Ilford Sportsman Style 4 Vario (1962)

Beside my previous writing on TLR fun, I'm exploring another mind-blowing working unit. Why mind-blowing? It is because it's still a myth for me to figure out how to find the range!

You may assume me going insane and rich enough to play around with almost antique stuff. Honestly, kinda fun again to check if your real instinct works well. A range is a horizontal distance where a projectile launched with a velocity at the angle to the horizonal of degree (from Range definition). Well, I'm not going to drag another grandmother story about mathematical Cosine and blah blah blah.

Ilford Sportsman Style 4 Vario (1962) 


Check out the shutter speed! Again, you have only 4 shutter speed to choose - Bulb mode, 1/25, 1/50 and maximum 1/200.



The DACORA 45mm f/2.8 lens is focused by rotating the focusing ring (front-cell). A lot of guess work to do by checking out your principal subject distant range. I'm currently having big problem to play around with this. Viewfinder is only viewfinder. See the yellow-coated screen? Yes, you can view but there is nothing happen even you rotate the focusing ring. Challenging but fun, right? I like old camera because it's like 1960s automobile. You know there is a problem, find the problem and fix it, then get it on the road again.

Left - film type you load. Right - film counter. Either 36 or 24. Very useful indicator.




Loaded film but currently didn't shoot much. I'm still adapting and adjusting myself to find the distant range that is in feet calculation, not meter. I asked my friend - 1 meter is equivalent to 3.3 feet. You may notice Ilford brand is normally relating with Black & White (B&W) film. It does not necessarily must load with Ilford brand film. The loaded film is colour film (expired) for learning stage. Jot down the distant range I set and exposure captured. I eager to see how the outcomes. Correct exposure or out of focus. Another waiting game to test my patient. Great!

TLR Fun

TLR stands for Twin Lens Reflex. It was my accident to discover my father has this precious vintage camera. According to my father, this camera was from Hong Kong if I'm not mistaken. Yes, this is the rarest Yashica B. At the moment of blogging this, it is very challenging to find any available Yashica B in Evil-bay (Yes, you are correct, EBay :-P).

Yashica B with leather jacket


I'm not a professional photographer, nor an analogue expert. I'm just curious in film photography after some while indulging into digital world. Well, you may disappoint from my poor knowledge on sharing technical setting or its metal solid structure. Nope, never plan to share from this point of view. Why not I share with you how I possibly fail the shot and the fun of adjusting myself to adapt the Yashica B's way of capturing what I see? Should be fun.

Viewfinder



TLR viewfinder is completely different from what you experienced in SLR (Single Lens Reflex). Vertical view hardly get me to stick to horizontal line correctly. In addition, the so-called "large" viewfinder is very difficult to confirm my object's sharpness. I need to use magnifier glass like an old man. :-)

Low speed film
My virgin film roll - Kodak Pro 160S. Low speed film to test and I'm curious about the colour output. In despite of low speed, I directly tested capturing portraits rather than landscape. Someone told me the colour output may go something like faded colour. Let's have some patient on this waiting game.

Instinct
One thing fun about film photography with full manual camera without metering - is to do some guess works. Guess work a.k.a your instinctive light justification will either give you a successful shot or a completely failure shot. Yes, DSLR may do a lot of metering job while you care about your composition. With full manual camera without metering, you are busier than before.

Yashica B in nude mode


My skill is not yet equivalent to instinctive justification level. Still need to jot down every shot I made on its exposure setting. Challenging part is you only have 5 choices of shutter speeds - Bulb mode, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and maximum 1/300.

With 120 format film size, you may try your luck to get 12 - 14 shots in total, as it is 6x6. It does not matter or relates with your braveness to try out this medium format (MF) camera. You should try once and check your feel without checking your DSLR LCD screen. Give yourself a chance - WHY NOT? :-)

Meets US Colleagues

Especially thanks to Bhawani for great half day trip plan with our US colleagues!

Our first destination - Jerejak island which is located within our view sight along our driving route to office. It was indeed hot sunny day like oven (arhhh... I didn't push the blame, mind your logical thinking please!). Well, the photos captured without any CPL filter. (CPL - circular polarizer. No idea? I'm busy, explain to you later)

Initially, Lay Hong and Bhawani blamed me for not giving them 1-2-3 to signal for smiling. Mitch became the one who was not ready. Haha!



Before departure, of course a group photo must be taken.



Penang Jerejak Island! The plane... the plane... the plane... (Do you remember what movie is that? :-P)



My first spyshot above shoulder without looking at viewfinder - new way of shooting silently. Handsome and natural, right? Look at the facial expression - unexpected hiking. I was attacked by mosquito.



Phobia? Excited? Or Happy?



Mitch's eyes are very sharp. I didn't even see the snake.





Spicy prawns with special brewed beer. Not me. I took Mango lassi - I swear I tell you the truth.



Too hungry, I whacked a full bowl of Briyani rice. Indeed delicious!



After very hot sunny day, the best to have is to go to Penang hill to enjoy cooler environment and have a chilling beer!



Not dawn, it's evening time.



Great team work!~ Psss... they didn't hike but using 4WD to reach the top :-P Sorry Eric, this was the best extreme low light shot I got. Please blame Chang Lee's fingers :-)

Where is Mitch? Oh... mama Bhawani went away to get Big Kid.