When doing a fast paced adrenalin filled activity, a vintage folding camera would probably be nobody’s choice of camera - but I did!

The camera in question is the 1958 Kodak 66 Model III - a fantastic camera in every situation I have put it through, but a speed boat? Really, have I lost my mind?

Shooting along side my Olympus digital with high shutter speeds, and image stabilization, the Kodak should not have worked - the top speed of 1/200th of a second would not be fast enough surely. Well… the trusty 66 delivered again, as it always does.

I don’t know whether the credit goes to the camera, or me as the photographer for not only getting clean images, but managing to meter, compose and shoot from a boat bouncing off waves at what felt like 100mph! I did see 40 on the speedometer, and higher at one point, but that could have been km, mph or knots - I don’t know, but it felt fast!

We spent a very fun couple of hours blasting between the bays and islands around Ölüdeniz, stopping to dive in now and again, and admiring the incredible coastline of this area in South West Turkiye.

All shots were at the cameras top speed of 1/200th, and you can see the motion blur in the foreground waves, but I like the effect it has produced. There is a hint of a light leak in some of the frames, but the sun was very strong, and the first time the Kodak has shown this.

This minimalist shot of the horizon is lacking colour, but it is facing South directly toward the midday sun, so can be forgiven. I had to wait to take the shot in between waves and spray, and this was the more tricky image. It was taken at high speed in open sea, and was very bumpy.

In total contrast to the last one, this was with the sun behind, and slowing down for the next swim stop at Kelebekler Vadisi (Butterfly Valley). This super yacht looked like an alien spaceship from the front.

As much as I am proud of these images, I do wonder why I didn’t load up some Fuji 400H for the day instead of Kodak Gold! The Gold has a yellowish tint, whereas the Fuji may have captured the greens and blues better, however would the 1/200th at f22 top end been enough to expose correctly in these very bright conditions? Too late now, but considering how difficult it was to get a clear shot at all, I am more than happy.

To finish, there was one frame that didn’t go well - not a bad hit rate considering - one out of eight shots on this roller coaster.

The worst light leak of them all and timed badly with the spray, but it does give an idea of what I was dealing with!

1950’s folding camera on a speed boat!

Petri CF-35 - DragonFilm No.1