Film – Page 17 – tim dobbs photography

ilford HP5 @ 1600 …. I love the look ….

As a follow up to my recent post “Fathers Day” on the 52 Rolls project blog …. link in post below.

Here is the rest of the roll that I shot with my F80 and some HP5 at 1600 iso which I love shooting at even more than box speed.Even though the grain is more pronounced it does not impair the image in fact in my opinion it ready adds to the look that I love when shooting B&W.

The sharpness of the images also compares well to when shooting box speed too, the only slight drawback is the slight loss of shadow detail but if scanning there is a bit more you can do to the image whereas in the darkroom (I am not a master printer) it is a bit harder to do.I did a few test prints in my darkroom of the top image of this post and the level of detail in the negative/print is very good and so is the overall tonal range.

I did get a little more detail in the scan and would also get a slightly sharper print if I went the inkjet route but there is something much more satisfying printing in the darkroom.Overall I think that HP5 looks great at 1600 iso and gives me the look I love in my B&W, the grain/contrast and sharpness. I process all my B&W films using ilfotec HC so I don’t know if it would look better or worse using other developers and I may try a few others in the near future.click on an image to view larger …..

Thanks for looking … I also have a “Film Only” blog over at usingfilm.wordpress.com/ if you want to take a look 🙂

Eventually tested my Zuiko 75-150mm f4.0 ……

A few months ago I picked up a mint Zuiko 75-150mm f4 from Ebay for next to nothing, I didn’t think I would probably use it a lot as the Zuiko 35mm f2.8 is my goto lens whenever I shoot my OM1 or OM2s but for the price I had to get it.

I was going through one of my camera drawers and noticed the lens sitting there all alone in its case so I thought it was about time I gave it a test.

I loaded the OM2s with some Fuji Superia 400 and went out for a little walk to see how it performed.

It is quite a compact lens with its own pull out lens hood which as I was shooting in quite bright sunshine worked well and I didn’t get any lens flare.Out of all the frames I shot I only missed focus on one and the sharpness and contrast were good and the Bokeh was quite pleasing in a few of the frame too.

All in all it is a really nice lens, I will try some portraits with it next 🙂

Film processing and scans as usual by http://www.filmdev.co.uk/

Thanks for looking

I have a film only blog over at usingfilm if you want to take a peek ……

Click on an image to view larger ……

The Jury is still out on shooting Fomapan 100 …..

My favorite film is ilford HP5 but I am not adverse to shooting any film really and I have a varied collection stored in my film fridge.

This is the 3rd roll of Fomapan 100 that I have shot and I am still not sure what I make of it.

I think from my experience that portraits are most probably the best for this film as it gives a lovely glow that looks great on people but tends to soften landscapes. It definitely has a very original look and does bring something different to a landscape I may get one of these printed large and see what I think.

All the images were shot using the Olympus OM2s with the Zuiko 35mm f2.8 and processed in ilfotec HC 1+22 dilution for 7 minutes.

Thanks for looking

I have a film only blog over at usingfilm if you want to take a peek ……

click any image to view larger …..

Mountain walk with the 645 & some Fuji Reala …..

I have been using my Mamiya 645 a lot recently, its such a lovely camera.

The handling is great and the images it produces make me want to shoot it all the time.

I find it easier to compose images in the 6 x4.5 format it seems much more natural to me that 6 x 6.With the metered prism finder portrait images are easy too unlike using the waist level finder.

These images were shot using the 80mm f2.8 on what is becoming my favorite film at the moment Fuji Reala 100 which is obviously expired so I rated it at 50 iso and in some of the frames I over exposed another stop too.

The light was pretty difficult with the sun going in and out all the time and I didn’t take a tripod which was a pain but I only messed up 3 frames with camera shake which I was pleased with to be honest.As usual the film was processed and scanned by FilmDev who did a great job and I cannot recommend them more highly for the quality and especially the price.

I can’t imagine ever developing & scanning my own C-41 ever again.I still have 4 boxes of Reala in the fridge and I am checking eBay to try and get more I love the colours it produces especially over exposed and in good light.

I am going to have to shoot some portraits with it soon.Thanks for looking

I have a film only blog over at usingfilm if you want to take a peek ……

click any image to view larger …..

Expired Film Day …….

Last week, well March 15th to be precise was Expired film day where photographers were encouraged to shoot a roll of expired film, the older the better and post up and possibly win some prizes.

http://schneidan.com/expired-film-day/

My chosen film was a roll of Fuji NPS160 that expired back in 1999 and I shot it with my trusty Mamiya 645 and 80mm f2.8.

I rushed home from work hoping to catch the last rays of sun down Porthcawl Beach which we managed to do.I wasn’t sure how the colours were going to look like as NPS is more a portrait film with muted colours. With it being expired I shot it at iso 50 and told Film Dev that I pushed the film and if the could hopefully get something in the scanning for me.When I downloaded the scans I was very happy with the results, the colours were just what I was after and captured the mood of the early evening at the beach.I still have another 5 rolls of this film in my fridge and can’t wait to shoot some more weather allowing 🙂

Thanks for looking.

Click on an image to view larger…..

You can also find my film only stuff over at https://usingfilm.wordpress.com/ if you want to see more film loveliness …..

A day out at the seaside ……

We paid a visit to Amy last week in Aberystwyth and just for a change we had a lovely bright day.

The last few trips to “Aber” have been wet and dark so it lends itself to some grainy B&W images but for a change I loaded the F100 with some Kodak Portra 400 and shot it 2 stops over.

I must admit I love the way Portra looks when pushed especially when shooting portraits and along with the 50mm f1.4 wide open the film really makes the image pop.

