The Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/2 finally makes its debut…

This camera was one of the first vintage cameras that Brandon and I bought, so it was nice to finally take it out and shoot with it.  I was pleasantly surprised with the way the photos turned out, considering I was experimenting with settings and really had no idea what I was doing.  I really love the square (almost) frames and the settings were fairly easy to figure out. 
Each roll of 120 film can take 8 square frames with the Nettar 515/2 camera.  I was able to get 8 full frames, a few were throw-aways because I was metering for the sky to try and get a feel for the camera and see exactly how it shot.  We shot on a sunny day, but there was still a bit of haze in the distance.  While shooting, I wasn’t exactly confident that the photos would turn out, but am fairly pleased with the camera and the results from our first shoot with it.  I have to say, there is something that I really love about the look of these film photos taken from our vintage camera. 

Looking down at Heidelberg Castle.

Monastery ruins at Heiligenberg.

Some shots from the Meopta TLR Flexaret Automat

Shooting with the Flexaret was so different from anything I have ever shot before.  While the settings were pretty easy to figure out, just lining up the shot in the viewer completely threw me off.  The Flexaret is a twin lens reflex camera and you have to look down at the viewfinder to see what is in the frame.  Because I am so uncoordinated, the mirror-effect in the viewfinder made it difficult for me to line up the shot.  It was difficult to get my mind to move right when I wanted to get more in the left side of the frame.  I was not used to that at all.  I will say that the picture in the viewfinder was incredible.  The image is so crisp and looks almost 3D.  I just wish I was able to translate that image onto the film. 

Since this was the first time using this camera and we were simply trying to figure out how this particular camera shoots (and if it even worked), I guess I shouldn’t be too disappointed.  The camera seems to over-expose a bit so I will have to remember that the next time I shoot with it and adjust my settings.  The day was sunny, but it also created a bit of a haze that definitely shows in these photos. 

Here is a shot of the actual camera (taken with my D300s), and the others are taken with Flexaret.  The first two shots are of Thingstatte, an old Nazi amphitheater in our area and the last one is monastery ruins next to Thingstatte.  Each roll of 120 film can take 8 frames in the Flexaret.  However, considering this was my first time using the camera, I lined up the film wrong and was only able to get 6 frames from this roll.  Not the greatest, but I am happy with them considering this was a test roll for this camera.

Thingstatte

Looking up from the stage of Thingstatte at the seating.

Monastery ruins

52 week photo project: Week 15 - Vienna

Brandon and I travelled to Vienna, Austria this past weekend so I could run a half marathon.  Fortunate for us, the race wasn’t until Sunday so we got to do some sightseeing on Sunday.  Vienna is such a beautiful and classical city and race day was absolutely perfect.

Hofburg Imperial Palace, this was also the race finish area.

The race expo.

Schönbrunn Palace

and the Palace grounds and gardens…

52 week photo project: Weeks 13 & 14

I’ve been a horrible blogger and photographer these past couple weeks.  Even with the gorgeous weather, I’ve been a bit of a slump.  Not really feeling too inspired to pull out my camera.  But I think that is okay, sometimes it is nice to take a step away from the camera and just enjoy the scenery.

I took these photos of some jewelry that my Mom made for one of my friend’s birthday.  After taking a 2 month trip around the world, courtesy of the US Postal System, the package finally made it here safely.  Even though the gift was a little late, my friend loved the jewelry and I was pretty impressed with my Mom’s skills.  I love the deep green of the jade.

Here is another macro from my garden shoot that I did last week.  Because I have such a hard time dealing with the posterization of reds and pinks I just cropped this image and left it as is. 

A different view/perspective - The Eiffel Tower

This week’s photo challenge on LEM is a different view/perspective.  I immediately thought of our trip to Paris and our visit to the Eiffel Tower.  I have plenty of the standard shots of the tower, but I also took a couple from right under the base of the tower.  I thought it was an interesting perspective and like the lighting as well. 

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