Over the course of winter I have been focussing my attention on some low light/LED photography to get me through the long dark winter months, but as it’s been unseasonably warm for January I wanted to get out and make the most of the weather before the dreaded snow sets in! I've recently acquired two new bits of kit which I’ll be featuring in today’s blog - some medium format goodness courtesy of the ARAX CM and in the 35mm corner I recently managed to bag myself a wonderful Nikkor 85mm 1.4 lens!
Pictured above on the left the ARAX CM is a modular 6X6 format camera which means it has has an interchangeable film back and prism, it’s totally manual too which suits me just fine! It’s basically an upgraded version of the Soviet era Kiev 88. I’ve always had a thing for some of the old Eastern bloc cameras and in particular the lenses which have a character and quality all of their own, Soviet camera bodies have their own character too - although they are more often characterised by a tendency to break/leak light/seize up/plain old not work properly!
I was drawn towards the ARAX as these are rebuilt and refitted cameras which (hopefully) have all of their flaws resolved - I am pleased to report that so far is so good! As well as fixing them up the good people at ARAX also give the cameras a Pentacon mount which means that they can accept the very wonderful range of Carl Zeiss Jena lenses (my main reason for getting the system in the first place).
The ARAX is based on a Soviet knock off of a Hassleblad design from the late 1940’s, a design which Hassleblad dropped in favour of a leaf shutter system but Communist camera company Kiev stuck with the original design - in practice the ARAX is lovely to shoot with, there is really one main thing to watch out for (and this holds true for a lot of older cameras) you must cock the shutter before basically doing anything - never ever ever on pain of death adjust the shutter speed dial without cocking the shutter, because the world will literally implode and (more importantly) you’ll kill the camera.
As well as being able to shoot some amazing Zeiss glass (for cheap) I was also drawn to the interchangeable/modular design meaning I can swap film backs and mix up shooting colour and black and white etc mid shoot.
To put the ARAX through it’s paces I arranged a shoot with Becca a really talented model I’ve worked with previously, we opted for a natural look and arranged to meet up at Meanwood Park in Leeds - the images kind of speak for themselves!
I missed focus on this one but you know what? I don’t care! :)
Ace! I flipping love the results! The ARAX is a joy to shoot with and the Zeiss Biometar 80mm 2.8 lens is awesome - my first time using a modular camera like the ARAX with a waist level finder, it was a challenge to focus but definitely enjoyable! I shot some 35mm Portra 400 on my trusty Nikon F2 with the stunning 85mm1.4 lens too - here’s a few shots from that set up :)