I really need to start shooting more portraits, I have to pull my finger out and make a point of getting some willing subjects ( its like pulling teeth getting my family to pose for me)

All in all it was a good day out albeit a bit cold but it was nice to shoot in sunshine for a change.

As usual the film was processed and scanned by http://www.filmdev.co.uk/ who did a great job, I can’t recommend them more highly.

Click on an image to view larger….

comments welcomed…. and if anyone local is up for some portrait shots drop me an email 🙂

Snow comes to the Garw Valley ……

2 weeks ago we had a nice sprinkling of snow here in South Wales, not enough to bring everything to a standstill but something to add to the beauty of the Garw Valley.

I am in the middle of a 52 roll project where we shoot a roll of film every week for 1 year and post to a blog http://52rolls.net/ I shoot at least 1 every week most weeks anyway so I will try to split my images between the 2 blogs.

I shot the Mamiya 645 with the 80mm f2.8 on Fuji Superia 400 that I over exposed by 1 stop and it was processed and scanned by http://www.filmdev.co.uk/ who provide an excellent personal service at an affordable price … I can’t imagine processing and scanning C-41 ever again.

I can’t recommend them more highly, give them a ring and ask for David just to find out what they are all about.

Thanks for looking.

Click on an image to view larger…..

You can also find my film only stuff over at https://usingfilm.wordpress.com/ if you want to see more film loveliness …..

Olympus Pen D ….1st time shooting Half-Frame ………

I have always fancied shooting a half-frame camera after seeing a lot of interesting image compositions on various webpages.

I was looking forward to trying to find subjects that could be paired together to make a different image than just single frames.

It was not really all that easy to do as I found out but I did manage to get a few keepers out of 72 frames, I also found out that hand holding the little Pen D at 1/30th second was not very successful in quite a few of the frames.

That said it was a very enjoyable experience with the camera and the zone focus didn’t prove to be a problem either with all the images being in focus except for the camera shake ones.

There does appear to be a slight light leak which showed up in a few frames so I will have to sort that before shooting more film.

I was really impressed with the sharpness of the images considering the small size of the negative, obviously they will be limited to the enlargement size but for up to 7 x 5 (maybe 10 x 7) they are great.

Once we get a brighter day I hope to shoot a roll of colour film just to experiment with trying to pair up colours as well as subjects.

Thanks for looking.

Click on an image to view larger…..

You can also find my film only stuff over at https://usingfilm.wordpress.com/ if you want to see more film loveliness …..

Garw Valley Railway with an F100 & some HP5 @ 3200…..

The weather this weekend here in the South Wales valleys has been awful, Dark & very wet.

A walk up the mountain was out of the question but as luck would have it the Garw Valley Railway had an open day so knowing from past visits the light inside the shed was very low I loaded the Nikon F100 with some HP5 and pushed it to iso 3200 and used the AF-s 50mm f1.4.

Even shooting at 3200 I was having to open up the lens to f2.8 or wider to get a reasonable shutter speed so the sharpness I managed to get was pretty impressive.I have pushed HP5 before and I knew that the contrast/grain it produces would suit the type of subjects I was shooting.

The only disadvantage to pushing this much was losing the highlights but it didn’t spoil any of the shots really.I processed the film in Ilford ilfotec HC 1+15 dilution for 11 minutes agitating twice every minute which managed to keep the grain well in check while giving excellent sharpness.

HP5 is such an excellent film stock its so versatile in in my personal opinion looks better when pushed than box speed but I love deep blacks and contrasty/grainy images so it suits me.

I had 3 frames left when I got home and fired them off in the house wide open just as a test and to finish the roll so I could see the results.

The combination of the F100 and the af-s 50mm f1.4 is great the focus is spot on and the lens is so sharp. Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger …..

You can also find me at https://usingfilm.wordpress.com/ which is all film only loveliness …

Bargain lens find … Tokina 28-70mm macro …..

I love charity shops, where ever we go if there is a charity shop then I have to browse.

I have picked up some pretty good bargains and this lens joined the list of keepers.It came boxed with Hoya filter fitted and original paperwork and was almost mint for the princely sum of £5.99.

I loaded the Pentax Program A with some expired ilford HP5 and as the weather was pretty poor I decided to push it to iso 800. As it didn’t have a date on the film and the prior storage was also not known I wasn’t really expecting the best results but thats the joy of shooting film I guess 🙂 After developing the roll I could see that quite a few frames seemed a little under exposed and in hindsight I should have given the film at least an extra 2 stops rather than the 1 stop of compensation that I did give to allow for the loss of sensitivity over the years. I was glad that I didn’t have to print this roll in my darkroom, it was quite easy to pull a lot of info from the negs with my scanner and I was pretty pleased with what I got.I don’t think that this was a good test for how sharp the Tokina is as the film didn’t lend itself to that type of test, I need to shoot some ektar or slides to test that but it was really nice to use and the handling was great.

This is a real old school type lens all metal and quite a bit of glass, it did seem a bit front heavy on the Program A but after a couple of frames it felt fine. All in all I am well pleased with this lens, usually I have the 50mm f1.7 on the Pentax all the time so the versatility of the 28-70mm range is very handy even though its not the fastest the viewfinder was pretty bright so really nice to focus with. The macro facility is handy, you can fill the frame at about 6 inches away which makes this lens very useful and I will have to shoot some fresh film to see how sharp it is.Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger……

Any comments & shares are gratefully appreciated 🙂

please visit my “Film” only blog over at https://usingfilm.wordpress.com/

if you like more film loveliness