Hi Thomas, yes it is a great little camera. I love it. On the topic of the additional lenses. I am planning a review of both the Flektogon and the Cardinar very soon. Recently picked a set up but they need a clean. So watch this space.

Hi Patrick, many thanks for your comments and kind words, they are most appreciated. I will look out for a Rollei XF35 to test. I have a lot of film cameras but don't have that one at the moment, but being a Rollei lover (I have a Cord 5 and a Rolleiflex 3.5F) I would be interested to test one out for the channel. Philosophy - in particular 'Philosophical approaches to art and language' formed a large part of my Photographic Studies Degree. Philosophy also formed a part of my masters. I am particularly interested in existentialism and this informs my artwork. I attended University as a mature (ish) student after having served an apprenticeship in a Social and Commercial Photo Studio. In between the time at the studio and University, I was heavily involved in Community Arts/teaching and exhibiting. I note from your own channel that you look as if you participate with people who have had a stroke. I too campaign on matters regarding disability, in part due to my personal issues with disability and additionally my role as a carer. It does indeed sound as if we have much in common. With regard to this channels future, I intend to focus more upon this channel soon. I'm putting a few books together and need to get them sorted but it is my intention to create a lot more videos soon and they will definitely include a philosophy component. The output will come in spurts due to the aforementioned disability but I am very much looking forward to making something of this channel and engaging with likeminded members of the community such as yourself. Many thanks again for your kind comments.

@@ChristopherJohnBall Many thanks for your speedy reply. From what you say, I would agree that you and I are on the same wavelength, and one day I would be fascinated to meet you and have more indepth discussions which, frustratingly, one cannot do in this forum....... sadly, I never travel (from Birmingham) any more...... being highly geriatric, as you may have seen in the stroke videos as I introduce my son as he uses his gifts to enrich their lives......... which is what I think you do by exhibiting your photos, which I detect are taken with a distinctive compositional eye....... I looked at the photos in the youtube radio interview you gave about an exhibition you held and they made me want to get out with my camera and look around far more discerningly. Wearing a philosophical hat, for the purpose of a channel like yours, I would be interested to see if people who suffer a disability undergo a change in the way they see things (?differently?)........by comparing their photos taken before and after the event to see if their 'eye' has changed................. and, for instance, one can judge from their photographic work whether autistic people see the same scene differently ............... I am planning to get my autistic son to take an interest in photography and to see if his viewpoint differs from mine........ and whether the choice of photographic equipment causes a subconscious bias in the way one composes a photograph ie does the technology affect their insight........... I am a retired Cambridge University graduate (in medicine followed by a PhD in pharmacology) and like you, photography was an afterthought .............but one of the people I interacted with whilst a research student was the molecular biologist, Francis Crick (google him), who got me interested in the 'hard' problem of consciousness. In 1971, he took me into his office and warned me about one of the pitfalls of my plan to go into clinical medicine, as opposed to pure research, and I have a hunch that this pitfall may also apply to photography too. He described to me what he called the 'lamp-post phenomenon'............. you are walking along a dark street, no moonlight, at night and the lamp-posts are spaced 100 meters apart so between them everything is pitch black......... half way between the lamp-posts you stumble and your false teeth fall into the gutter................What do you do ? When I said, of course one bends down and fumbles blindly in the gutter he said 'No, not in medicine'................... if you are a clinician you carry on walking until you reach a lamp-post and then and only then start looking there ........ the pet scanners and x-ray machines are their lamp-posts.........................So, I wonder if this sometimes applies to photographers, too and enamoured by the technological tricks of their modern cameras, so they miss what is glaringly important sitting in front of them (eg the special ethereal type of glow coming between the trees through the mist in a forest - because their exposure meter says it will spoil the highlights of the photo!). Your photos obviously appeal because your inner eye outweighs your camera equipment............................... as Nelson, famously said as he put his telescope to his inner eye (ie his blind eye), "I see not lampposts".

