tim dobbs photography

Rollei Retro 80S … It’s Sharp

I have shot quite a bit of Rollei film and have not been disappointed with any of the results.

My main goto is RPX 400 or Retro 400 due to their versatility so as it was a pretty bright day I loaded up some Retro 80S in my old Nikon EM for a change and went out for a little walk in my usual locations.

Even though it was pretty bright I only managed to get up to f8 a few times with most of the images shot at f2.8 to f5.6 which goes to show how sharp this film stock is.

The contrast is really nice and the film grain is very smooth.

I developed it in ilford DD-X which suited the film.

This is the whole roll including a 8 frame panorama stitched together in Lightroom.

Overall if you have either plenty of light or a tripod this film stock is excellent and I will be shooting it a lot more when situations are right.

So here are the images … click to view larger

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Kentmere 400 in 35mm @ 800 … the whole roll …

I have been shooting ilford Kentmere film stock quite a bit recently and it has really impressed me with how it performs especially as it is a very affordable film in this day and age.

I wanted to see how it looked when pushed compared to HP5 which I really love when pushed one or 2 stops.

I loaded my Minolta XG9 and set the camera to 800 and went for a little walk, it was really overcast so 800 was ideal.

I developed it in ilford DD-X and scanned using my Epson v600.

The images were great, no problem with the exposure and even though the grain was pretty noticeable it didn’t spoil the look and was on a par with my usual HP5.

This has to be the best value, quality B&W film stock on the market as it is less than £5 per roll here in the UK and is so versatile.

Here is the whole roll, nothing special but it gives an idea how this film looks …

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Kentmere 100 in 120 format .. the whole roll …

I have not been shooting much recently for various reasons but mainly because I have lost my photography mojo.

I have 4 cameras that have half shot rolls of film still in them that I really need to finish.

I was going through this years lightroom catalog the other day and came across this roll that I shot back in March that I totally forgot to blog.

I have shot quite a few rolls of Kentmere film but mainly 400 iso and 35mm so when I loaded this back in march it was to compare what 100 and 400 look like in medium format.

I do like Kentmere especially as it is very affordable and I have never had any problems when using it as it look great.

I shot the roll in my Mamiya C330 with the 80mm f2.8 lens and developed it in ilfotecHC.

I was really pleased with how it looked, low grain but not quite as fine as FP4 and nice contrast without much tweaking in lightroom.

I probably wouldn’t shoot this as much as 400 only because most of the time here in Wales 100 is not fast enough as I am not really a tripod person.

Here is the whole roll …

Comments most welcomed ….

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

New/Old Camera … Zeiss Ikon Nettar & HP5 ….

I was watching a youtube video a few weeks back … it was “Shoot film like a boss” which is a great channel for anyone interested in film photography and darkroom stuff … Where an old Zeiss Ikon Netter was featured and I was impressed with the results it produced considering its age and especially as it can be picked up pretty cheaply for a medium format camera these days.

There are quite a few different models of this camera, the one I bought was the 517/16 with the 75mm f4.5 lens.

Once the camera arrived I couldn’t wait to try it just to see if there were any problems with it as it looked in excellent condition but looks can be deceiving.

I loaded it with some expired ilford HP5 that I use when testing cameras and went for a quick local walk.

I set the lens to the marked red dots so I didn’t have to mess about as this isn’t a rangefinder and I am useless at guessing distances.

I processed the roll in ilfotecHC 1+31 dilution for 6.30 and scanned with my Epson V600.

The results were great, very sharp and contrasty and also in focus ha ha!

I would highly recommend anyone interested in getting into medium format film photography to consider getting one of these especially as if you set the aperture/focus like this you more or less have a point & shoot.

Here is the whole roll …

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Eventually finished a roll in the OM1 & tried Cinestill C41 kit ….

I loaded my trusty Olympus OM1 with some Lomo CN400 way back at the beginning of June and even though I took it with me most of the time I only managed to finish it last week.

As luck would have it I had bought the Cinestill 2 bath C41 kit to try so this was the first roll in it.

The whole process was pretty easy compared to the usual Tetenal multi bath kit that I have used previously and the results were fine.

It has been ages since I last developed colour negatives and I forgot what a pain it is to spot out and colour correct as I have been sending my C41 stuff to Filmdev lab.

It will be interesting to see how long the chemistry lasts as I shoot far more B&W than colour.

It says that it should develop 24 rolls which makes it very good value for money.

Any way here are the images .. all a bit random as it was shot over weeks rather than days.

Click on an image to view larger … Ignore the grumpy old man in image 2 .. I do smile most of the time honest ha ha!

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

First time shooting Kosmo Foto Mono in the Mamiya 645 …

I have a few rolls of Kosmo film in my fridge and until recently I have not got around to trying it out for one reason or another.

