Black & White – tim dobbs photography

Valley walk with my Olympus MJU 105 and some more ilford HP5 ….

Short little blog this time featuring my little Oly mju 105 all weather point and shoot and a roll of ilford HP5 that I shot a few weeks back.

I have a few different models of mju but I find that the 105 seems to give me the best results.

The day was pretty misty and quite dark at times but the mju and the HP5 coped well.

Anyway here are the images :

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 🙂

Fuji GW690III and Rollei RPX 400 in the mist ….

During my holiday last week I planned on trying to shoot a roll of film everyday which due to the rubbish weather I didn’t manage but I did shoot some Rollei RPX 400 in the Fuji GW690III.

As I said the weather was pretty grim here in South Wales so I decided to push the film to 800 iso so that I could at least stop down the aperture to attempt to get some decent DOF.

I developed the roll in ilfotec HC at 1+15 dilution for 5.30 mins and scanned using my Epson v500.

Overall I was impressed with how the film performed especially as I pushed it a stop, the level of detail was excellent and the grain was pretty smooth.

I have done a few prints from this roll and they really look good on paper, so much nicer to have a print in your hands than just on the screen ….. Print your stuff I say.

Anyway here are the images ….

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 🙂

First time shooting JCH Street Pan …. at the wrong iso!

A new online film store opened up recently at Analogue Wonderland which as a film shooter I was keen to support.

I bought a varied selection of films some of which I have never used before … this roll of JCH Pan Street 400 being one of them.

I have seen loads of images online of how this film looks and I loved them so I was looking forward to seeing what I could capture.

As you know I develop my own film and when using B&W I use the Massive Dev app on my iPad to get the dilutions and developing times.

For the developers that I had to hand that were featured in the app database I used Rodinal at 1+25 dilution for 11.30 minutes which was 1 minute over compared to the app because somehow I managed to shoot most of the roll with my OM2S set to 1000 iso.

I have no idea how and it could not have been accidentally knocked to that setting as you have to lift up the ring quite high to set the iso.

Anyway I was not holding out much hope for the 1st half of the roll that I shot in poor light and rain at a local event in Bridgend where the town centre was sent back to the war years featuring soldiers, vehicles etc.

To my surprise when I got the film out of the tank the images looked ok, maybe a little underexposed but I was confident that once scanned I could get useable photographs which was the case in fact they were really good … the contrast/sharpness and especially the grain were excellent.

So here is a selection of the photos that I liked …. I will be buying more of this film for sure … it’s look is right up my street 🙂

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 🙂

and finally I have a new zine for sale if anyone is interested featuring the incredible “Merlin Maddock” friend and neighbour for over 20 years and inventor extraordinaire.

DM me on twitter or email me for more details ….

My new zine hot off the press featuring "Merlin Maddock" & his final project .. DM for details if interested .. very limited quantity @EMULSIVEfilm @FfotonWales #Wales #zines #printyourstuff pic.twitter.com/kUfQpQPzZV

— Tim ….. (@timdobbsphoto) July 9, 2018

HP5 shines when shot in 6×9 …..

I have probably said loads of times on this blog that ilford HP5 is by far my favourite B&W film stock.

I love the contrast and grain especially when pushed to 1600 iso and beyond.

I mainly shoot it in 35mm with the odd roll in 120 now and again so when I got my Fuji GW690iii I was eager to see how it looks in 6×9 format.

I shot it at box speed and developed it in ilfotecHC at 1+31 dilution and I was not disappointed with the results.

Here are all 8 frames …. click on an image to see 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 🙂

1st time shooting Rollei RPX 100 ….

Over the past year I have managed to pick up quite a few rolls of different film stocks that I have never shot before … Rollei RPX 100 being one of them.

Slowly but surely I am trying them and seeing what I like or don’t like with them and whether or not I would buy more.

I have a small selection of B&W developers that I use and after reading up on the web about which may be the best for this film stock and decided on Rodinal at a dilution of 1+25 which should give good sharpness and contrast from the images that I have seen especially as I pushed it to iso 200.

The day was pretty rubbish with grey clouds and sleet so I used the Leica M2 with the 7 Artisans 50mm f1.1 with the hope of trying to shoot a few images wide open.

I was very impressed with how the film performed giving tons of detail with excellent tonality and I will definitely be buying more of this stock that’s for sure.

I need to try the RPX 400 just to see if the extra grain you may get with a faster film will lessen how sharp the images may appear especially if pushed a bit.

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 Nikon F100 with the 50mm f1.4 on ilford FP4 rated at 200 iso and developed in ilfotec HC.

I only manage to get through one roll so I was pleased that I had quite a few keepers on the roll to post.

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 🙂

My Pentax K1000 out & about in the Garw ………….

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