@@patricksalt1825 Hi Patrick, many thanks indeed for your kind words. I knew of Francis Crick. In fact I live very near the Francis Crick Institute in London. I envy you having met him. I rather enjoyed the 'lamp posts' analogy. It is interesting you bring up question as to if disabled people see things differently. It is something I have given a lot of thought towards. I know that I see the world in a manner that might be described as 'different' due to the fact that I am 'seen' to be different. From youth I have had a visible disability, I have Crowe IV developmental dysplasia of the left hip and this has resulted in a much shorter and weaker left leg. This requires that I wear a very large orthopaedic boot and walk with a very noticeable limp and stick/s. From an early age I have experienced hostility directed towards my impairment and this has continued to this day. Rather than repeat some of it here, I will leave a link to a blog post I wrote, about my experiences, below. This has meant that I have felt 'othered' or 'abject' and I have often wondered if I picked up a camera to 'throw back the gaze' towards the viewer in an attempt to reclaim said 'gaze'. I have a book out this year that will collate several of the photographs I have made as a disability campaigner. This link to the aforementioned blogpost explains a bit more about my experiences and an analysis christopherjohnball.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/what-are-you-looking-at/

@@patricksalt1825 Great to talk to you last night. I have received your email and have emailed you back. Chat soon, Chris

Hi William. Yes a very good suggestion. I do have a few Contessa style Zeiss cameras in my collection that will fit the bill. There are a few from Voigtlander, with the excellent Skopar lens, as well.

@@ChristopherJohnBall In my humble view, specifically, the Contessamat SBE, is the camera which you should review................ If I were to produce such a review , I would highlight the fact that this was the best 35mm camera that Zeiss made, and it has the tessar f2.8, like the Werra

Hi, many thanks for your question. Some models of the Werra have a selenium light meter but most don't. And when they do the selenium has worn out and either doesn't work or gives an inaccurate reading. To work out the exposure, given the camera doesn't have a meter, you can use one of three methods. 1) the sunny 16 rule 2) use a light meter app for your phone - there are good free ones out there for both apple and android or 3) use a separate light meter. There are a few budget ones going second hand on well known auction sites.

Hi, many thanks for your questions. If you have the version of the Werra Camera that has the light meter then yes, you have to manually select the correct ASA/ISO on the camera. The Werra was built before the Auto DX Coding on film so it has to be done manually. When it comes to changing shutter speed, on later models like yours, there is a small switch/lever/toggle on the ring that houses the aperture numbers. It should be to the right of the f2.8 marking. Gently press that and it frees the aperture/shutter lock off its EV scale and allows you to independently move shutter and aperture. Releasing it will lock it again into the Exposure Value (EV) scale

Thanks for your reply. My version of the werra camera is werrra 3e, the shutter speed ring is the same ring as the asa/iso. So when I change the shutter speed, it will change the iso/asa at the same time. Is this normal? Thus, the furthest i can rotate to is iso 800. when it's on iso 800, the shutter speed stands between 30 and 60. Which makes me wonder how can i get to 1/750s shutter speed. @@ChristopherJohnBall

There are two sets of numbers on the forth ring, red (going from 60, 30, 15, 8, 4, 2B) and then black (1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, (red 60), 125, 250, 750). There are also numbers indicating ASA and DIN along the bottom of the dial that change along with the shutter. So in order to change the shutter speed, I change the iso of the camera as well. Is it normal? @@ChristopherJohnBall

@@chingtochan8335 As I said in my reply, the camera uses the exposure value system to lock aperture/shutter together - which is normal if you are using that system. Did you find and use the little switch on the aperture ring to the right of the f2.8 marking? That is the aperture ring release that will allow you to move the aperture settings independently of the shutter speed. Did you find that?

@@chingtochan8335 The black numbers (1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, (red 60), 125, 250, 750). are your shutter speeds - (the red 60 is simply a suggested speed for flash). The red numbers are simply a guide to longer exposures in seconds that you would use manually when selecting B.

Hi Ben. Yes, the Vito ii is a great camera and one I will be reviewing at some point as a possible T4 replacement. Many thanks

Fed Zarya with 26m lens too -- I use both -- great tools.@@ChristopherJohnBall