (as the arrow suggests), when you now release the shutter it will stay open until you move the lever back to the right (its initial position).

Some things to keep in mind

The Franka Solida III was build around the year 1951, so it is just normal that when you buy such an old camera off of eBay, that it could have some minor or even major issues. Mine, for example, had: a hole in the bellows, mould in the viewfinder, fungus and haze in the lens, tow shutter blades that came loose and the shutter speeds were off by 3 seconds.

That all is no reason not to keep the camera and with some use of your favourite search engine, you will be able to repair all these things by yourself most of the time.
If you are lucky, the fungus has not damaged the coating of the lens yet (if there is any) so you can completely remove it without any fungus skeletons remaining (use alcohol and or hydrogen peroxide 3%). To get the shutter speeds back under control most of the time you just need to clean the lens, with either lighter fluid, alcohol or both. Just make sure to remove the lens elements first and fire the shutter sometimes during the flushing and drying process.

Below you will find some pictures made with the Franka Solida III advertisement after maintaining it. Note I do not own an external range finder. so i estimated the distances.

BUY A FRANKA SOLIDA III HERE advertisement

GET FILM HERE advertisement

The Wista 45D field large format camera

Designed to be a point and Shoot Camera.

The Wista 45D advertisement is a great 4×5 large format camera, created by wista co., LTD.
It is a field camera designed in a way, to give the photographer the ability to use it as a point and shoot camera.

Since the camera is a bit heavy I never used it that way. I usually use it for portrait or nude art, since the movements enable me to play with the field of focus.

Before I tell you more here are the (what I think) most important specs of the Wista 45D:

Wight: 2.85kg (without lens).
Lensboard: Shenn Hao / Linhof Technica / Horseman. advertisement
Film holder: Standard 4×5 Filmholder eg. Fidelity. advertisement
Ballows extension: 300mm.
Front movements: Rise, Shift, Tilt.
Back movements: Tilt, Swing (only micro-adjustments).
Rotating Back: Landscape to Portrait and vice versa.
Frame / Focusing-Hood.
1/4 inch screw mount.
Bubble level at the top.
Additional equipment: Leather grip, pistol grip, point and shoot viewfinder.

A Quick Guide on how to use The Wista 45D

First, of course, you have to mount the camera to a tripod, therefore you screw your tripod mount into the 1/4 inch screw mount at the back of the 4×5 Camera. (Image below)

Now it is time to open the camera, therefore you first slightly unscrew the big lower knob on each side of the camera, then gently press the black button in the middle of the lower part of the camera. In the above image, you find this button to the right-hand side of the accessorize mount.

When the Wista 45D is opened up, the next step is to place the lens mount or front standard.

To place the front standard, let´s squeeze the two black levers at the bottom of the standard together and pull it into its rails. (image below).
The rails have handles and little wheels on each side. These wheels are made for focussing, the levers are made to lock or unlock the position of the focusing or the rails. Now just mount your lens onto a Shen Hao or Linhof Technica Lens board and place it into the lens holder of the front standard.

I assume, you know how to operate your lens, that´s why I do not go deeper into that here.

Front standard can do the following movements: rise, shift, tilt.

Using the 4×5 Cam is super simple.

Operating the Wista 45D advertisement is easy from now on. Turn it around to and open the focusing-hood, by pushing the little silver button upwards. (image below).
In the event you can not see anything on the ground glass, make sure you opened up your lens.

In case you want to change from landscape to portrait orientation, simply turn the back by pushing the little black lever at the top side of the back. (it is on the right-hand side on the image below).

The image below shows the Wista 45D with open focusing-hood.

All you have to do now, is totake your meter readings, focus the picture turning the wheels at the lower part of the opened front and to take a shot.

However, should you need some back movements the Wista 45D is also capable of doing that. Simply open the knobs (the ones you had to turn to open the camera) and tilt the back part downwards. If you need a backswing, you can use the micro-adjustment knobs on the side of the camera. These are the smaller ones above the big ones. use one at a time and you have a slight swing. (See image below)

The vertical wheels at the front standard are to tilt and raise the lens.

Since you managed to prepare your camera, metered and focused your image it is time to insert the film holder and to take the shot.
Inserting the film holder is super easy, slightly pull the black metal part on the right-hand side (in portrait mode it is at the top) and slide in the film holder into the Wista 45D.  (Image below).

Before you pull out the dark slide from the film holder make sure you closed your lens again, otherwise you would expose your film to light immediately and uncontrolled.

Take your shot, move the dark slide back in, remove the film holder and you are done.  congrats, you just took your first image with a Wista 45D field camera.

Some more information before my final conclusion.

