Vintage Cameras – Page 3 – tim dobbs photography

Lomo Color Neg 400 in the Sun ….

I had a roll of Lomo color neg 400 loaded in my Nikon FE2 for almost 3 weeks during the recent heatwave we experienced here in the UK. This was due to various reasons but mainly because of shooting other cameras like the Littlest Holga.

The FE2 was always in my bag so as you can see this roll features quite varied subject matter.

I really love this film stock and it is becoming one of my favorites especially as it is a stock that you can still buy and is a good price 🙂

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 🙂

Shooting Lomography Colour Negative 400 on a Sunny day …..

My favorite colour negative film stock is Fuji Reala but obviously they stopped producing it a few years back so I have been trying to buy up as much as I can get my hands on over the last 2 years.

One day there will be none left so I have been shooting various different stocks in a bid to find one that sort of gives me a similar look to Reala which isn’t easy.

The closest I have managed is with Lomography Colour Negative 400 when shot 1 stop over which does not match Reala totally but gives me a very pleasing look that is reminiscent in feel.

The best thing is that Lomo 400 is actually being made today and at a good price too so here are my favorites from the roll that I shot last weekend where the sun shone here in the South Wales valleys.

To be honest Lomo 400 works great at 400 in poor light but when it’s over exposed a stop in bright sunshine then for me it is at it’s best.

This roll was shot using my Nikon FE2 and 50mm f1.4 and developed and scanned by the wonderful Filmdev who do an excellent job .

Anyway here are the photos … comments 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 🙂

#Camerachallenge …. my keepers from the roll …

I recently took part in a twitter cheap camera/film challenge arranged by twitter friend Jason Avery whereby you have to purchase a camera for £2 or your local currency equivalent and load it with the cheapest film that you can find and post the results during the given week.

I was late to the challenge as I managed to pick up a camera for £2.99 but was hanging on just to see if I could find one cheaper which sadly I didn’t so I went with this combo.

The roll of Superia 100 was given to me so you could not get cheaper than that.

I managed to finish the roll during the week but by the time I developed it I only posted a couple as it was a bit late so here are the keepers from that roll.

The camera performed pretty well, it was totally automatic but you could either force or turn off the auto flash if to want but that was it for manual controls but it did have a button that let you focus at infinity (I think it focused from 13 meters to infinity) which I used for a couple of frames.

Well here are the images …

Anyway thanks for looking ….

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 🙂

“There’s mist on them hills” .. testing my New/Old lens …

A few months back I picked up a Nikkormat FTn from an old photographer who was selling a few bits and pieces, I bought it without a lens as I have plenty of Nikon F mount lenses ( or so I thought ).

Once I got it home I mounted my 50mm f1.4 only to find that I couldn’t meter properly as the lenses that I had with an actual aperture ring didn’t have the little aperture lug thingy that is on the older Ai lenses which tells the camera meter what aperture was selected.

I did however find out that there is a way of using the stop down metering method which I tried and it worked fine but I wanted to get one of the older Ai lens just to use it properly.

So 2 weeks ago I was in Cardiff visiting the David Hurn “Swaps” exhibition in the National Museum of Wales and I paid a visit to a few of the little camera shops only to come across this Nikkor 35mm f2.8 Ai which was in excellent condition and just as importantly it was in my price range.

To test the combination I loaded up some ilford XP2 and went out into the wonderful welsh weather and shot away.

The lens was great to use, very smooth and I love the 35mm field of view so all was good.

I developed and scanned the film and here are the results.

I am very happy with how they both performed especially the lens which is sharp and contrasty given the condition that I was shooting in.

The camera shop that I purchased this lens also had 2 Nikon F3’s and a Nikkor 28mm Ai which I played with a bit but held my nerve and left them in the shop … until next time I am in Cardiff (I don’t have an F3 in my collection) 🙂

Anyway thanks for looking ….

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 🙂

Lomography Color Negative 400 is becoming my most favorite colour film …

I recently did a post about my 1st time shooting Lomography Color Negative 400 film in 35mm and this is a sort of follow up or my 2nd roll if you like.

This time the light was pretty dull unlike the bright sunshine I enjoyed with the 1st roll but I was good as it allowed a comparison with similar subject matter.

It would be fair to say that the film performed just as good in poor light as it did in bright sunshine giving excellent sharpness even shooting at wide apertures using my Olympus OM2s & 50mm f1.4.

The colours are still pretty vibrant just a little more subtle which lends itself to maybe shooting portraits which I think will be my next subject with this film.

This film is excellent value costing around £4 a roll in the UK here is a link direct to the Lomography site but a quick Google search will bring up some even cheaper prices.

lomography-color-negative-400-iso-35mm-3-pack

Anyway thanks for looking ….

