Smena 35 with Street Candy Mountain 100

Here we have one of the later camera’s from the Soviet line of Smenas, which all had the T-43 lens. It’s a zone focus camera with shutter speeds from bulb to 1/250 and adjustable apertures from 4 to 16. The body is plastic but once loaded it feels comfortable in the hand, like a good 90’s point and shoot.

I loaded it up with Street Candy Mountain 100, a film that’s new to me. Once you have set the shutter and the aperture you have to remember to cock the shutter or nothing will happen. Luckily, if you forget the red end of the arm to cock the shutter is visible in the viewfinder – a useful reminder. Although it is a little above and to one side of the lens the viewfinder gives a decent approximation of the shot you will get. Here are some of the results.

I enjoyed using this, it gave enough control to make me think a bit more about the shots I was taking. The lens lives up to its reputation and the film creates some nice textures, with a good range of tones. I even like the accidental double exposure and I don’t really like double exposures. This is definitely getting more use in future.