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Looking for help/advice for a Parktica
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Sorry if this comes across as a bit silly.
A while back a mate who knew of my photography interests met me for a cup of coffee and handed me a old leather case that held a praktica b200 and a couple of lens and told me twas now mine.
So, its sat in the corner of the living room now for months. Something Iv always ment to try but I kept saying Id bring it down to my local camera tech to get him to give it the once over before I did anything with it. Well last night a artist mate who would have been made do a lot of film photography in art school saw it sitting there and proceed to give me a bollocking for being a lazy ass and told me go get a battery and some film and just try it. So, went to the local chemist, I now have a battery in it and a role of film. (could only get color so I thought Id hold off buying a few until (1) Im sure its all working and (2), I can get some black and white film)
Now, being honest, I havent shot a role of film since I was a kid. I really feel intimidated sitting here looking at it.
Is there anyone on here who uses a Praktica? Or even shed some light on how the metering system works? Or just anything at all really I should know before I starting throwing away money on film?In regards developing, is it possible to get back digitalized negative images? Not sure if Im asking for the right thing here. Im just looking to get back unedited digital files of what I shot on film. I hate the idea of someone else deciding how my images should be processed.
Sorry if this all sounds a little strange. There were many beers had last night while we discussed the merits of film over digital and my lazyness so Im feeling very very shook trying to type this.
Thanks
Your mate is right get off your ass or in this case sit on it and Google Praktica 200 B and you will get all the information you require including a PDF of the manual. Read enough and then off you go and shoot to your hearts content. Get your film developed and you are three quarters way home. No more excuses, off you go and good luck in your journey into the world of analogue photography.
Yeah, after getting the manual and after having a read through now a few times.
The metering is still throwing me though.
This is a shot I found through the view finder, can anyone shed some light on the meter?
Where do you get your film developed? Is it possible to get the film processed like I was saying to basically like a raw file? Sorry if this is all coming across a bit stupid. Just a bit lost.
The figures on the right hand side are the shutter speeds and the small window on the bottom shows the aperture. At the moment the shutter speed seems to lie between a 60th and a 30th of a second. Change the aperture and the red light should move up or down to show you what speed you are shooting at and it it suits your purpose.
Check out Gunns of Wexford St for developing you film and any questions you may have relating to it.Sorry, Im really not explaining myself clearly at all today, drinking really doesnt agree with me no more. Im no use to no one the next day.
I understand about the shutter speed and the aperture and I get the over/under. Its just when I look through mine, I get 3 dots, normally one towards the bottom and the two at the top. How do you gauge your exposures? All I shot for years now is canon, so Im a bit of a canon/digital moron.
I am looking forward to this, if a little apprehensively. I think the thought process will be a interesting and humbling experience.
I’ve never used a Praktica so am unsure exactly how the meter works on those, firstly though, make sure you have the correct ISO set,it’s usually around the shutter button, after that I would go through all the F stops and see how the meter responds,perhaps use your dslr,if you have one,to compare the metering, it’s fairly simple usually,unless the camera is russian,then it’s an enigma. Don’t forget btw,that dslr’s are based on old film slr’s,just like the praktica, but the old ones are simpler to use,believe it or not. :D
Here is a manual for the camera. http://www.butkus.org/chinon/praktica/praktica_b200/praktica_b200.htm” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false; (there are 1 links to pdf for it).
Regarding b+w developing, to be honest I just do it myself. Its so very easy after the first one. Of course you’d need to scan them
in if you want to digitise them. Alternatively Gunns in Dublin would do a good job.I think you’d based in Cork ? (I am also). I don’t know of anyone doing b+w development in Cork at the moment.
Thanks Mark. Yeah Im Cork aswell.
Im shocked no one is doing B&W developing. I just assumed McSweenys would be a port of call, I was actually going to move my day around to get in there tomorrow.
Do they at least still sell b&w film even if I have to post it off?Is it a large outlay to set yourself up for the developing? I had a incident at the start of the year and destroyed my set up and had to replace everything as it turned out I wasn’t insured so this is a folly I cant afford to be throwing money at at the moment. Developing myself is something Iv never looked into and wouldnt even know where to start. And yeah, I really would prefer to digitize them. I at least have some understanding of a digital work flow, I would be lost trying to achieve the same effects in a dark room. May down the line its something to look into but I know I wont have time for the next 12 months.
O’Leary’s Camera sell film for sure. On their website it says that they develop b+w/colour also, so worth a shot I’d say.
