Filmdev – tim dobbs photography

Sunny day for a change … Shooting Kodak Portra 400VC …

As to be expected here in Wales the weather has been pretty up and down … mainly down but a week ago we had a fleeting glimpse of the sun, so as I had not shot any colour film stock this year I grabbed a roll of Portra 400VC from the fridge and loaded up the trusty Yashicamat 124G and went out to make the most of the light.

I only went for a short walk as I bumped into artist Kevin Sinnott outside his gallery and popped in for a chat as I had not seen him for a while.

To make the most of the light I managed to take his portrait outside before I left for the rest of my walk.

Even though the film had pretty long expired I rated it at 200 iso and was not disappointed with how the images came out.

As I don’t have any C41 chemistry here I sent the film off to the trusty Filmdev who did a great job as usual.

So here are the images …

Comments most welcome …

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

Also still have a handful of zines over on my etsy store … https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto

Tenby again … One Camera, Two rolls of film … Kodak Ektar & Lomography CN800 …

We managed a short break to Tenby back in the Whitsun holidays which I blogged here https://timdobbsphoto.com/2021/07/30/short-tenby-break-on-lomo-cn400-cn800/ where I took numerous cameras and film but didn’t use most of them.

So when we returned to Tenby for our Summer hols I decided to just take one camera and less film choices .. my Pentax ME Super with the 28mm f3.5 & 50mm f1.7 along with some Kodak Ektar & Lomo CN800.

The weather was pretty great with only a few hours each day where it was a bit overcast, the majority of the days were in glorious sunshine.

When we came home I sent the films off to Filmdev who did a great job with the scans as usual.

Luckily I shot most of the Ektar on the first day with was probably the brightest day by far as you will see here …

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Kodak Ektar …

Lomography CN 800

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

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

I also have some zines over on my Etsy store if anyone wants a look .. or message me to buy direct ..

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/timdobbsphoto?ref=seller-platform-mcnav

Expired film day 2020 …… ilford XP1 … the whole roll

Back in March this year just before all this Covid 19 lockdown stuff I entered the Expired film day competition like I have done on previous years.

The whole point is to get out and shoot as much old expired film over a 3 day weekend then submit 3 of you best images with the chance to win some lovely film prizes.

I was luck to win a prize last year so I was very surprised to win again this year considering the really high standard of the other entries.

I have loads of expired film but I came across some old ilford XP1 on eBay so I was excited to give it a go and with fingers crossed manage to capture something worthwhile.

Somehow I messed up and shot 1st frame on my Mamiya 645 while getting it out of my bag with the lens cap on so only ended up with 14 final images.

I rated the roll at 100 iso and it was developed/Scanned by filmdev

I asked them to push it one stop in development as well if poss and explained what I was trying to do with the images.

Here is a link to the Expired film day website … Click here

And here is the image that I was lucky to have selected for a prize … Click here

So here is the complete roll ….

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 1st roll of Fuji Industrial 100 …..

There are not too many 35mm film stocks that I have not had experience of shooting but Fuji Industrial 100 has escaped me until now.

Normally from what I have read on the web only available in Japan but a few online uk vendors have been stocking it at reasonable prices.

As described by Analogue Wonderland …

“Fujifilm Industrial 100 is a gorgeous colour negative film with exceptional sharpness, natural skin tones, and faithful colour reproduction.”

I didn’t shoot any portraits so I cannot vouch for the natural skin tones but the colours were gorgeous and the sharpness is excellent.

The images were shot on my Pentax Program A & 50mm f1.7.

I had the film developed and scanned by Filmdev who as per usual did a wonderful job.

Here is a selection of the images …..

Please click a photo 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 🙂

100mm focal length as a walkabout lens ……..

I have had my Canon FD 100mm f2.8 for ages but I have never really given it a proper runout, I have shot less than 20 frames with it in total so just to try and give my photography a different slant I decided to shoot a whole roll just at 100mm.

I mounted it on my Canon T90 and loaded up a roll of the lovely Lomo CN400 and went out for a walk.

Viewing the world at 100mm was a bit strange at 1st with a lot of backing up with the compositions but after a bit I started to get used to it.

I decided to get the roll developed and scanned by Filmdev and when the scans arrived I was very happy with the results, Lomo CN400 colours especially in good light are gorgeous.

To be fair the lens isn’t the sharpest wide open at f2.8 but still looked great and focussed spot on most of the time.

It was fun just shooting at this focal length it definitely puts a different perspective on my usual look, I need to take this lens out a bit more whenever I use any of my Canon FD cameras.

I have an FD adapter for my Fuji X cameras so I may give it a go on one of them next.

Anyway here are the images …

Please click a photo 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 🙂

6×9, Fuji Reala & sunshine equals happiness …..

A short little blog post today.

As my C41 chemistry has gone off I have been sending my films off to the wonderful Filmdev to process and scan.

If I didn’t shoot so many rolls I would gladly give all my film to them as they are such an awesome lab but it would get really expensive so I will treat myself once or twice a month and carry on sending certain rolls to them as the results are brilliant.

Anyway this is a roll of my favourite Fuji Reala shot in the Fuji GW690iii the other weekend while out up the mountain in glorious sunshine.

I love how reala renders greens especially in good light and all these frames have an abundance of green to savour … ha ha

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 🙂

Shoot Saturday, Post off Monday … see scans Tuesday …. Gotta love @Filmdev

It was a lovely sunny day forecast last Saturday so I was up early and out with my Olympus OM2s loaded with a roll of expired Fuji Superia 100.

The last roll of C41 that I developed showed signs of going bad so instead of processing it myself as per usual I decided to send it off to Filmdev whom I have used on plenty of occasions before developing myself.

I have always been impressed with the service and quality I received from filmdev but this time I was over the moon because as the title of this blog post says … I shot on the weekend, popped into the post on Monday morning and when I got home from work on Tuesday afternoon I had a Paypal invoice followed by my link to download my scans.

I went for the large scans from the Noritsu HS-1800 scanner and they blew me away with the colour rendition and sharpness from the Superia.

All the images here are the scans that I received … just resized for web.

All I can say is Filmdev “Rocks” … If anyone reading this post have never tried them before then give them a go.

The prices are extremely good and along with the quality of the processing and scanning they are a must.

I have another 10 rolls of this batch of Superia 100 that I picked up from ebay so I am very happy that it works as good as the fresh rolls that I have in my fridge.

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 🙂

Eventually tested my Zuiko 75-150mm f4.0 ……

A few months ago I picked up a mint Zuiko 75-150mm f4 from Ebay for next to nothing, I didn’t think I would probably use it a lot as the Zuiko 35mm f2.8 is my goto lens whenever I shoot my OM1 or OM2s but for the price I had to get it.

I was going through one of my camera drawers and noticed the lens sitting there all alone in its case so I thought it was about time I gave it a test.

I loaded the OM2s with some Fuji Superia 400 and went out for a little walk to see how it performed.

It is quite a compact lens with its own pull out lens hood which as I was shooting in quite bright sunshine worked well and I didn’t get any lens flare.Out of all the frames I shot I only missed focus on one and the sharpness and contrast were good and the Bokeh was quite pleasing in a few of the frame too.