I found my perfect Ski camera. It’s light, small and great for Landscapes oh by the way it’s a medium format 6×6 folding bellows camera from the 1950’s. Obviously! The camera takes 120 film and I was shooting Ilford FP4 Plus 125 to account for the brightness of the snow. The photos were taken in Borovets, Bulgaria ski resort in April 2019.
The slim profile is ideal for sitting under your jacket and simple controls mean you can use it with gloves on. There is a shutter speed that’s maximum 200 and aperture that’s f/4.5 to f/22. I used a Sunny 16 set it and forget it method meaning I only changed aperture when the clouds closed in and every exposure came out OK! The camera stops you from double exposing and there is a red window to view your shot number at the back.
The little view finder gives you a fairly accurate view of what will be in the shot but it is essentially just a hole with no focusing or information. This made it easy with goggles on and fun to use for big landscapes.
Zone focusing means that generally you are in for landscapes which suites me. Having set the camera to infinity at the start of the day it does a great job. When you do want to focus on something closer there is a scale which is in feet and can be used fairly easily as long as you are set to f/8 or above. The photo of my friend below seems OK enough to me.
The lens also provides a great creamy quality that screams film. While you won’t be catching any skiing action shots this camera provides character in spades (you can always take something else for the action shots).
All in all I love this camera. It’s compact, fun and takes great shots after a bit of practice! This camera has now been to the summit of Mount Toubkal in Morocco and hopefully will come on many more adventures with me as well!
If you would like to see more of my skiing shots please click here there are a few from my Nikon FM as well. Julian Higgs has also written about his Nettar and that’s well worth a look too.
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Zvonimir on 5 Frames Skiing with a Zeiss Ikon Nettar – Andy Larner
Comment posted: 28/11/2019
In addition to the virtues you describe I might add that these folders are tough as nails and would not attract any self-respecting thieves.
Comment posted: 28/11/2019
Nick Lyle on 5 Frames Skiing with a Zeiss Ikon Nettar – Andy Larner
Comment posted: 28/11/2019
Comment posted: 28/11/2019
Comment posted: 28/11/2019
Comment posted: 28/11/2019
Forrest Rogers on 5 Frames Skiing with a Zeiss Ikon Nettar – Andy Larner
Comment posted: 29/11/2019
Comment posted: 29/11/2019
Comment posted: 29/11/2019
Bryan Costin on 5 Frames Skiing with a Zeiss Ikon Nettar – Andy Larner
Comment posted: 03/12/2019
Comment posted: 03/12/2019
Forrest Rogers on 5 Frames Skiing with a Zeiss Ikon Nettar – Andy Larner
Comment posted: 18/12/2019
Comment posted: 18/12/2019