Vintage Camera of the Day - Polaroid 250 Land Camera

The Polaroid 250 Land Camera was made from 1967-1969. The Polaroid 250 features  Zeiss Ikon range finder and has to be converted to accept "AAA" batteries because the original battery type is no longer available.

This camera always turns heads and the sight of it brings back memories for anyone who was around back in the late 60's and early 70's when these cameras were quite popular. It uses peel-apart instant film which is pulled out from the side of the camera after the shutter is fired, then the user has to wait a couple minutes for the picture to be "developed".

The Polaroid 250 Land Camera needs plenty of light for the best results. The Fuji film pack pictured below is ISO 100, it produces color images and is best in bright day light conditions. It's readily available for around $10 USD per pack of 10 pictures. You can also get black and white instant film for this camera but it's about twice the price.

Polaroid 250 Land Camera 1967-1969

Film Photography - Agfa Karat IV First Shots

I guess the repair guy down in Namdaemun really knows his stuff. When I dropped this camera off the focus ring was stuck as if someone had super glued it. Who knows what else was wrong with it. But, for $80 USD it was delivered back to me as good as when it came of the assembly line back in the early 1950's.

The Agfa Karat IV is a 35mm film camera that features a Solinar 50mm f/2.8 strut-folding lens. They are relatively hard to find in the USA and when you do find one they are usually not in working condition. It's a heavy camera which feels solid in your hands. The rangefinder / viewfinder is relatively small and the film advance operates in the opposite direction compared to other cameras. It took a little getting used to but by the end of the day I kind of liked it! I really enjoy shooting film cameras not just because of the unique look of film photographs but also for the simple pleasure of operating the film advance. I like to hear the sound of the shutter, always different and unique to each camera.

I loaded it with a roll of cheap Kodak ISO 200 color film and took it to work one day. Lucky for me, it happened to be a day when I would get to fly around in a Blackhawk helicopter. Hard to believe that a camera that is more than 60 years old can still take quality images like these... I will definitely take this camera out again soon!

You Can Now Add The Title "Award Winning Photographer" To My Name, In Fact, I Insist

Normally, I don't care to enter photography contests, I mean, after all, who is to say whose art is better than someone elses? It's all subjective. It's the same reason I refuse to consider figure skating, gymnastics, synchronized swimming or cheer leading as competitive sports. The judging is subjective. Not my style. However, at the behest of my former First Sergeant, I submitted several photos into the 2015 US Army Commanders Cup Photography Contest. The former First Sergeant really wanted our unit to win the Cup in a bad way, so for this reason and this reason only, I entered the photography competition. Placing in this event would secure additional points that are added to the total score for our unit, which is in competition against other units. But I digress, back to the competition. I submitted one photo in each of seven categories and here's how I placed...

1st Place - Category: Nature and Landscape 
"Songdo at Night"

2nd Place Category: Animals 

"Seagull"

3rd Place - Category: People 

"Boy on the Street"

3rd Place - Category: Military Life 
"Salute in the Rain"

3rd Place - Category: Design Elements 

"Ceiling, Lotte Mall"

Honorable Mention - Category: Monochrome 

"Korean - American Alliance Memorial"

Honorable Mention - Category: Still Life 
"Colorful Threads"

My First Roll of Film with the Leica M3 and Summicron 50mm f/2 DR Lens

I breathed a big sigh of relief when I glanced over the contact sheet from my first roll of film that I had shot with my Leica M3. There was still a cloud of mystery as to whether or not the M3 had sustained any damage after I dropped it recently http://felixgphoto.blogspot.kr/2015/06/i-dropped-my-leica-m3-besides-that-it.html

I shot a roll of Ilford HP5 ISO 400 Black and White film and as you can see below, I think the results are pretty good for my first go with a Leica. I still have to get used to using a rangefinder, it takes a little getting used to as far as framing the shot.

All images captured with Leica Summicron 50mm f/2 DR lens.

Pictured: Leica M6 TTL Titanium. No this isn't my M6. Mine is all black!

Father (left) and Son (right)

John Steele working his magic at Namsangol Village

Below... these are the kinds of photographs I am looking forward to capturing with my Leica M3. This little girl found so much joy and simple happiness by playing with the water fountain on a hot day. Her smile in the third shot says it all. Good job Leica M3!

Leica Summicron 35mm f/2

One of the simple joys of life that soothes my soul and gives me the yummy good butterflies is when I see my name on the list for mail call. Mail is critical to the morale of soldiers, especially those deployed overseas. I recommend contacting your local USO to find out how you can send a care package to a random soldier who is serving overseas, someone just like me!

