MMZ Vesna (Весна)

I've recently realised that I greatly miss the past with its happy and safe randomness. I guess lomography movement sort of embodies that, in my mind at least. I've been drawn to something like it more and more. I think Vesna (Весна) plays right into it. I may not have taken the most crazy colorful photos associated with lomography aesthetic but, hey, at least I shot color for once. It was over a decade old Solution VX 200 which I rated at 100 and rightly so, it seems. Got some light leaks which I liked, and I scanned with a homemade holder to get some of the sprocket holes as framing. It's the small things that make an aesthetic.

Handling

Vesna is easy to use: the only thing to remember that's extra is the need to cock the shutter before firing. Otherwise it's the usual rinse and repeat of aperture and distance setting. The camera has an unusal frame format which, measuring 24x32mm, is a bit smaller than the 135 standard. Interesting enough for me. Thanks to the smaller frame size, it takes more photos: mine got me something like 42 frames on 36 frame film. 

The body is ribbed platic and on my example it seems to have sort of... melted. It's a bit soft when I dig my nail into it. It also cracked at the bottom but I glued it together and it doesn't influence the operation at all. Vesna is also surprisingly small. I was picturing something clunky, akin to, I dunno, an Agfa Optima 1 but it's maybe half that size. Pleasant.

It is good to remember to use a take up film canister instead of just a spool as there is no rewind mechanism. I made this mistake and had to unload the camera in the darkroom. No biggie in general, but if you forget this, you could get caught outside with no way of changing film.

Bottom line

Overall there really isn't much to tell about this camera other than it was really fun to use. There was a certain rhythm to it: cock, shoot, wind, repeat. No unnecessary fussing. The triplet lens is good and sharp, the body falls nicely in your hand and the operation is straight forward. Comes with some safe and happy randomness included. A very welcome addition to my collection.

I hope to use it again when spring colours arrive --so that they can do the name justice. Vesna means spring. It is a simple camera that I enjoyed using.

I only uploaded a selection of photos here, you can find some more in my lomography home.

Further reading:

Vesna on camerapedia

Full inventory of models on sovietcams.com