Range finder film camera

15 years after shooting my last film pictures - film was the way I got into film photography - I rediscovered film when my father brought me a series of very old cameras he found somewhere.

I gave the Ilford Sportsman, a camera from 1958, a try. In my cupboard I could find a 10 year old 35mm Kodak film cartridge which I did not know how good it still would be.

Even tough the camera had some mechanical issues the results were quite impressive.

 Here a couple of images which were the first results from this 10 years old not correctly stored film and the camera which was not used for probably more than 30 years.

 The results are quite impressive. Since everything is manual there are a couple of challenges and one has to understand about depth of field, exposure, and focusing.

Visit the galleries on my website to see some of my best results using different film.


 The proof that this camera can take really good pictures can be viewed at at:
- 2014 JUNE - KODAK 200 ASA

- 2015 AUGUST - ILFORD XP2 400 ASA

Using expired film

Ilford Sportsman, Kodak 200 ASA film

My recent analog photography revival started with a very experimental setting. - The 1959 Ilford Sportsman range finder camera using a more than 10 years expired Kodak 200 ASA film.

For both camera and film I did not know what the results would be. As a result, only a handful of the 24 images were well exposed, sharp and useable. For some of the exposures the leaf shutter of the camera did not work properly.

But overall the visual performance was very satisfying.


2014 June - Kodak 200 ASA - Images by Andreas Mueller

For some more tips on shooting old film read the post from the "I Still Shoot Film" photography blog.

http://istillshootfilm.org/post/118025728220/5-tips-for-shooting-with-expired-film

Using classic cameras - Ilford Sportsman (1959)

A couple of years ago my father found his very first camera. An Ilford Sportsman 35mm range finder camera from approximately 1962.

When I got the camera into my hands in June 2014 I immediately started shooting using an old Kodak 35mm film which was 10 years expired. I got pretty decent results, even tough the functioning of release and aperture was not very reliable.

These first color images can be found on www.andreasrmueller.com.

Due to the missing reliability I decided the camera to get serviced. And here are the results from a short trip to the Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Since it is a classic vintage camera I decided to shoot black and white only using two different types of film. 

Since Ilford Sportsman is a range finder camera and does not provide any autofocus, focusing at the right distance is sometimes very difficult. Especially for shots with subjects in the foreground and selective focus or narrow depth of field. The built in passive light meter does a good job. So far all the images were well exposed.

The two films applied hier are chromogenic films. These are black and white films designed to be developed in a standard color negative C41 chemistry process.

(1) Kodak Professional BW400CN, Black and white negative film (35mm roll, 36 exposures)

A very fine grain, high sharpness and broad tonal range film. The film is processed in C41 process.

Ilford Sportsman, Kodak Professional BW400CN fim: Portrait

(2) Ilford XP2 Super 400, Black and white negative film (35mm roll, 36 exposures):

A sharp, fine grain, high speed film at ISO 400. The film has an extremely wide exposure latitude making it suitable for use in varied lighting conditions.

XP2 Super is processed in C41 type processing chemicals alongside color negatives.

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Shipping pier Gersau

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Approach of the ferry Tellsprung

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Paddle steamer "Schiller"

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Naval business

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Steak house at the lake