Welta welti was one of the first pocket 35mm cameras, it is small even compared to today standards being just 4¾ inches long, released in 1936. It is equipped with a Schneider Kreuznach Xenar 50/3.5 lens mounted on a Compur shutter with times ranging from 1 to 1/300 second. There's no rangefinder, just a visual aim, settable at short or long distance.
Given the history and characteristic of this camera I had to think with which film I could test it. I decided to avoid modern emulsions so I was left with very few alternatives, some old style b&w films like Trix or Fomapan and very little else. Then I remembered that an Italian retail store chain, Esselunga, sells under its label an old emulsion film, produced by Ferrania. I bought a couple of rolls of 400 ISO film and shot them while I was produced other images with my digital equipment.
I was pretty amazed by results. The old pastel colors that seems forgotten nowadays are back, but at cost of terrible resolution and grain. Still I think it is nearly impossible to replicate digitally this balancing of colors starting from a digital file and using an 80 years old camera with all its limitations is sometimes pretty refreshing, forcing me to avoid the usual digital workflow.
(Alessandro Guerani is a professional photographer specialized in food shooting. He lives in Bologna, Italy, and is available for assignments to create the images you always craved. Read the "About me" or contact him using the "Mail me" in the blog menu above.)
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1 commenti :
I love the picture of the bridge with the two sets of steps. That really does look like something out of the 30s. It's a lesson for me, too, as I thought those colours that you sometimes see in old books were created in the printing, not in the photography.
I suspect the uncoated lenses, designed with B&W in mind, also add to the effect. It would be interesting to see how the film looks when the same scene is shot in the same light with a modern 35mm camera.
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