Heading to Australia

Finally another real panoramic trip. We are heading for 2 weeks to Queensland Australia with a campervan. The panorama will be right outside the window. Should be bit easier to get up early morning. So for the next 3 weeks you wont find any updates here, but hopefully lots of panoramas after we return. 2 panoramas from the last trip to South Australia earlier this year as appetizer.

Zhouzhuang Panorama

The village near Suzhou, about 2 hours drive from Shanghai, is also known as the "Venice of the Orient" or "Venice of the East". The torturous and bumpy busride to that place reveals a full flavor tourist trap. There are definitely some very nice and old-looking spots between the old houses and waterways, but there is a high density of shops selling all kind of tourist stuff that make you ask yourself "Why the heck would I want to buy that ?". Btw, on the ride there you see villages that are much more appealing for a shooting in bw, but anyway I want to share some panoramas made with XPan, I was straying around too long without the trusty and pinsharp hassi in my pocket.

Wikipedia about ZhouZhuang

Panorama Camera Collection: Fotoquelle Panorama

Another 1$ camera from my panoramic gear collection. This model with fix focus, fix aperture (1/11) and fix exposure (1/100) was distributed by Fotoquelle in Germany but must have been produced by another company. The box shows an english description but the manual is in german, added by Quelle. Unfortunately the box doesnt show any clue of its origin.

I like the description of the features printed on the box.
The wide angle optical lens 25mm focus free angle is wider one time than 35mm focus.
Excuse me, what ? Of course the lens is optical, but one time wider than 35mm focus ? I didnt know focus comes with a focal length.
DX coded film.
huh ? its a plastic camera without battery, but with fix aperture and shuttertime, DX is useful as a third leg for this camera.
24 or 26 films actually take 24 or 36 exposures.
Really ? Thats wonderful ! I never thought so.

I took it to the usual "1$-camera-with-1$-bw-china-film-and-5$-development-test". Sorry, not convincing, it definitely cant compete with the Ansco panorama camera ! Here some results. I will refrain from further shooting with it.
And if someone really needs the manual in german, here you go..

Shanghai Photo Shopping

Another trip to Shanghai last week allowed me to hang out at Xing Guang Shopping Center (you remember - link) and hunt for bargains. Finally I got my hands on the 120 black and white film Shanghai GP3 for a price of about 60 ct Euro a roll.

I am not expecting too much in terms of fine grain and so on, but if it shows similar results like the ERA film, then I am happy. I will ipdate you with the results as usual. Maybe I will give it a try in the Agfa Box !

The other bargain I made: A tripod. Not that I really need a 5th tripod, but the quality is amazing for 30 Euro. It looks like a copy of Gitzo tripods with the same features and look, just 5..10 times cheaper. I cant judge the longterm quality, but I will work with it to find out. And it came with a bag, my real Gitzo didnt !
So, in case you pass by Shanghai, dont miss the chance to drop by ! It is an advantage to have a Chinese talking friend, it is rather hard to communicate in english, or just very basic conversation. You wont discuss the latest abberation of wideangle lenses :-)