Film Fun Folio #24: Balda Lisette and Efke 50R

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #22:

Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 with Meyer Trioplan 75mm f/2.9 lens.

Film: Efke 50R (Recently Expired)

Locale: Central Maryland and Washington DC.

Winter doldrums are never fun, and for me, they have tended to send any camera I own into a state of hibernation.  This year, however, with a new setting around me, I vowed to keep the shutters clicking as the days grew shorter, the temps got colder, and the palette grew increasingly more bland. 

Fortunately, I'd seen a lot of good black and white work online that became an inspiration for me to try to get the most from a medium that I too often downplayed.  It had been a while since I'd played with the creamy tones of Efke's 50R film so I loaded a roll in my pretty reliable little Lisette and shot through it over a period of weeks.  A few frames into the roll, I decided that I would do something offbeat and try and shoot the entire remainder of the roll wide open at f/2.9, trying to take full advantage of the Trioplan's fast lens and interesting bokeh. Doing this on a "guess focus" camera was quite risky, but I hoped for the best as I made my way through the roll. 

In addition, I decided to "tone" the results in an online photo editor, since I felt the originals were just a bit too bland.  I tried not to overdo it, and I think in that regard I did well, though the results are likely to be subjective.  

Washington, DC - One of my favorite classic signs in the Nation's Capitol for photos only comes out so-so in this image that is contrasty and uninspiring.

Same Scene - Four Cameras, Four Films

On my (now not too) recent trip westward to Oregon, I made it a point that I would ensure that I would aim to have one scene that I would shoot with every color film camera at my disposal at the time.  As it was, I wound up holding off using my last shot on two of these cameras to ensure that I could perform such an experiment.

Finally, on the afternoon of June 20, at a stop called Corbett's View, overlooking the Columbia River Gorge, I took the opportunity to snap away to get results that I could compare.  The samples, already featured in several of the Film Folio features, are shown below

Zeiss Ikonta A 521, Agfa Rollei Crossbird 200 Film

Agfa Billy Record I, Expired Kodak Ektachrome 200 scanned with Color Restoration. 

Welta/Rodenstock Citonette, Provia 100F.

Balda Lisette, Velvia 50.

Overall, light leaks aside, there is a lot of differences in how this same scene was rendered on four different cameras and films.  I thought I'd have a clear "winner" in the batch, but I can't say that I do.  Nor can I say that one of these completely fails in its rendering.  It is a very interesting example of how the same scene can be given a remarkably differing appearance based largely on the film.  

And as we head into colder weather, I'm certainly glad to have these vestiges of a trip west in warmer temperatures! 

Film Fun Folio #11: Balda Lisette and Velvia 50

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #11:

Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 120 folding camera

Film: Fuji Velvia 50

Locale: Oregon and Central Maryland

Velvia is a truly lovely medium with which to work, as it yields intensely saturated colors and excellent grain for landscapes and scenics.  However, it does not come at a particularly cheap price.  Thus, when armed with just a single roll of the stuff and a number of potential hosts, it is not always easy to pick a camera in which to shoot it.  However, as my Oregon trip was in its final day, I had to make just such a decision.  Since I'd just run a roll of Velvia 50 through the Lisette and was optimistic about the results, I elected to stay the course and give the Trioplan lens another chance to team up with Velvia and provide some outstanding color images.  Besides, shooting images on the 645 format allows for twice as many shots as with the 6x9 cameras, an important consideration when keeping within a budget.  

1 - Portland, OR - f/9 1/50 - A bit of atmospheric haze made capturing distant Mount Hood something of a challenge, one that Velvia was up for, and in managed to put just enough contrast in the scene to make the peak discernible in the distance.

