This is my new old camera, and I am falling head-over-heels.
image from flickr
Penti II comes with or without a light meter. Mine is the model without.
This is my first half-frame (18×24mm) camera. I love the format and I love playing with diptychs and the relationship between the frames – making objects move in and out of the frames, and having the frames complement each other. Sometimes it works out for me, sometimes it doesn’t. Mostly the diptychs that work are not the planned ones, but the random ones (which means I still have a lot to learn, I guess!).
With this camera you’ll always feel dressed up. It’s the perfect camera to bring to a party as an accessory to that little black dress. Comes in silver or gold-coloured metal body and different colours of enamel frame. Macho guys would need to have tongues firmly planted in cheeks to pull this camera off.
I mostly use very simple cameras, but it’s nice to have a few more options as far as aperture and shutter speed goes, you’re no longer limited to outdoors, sunny shots. Fully manual, of course.
The metal exterior means you’ll have very cold fingers when shooting outside in winter. The back comes off entirely, and can be a little tricky to snap back on, so double check that it’s on properly before you start shooting. Film is forwarded by pushing in the pin on the side, which is a bit of an oddity, and not particularly doubles friendly.
Penti II uses the rapid format, which means you have to make sure the camera comes with two rapid cassettes, otherwise it won’t work. Although the cassettes are only designed to hold 12 full frames, sometimes you can squeeze 24 into one – the older and more curvy the film is, the easier it goes, sometimes it’s a bit of a struggle. Loading the canisters is simple, but a bit bothersome – just push as much film into it as possible. Don’t forget to cut off the lead and round the corners on both ends of the film to make it run smoothly. I’m currently working on “organizing” some extra casettes so I can load up a bunch at home before going somewhere, which will hopefully make my life a little easier!
22 comments
azd1
wow- that camera looks really modern! nice gallery too
oldskool_rider
wow, great camera and gallery, looks like it's fun to use, i love shots 7 and 8!!
oldskool_rider
wow, great camera and gallery, looks like it's fun to use, i love shots 7 and 8!!
anarchy
Perfect! The camera looks really slick and I love the gallery =)
monoflow
i love this album!
inotion
Love the goldie cam & the album that comes with it!
ethermoon
nice camera. nice diptychs!
eyecon
I think that one was really the Lady´s choice when it was published....
stouf
Oh yeah ! That's a kick-ass gallery !
lomollete
Nice review, i really like the duck/swan/whateverit is on shot 5, the graffiti on shot 17, and the statues in shot 19.
I want a half frame.
ndroo
Cool cam & great pics
7samurai
classic camwer and cool pics
apolageta
could you tell a little bit more about the film for this cam?
eggzakly
Thanks everybody!! :)
@ apolageta: Which film were you interested in? The self-portraits are done on Orwochrom UT18 (an old East German film) cross processed in c41. The black and white film is an old Russian called Tasma 64, and the colour film is Jessops 200 iso.
lomo_bernis
lovely shots!!!
dfred
very cool
yoscolmi
yeah! mine is standing in front of me right now screaming for a test-roll! thanks for the tip with the round edges!
suigeneris
eggzakly
@suigeneris: This isn't really a camera for taking two pictures on the same frame (=doubles or double exposures). The only way to do it is if you finish shooting the entire roll, take the two canisters out of the camera and into a dark place, and push the entire length of film from the take up canister into the original canister. So it's pretty cumbersome!
katrin_libert
I love this cameraaa, I have one too ;)
bongo_biene
i got one but dont have the kasettes, so im looking out for them!
stellaeatsfish
just found that camera and i tested it today, good to know that someone else is still using it too :)!