colour – Page 6 – tim dobbs photography

Another roll of colour film for a change ……..

The weather here has been terrible over the last few weeks and getting out with the camera has been difficult.

I loaded my Nikon FM2n with some expired Kodak Colorplus 200 over 3 weeks ago and only managed to finish it yesterday.

The colours that this film produced were very pleasing when scanned and complimented the subject matter, nicely subdued.

I must say that the FM2n is by far my favorite camera to use especially with the 50mm 1.8 its a quality piece of kit.

I am looking to get a Nikkor 35mm f2.8 Ai which in combination with the FM2n would be my everyday film camera. Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger…….

Garw Carnival 2013 & Kodak Portra 400………..

I love my Nikon F4s but as I seem to have collected 50+ cameras over the last 12 months I don’t get to shoot with it very often.

This weekend I decided to load it up with some film and attempt to shoot with it but when I opened the back I realised I had a rewound roll of Kodak Portra 400 sitting in it.

As I have not developed any colour film for a while I was not sure if my C-41 chemistry was shot or not but I thought I would give it a try. (I didn’t even know what was on the film)

To my surprise when the film came out of the tank it was from last years Garw Carnival back in September if I remember correctly and the negs seemed to look ok albeit with a slight yellow cast but after scanning I liked the look so didn’t colour correct them.

Moral of this little story is make sure you remove completed film rolls from your camera and also make a note of what you actually shot on it 🙂

Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view Larger…….

Any comments greatly appreciated 🙂

Testing the Sigma 35mm f1.4 DG…………..

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……………

Ricoh XRX comes home…………..

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 🙂

Trying out some Kodak Ektar………….

I mainly shoot B&W film and process it myself but bought some Kodak Ektar recently and was waiting for a reasonably bright day to go out and give it a try.I have looked at images on the web shot on this film and read how sharp it was and I was not disappointed.

As it wasn’t a sunny day, it was pretty overcast I was shooting from f1.8 – f4 for the whole roll and the images really popped.I am not totally pleased with the colours but I am putting that down to my chemicals coming to the end of their life, I am sure if I change them the colours will be a bit more vibrant.

Mind you my subject matter wasn’t the most colourful in the first place 🙂

I also have some Kodak Portra 400 and will be giving that a try soon to, I love the look Portra gives to people. Thanks for looking

Click on an image to view larger…………

A Digital day……for a change……………..

I decided to shoot digital this weekend for a change, I have a friends wedding coming up in a few weeks and apart from shooting my Rugby I am not using my DSLR’s all that much so I thought I would give them a runout using my Sigma 30mm f1.4.

I really love the look I get from the Sigma wide open, it really pulls the object in focus out of the frame, it does vignette a little at f1.4 but all these photos were processed in Lightroom and the lens profiles do a really good job.

I must admit that I felt like a bit of a cheat shooting digital and looking at the back of the camera checking shots, I seemed to shoot far more than I actually needed to when checking the results in Lightroom.

I would recommend the Sigma highly, it’s very sharp especially when stopped down a bit and even at f1.4 as long as you nail the point of focus the image pops.

The shot at the top of my better half was shot at iso 3200 @f1.4 focussing on the eye and with a little noise reduction in Lightroom the results were great considering it was a quick test snapshot.

Anyway after the rugby on Saturday I am back to film again until the “Digital” wedding that is but I will also shoot plenty of film there too.

Thanks for looking………..

Also please check out my Film only blog over at …..

http://usingfilm.wordpress.com/

Cross processing Fuji Provia 100f…….

I decided this weekend to try my hand at cross processing some 120 slide film, I have both Velvia and Provia in the fridge and decided to try Provia first.

I have never shot slide film before let alone cross processed it so after a bit of reading up on the good old internet I set forth to give it a go.

This was the first roll through the Mamiya with the new AE Prism finder so as I didn’t know if the meter readings were actually correct I also metered by hand just to make sure the exposures were spot on.

Once the developing was complete I opened the Developing drum to be greeted with an extremely purple looking negative.

As I have not done this before I was very eager for the film to dry so I could scan them and see what I managed to get.

Once scanned I was surprised to see the subtle muted colours, from what I have seen on the web I was expecting high contrast and distinct colour shifts but instead got very smooth sharp images that suited the subject matter I shot.

Maybe if I was shooting on a bright sunny day then the effect may have been a little different but all in all I was very pleased with the results.

I will try the Velvia next just to compare them both.

Thanks for looking……………..

click on an image to view larger

Zorki 4k with Cheap Agfa 200 film……..

I saw that my local pound shop were selling new rolls of Agfa 200 iso film at £1 a roll (obviously) and picked up a load just to use when testing any old camera I pick up.

I loaded up the Zorki 4k and went out looking for anything slightly colourful on a really drab day here in the South Wales Valleys.

After developing the film and scanning it in I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Agfa film performed, there was a slight magenta look to the images but apart from that I was pretty pleased with the overall look.

I am getting used to using the Zorki’s viewfinder and managed to not cut off anything and also getting the focus spot on even at f2.8.

I think another visit to the pound shop is in order and stock up on a few more rolls is in order this weekend 🙂

Thanks for looking………….

A Schoolboy Error……..

I went out this morning with my Bronica SQ-Ai loaded with a roll of Fuji Velvia and proceeded to trek up to the site of the old Ocean Colliery here in Blaengarw, South Wales.

The light was great and so was the landscape and cloud formations and I set to work shooting my 12 frames of 6×6…. or so I thought.

While out I also brought my little Fuji x10 and after each shot I also took a few frames digitally just as some sort of reference to go with my notes as I have never shot 120 slide film before.

Lucky I did as when I got home I realised that the multi exposure lever was on and the 11 frames taken was really just 1…….. Gutted!!

Its a good job that film photography is just my personal pastime and not professional …

At least the results from the little Fuji were great, below is both the colour and B&W version of my audience this morning.

I am so glad I take the Fuji everywhere as this morning would have been a total waste but at least I will check my frame counter next time just in case the damn lever is down again.

Thanks for looking….

I also have another blog just featuring my film photography if anyone is interested

http://usingfilm.wordpress.com/

Another reason to keep my Olympus EPL-1……….

If you have read my last post I was thinking of selling my Olympus EPL-1 since getting a Fuji X10 but have had a change of heart.

Looking back through my Aperture catalogue I came across a folder of photographs where I was playing with the various Art Filters that are built in to the camera.

To be honest the 2 filters I found I used over and over were the Pinhole and the Gritty B&W featured here.

The Pinhole is not to overpowering and boosts the contrast and colours while adding a vignette.

While the B&W is an acquired taste….. I love strong, contrasty B&W which is how I shoot my film photography so I love the filter.

The only thing I don’t like about the Olympus is the lack of viewfinder but since being able to use my Canon lens and the Art filters make up for that and the camera will stay in my bag and not on eBay 🙂