I have now had the Vitomatic II with me for a couple of months or so. I have come to love the camera. This despite some quirks: It is not quick to focus, with the rangefinder prism making it difficult to see the double shadow. It is heavy, so much so I had to remove it from my shoulder to drink my beer today. Finally, the lightmeter is a little awkward to use, being located on top of the camera.
Despite these “quirks”, the camera is kind of a joy to use. The weight and full metal construction makes me want to splurge into classic car analogies. This just feels good to use, everything is precise and well oiled. The aperture/shutter dials are genious, removing the pain of calulating away from your brain. Once you get the hang of it, and trusting that your lightmeter is accurate, everything becomes reasonably easy to do. Just some issues with speedy focussing.
Now, onto the pain I experienced when receiving back my first roll of film. Twas an arrow wound to my heart.
Although some pictures were okay, I received a lot of ruined shots, some blank or dark, and a lot with what I can only describe as wavy exposure lines.
As you can see from the images, these wavy lines have completely ruined the images. So far, I am unsure as to what they are… Is it a small pinhole light leak on the camera somewhere? Why, then, is half the image okay? Could it be a problem with the development process? I’ll need to research more to find out. For the time being, however, I’ll be leaving the house with my trusty backup, the Olympus AZ-210 also in tow, as I think I truly lost a couple of really great shots here. If you know what went wrong, then leave a message in the comments below.
Still, not everything went wrong. I got a number of family shots that came out nicely, so at least those memories weren’t lost (I won’t post them for privacy reasons).
I also got one, yes only one keeper.
It was a fairly routine shot which has really come out in post production with the application of a black and white filter. You can really see the detail in the stonework, and the gradients are fantastic. Overall, I’m very pleased with this, and may offer it as a print in the near future.
For those looking to see colour rendition, I include the shot below, although it not really a keeper.
I do still have a policy of trying not to commit orginials to the internet, so expect the above two images to be replaced by print versions shortly!
So, I hope I’ve given a small window into the use of, and results obtained by, the Vitomatic II. Hopefully we can resolve our issues, and continue with a relationship that started out so well.
Let me know in the comments of your experiences with this camera.