Another Perkeo II

[alexvaras]

Well, I was lucky to get a Perkeo II is mostly perfect state (the minus is all speeds are the half in every setting), lens ok, bellows ok, etc...

These are the results of the first roll

What I liked:
The contrast, for a Moscow cloudy day results are promising.
Image definition, good enough for me.
Small, in a pocket you have a 6x6 camera.

What I did not like:
Not a camera for winter, can't be managed with gloves, so even at 0 degrees as It was you want to finish to put back the gloves
Need a rangefinder (its coming)
I lost the paper with the setting for each photo (how do you manage on this stuff?)
Slow handling, measure the light, composing, settings, coking and shooting, I think with practise will be quicker. (Winter is getting colder here)

Conclusion: Its a keeper!!

As usual comments and advices are very welcome

I opened an account on a picture social media, you can see the high res here:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm8WAke5

Alex

[Julio1fer]

That is not bad at all! In my limited experience of Voigtlanders, they are very well made and handle like mechanical silk.

Does your Perkeo II have a Skopar lens or a triplet? (I'd bet on a Skopar after looking at your high resolution scans).

Maybe the left side of pictures in this roll is not as sharp as the right side. This may happen because of a slight misalignment of the folding structure which tilts the lens a bit, or it might be the pressure plate, or some other issue. In any case the camera is a keeper.

Probably you were shooting at 1/100 or 1/50, from the movement of walking people. Must be tough to handle the small controls in your winter weather; I feel cold just from looking at the pictures!

You estimated distance quite well; most people can be accurate enough from 2 m onwards if they practice, and it is faster than rangefinder operation (although not so nerdy).

My Perkeo I, with Vaskar triplet lens, is a favorite MF travel camera because of light weight and small size.

[minoly]

Thanks for an interesting post and photos. You must have found a way to deal with the shutter inaccuracy. I, too, live in a cold climate. Mechanical cameras can be hard to handle when it's cold; but, your photos seem to show that the Perkeo kept working consistently. I've heard that it is a good choice for a folding camera. Best wishes.

[alexvaras]

Thx guys, encourage me to do the next roll

Julio: Color-skopar
About the different sides sharpness, thx! I didn't realize it, I will take a look and see what could be the reason.
First thought, I know I had some problem winding the film because I didn't load it tensioning it, this can be the first reason, second roll I will discard this if loading with film tensioned the problem persits.

Minoly: Yes, speeds are the same, just the half in about 5 tests each, I will do test them again... I prefer not to open the shutter to CLA if this is the only problem, max speed at 250 is perfectly doable with 400 asa film.

[Julio1fer]

Alex, my Perkeo I does the same trick on different left and right sharpness,and that is why I went to look for it in your roll! If you find the cause I will be most interested.

[PFMcFarland]

A Perkeo II (120), and Vito II (35mm) are the nicest pair of pocket cameras one can own. With a pair of those in a city like yours, Alex, you could spend all day (weather permitting) taking photos, and not be worn out.

Since you know the shutter speeds are consistently off, it will be easy to compensate for the discrepancy. A yellow filter will help with boosting the contrast, or even using a higher contrast film.

As for the left/right sharpness thing, I believe I have your answer: Don't wind the film until you are ready to expose the frame. When you open and close the camera, which I suspect you were doing between exposure pairs, the air that rushes in when the bellows expand can draw the film away from the pressure plate. So what I do if I am going to close the camera is to only wind the frame halfway, so that 1) I don't double expose the frame, and for 2) it tensions the film across the pressure plate when I wind the rest of the frame after opening the camera. In other words, I set my sequence of action to where winding the film is not done until I am sure to be taking a photo at that time. Usually that means I will scout a scene until I settle on the framing I like, then wind, set aperture/shutter, focus, and shoot.

Cameras with double-exposure prevention (DEP) are great to have just in case you forget the sequence, which is easy to do in the rush of things sometimes (imagine, being in a hurry shooting a folding camera). Sometimes you might get the camera ready to shoot, and either change your mind, or the scene changes on you. That's when I leave the camera open until the next shot, but try to cover it if traveling a bit of distance between locations.

I've got a Paxette that I can use with gloves on, but below 20°F/-6.5°C, the cold still seeps in. It didn't stop me the other day with the Nikkormat FT2, though the meter didn't particularly care for it.

Keep warm!

PF

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