bokeh – Page 9 – tim dobbs photography

Bargain of the century ……… Loving 6×6 format

On Boxing day I treated myself to a Mamiya C330s TLR but after 3 rolls of film determined that there was something wrong with the focus and sent it back. After posting on facebook about what had happened I was contacted by a fellow photographer who said he had got some 6×6 equipment if I was interested.

I said that I would definitely be interested if I had not just spent my camera fund on the C330s and was waiting to see wether it was to be replaced/fixed. He told me that he had stored the equipment for the last 10 years and was never going to use it and because I was really getting back into film that the price would be very good for me.

So I jumped into the car and popped over to Maesteg to have a look and as you can see from the photos above I have managed to bag myself the deal of the century.

The total inventory is as follows :

Bronica SQ-Ai, Bronica SQ-A, Ae prism finder, 2x 80mm f2.8, 150mm f4, 40mm f4, 250mm f5.6

all in working order 🙂

The weather has been rubbish over christmas but I managed to get out for an hour yesterday to try out the new kit.

I shot on Kodak T-MAX 400 and processed it in Infosol 3 1+9, I was very,very pleased with the results.

It was nice aslo to use an AE Prism Finder rather than my light-meter, it was almost like using my SLR.

6×6 format is so nice, I am loving shooting and composing in the square format it is so much different to what I am used to.

My son is getting fed up with me asking him to pose so I can test my equipment so I tried something a bit different with this shot which I thought worked in the square frame.

And the sharpness of the 80mm at f4 was superb….

I am so pleased with this equipment and so grateful to have got it at an unbelievable price I hope I can push my film photography to the next level.

Thanks for looking…….

Zorki 4k & Ilford HP5+……..

A week or two ago my wife got me a Zorki 4k for christmas so before she wrapped it up I insisted on putting a roll of film through it just to make sure all was well.

We bought the camera from West Yorkshire Cameras who specialise in affordable film cameras, I must say that they are great lads and highly recommend that if you are interested in film photography to pay them a visit.

I have bought numerous things from them and their service is excellent.

http://wycameras.com/

I used some Ilford HP5+ and processed it in ilfotec DDX.

The viewfinder was reasonable bright considering its age and even though the weather was poor focussing was not really a problem but I did find that composing in the portrait format was hit and miss as I am used to an SLR.

I just took a load of random shots using the light-meter app on my iPhone to set the exposure and was pretty pleased with what came out.

The 50mm f2.0 Jupiter lens was pretty sharp when stopped down a little but still looked nice at f2.8 as you can see with the first shot of the barbed wire fence.

I am pleased that after shooting the first roll all seems well with the camera and I am looking forward to trying a bit of street photography with it.

Thanks for looking

click on an image to view larger……………..

Alternative Colour Developing………….

I have been developing my own B&W films for a while now and have experimented with various films and developers and have a good idea what I will get out of my negatives.

I have also been processing my colour films to but the results have been very inconsistant, I have noticed that the roll after processing varied from the start to the end, not drastically but there was a difference.

At first I put it down to my inexperience of C-41 processing but after reading up on the internet It seemed to point to the developing temperature varying slightly.

As I develop by hand and not with a processor I try to maintain the required 38 degrees C by placing the drum in warm water in-between inversions and maybe the outer frames of the film were at the proper temp while the inner frames were slightly under.

The Tetenal C-41 kit I use can also be used at 30 degrees C using different developing times which is a far easier temperature to maintain.

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/tetenal-c41-kit-1l-681-p.asp

These shots are from the first roll of Fuji Superia 400 I tried using this method and from the first frame to the last the development was perfectly even.

No colour shift whatsoever, I was going to stop developing C-41 before I tried this but now I am happy with the results and will carry on.

Thanks for looking, comments most welcome

click on an image to view larger……….

Mamiya 645 as my new walk about camera……….?

Loaded up the Mamiya 645 with some Ilford Delta 400 yesterday and decided to do a spot of Landscape photography with the intention of some nice shallow DOF shots as well as the traditional views.

After the first mile and a half I began to realise that the Mamiya is not a walk around camera its built like a tank and weighs like one too.

Nevertheless I was determined to get some shots and to try out the new B&W developer I recently bought …. Ilfotec DD-X.

The results from the camera and film/dev combination were lovely, I shot most of the closeup detail at f2.8 – f4 and stopped down to f11 for the views.

The detail captured was great all these shots had minor touchup in Photoshop mainly dust and a few hairs and a little curves adjustments.

I so love this camera, I bought it with the sole intention of portrait work but the stunning negatives I am getting from it means I am going to try to use it as an allround camera……

I think I may try a bit of street photography next …. 🙂

Please click on an image to view larger ……..

New camera and this time its not a charity shop cheap one………..

Finally bit the bullet and got myself a proper camera… a Mamiya 645 1000s and as soon as it arrived I knew it was love at first sight….lol.

It is built like a tank, pretty heavy but not difficult to handle. I was really eager to try it out just incase of problems so I could return it to the shop … http://www.ffordes.com/home

I loaded up a roll of Kodak T-MAX 100 so that I could process it here at home easily but by the time I got in from work the light was rubbish so after learning how to use the mirror up facility on the camera and a tripod I dragged Ben out the garden and shot off 15 frames.

The settings were 1/30 sec @f2.8 so I was praying that I got something off the roll, I processed it in Perceptol 1+3 for 19 minutes as stated in the Massive Dev Chart iphone app and was astounded at the clarity and tonal range of the images.

