5 Frames with a Voigtländer Vito B and Ferrania orto 50

When you prepare for shooting in the darkest time of the year, in a place that’s further north than Quebec City people would most likely say ISO 400 minimum and a fast lens. So, I loaded my Voigtländer Vito B, Color-Skopar 50/3.5 with Ferrania orto 50. The Vito B is a humble viewfinder camera from the 1950ies the only oddities are the shutter cocking and the frame counter. The shutter cocking is done by the film moving a cogwheel and the frame counter is above the lens with its numbers upside down so that is easier to read when shooting. With ISO 50 film loaded I set the shutter to 1/50 hoped for the best with the apertures. Sunny f16 is really sunny f11 most of the year and in late December sunny f8 at least here at 48.3 degrees North and that did not leave me much choice when I set out to shoot. Of course, not all frames on the roll were shot on one day and the ones I chose were shot on two different occasions. All was shot in about 1km from my place of living.

The first pictures shows the Ars Electronica Center here in Linz/Austria. A location well known for its architecture, its glass façade is lit in various colours by night and makes it an impressive view. One day I’ll shoot it in colour and by night.

The museum is situated by the banks of the river Danube and walking on I took a shot from the oldest bridge spanning the Danube here in my town. From Nibelungenbrücke (Nibelungen’s Bridge) I took the second picture which shows the north bank of the river Danube here in Linz/Austria with quite a few ships moored to the quai (I apologize for the possible misuse of nautical terms). Some were river cruise ships some are there for the winter some are restaurant/bar ships. The steam paddler Schönbrunn was built in 1912 and still does charter runs. It uses its original steam engine which was converted from coal to oil burners for the steam fabrication in 1976.

Walking on a few hundred meters found us at the Christmas market held in the yard of Klosterhof, which is a famous restaurant with beer garden, very popular with students. There I made the third picture, a portrait of two wooden Krampus statues on display between the decorative globes and fir trees. That one could have benefitted from one stop more light but I didn’t dare 1/25th at the time. The drama lies in the shadows anyway. Later I did try but the photo is private all I can share is that I still can hand hold 1/25th even at my age. That concluded the session for the day and I warmed my fingers on a mug of mulled wine as it custom on Christmas markets here.

Weather between Christmas and New Year was mostly dull and foggy and not helping with winter depression. On a nice day, cold but “sunny” I went out again and did not forget my camera. Close to home I made the 4th picture. It shows the front of Bruckner Tower, until very recently the highest secular building (99m) in our city. The picture was taken from the other side of the road so the branches of the trees could not have been avoided but they add a nice layer to the picture.

A 10 minutes’ walk took me to the New Railroad Bridge (the only railroad bridge without rails) and I made the fifth picture showing the elegant arcs of the bridge against some office buildings by the river bank and a background of hills north-east to the city. The bridge was opened 2021 and replaced the old steel railroad bridge from 1900 which was beyond saving due to corrosion.

All in all, I liked this odd combination of slow film and a slow (by today’s standards) camera. I half knew what to expect from Ferrania orto 50 because I shot it about a year previous in a Yashica Lynx 5000E but that has 1.8 lens and slower shutter speeds as well which are easy enough to use with some support. Film Ferrania stocks are amongst my favourite emulsions. I like using P30 both in 135 and 120 but also orto 50 and I also like how Foto Leutner in Vienna/Austria develops it so it keeps its full contrast. I have not yet shot P33 but Ferrania has the perfect emulsions for me. I like fine grain films better which probably means I am old.

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