First frames with the Voigtländer Brillant pseudo TLR camera, 31 March 2024

First frames with the Voigtländer Brillant pseudo TLR camera, 31 March 2024

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the Voigtländer Brillant pseudo TLR camera. I had picked this one from the Kamerastore website for 15€ under their 'not passed' category because the slow shutter speed of 1/25s was faulty and the viewfinder doors would not stay closed. From the Brillant's serial number (E192998) I dated it as being from 1933, ninety-one years old.

After a general clean of the camera it was time to load it with some film. I still have a few rolls of Fomapan Retro left over from last year's Frugal Film Project, so this was a perfect opportunity to use these with the Brillant. Loading the camera is just like loading any other 120 film camera so long as you remember to feed the film under the first felt bar across the back of the camera and then reset the film counter to '1' when you get to jthe number 1 in the red window. At this moment the camera is loaded and ready to go.

The weather has been a bit troubled this month, with rain storms most of the time and few sunny days. But one afternoon the sky cleared and I took the opportunity for a walk around Oiã. I used the zone focussing on the Brillant to set the distance and used the smartphone app 'Camera Meter' to set the exposure. After completing the roll I dropped it off at Forever Blue, the laboratory in Aveiro, and waited anxiously for a week for the film to be developed and the images to be returned. 

I needn't have worried, the images and negatives were excellent. OK, they wouldn't win any awards but the photos were sharp and showed an excellent range of contrast (although I think a yellow or red filter would have differentiated the blue sky and clouds a little better). There were also no light leaks from the Brillant, something that I was afraid of with a camera of this vintage. On the whole I really enjoyed using the Brillant, and I'm already planning my next outing ... I have a roll of Lomochrome Turquoise knocking around somewhere.

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#Voigtlander, #Voigtländer, #Brillant, #MediumFormat, #6x6, #TLR, #PseudoTLR, #TwinLensReflex, #VintageCamera,