I’ve developed a routine with my vintage super-ultra-wide film camera, the Ukrainian-crafted Krasnogorsk FT-2 35mm shooter that I’ve colloquially nicknamed “Raskolnikov” – partially because it’s a reference to the main protagonist in a Dostoyevsky novel, and partially because it’s the barnyard expletive Boris Badenov mutters whenever moose and squirrel escape him.
When this camera works, it’s a charm. When it doesn’t … I put the camera away for a couple of YEARS until I feel comfortable enough to try it again. The last time I used Raskolnikov was in 2024. So you can imagine … I haven’t really felt the love for this shooter as I have for my other cameras.
Plus, loading this shooter is a nightmare. You have to take the film OUT of its cartridges, place it in proprietary metal cartridges that only exist with this camera and aren’t sold separately. And you need two of these cartridges. Lose one … and your camera is barely a paperweight. Oh, and did I mention that you have to do this IN PITCH BLACK DARKNESS or you’ll ruin the film before you shoot with it??
And although it does offer various shooting speeds, the camera develops some nasty vertical exposure bars that no decent PhotoShop training can remove.
Yep. It’s a trial.
Still … I wanted to give this shooter another chance. I packed a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 into the cartridge, loaded Raskolnikov in the night, and took the roll to the Saratoga Harness track.
See, I wanted to recreate a previous experiment – the “bowtie” or “weave” pattern – an intersection of various exposures into one centralized image. I know it can be done. Heck, I’ve done it before and I’ve blogged about it before.
Yeah. Maybe I just need to try harder. That’s the reason, right?
Let’s see what I can achieve with this setup. Kodak Ektar 100 film in the chassis. ISO 400 speed. Steady tripod. Sunny day. Yeah, I’m not asking for much, am I?
I took a few photos, then went home. Sent the film off to McGreevy Pro Lab (my pro lab of choice) for development.
Got the film back yesterday. Scanned the rolls. Aligned everything.
And came up with this.
And my thoughts?
Blah. The action is too far away. There’s still some nasty vertical banding on the film. And there’s a ton of grain in this photo. Any more grain and I could qualify for a farm loan.
As a proof of concept, it works. But as a Competition Season-worthy image … NAH.
I may try this again at another time. Or I may not. I haven’t decided.
But if I do …
It might be a few years from now when I finally get the image I can from this beast.
Chuck The Writer 