Camera fixed (mostly); my latest

Fishpaste · May 2, 2011

Hi everyone. As you may already know, I've got an old Zenit ET which has unfortunately, been giving me troubles with focusing. My last roll only had five pictures which were in focus, the others were terribly blurry. I took the thing apart and did some minor tweaking, and now it's doing an admirable job.

Now I can work on honing my compositional techniques!

So please, send me your criticisms! (I know there are probably too many photos here, but I'm just too excited to have my camera working. Just pick one or two that you love or hate!)

AUG19 · May 2, 2011

I like the last two. Which film did you use?

Fishpaste · May 2, 2011

Thanks AUG. The film is cheap drugstore variety, 400 ISO

AUG19 · May 2, 2011

Which shot(s) do you like the most of these?

Fishpaste · May 2, 2011

Hm, that's the first time anyone has asked me that. I'm not really sure what to say about them. I feel that number one needs work. I thought number two would be interesting due to the colors, but it's still missing something. I like the colors in three, but the view in four (In it I have SF, Golden Gate, and Sather Tower - three important landmarks rather than just two). Numbers four and five are ok, and probably the best in this set. I admit that it felt good to see them turn out all right, especially after five rolls of nothing but blur.

I went to a coffee shop with my friend (who you see in the first picture) to look at the photos he just had developed and inside were mounted truly stunning photographs. These were composed like paintings. It was a bit of a let-down to be reminded of my mediocrity, but I want to learn (He's better than I am, and he was saddened as well when he shuffled through his own prints).

It's strange. I know what I like when I see it, but I can't really create anything that nice on my own. But I guess even the Greats started off somewhere not-so-great. At least, that's what I tell myself.

AUG19 · May 2, 2011

Number 2 was the image that prompted me to ask 'which film?' How the lens renders the girl and boy out-of-focus in 5 looks good, a little better than the background IMO. Which lens - 44-2 helios?