If you do not like to work with the focusing-hood you can remove it temporarily simply by opening it up to the side. Note, that you will now need a dark cloth since otherwise, you will not see a lot.

There are two black, horizontal levers above and below the ground glass, these can be used to completely remove the ground glass and focusing hood of the Wista 45D. For example to renew the light seals or to completely clean the ground glass.

You could also remove the focusing hood completely, by bussing in the downside of its holder. But I recommend to keep it on since it also saves the ground glass from braking.

My last little tip is to paint lines onto your ground glass, yes you could buy some ground glass with premade lines but that would cause you to spend some unnecessary money. Just make sure to paint them onto the glass not on to the plastic screen.

Below you see some more images of the camera. After my final conclusion about the Wista 45D advertisement you will see some example images, taken with this large-format camera.

My conclusion about the Wista 45D

I love it, really! Even thou it is kind of heavy I would buy it again at any time. It is relatively small, easy to set up and use. And it for sure makes you the point of interest for people that are maybe around you (yeah I know, most of us don´t like that :-P ). The prices on eBay are also absolutely ok right at the moment. Most eBay sellers allow returning if something is wrong so I am absolutely not concerned about buying a bad camera.

For what I do (mainly portraits and nude art) the Movements are absolutely enough and I am sure they are enough for 85% of the users of 4×5 large format cameras. The only thing you have to make sure after buying one is that the bellows are light tight and that the light seals are ok.
But besides that, you can´t do anything wrong with buying one of these things.

I especially like the possibility to use Shen Hao or Linhof Technica lens boards.

Below you find some images taken with the Wista field 45D. (click to enlarge)

BUY A WISTA FIELD 45D HERE advertisement

GET LENS BOARDS HERE advertisement

GRAB FILM HOLDERS HERE advertisement

FIND LENSES HERE advertisement

The Zenit-E

Is a 35mm film camera from the USSR.

The Zenit-E (advertisement) is an analogue mirror reflex camera which was manufactured from 1965-1981 in the Soviet Union. To be pricise it was manufactured by KMZ in the town of Krasnogorsk near Moscow since 1952 and also by BelOMO in Belarus since the 1970s. Unfortunately technical it could not keep up with the then produced German and Japanese cameras.
The camera was made almost entirely of metal and offers the following features.

Film format: 35mm
Shutter speeds: B, 1/30 (X), 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500
Self-timer: Yes
Light meter: Yes
Bayonet: M42
Prissmensucher: Yes
Shutter priority: no
Picture counter: Yes (on the winding lever, must be reset manually)
Flash: PC connection
The indication of the film sensitivity: in GOST and DIN (conversion table at the end of the page)
curtain: Horizontal, fabric

The Zenit-E advertisement was delivered with a leather case adapted to the shape of the camera.
To avoid fungus in the lenses, I recommend that you do not store the camera with the lens attached to the camera.
Since leather cases support the emergence of fungus.

Known problems of Zenit-E

Some known problems, besides problems with the fabric curtain, are especially problems in mechanics.
First and foremost possible damage to the shutter speed adjuster. Adjusting the shutter speed only takes effect after loading the shutter! Furthermore, the camera is known for splashing oil around in the housing sometimes. In the worst case, that can contaminate your film.

The Lens

Helios -44-2; 2/58

Thanks to the M42 mount advertisement a variety of lenses are available For the Zenit-E.
Probably the best known is the Helios 58mm f 1: 2.
Exact designation on the frame of the front lens “Helios -44-2; 2/58“ advertisement

This lens is best known for its popular “Swirly Bokeh” at open aperture.
The sharpness of the lens is quite good, but it decreases towards the edges.
With the help of an adapter, it can be used without problems at digital SLRs, of course, here is to be expected some losses in quality.

GET A ZENIT-E HERE <-
(advertisement)

GET A HELIOS 44-2 HERE <-

(advertisement)

GOST-ASA-DIN

A small conversion table

With help of the table below, you can easily convert your GOST values into ASA (ISO) or DIN.

The Minox 35 /GL

A great 35mm film camera in pocket format.

The Minox 35 series was a 35mm film camera produced by the company MINOX, from the year 1974 to the year 1995.

During this Period, the Minox 35 was the smallest 35mm film camera that could load 35mm standard film (24frames or 36 frames).
Depending on the Model, the Minox 35 comes with different options and Model types.
here we will have a deeper look at the Minox 35GL which was produced in 1979.

Let´s go right in and have a look at this awesome camera.

Get the Minox 35 here! (Advertising)

Tech. specs

• 35mm film camera
• ISO/ASA range 25-800
• Internal light meter
• 35mm f2.8 lens
• Exposure time doubler
• Battery tester
• Hot shoe flash mount
• Cable release connector
• A tripod mount

The Lens.

