A short and sweet blog post today.
I borrowed a YashicaMat from a photographer friend a few months back and it seemed to be over exposing all the time, most probably slow shutter speed problems.
To try to compensate for this I set my light meter to iso 800 and shot some kodak T-Max 400.
These are the results….it seemed to work 🙂
Thanks for looking ….
I picked up a Pentax Program A SLR off ebay last week for less than £10, I couldn’t resist a bargain even though I have an ME Super and MV1 the benefit of the Program A is slightly lost on me as I don’t have any Pentax A lenses but for £10 it was a no brainer.
I also had the opportunity to try out some of West Yorkshire Camera’s C-41 process 400 iso Black & White film which I processed myself at home.
I popped along to a local derelict factory with the hope of capturing some nice contrasty images and I was not disappointed with either camera or film.
All the images were shot using the Pentax 50mm f1.7 lens which gave me lovely detail even shooting at f4.
I don’t normally use C-41 B&W film but I must say this film gave me great results and at the bargain price they charge its definatly worth a try.
Thanks again for looking….
comments most welcome 🙂
also check out my other blog at usingfilm.wordpress.com for more film only stuff
I popped out yesterday with a newly acquired Pentax MV1 and some ilford FP4 looking to test it out and took along my trusty Fuji x10 as well.
The Pentax worked fine but as it has been a pretty busy weekend I am still to develop the roll of film yet so for a change I am posting some digital stuff 🙂
All of the shots were shot in Raw format and processed in Lightroom 5.
The light was pretty harsh as I went out at midday but it made the B&W conversion that much more gritty which suited the subject matter.
Short and sweet post this time, any comments are greatly appreciated 🙂
Following on from my last blog where I shot my Canon AV1 this is the 2nd camera I picked up at the same time from my local charity shop.
A lot of people say that the k1000 is what they 1st started their photography journey, I myself until now have never used one I began with an Olympus OM1.
The first thing that I noticed was the focussing screen was not a split prism like all my other film SLR’s so initially I found foccussing a little hard but got used to it as long as I took my time.
It’s quite a heavy camera and slightly larger than most of the others I have but still felt nice in my hands, simple to use with the exposure needle in the viewfinder.
It was quite a miserable day so I shot some ilford Delta 400@800 and the results were fine, the camera came with the Pentax 50mm f2.0 which performed great I was going to put on my 50mm f1.7 but to be honest I don’t shoot many frames wide open on film so I stuck with what came with the camera.
All in all the camera was very enjoyable to use and I can see why it was the goto camera for teaching students, basic but a great tool for learning (excellent picture quality too).
Thanks for looking….. more film stuff on my other blog
http://usingfilm.wordpress.com
click on an image to view larger.
A few weeks ago I managed to pick up 2 cameras from my local charity shop for the princely sum of £20 each.
They were a Pentax K1000 and a Canon AV1. I have a couple of other Canons A1, AE1 Program and a T90 along with quite a few FD mount lenses so I decided to test the AV1 first.
I loaded up with some ilford HP5 and used my Canon 50mm f1.4 for all the shots going from f1.4 through to f11.
I must say I really liked using this camera much more than the AE1 as I shoot mainly aperture priority or manual this camera was more in line with how I shoot, to be honest I don’t really like using the AE1 much.
I popped along to a local derelict factory to see how things performed and the results were great, all the shots here are straight scans which brings me to another point.
I updated my iMac to the new OSX 10.9 Mavericks which seemed to go well except when I went to scan my negatives my Epson Scan software that I use with my v500 scanner said “Not Compatible” so I went to the epson site to update only to find that they have not yet updated their program for any of their scanners.
Luckily I have Windows 7 installed on my mac and scanned using that while I wait for Epson to pull their finger out and update the software (1 week later and still no update…Epson support are pretty poor indeed, a lot of people with scanners as doorstops I expect).
Anyway thanks for looking, comments most welcome  🙂
Click on an image to view larger…….
More film loveliness at my other blog….http://usingfilm.wordpress.com/
Last week I rented a lens from Lensfettish.com as I had a 30% discount code so I decided on the Sigma 35mm f1.4DG as I had read reviews about it and wanted to see if it was as good as I had heard.
On opening the box I was surprised at the size and weight of the lens compared with my DX Nikon 35mm 1.8 and my Sigma 30mm 1.4, it was a bit of a beast.
The first shot I took in the kitchen (above) was wide open at f1.4 and I was blown away even looking at the camera screen. The lens was razor sharp 🙂
I proceeded to shoot loads of random stuff around the house before popping out for a quick walk.
The sharpness and contrast of this lens was astounding even wide open the point of focus was so sharp and at f8 the detail was stunning.
The following day we popped to Cardiff and I did a little street shooting mainly between f2.8 and f4 and again the lens performed great.