So a few weeks back I was going through my film stash looking for something to try and get my shooting mojo back and came across a roll of Kosmo Foto Mono in 120 and as it was a pretty bright day I thought it was about time that I tried it out.

I loaded my Mamiya 645 for a change as it gives me 15 frames to play with and popped out for a nice walk.

When I goto back I looked up a few different developing options and went for Rodinal 1+25 dilution for 3 and a half minutes.

Once developed and even before the film was dry I could see that the negatives looked crisp and sharp and with good contrast.

When I scanned the first frame I was very pleased with how it looked, the tones and contrast were really nice and the sharpness was excellent.

Even though I used Rodinal the grain was very subtle and didn’t stand out unlike most of the time I use it.

Overall I really like how this film stock looks especially in medium format, I have a couple of rolls in 35mm to try next and will use the same development just to see how it compares.

So here is the whole roll warts and all …

Comments most welcomed, click on an image to view larger

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Testing a new camera .. Olympus XA with kentmere 400 …

A few weeks ago I bought my first camera this year from a Twitter friend … I have wanted an Olympus XA ever since using my Olympus XA1.

The XA1 is very limiting with very little control over the camera other than point and shoot which is still fun and I am not knocking it but being able to have a pocketable little camera that has full control of all of the variables was very tempting.

As most people who read this blog probably know that film cameras have sky rocketed over the last few years especially the better more sought after models like the XA so I didn’t buy one until I was offered this one for and excellent price.

Anyway once the camera arrived complete with the flash which I was not expecting I was eager to try it out so I loaded it with a roll of Kentmere 400 and went out for a little walk.

The camera was a joy to use even the rangefinder focus was pretty bright and easy.

I developed the roll in ilfotec LC29 1+19 dilution for 8 minutes and the results were just as I hoped, nice sharp and contrasty images , OK nothing special to look at as I just wanted to make sure that the camera was working but as they were all in focus and exposed ok I was well happy.

I have a roll of Agfa Vista loaded as I blog this so I may add them to this post once I have finished them.

So here are the images …

Click on photo to view larger ….

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Kodak Vision 3 50D on a sunny day ….

Ages ago I bought some hand rolled Kodak 50D from a twitter friend and as I was also given a new kit of ECN-2 chemicals also from a different twitter friend I dug a roll out of the fridge and loaded my Nikon F100 with both the 50mm f1.4 and 24-85 VR and shot the roll over one whole week.

I really like using 250D as I find it a bit more versatile that 50D due to the poor weather we seem to get more often or not here in Wales but the week just gone has been great so using 50 iso has been pretty easy for a change.

Developing using the QWD ECN-2 kit is a breeze but I find that scanning Vision 3 films quite a pain compared to C-41 as my Epson software seems to find strange colour casts on about 50% of the frames so my scanning times are probably doubled.

That said I do like how Vision 3 films look and 50D has pretty fine grain compared to both 250D and 500T which makes sense due to the lower ISO.

Well here is the whole roll warts and all … comments most welcome

You can find my previous blog about using the QWD ECN-2 kit here if you are interested …

New QWD ECN2 developer kit for Motion picture film .. Mini review .. My first 3 rolls …

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Sheds & Stuff on Acros 100 …..

I came across a solitary roll of expired Fuji Neopan Acros mixed in with some of my other B&W film stock in the fridge the other week.

I have not shot a lot of Acros before but I do really like how it looks so I wanted to test the new light seals in my Mamiya C330 so I decide to shoot it.

It was a nice bright day with just a few clouds so I set my meter to 50 iso and went for a little walk.

Most of the shots were shot at f5.6 to f8 and I developed the film in ilfotec LC29 1+47 dilution for 8 minutes.

Firstly the light seals worked and secondly the images were great …. the amount of highlight/shadow detail that was captured was excellent and the sharpness was impressive.

I need to buy some of the newer Acros to try just to compare to this old stuff.

So here are all the images … click to view larger

Comments most welcome …

All images on my blog are available as prints just drop me an email

I also have a film only blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com if you want a peek

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store as well as some hand made film canister keychains … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Sunny day for a change … Shooting Kodak Portra 400VC …

As to be expected here in Wales the weather has been pretty up and down … mainly down but a week ago we had a fleeting glimpse of the sun, so as I had not shot any colour film stock this year I grabbed a roll of Portra 400VC from the fridge and loaded up the trusty Yashicamat 124G and went out to make the most of the light.

I only went for a short walk as I bumped into artist Kevin Sinnott outside his gallery and popped in for a chat as I had not seen him for a while.

To make the most of the light I managed to take his portrait outside before I left for the rest of my walk.

Even though the film had pretty long expired I rated it at 200 iso and was not disappointed with how the images came out.

As I don’t have any C41 chemistry here I sent the film off to the trusty Filmdev who did a great job as usual.

So here are the images …