Today's package contained a beautiful Leica Summicron 35mm f/3 lens, all black, which I purchase to accompany my soon to be delivered Leica M6. The lens is quite small and compact. Almost hard to believe that this little lens produces some of the sharpest images the world has ever seen. I will through it on my Sony A7II after work today and I'll share some of the images with you in the near future. For now you'll have just have to feast your eyes on the lens, which in my estimation, is a work of art worth admiring. Even came with a Leica filter!

Leica Summicron 35mm f/2 looks right at home on my desk.

Here's what it looks like mounted on the Leica M6, all black, same set up as mine.

Photo credit: Patrick Leon

I Dropped My Leica M3, Besides That It Was a Great Day

Today was quite an eventful day. I was looking forward to picking up my Leica from the factory service center all week! I dropped it off to get a full service and cleaning, so that my vintage camera would shoot just like the day it came off the factory floor sometime back in 1956. I have heard that Leica's last a lifetime because they are so well-built, they are heavy duty and rugged and it's a good thing that they are built so well because about 3 minutes after I plunked down my $240,000 KRW (approx. $213 USD) the Leica somehow slipped off the hook on my shoulder camera strap and plummeted about 3 feet to the tile floor. The back plate flipped open from the force of the crash, thereby exposing the roll of Portra 400 I had just loaded in it.

Myself and 4 Leica employees let out with a collective ghasp. For the next few moments there was a suspense in the air rivaling the best edge-of-your-seat Hollywood blockbuster. Everyone was wondering if the Leica had any significant damage. One of the employees picked it up and put the back plate back on, he gave it a once over and handed it off to another employee who tested out the lens, aperture ring, focus ring, shutter, all the dials etc. The camera appeared to have come out of this heart-stopping event unscathed.

As for myself, my pulse was racing and I was battling a vicious anxiety over what had just happened. The employees were empathetic, after all, Leica cameras are royalty and I was in the Seoul castle of the Leica kingdom. They asked me to sit down and brought me a Vita 500 energy drink, quite popular here in Korea. We looked over the camera one more time and verified that it was ok.

Now, I won't really know for sure if it truly survived the fall unscathed until I get the roll of film back from the lab and have a look. Maybe the fall messed up the rangefinder, throwing off the focus, or perhaps the shutter speed are off? Who knows? My gut instinct tells me everything is just fine and dandy but stay tuned to see the photos from my first roll.

With that out of the way, I headed over (still feeling the anxiety) to Saeki (a popular camera store here in Chungmuro) to meet up with John Steele, an extremely talented local photographer and university professor who I envy for his adorable Boston Terrier, Holly. John just purchased his first Leica as well, also an M3. I've been meaning to meet up with him for a while and today seemed like as good a day as any. I shot him a Facebook message and invited him to meet me for lunch in Chungmuro, to which he agreed.

John did some shopping today too, picking up a pristine Pentax lens for his Pentax 67. After lunch John suggestion we shoot some photos, which I hadn't really planned on but what the heck? Might as well get through a roll of film on my Leica and drop it off same day. Heck, I just wanted to see if I could get through a roll without something catastrophic happening. Ugh.

Anyway, John took me over to the Namsangol Traditional Korean Hanok Village which is directly across the street from Chungmuro. For all the times I've been to Chungmuro, I can't believe I never knew this place existed. The Namsangol Village is a park at the base of Namsan Mountain/Seoul Tower, it features a walking path, ponds and the Seoul Millenium Time Capsule, as well as the traditional village itself. I definitely intend on going back.

I finished out my first roll of film on the Leica with no further incidents or fumblings, no inept repairmen exposing my film for no good reason, no Felix butterfingers dropping a 1300 dollar camera, just good times, great weather and a fun buddy shoot with John. Check out his web site http://www.johnsteelephoto.com/ and keep an eye out for his awesome dog Holly.

Two new friends, Felix' Leica M3 (left) and John's Leica M3 (right)

Oh yeah! Leica baby!

We weren't the only photographers out there today.

This girl was doing some product photography.

Here is my Leica M3 with Summicron 50mm f/2 Dual Range lens. The near focus goggles are attached. I ordered those separately. The near range goggles will allow you to focus accurately as close as 31 inches from your subject. Without the goggles the closest you can get is 3 and a half feet.

View of my Leica M3 from above, with near range goggles. She's showing her age on the outside, but on the inside she purrs like a kitten.

Leica M3 without the near range goggles mounted.

Leica M3 with Summicron 50mm f/2 DR lens

The mark of distinction... Leica