On the Sunday (my last day before returning the lens) we went along to the Bridgend Show where I gave it one last run out and again the resultant images were so pleasing.
I must admit that if I had a spare £699 in my pocket I would buy this lens in a shot, the 35mm focal length was very nice as a walk around lens just a bit more versatile than my Nikon 50mm f1.4 afs which is my usual goto lens.
I also tried it on my Nikon F80 and shot a couple of frames but am yet to finish the roll to see how it performed ( I bet is good 🙂  )
Thanks for looking
Click on an image to view larger……………
I have over the last 12 months been buying cheap film cameras from various places like ebay and charity shops etc hoping to come across a camera that may be comparable to my various SLR’s  image quality.
I know that its not really the camera but lens that gives the quality so I searched the web for some information on compact cameras and found a lot of recommendations for the Nikon TW20.
I found a couple on ebay ranging in price from 99 pence to £50 so I bid on one and managed to get it for £8 inc postage……… Bargain 🙂
It arrived quite quickly but to my complete annoyance didn’t have a battery and as it used a type that I have not got in any of my other cameras I had to wait a few more days to test the supposed image quality 😦
As soon as the battery arrived I immediately rushed out with a roll of Kodak T-MAX 400 and shot away on a nice mountain walk up here in the lovely Garw Valley.
The results from this cheap and rather ugly little camera were totally amazing, the sharpness was stunning.
I am so pleased with this purchase I cannot recommend this camera more highly, its not the most compact of things in fact its quite large for a so called compact but the images this produces really makes you forget what the camera looks like.
I would have quite happily paid £50 for this beauty and its going to be in my camera bag every time I go out.
click on an image to view larger………
Thanks for looking 🙂
Years ago after my 1st couple of cheaper slr’s I was lucky enough to have been given some Pentax mx and a few cracking lenses.
After using the Pentax mx for a while I decided to upgrade but instead of getting another Pentax the new camera out at the time was the Ricoh XRX which was all singing and dancing and also had the Pentax K mount so I didn’t have to change my lenses.
Last week I came across one on ebay with the starting price of 99p so as I have still got a few Pentax k mount lenses I decided to bid and see how it went.
To my amazement I was the only bidder and got it for the starting price (postage was £6 though).
Eager to be reunited with an old friend I loaded it up with some Fuji Superia 400 and using the 50mm f1.7 and 70-210 f4 went for a walk.
I was really nice to use and to be honest all the modes the camera possessd were really not needed as I have always shot Aperture Priority or Manual.
The lenses performed really well and as my C-41 chemicals were shot I tempted fate and took the film to Tescos but for a change the negs were pretty good no scratches for a change (mind you it was not the Bridgend store it was the Talbot Green one).
I am not sure how often I will be using this camera but it is really nice to have one again after all these years.
Click on an image to view larger…………
Thanks for looking 🙂
I bought  20 rolls of Ilford FP4 the other week with the intention of shooting some still life and portraits but popped a roll into my Nikon F4 and went out to shoot some landscapes first.
I developed the roll using Ilfotec HC hoping to get a bit of punchy contrast in the images and I was not disappointed.
FP4 does not give me the feel that I like in my images but it is still very nice, the still life stuff I shot on the walk were very nice, plenty of detail and great highlight and shadow tones.
Since trying shooting some still life with HP5 I am a little torn between the 2 films for that subject. I love the contrast and grain of HP5 but the smooth tones and detail of FP4 are great.
I am going to try pushing the film next time just to see what I get grain and contrast wise and will post the results.
Landscapes do look good though I must admit and I am well happy that I have another 19 rolls in the fridge waiting to be shot  🙂
Thanks for looking
Click on an image to view larger………..
Dark, dreary and wet day here in the valleys today and the forecast isn’t that good all weekend so how can I shoot my weekly roll of film?
I decided to try my Sigma 105mm f2.8 on my F4 using some Ilford HP5 @400 just to see how the autofocus coped with the really short DOF.
It seemed to manage pretty well, I only shot 2 or 3 shots on manual focus because it would not snap to the spot I wanted.
The viewfinder is so bright on the F4 it was very easy to shoot really close up.
I wandered around the house for about an hour trying to capture something remotely interesting that may benefit from the B&W film look.
My magazine arrived as I was shooting so as it was B&W photography it felt appropriate to shoot it along with my growing collection of Canon FD glass.
I love the look of HP5 anyway but I wasn’t expecting it to look so good for still life subjects.
As my guitar is black the tones HP5 produce are lovely, I processed the film using Ilfotec HC which gave really nice grain very complimentary to the subject matter.
I shot the last 3 frames with my 50mm f1.8 and managed to candidly capture my better half  handheld 1/15 @f1.8
Thanks for looking
Click on an image to view larger………..
I have another blog just dedicated to my film photography if you are interested pop over and leave me a comment.
http://usingfilm.wordpress.com/
tim dobbs photography 