Online you should checkout thefizz’s store http://www.thephotoshop.ie” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;, good prices and cheap delivery.To develop yourself, you need a changing bag or light proof room so you can put the film in the tank, a developing tank will 1-2 film spirals/rolls (Barker Photographic in Cork do them!), some measuring jugs, a thermometer, a stirrer for chemicals and of course chemicals, developer, optional stop bath (I use water) and fixer. I’m guessing around €100 for the hardware and maybe < €20 for the chemicals.
I use an Epson V500 for scanning 35mm and 120 film. They’re around €200. People say that a dedicated scanner is best for 35mm and they’re probably right but I’ve been happy with the V500.
For now I’d say try shooting some film, get it developed and scanned to CD and see if you like it before buying the equipment.
Personally, I got hooked on it straight away. I love developing and scanning (need to get back into darkroom) my own b+w.And if you want someone to shoot some film with let me know and I’ll gladly meet up at some stage.
Thanks for the informed reply Mark and the offer.
Once I make sure all is working I might take you up on it.I was thinking about it and I figure the last time I shot a roll of film was 14 years ago, and that was full auto with no thought nor understanding but it was down at Castlefreak in west Cork, so we headed back there this evening to bring the hounds for a run and run through a roll of film.
It felt very strange having my 5d on one shoulder and the film on the other but I must admit, quite taken with the process. A very different take. Its nice to step back and think more about it rather then just rattle off. I did find my self more times then I would care to admit going to look at the back to see how the image looked….
Quite excited now to drop them off tomorrow to see how badly it all goes without a histogram to tell you whats going on.You’ve got me thinking about a scanner now, we do have some brother printer/scanner all in one job but we have never seen eye to eye. It has always point blank refused to work for me but yet my good lady wife never seems to have any issues. I might have to have a look some evening to see what it can do, might be worth a shot for a while at least.
there was a place in carlow that you could mail your film to and they would develop and put the images on cd for quite a reasonable rate. My local shop will do it too so i’m guessing lots of places will. you can specify no prints and its much cheaper. I’m not sure if you can specify the file type you get back though. Your post reminded me that I have a bunch of exposed rolls laying around that i must get developed.
A handy way to check what your meter is ‘saying’ would be to set any combination of film speed shutter and aperture and tale a reading for the scene, then do the same with your slr and compare the two. just remember to set the metering on the slr to average because thats probably what your old camera metering system has. If its center weighted or whatever then set your new camera to match the old one.
then try varyng the shutter or aperture etc to see how the lights vary in your practika and see how they compare to your new camera.
you should be able to figure out what the lights mean over under correct etc.
If you find the meter is off by a stop or half stop at every exposure you can set a higher or lower film speed which will fool the meter and can give you the correct reading.
so if your new camera on iso 200 says 60 5.6 and you get 30 5.6 with film speed 200 set (1 stop underexposed) you could set film speed to 400 ( +1 stop) , the camera should then ‘hey , i have faster film , i dont need as much light and give you a reading of 60 5.6. Note you would still put 200 film in you are simply fooling a lightmeter that is not accurate.good luck, its fun and kinda forces you to take your time taking a photo, and I would suggest you try taking shots of stationary stuff to start off, getting used to manual focus takes a bit of time and the diagonal split screen can be a bit dark for lining up the split, you have to look ‘square into the viewfinder.
Thanks for all the advice. Yeah, spent a bit of time playing with both.
Was struggling to get my head around what kind of area the Praktica was metering.Anyway, dropped the roll in this morning and picked it up like a kid at christmas.
Heres a few
http://imgur.com/a/lh39S” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
(I did cheat slight and run them through aperture, straighten/crop etc)looks good, a few teething problems like aperture selection and/or focus but overall good result.
i rarely use a meter, instead i use the SUNNY16 rule! works perfectly!
developing your own b+w is sooooooo easy, just a small investment in the apparatus to get started!
you should definitely give itr a go
Thanks Aoluain.
I think I might have to look into developing the film myself, it was a expensive experience and when I got them scanned to a cd they came back at 1.8mp which I’m gonna guess my one scanner at come could manage but I haven’t tried it yet.In regards the focus/aperture you’ve no idea.
There was 36 shots on that roll….
A sobering experience.There was a few times when I really thought I had the focus bang on at the time and when I got the prints it wasn’t even slightly close.
hey – treat it as an interesting learning curve !
i actually have a developing tank and reel for sale + some expired fuji neopan 100 ss black and white film for sale if you are interested!
all you need then is a changing bag, thermometer, graded jug for mixing the chemicals and chemicals themselves.
some of the images look like you focussed on a part of the scene and used a big aperture like
f2.8 or f4, just my thoughts.
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