Film Fun Folio #8: Balda Lisette and Velvia 50

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #8:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 120 folding camera
Film: Fuji Velvia 50
Locale: Oregon

My first roll of film though my newly acquired Balda Lisette was a pleasant surprise in many respects, particularly when it came to color rendition.  The Trioplan lens combined with Fuji Velvia film gave off a rich and pleasing color palette that was pretty much unbeatable.  The main issues of note however were mainly centered on the sharpness of the lens at wider apertures, a problem that seemed to largely vanish at f/8 or better.  Armed with these lessons, I elected to give the Lisette another go with Fuji's flagship film product on my trip west to Oregon, hopeful to see some of the same color magic evident on the first roll, but with the sharpness issues mitigated by using smaller apertures.  

1 - Portland, OR - f/16 1/50 - A classic car lot that I stumbled across on my March trip was something that I definitely wanted to deliberately revisit.  Here a sunny afternoon provides a nice retro setting for Velvia to strut its colorful stuff. 

Film Fun Folio #2: Balda Lisette and Rollei RPX 25

Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film.  Enjoy the trip! 

Feature #2:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 120 folding camera
Film: Rollei RPX 25
Locale: Washington DC and Central Maryland
May and June of 2015

I really enjoyed the results of Rollei RPX in the Franka Solida, but when a shutter hang issue precluded its use not too long ago, I had to find an alternative for shooting this really great film.  The obvious default was the Balda Lisette, largely due to it being the only other 120 in my possession with a lens as fast (f/2.9) as the Franka.  Having only run one roll of film through the Lisette, I was a bit leery about the results I might get at wider apertures, particularly given how much I liked the results from the Schneider lens on the Franka, but I had to take the chance to see how this Trioplan could perform with this stunning slow speed film!

1 - Washington DC - f/2.9 1/100 - I started with a monochrome version of the very same shot that started off my Agfa roll last week.  As much a fan of color photography as I am, I have to say that I am far more partial to this shot, which carries a more powerful composition in shades of grey.

Baby Balda: A Camera named Lisette

Camera people tend to be a particular batch.  They like to stick with names with which they are comfortable.  Witness any number of people who stick to certain lines in their modern day digital repertoire. There are any number of photographers who swear by Nikon or Canon and who will not shoot with anything else. 

Film photographers may be willing to experiment around a bit more with now "vintage" equipment being more affordable, but there is still bias.  Contax, Zeiss, Leica, and Schneider are a few of the names that come to mind as being among the preferred names to see on a lens of a film camera, and with these names comes a certain appeal.

I've got a few film products with both Zeiss and Schnieder glass, and they are exceptional. However, personally, there is one specific name that evokes a certain bit of love when it comes to color rendition in my film images... "Trioplan."  

This adoration of mine sprung forward in an almost accidental way, from a camera I didn't expect to like a lot, but which floored me with its image quality: the Balda Pontina.  This late 1930's gem has a special place in my collection, the majority of which results from the lens it bears: a simple triplet lens made by Meyer Gorlitz called the Trioplan. 

Lenses with the Trioplan name carry a bit of a following among folks using adapted lenses on digital bodies, as they can produce almost ethereal images filled with lovely bokeh. However, these Trioplan badged lenses are ones designed for use on (usually) Exakta SLR bodies.  

What is most perplexing about my love for the results on color slide film that I've gotten with my Trioplan equipped Balda is that this uncoated lens was really never designed with color film in mind.  As such, its lovely color results seem more the result of a happy accident than any engineered design.  Was this just a fluke? I had no way of knowing, but what I dod know was that the more I got results back from the Balda, the more I wanted to pick up another Trioplan equipped folding camera.

Around the same time, I was encountering continued issues with my Franka Solida. With an f/2.9 Schneider lens, it was the "fastest" medium format camera in my collection, and its images shot wide open were really nice, but it had a very undependable shutter that hung, leading to wasted time and film trying to get good results.  

So when I started to see occasional listings for some small 6x4.5 cameras by Balda, Certo, and Welta equipped with f/2.9 Trioplan lenses, my interest was certainly piqued.  It seemed like it could be perfection for me to have a camera that had a lens with the speed of the Schneider, the color rendition of the Trioplan, and the compact size and ability to shoot 16 exposures to a roll like the Ikonta A.

The coveted goal of my interests: a lens line I really liked with the fast maximum aperture I wanted.