Don't underestimate that plastic lens...

Now I must admit, I didn't expect amazing results from the Fulvueflex Synchroflash. When you read about it online it seems history has judged it a bit of a poor decision on Ensign's part, not really consistent with their brand. Right enough it's the only Ful-Vue camera to have a plastic lens and feels cheap to the touch. It's significantly lighter than the others.

However, when I developed the roll of film I shot on this camera I saw this:

 

The film was Kodak Ektar 100, professional grade film that excels at taking landscapes. Loading film of this calibre into essentially a toy camera felt a bit wrong at the time, but I was clearly too quick to judge the Fulvueflex because, well, look! The picture is gorgeous.

Here are some more of the roll:

So there you go. The Fulvueflex demonstrating that it isn't fancy expensive kit that takes great photos. It also performed very respectably at my wedding last month, so I'm no longer hesitant about grabbing this camera as I leave the house. In fact, on a recent trip to Bristol, this was my go to box camera as I was flying and mindful of my weight limit. I look forward to seeing the results.

Test Shots on the Ful-Vue 1.5

Some test shots taken on the Ful-Vue 1.5 (my own name for the model that came between the first version and the model II. It was a particularly sunny day in Inverness. Definitely EV15 for most of the shots. This was a little bright for my Kodak Ektar 100 film so some of the shots were a little overexposed. Meh. Just happy I got some pictures. Some of them are pretty sharp too.

A family enjoying their ice cream. Whilst not the easiest camera to use for street photography it's pretty effective as people generaly don't notice the camera at waist level, particulalry if you're looking the other way while shooting.

Ok a bit overexposed but I like this picture. It's pretty sharp, the reflections in the water are lovely, I captured two seagulls, and it's your quintessential box camera snapshot - a nice scene from a special day out.

Another nice capture of Inverness from a high vantage point. Because the camera was sitting on a ledge it was nice and still,so the buildings came out nice and sharp.

The unicorn statue in Falcon Square. Hand held. Pretty good results.

There was a little more cloud cover when I took this so the colours were captured better. I was sitting right opposite this gentleman when I took the photo, but he didn't even notice because the camera was sitting on my lap and I was looking the other way.

Another shot from a bench on Inverness High Street. Nice sharp detail.

A nice snapshot of one of the bridges over the river. Hand held. Not totally sharp but not bad.

So, the photos are a little overexposed, but I'm not too fussed. I don't doubt it's the sort of thing that could be fixed in Lightroom or similar software, but I much prefer capturing memories to airbrushing them. Besides, the lesson from this photoshoot is to seek out shadier subjects on a day as bright as this when shooting ISO 100 film. I was set up for EV 12. Would have been better shooting ISO 25. Some of the blurrier photos I took also remind me how hard it is to keep the cameras steady when shooting, particularly if trying to shoot quickly as is necessary in street photography. My most successful captures were those where I could rest the camera on something.

All in all a fun day shooting a Ful-Vue. :)

Full-Vue Portrait - test shot

This photo was taken on the Ful-Vue (model 1) on Kodak Ektar 100 film. The result is quite nice and sharp with some vignetting around the edges. Certainly better than I expected. To take a portrait on this camera you need to pull the lens out to its 'portrait' setting. Will definitely try this again.

Ful-Vue Model 1 Test Shots

Some test shots taken with the Model 1 Ful-Vue:

 

Images copyright Natasha Miles.