Dog Days with the Recesky DIY TLR

A month or so ago I picked up a couple of Recesky DIY TLRs. These are hardcore toy cameras with plastic bodies, very simple focusing mechanisms, and plastic lenses. The following videos show how to build the camera. After the videos, I'll share some photos from the first two rolls off the black-bodied Recesky.

The blue line is from something in the camera that's scratching the film emulsion. But, it's a plastic camera, so hopefully no one expects the results to be perfect. I like the color transmission in these photos. And the center detail is simply staggering. The edge softness creeps in pretty quickly, but it's less severe the closer you focus. At infinity, the edge softness is pretty extreme. With the closest focus, it's almost non-existent.


For portraits, this camera has some serious potential.


Even with light leaks and emulstion scratches, it's pretty great.


In black and white the camera exhibits impressive contrast transmission and excellent detail.


Infinity focus -- extreme edge softness.

An Old Kit Delivers

Canon made the AE-1 from 1976 to 1984. The AE-1 has Canon's wonky FD mount. Unlike bayonet mounts, the FD is a breech-load mount whereby a ring on the camera lens rotates to hold the lens in place. I have heard this was done so that the lens didn't rub against the camera body and, in time, wear out the metal and make either the lens or camera unable to focus properly. I have a number of SLRs up to 40 years old and none of the bayonet mount units exhibit enough wear to affect performance. Petri, for a time, used a similar system to Canon, but the locking ring was on the camera.


"So, uh, what's the thing you got there in your hands, buddy? Hmm? What's it do, buddy? You pointing it at me, or at you, buddy? Just curious there, buddy." That's what the pigeon was thinking.
1/1000th, f1.8. The pigeon was a solely black silhouette at first, so I pulled the bird and fence out with a wand mask, increased the exposure about 2, and pasted it back in with about 75% transparency.


1/125th, f16. Fog doesn't work well with monochrome, so I was lucky to have color on Friday. However, all of the images came back from the developer green. To return this to a natural color cast, I had to make major changes in the curve and desaturate a number of hues.


1.125th, f5.6.


1.500th, f2.8. Best shot on the roll. Except for cleaning up some white spots (developing problems), this shot is straight off the roll.

Real Time with the Canon RT

The Canon RT introduced the Pellicle mirror to cameras. The only camera I've ever used with no blackout during the photo capture, an effect I still find somewhat disconcerting. I don't know how to fully use the RT yet; some of its functions are still a mystery. I'll learn how to use all of it when I get an EF lens to mount to it.


Hand-held 1/8 of a second at f8. One advantage of the RT's system, which has no mirror movement to shake the camera during exposure, is that it allows much longer hand-held exposures.


1/180th at f1.8. Each winter San Francisco has a skating rink in the Embarcadero. I tried the same shot twice at two apertures.


1.90th, f4. The same shot with a deeper depth of field.


1/60th, f2.5. San Francisco boasts a wealth of statuary. Some exceptional and some, well, curious. I think this is a samurai, but I'm not entirely sure.


I took a couple shots on this roll specifically to convert to monochrome. Why? No good reason. This was one of them.


And here it is in monochrome. Monochrome provides a different view on reality unburdened by color's messiness and chaos.


1/60th, f11. One final image, shadows at a Muni stop.