The annual visit to the Attic uncovered not only our Sky+ controller now missing for 12 months but also two antique cine 8mm cameras. One of the cameras actually still works but in the absence of both knowledge and film they are objects to be admired rather than used.

The best in terms of visual appearance has to be the Bolex 8L (1958), The B-8L was the first in a series of “Compumatic” cameras that allowed an easy method for determining proper exposure.

Fifty two years on and the term “compumatic” is certainly not the first that springs to mind while looking at the camera in its large leather case.

I decided to put the 50mm f1.4 to work and to try and recreate a vintage cine, 8mm feel to the photographs.

The mix of Christmas Lights and desaturated and cooled RAW files make for a semi-aged look with some additional noise added to the images don’t look too clean or over processed.

The 1.4 aperture is amazing but tricky to get the focus point exactly on the detail that I wanted to highlight but it is all learning.

A few more examples are available on flickr although I am not sure I have succeeded in creating the look I was hoping for.