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Shooting with a Vermeer Curved Plane Pinhole Camera

 One of the things I enjoy about shooting film is using cameras that were designed before the digital era, built out of nice materials, and meant to be nice to look at, simple to use, and durable. 

So when I found out about Vermeer cameras, I immediately wanted to try one out. 

Cezary Bartczak makes them by hand in Poland, out of wood, metal, copper, and each piece is numbered. The cameras, which come in blue or brown, are absolutely beautiful, and would look great in anyone's collection even as an object to display. 


The Vermeer Curved Plane Medium Format Camera


The pinhole lens


The beautiful, metallic knobs on top of the Vermeer Curved Plane Camera



The numbered plate at the back, hiding the photo numbers window.


And while many people out there think film cameras are not being manufactured anymore, the Vermeer cameras offer a good counterargument. 

Rather than giving money to camera manufacturers such as Canon or Sony, which perpetuate a business model based on planned obsolescence and the progressive destruction of the environment, buying a camera made out of wood in 2020 has something a bit revolutionary about it. 

I bought the Vermeer camera around two years ago, and didn't immediately use it; my cameras were in one house, my film in another, then I moved... and then the pandemic struck, which gave me plenty of time while in lockdown to finally use it.

Although the instructions provided with the camera are very clear, I broke the film after loading it the very first time:


You have to be really careful to advance the film using both knobs at the same time, since the plane the film goes along is curved. Therefore, the "back" part of the camera the film moves along is more of a guide than a support for the film.

I taped the roll back together and I was in business.

Given the very panoramic aspect of the photos, you only get 4 pictures per roll. In my case, I got three because of the small accident at loading.


Since the exposure times can range between 1/8 of a second to 6 hours, you'll definitely want to use a tripod and take your time to compose, and expose your shot.

The neighborhood I live in isn't particularly exciting for photography (I know, ironic), but this VW Beetle is always parked near my house and was a good subject to try out the camera.



In this photo, I kinda wish I didn't get the silver car in the shot, but the camera shoots so wide it's kind of difficult to know exactly what its field of view is. I think it still turned out pretty good.

I am satisfied with the results and will probably use it again, and more often. It takes some planning and some time to use it, and is not convenient to carry, especially attached to a tripod, but it's really exciting, and you can shoot through a whole roll really fast. 

I want to try using filters, anamorphic lenses and multiple exposure in my next rolls... keep an eye on my Instagram and Flickr accounts where I will post them.

Cezary sells his cameras on Etsy and eBay.













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