There was a few where my focus was not totally spot on but the DOF is so shallow at f2.8 that I was not too bothered at least I know the camera and lens are keepers and that I like the look of T-Max, the grain was virtually non existant processed in Perceptol.

I will be shooting a roll of Fuji pro 400h on the weekend and getting it processed and scanned by AG photographic http://www.ag-photolab.co.uk/ hopefully to get better quality than I can at home.

Next on my list is the 150mm f2.8 and an AE Prism Finder …. 🙂

Click on an image to see full size

Thanks for looking………

My 99pence camera………

99pence I hear you say……well actually it was £5.99 because the postage was £5 but what a cracking bargain it is.

I am now getting seriously hooked on ebay and charity shops for old retro cameras I have just won another as I type this blog post up… A Yashica Minister-D an almost mint rangefinder.

Anyway, this little camera blew me away when I opened the parcel on the weekend it was an excellent, solid piece of german engineering (well metal not plastic…lol) only problem was I did not have any batteries to try it out so had to wait till yesterday to get them.

Luckily the sun was still out when I got home from work and I quickly loaded the batteries and a roll of cheapo Kodak Colorplus (just incase the camera was a dud) and rushed out to snap a few photos.

It took a bit of guess work with guessing the focus distance but I was shooting at f8 mainly so I was not too fussy.

I was really pleased with the photos, sharp and contrasty and the huge viewfinder was a pleasure to use, I am going to be using this little beauty a lot and would recommend anyone interested in film photography to check out eBay as there are a few about.

All these shots are straight scans un edited even for dust and hairs……lol

Kodak T-Max 3200 on a Sunny Afternoon………..

A few days ago a fellow photographer gave me a load of different types of film of which were a couple of rolls of Kodak T-Max 3200.

Eager to try this film out and even though the weather was bright and sunny I loaded up my Nikon F90x as it has a shutter speed up to 1/8000 sec and popped up my local graveyard hoping to capture some gritty images.

I was pleased with the results all things considered but I may use the next roll on something more appropriate that requires that sort of sensitivity……..lol

Colour Film Developing and an Un-willing Model………

This week I have been mostly shooting and developing Colour Film……….

After getting the hang of B&W developing I thought I would give Colour a go as from what I have read it is very similar only a bit more Temperature critical. I bought a Tetenal C-41 kit from AG Photographic (see link below) and a few rolls of cheap Kodak colorplus film just incase I messed up.

http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/tetenal-c41-kit-1l-681-p.asp

I must admit it was very easy to do even getting the chemicals to the desired 38 degrees was simple I just filled the sink with very hot water and waited…..lol

After scanning in the negs I was pleasantly surprised the photographs were nice and contrasty with no real colour casts considering the cheap film.

The photos of Ben, my son were shot using the Kodak and the others were on my 2nd roll processed which was Fuji Superia 400 where the colours were far more punchy than the Kodak.

Click on an image to view larger……….

Father’s Day and a trip to Porthcawl………….

We popped down my Mum and Dad’s on Father’s day and I was determined to get some candid portrait shots of Dad as he never likes his photograph taken and as a challenge I was using film.

As usual he was a hard subject to pin down but I did manage to get a few nice frames with pretty good expressions.

When we left we popped down the coast to Porthcawl for a nice stroll by the seaside where I shot another roll of Tri-x 400. It is getting easier to shoot manual now after 15+ rolls and it is such a nice feeling to take my time and choose the shot rather than shoot everything and look through later for the best ones.

Ok, not every shot I take on film is perfect but even the one’s that are not quite what I envisaged at the time are still keepers.

Thanks for looking….comments very welcome

Keep film alive

click on image for a larger view………….

Nikon 35mm f2.5e for Film and Digital………

I called into my local camera shop … (Celtic Camera Centre) …on the weekend to pick up a few rolls of film and noticed they had a Nikon 24mm f2.8 manual focus lens for sale, it was a lovely thing and I am looking to get a wide angle lens to use on my FM2n but sadly it was a bit out of my price range at the moment.

http://www.celticcameracentre.co.uk/Welcome.html

But Andy pointed out they had a Nikon 35mm f2.5e lens also, it was not in the same league as the 24mm……. plastic and a bit tatty but optically fine and was only £50 so I thought I would give it a go.

When I got home I put it on my D7000 and delved into the menus to enter the Non-CPU data so as to be able to use the lens. I only took a handful of shots and imported them into Aperture and was amazed at the results I shot everything wide open and they looked great.

Next I loaded up my FM2n with a roll of Ilford Delta 400 and mounted the lens.

I went out for a walk and proceeded to test out the lens at various subjects and apertures.

On Sunday we went to a Photography exhibition at The Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff bay to see “The Last Resort” by Martin Parr & Tom Wood

http://www.thirdfloorgallery.com/exhibitions.html#exhibition23

so I took the film camera with me to use up the roll and couldn’t wait to get home to develop it and see whether it performed just as good on film as it did on digital.

I was really impressed at the resultant negatives this lens is no way a match for its more expensive equivalents but for £50 it is an absolute steal….closeup the results were excellent even wide open but it did need to be stopped down to get the best images at any distance over a few feet away.

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/emfgfg20/eserieslenses/htmls/283550mm.htm#35mm

Maybe in a few weeks if funds are available and if they still have the 24mm in the shop I will buy that lens but in the mean time I cannot praise this little lens enough.

click on image to view larger……..