As Mentioned, the Lens of the MINOX 35GL is a 35mm f2.8 Minotar lens.
It has a leaf shutter which is battery triggered. Even that the camera and the lens have really small form factors,
a lot of light is going through the lens. Means you can shoot an 400 ISO film until the early evening hours without any problems.

The lens has no Auto focus at all. You have to guess the distance and then dial it in at the front of the lens.
At the rear part of the lens, you can dial in your Aperture. The Camera will then decide for the correct exposure time.

The lens may look cheap and crappy but it creates images with stunning sharpness.
See for your self down in the gallery.

The 2X button

The “2X button” at the top of the Minox 35 is made to double your exposure time in complicated light situations.
Eg. You want to take a picture in a church, due to the fact that you shoot against the light, coming through the big church windows, the
camera will most likely set the exposure for the lights, so they will not be blown out.
The Problem with that is, that now the rest of the church would be to dark due to the short exposure time.
The Solution: Turning the small button at the top upwards, so it shows 2x.  The camera will now double the measured exposure time ( eg. from 1/250 to 1/125 s) and you will have more details in darker areas.

Setting the right ISO

Setting the Right ISO is key, to gain correct exposures. Since the camera decides most things for itself.
At the bottom of the camera you can find a dial, that let´s you choose the right ISO settings.
I don’t think i need to further explain how that works. :-)

The Battery tester

The battery tester is right above the “2X button”.

To use it makes the camera ready for shoot. Now push the battery test button. The Needle of the light meter should stay between 1/30s and 1/125s.
If it goes below that values, you should replace the battery of the Minox 35GL.

The battery

Originally the Minox 35 is powered by a PX27 battery.

Due to the fact that these contained Mercury, the production of these batteries was stopped.
But the solution is very simple. Minox brought out an adapter in which u can load four button cells and create your own
PX27 replacement. So no need to avoid the camera just because of the battery thing.

Get the adapter here! Advertisement

Instruction manuals

Here you find the original instruction manuals for the Minox 35 series to download for free!

Download manuals!

Sample images

And here we go with some sample images taken with the Minox 35GL.

The used film was a Ilford HP5+ (Advertising) at box speed.

The Mamiya RB67 Pro S

A reliable beast.

She is quite a lump of metal, relatively heavy and chunky. But since she was originally created for studio work,
you can forgive the Mamiya RB67 Pro S (Advertising)  these small drawbacks.
First of all, I have to say that with the Mamiya RB67  Pro as well as the Pro S and Pro SD,
you are holding a reliable and high-quality camera in your hands. It is completely mechanical, which makes it independent of batteries and other power sources. Well, apart from the light, that we need for taking pictures.

Feel free to watch my Review video at the end of the page.

A (Very) brief history of the Mamiya RB67 Pro S Advertisement

The first model, the Mamiya RB67, was launched in 1970. It was fully mechanical, made entirely of metal and about 3kg heavy. The Mamiya RB67 enjoyed great popularity because the magazine (or better the back where the magazine was mounted) was rotatable and so the orientation could be switched from landscape to portrait format.
In the first models, only the magazine slide (the thing made of metal in the magazine) prevented the film from being double exposed. The newer models are working with mechanical locks, to prevent you from accidentally double exposing your image.

In 1974, the Mamiya RB67 Professional S came onto the market. It differed from its predecessor primarily by the use of various plastic parts and
the already mentioned mechanical barriers, which should prevent double exposures. Lenses, magazines and viewfinders are compatible with the previous model. What today sometimes leads to accidental double exposures on a Pro S :-P.

Finally, in 1990, the Mamiya RB67 Pro SD came onto the market, which was also the last model before the electronic RZ67.

RB stands for “Rotatable Back”.

The image format

As the name of the camera “RB67” already suggests, the picture format is
6x7cm. Recorded on 120 film, which is still available today.

That’s what the RB67 Pro S is capable of

Besides other things, The RB67 Pro S shines with the following functions.

• High-quality lensesAdvertisement with a leaf shutter.
• Flash sync socket
• Mirror lockup
• Waist level viewfinder with a magnifying glass
• Prism viewfinder
• Modular design
• Interchangeable magazines
• The magazine can rotate to change the format from landscape to portrait
• Connection options for a cable release

Good to know, the mystic scale

Unlike other cameras, The Rb67 Pro s is not focused directly on the lens, but with the help of a bellows.
Only the aperture and shutter speed, flash and mirror lockup, are set on the lenses.
Due to the fact that a bellows is used for focusing, the way of the light, from the lens to the film, is getting longer and the exposure times must be adjusted accordingly. This is done with the help of the “mystic” scale on the side of the
Mamiya RB67 which becomes visible when the bellows are extended.

