Nature – 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

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 …

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 … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Mamiya C330 and Fuji Neopan Acros …

The Mamiya C330 is a camera that I always seem to get great results with no matter what film or subject matter but it seems that this year this is only the 2nd time that I have shot with it.

I was going through my camera bags trying to sort out what cameras were stored where and I came across the trusty C330and decided to take it out for a change as I have been neglecting it.

I have a few rolls of Acros that I was kindly given that had expired back in 2019 so I wanted to see how they performed.

I have a couple of lenses for the C330 55/65/80/180 and 250 .. I mainly use the 55mm when I am out shooting landscapes but I decided on the 80mm f2.8 as it was very overcast and shooting 100 iso film meant I was probably going to be shooting shallow DOF stuff pretty much wide open.

After my little walk I developed the roll in ilford LC29 1+19 dilution for 5 minutes and scanned with my new Epson V600.

Considering I shot most of the frames at f2.8 the images were lovely and sharp with good contrast .. I have shot very little Acros in the past but I can see why everybody likes it.

Very smooth grain and punchy sharp images I will have to get hold of some of the new Acros to compare.

So here are the images .. comments most welcome

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

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

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Another roll of Ektar in the Mamiya 645 ….

My first blog post this year was a roll of Kodak Ektar using my Mamiya 645 and I pointed out that I rarely shoot Ektar but here you go I have shot another roll using the same camera.

Ektar is a pretty sharp film stock especially when you shoot it in 120 format and with good light which really shows on this roll which I was really pleased with.

I developed it with the Tetenal C41 kit and scanned using my Epson v500 which gives pretty good scans with 120.

So here is the roll .. I have only posted 12 frames as I duplicated some of the tree at the end of the roll which were all more or less identical.

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

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

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Fomapan 400 in 120 format is a revelation ….

I have shot Fomapan in both 100 and 400 iso in the past on 35mm and have tried different developers but have never been all that impressed with the results I have achieved.

I have seen lovely images shot using this film so I bought some Fomapan 100 and 400 in 120 format to give that a go.

I also bought some ilfotech LC29 developer at the same time so I loaded my Mamiya C330 with a roll of 400 and on a really cloudy overcast afternoon I went out and shot the roll at my local haunts where I have had nice results in this type of weather/lighting before.

Even though it was not the brightest of days I still managed to shoot most of the frames at between f5.6 and f11 hoping to test how sharp Fomapan 400 is.

After development the negatives looked pretty contrasty so I was excited to scan and see what I had.

The initial scans using my Epson v500 and Epson scan were promising and once in Lightroom/Photoshop the images blew me away … really nice contrast, not too punchy and sharpness in spades.

The C330 always gives me contrasty sharp images on most film stocks and didn’t fail here either.

Fomapan in 120 is like chalk and cheese compared to 35mm, I never got anything like this even from Fomapan 100 yet alone 400.

Suffice to say I immediately bought more Fomapan 400 and will be shooting it much more in future.

Here is the whole roll .. comments most welcome

Click on an image to view larger

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

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

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

An Evening walk with some Lomo CN 400 & Fuji GW690III

Short and sweet blog post today featuring a recent evening walk with my “Texas Leica” .. my actual Leica M2 has had to go to camera hospital due to a shutter curtain problem but that’s another story.

The other week after work I spotted some pretty nice light here in the Garw valley so popped out to fire off a roll of my favorite colour negative film at the minute … Lomography CN400 in the wonderful GW690III.

I didn’t walk far and to my surprise shot all 8 frames in the space of 30 minutes.

Even though the Fuji is a bit of a beast it handles really well and it is so easy to treat it like an oversized point & shoot sometime.

Well here is the whole roll … nothing really special just the Garw valley in nice light 🙂

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

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

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

#FP4Party 2021 .. all my images together ….

This years #FP4Party which takes place over on Twitter has just ended and we are all waiting patiently to see who has been shortlisted and then who goes on to win.

To be honest for me and probably quite a few of the other participants it’s nothing to do with winning or even getting shortlisted ( it is nice to be liked though) but it’s a great excuse to pick one film stock and try to see what everyone comes up with over the week.

I used 2 cameras myself … My trust pair of a Nikon F100 and Yashicamat 124G and shot just one roll in each, it would have been more but that is all I had at the time.

I didn’t post every image I shot so this post feature every photo … good and bad

Quick note .. I developed both rolls in my new developer ilford LC29 which until now I had never used before.

Also the 35mm roll was rated at 200 which I tend to do as it gives me an extra bit of exposure leeway.

Please 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

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

First roll shot in 2021 … Kodak Ektar in the Mamiya 645 …

I imagine that quite a few photographers have struggled during the pandemic to find motivation and opportunity to shoot.

So far this year I have managed 3 rolls which is pretty poor by my usual standard.

I was going through my film stash looking for something that may give me some motivation to get out and shoot.

I realised that I have quite a few rolls of Ektar and the day was quite bright so I loaded up my Mamiya and went out for a walk with my better half.

Even though it was a lovely day I struggled to really shoot anything that pleased me, there was one or two on the roll that were ok but overall this was a poor roll.

Somehow I only ended up with 13 frames, I did manage to accidentally fire off a frame while bending down but where the other one went is a mystery as I shot 15.

It must be old age as I missed focus on 3 frames and had a little camera shake both of which are unusual with the Mamiya, I can easily hand hold at 1/30th usually.

I developed the roll using the Tetenal C41 kit and scanned with the Epson v500

Well here is my 1st roll of 2021 in all its glory …