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 🙂

December’s #FP4Party entries all together ….

This month’s entries were taken using my Canon AE1 Program and my YashicaMat 124G … both with ilford FP4 rated at 200 iso and developed in ilfotec HC.

Luckily we had a bit of snow during shoot week so it gave the images a bit of a theme for a change ….

Obviously the square images are with the Yashica …… I think I will probably keep shooting FP4 at 200 are it gives a little bit more versatility without really effecting the images grain/sharpness wise. I don’t have anymore FP4 in 120 format so I need to get some before the next party starts in January.

Anyway thanks for looking ….

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 🙂

Expired Fuji Sensia 400 after the rain …

I only just realised while backing up my Lightroom catalogs that I had forgotten to post this blog which should have been posted before the Ektachrome 2 parter.

As I may have mentioned in my previous posts that I have some mixed E6 chemistry that I want to use up before it goes off so my last few rolls have been slide film. I have quite a few different slide stocks stored in my fridge and the day I shot this we had just had a huge downpour and I was not really sure whether or not the rain would come back so I loaded up some Sensia 400 rated at 320 iso into my Olympus OM10 for a change as I haven’t used this camera for years, I usually use either the OM2s or OM1n when I want to go down the Olympus route.

I paired it up with the lovely Zuiko 50mm f1.4 that I managed to pick up recently. Lucky for me the rain held off for a while and the sun peaked out to give a nice warm look to the Sensia.

Anyway thanks for looking ….

Click on an image to view larger

All images 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 🙂

1st time shooting Lomography Colour Negative 400 35mm….

I love trying new/old film stocks, usually its some old expired stuff I find on eBay but for a change I picked up a 3 roll box of Lomography Colour Negative 400 35mm last week and was interested in seeing what the film was like compared to some of my favorite films like Portra 400 vc or Fuji Reala.Luckily for me it was a nice bright day which after viewing the scan really showed the best side of this film.

I decided to use a camera that I have not shot for an absolute age … my Canon AE1 program with the 50mm f1.4 which was such fun to use again. The sharpness of the film was quite impressive as so were the colours.

There seemed to be a slight green cast to most of the shots which did not detract from the image in fact I really liked the look. The brighter the light the more saturation I seemed to get which was great.

I am not sure what I was expecting from this film but its fair to say I love it.

I have since bought another pack but this time in 120 format so I can’t wait to give that a try …. so watch this space.

Thanks for looking ….

Click on an image to view larger

All images 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 🙂

Trying out a new film stock …. Orwo N74

Quite a while back I was gifted some film by a Twitter friend which I have steadily been trying out … all of which have been film stock that I have never used before.

This week was the turn of some Orwo N74 which is a 400 iso motion picture stock and after looking it up online it was described as having an excellent tonal range and great contrast which sounded right up my street for a B&W film look.

I rated it at box speed and decided on using my Nikkormat FTN and Nikon 35mm f2.5 as the trial camera, as I don’t have a lens with the aperture coupler prong so I used the stop down metering way of setting my exposures which seemed to have worked out well.

The film has a good exposure latitude and I didn’t get much shadow blocking or highlight blowout given that I was not 100% sure that the metering method was totally accurate.

I developed the roll in Rodinal 1+50 dilution for 13 minutes inverting twice every minute.

Overall I was pleased with the results more so with the closeup/shallow DOF shots than the Landscape type shots.

The grain didn’t lend itself to sweeping skies to my eye in fact it was a little distracting while the sharpness and contrast was great.

I may buy some more and either try stand development in Rodinal or use some IDII/D76

Here is the link to the film stock here in the UK .. https://ntphotoworks.com/shop/product/orwo-n74/

So here are the shots … click on an image to view larger Approx 100% crop

Thanks for looking ….

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

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

I love shooting expired film ……

Last week I managed to source some of my favorite colour negative film Fuji Reala from ebay and along side of the Reala the vendor also had some Kodak Vericolor II which I also bought to give it a try.

I have previously shot a roll of Vericolor III that I had been given and really liked the muted tone that I gave so I was hoping that this gave similar results.

I decided to take the Mamiya C330 for a run out as I had been neglecting it over the Yashica Mat 124G recently, I used both the 80mm f2.8 and 65mm f3.5.

Here are the images, only 9 as the other 3 were bracketed shots …. It was an overcast day with glimpses of sunshine now and again.

I rated the roll at 80 iso with my Sekonic meter which was pretty much spot on.

If I shoot the next roll in brighter conditions I could probably rate the film at 100 or even box speed as it didn’t seem to have lost a lot of sensitivity even though the 2 boxes had expired back in 1994 🙂

Thanks for looking ….

Click on an image to view larger

All images 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 🙂