Please transport the film by hand

After taking a picture, it is not only necessary to re-load the shutter, but also to manually advance the film.
This task is not happening when re-loading the shutter, like on newer Hasselblads but has to be done by hand. Unless you have a magazine from the first series and want to create a double exposure. Then you can safely leave the lever untouched.
If you have a newer magazine, but still would like to make multiple exposures, after re-loading the shutter, press the small metal burl right above, on the side of the magazine and you are able to releases the shutter.

The thing with the old magazines

Anyone purchasing a Mamiya RB67 will often encounter the problem that the seals of the old magazines are in bad conditions.
This inevitably leads to the incidence of light in the magazine (light leaks), which can be seen as an ugly stripe on the negative. Here it usually helps to renew the seals by a repair service or to replace them yourself. Here you can order a pack of new light seals. Advertisement

Watch my complete detailed review on Youtube!

The Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde

An instant camera made by Lomo.

I received the “Lomo Instant Automat Caboverde“ (advertising) as a gift.
And everyone who knows me knows that I like to experiment with unknown cameras.
So I thought, why not test the “Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde”.

If you are expecting detailed instructions for use here, I’ll have to disappoint you.
I just go roughly to the functions of the camera and put the focus more on trying out the camera in real-life situations.

My review just reflects my opinion, it was not sponsored by Lomo in any way.

The “Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde”(advertising) comes with the following accessories

• A lens cap (also serves as a remote trigger)
• A few cardboard stands for the resulting images
• A few rubber studs
• A portion of magnets (can be attached with an adhesive surface on the back of the photo)
• A few gels (colour foils which can be attached in front of the built-in flash)

Optional can / must be purchased

• A set of attachment lenses (can)
• Various instant films of the company Fuji of the type Instax (must / should, otherwise owning the camera makes little sense)
• batteries

The Camera

As the name supplement “automat” suggests, there are not many options for the “Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde”. The adjustment options include the following.

• Flash on / off
• Exposure +/-
• Double exposure
• Bulb (long-term exposure)
• 3 different focus settings, 0.6m; 1-2m; inf (infinite)

An aperture control, as well as the ability to accurately adjust the shutter speed, does not exist!
Since it is a camera with analogue footage, of course, no ISO value can be entered.
The ISO value is determined by the film you put into the camera.

The accessories

The above-mentioned accessories are in one of the two rectangular packages inside the main packaging of the “Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde”.
Various other accessories can be found on the website of Lomo or via Amazon and so on.

In another enclosed package are sample images made with different Lomo cameras and films. I can not show them here for copyright reasons.

The downsides of the camera and my conclusion

The viewfinder

The viewfinder of the “Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde” lives up to its name and is much more of a guessing game than a correct representation of the Later Image. Although a bar was attached to represent the image area, but this is not very accurate.

The selfies mirror

Basically, the idea was to give the shutter release button a function as a selfies mirror. Yes, not bad at all.
But it would have been even better if the shutter release button (and so the selfie mirror) had been placed in the correct orientation.
If you look in the mirror in portrait mode, you can create a picture in landscape orientation and vice versa.

The exposure metering

Here it would have been good if you had a viewpoint in the viewfinder, or something similar, to know where the exposure is measured.
So you don´t really have control over the exposure metering and it is not uncommon that, for example, the sky is correctly exposed but the object of interest gets lost in the dark. See picture with bunker below.

My conclusion

The “Lomo Instant Automat Cabo Verde” is well built. In terms of functions, however, it is more aimed at people who are just for fun, sometimes taking pictures at parties and want to have fun with them. This purpose, they met perfectly and largely reliable.
For films, (advertising) you should know that there are pre-exposed effect films. If you do not like it, you just buy another one.
The films are all well made and of good consumer quality.

People who just want to have some fun, go and get this funny little gadget. It is nice to play around with and you can create wonderful instant memories of
moments with your friends and family. Also, it is a nice alternative to Mobile selfies since I think an actual picture that u can hold in your hands, has by far more value than a simple selfie. Over this, the Lomo camera could be a nice starting point for going deeper into analogue photography. :-)

For ambitious professional and amateur photographers, I would rather not recommend the camera, as it only adds weight to the backpack and due to the already mentioned inadequate functions. Save the money and invest in some nice films or a real camera.

If this short review helped you, I would be happy if you share it (please take the link and copy it).

Links to the camera and accessories

Lomo instant Caboverde (advertising)

Instax mini film (advertising)