Tag: portrait

150mm f4 and a new scanner…….

Since getting my Mamiya 645 the other week I have been on the lookout for a 150mm lens to shoot portraits with. A facebook friend who just happens to run West Yorkshire Cameras  http://wycameras.com/ messaged me after reading my last blog post to say he had a Mamiya Sekor 150mm f4 for sale if I was interested at a very, very reasonable price :-).

Needless to say I bought it immediately and when it arrived it was a lovely piece of kit. The only problem now was that my scanner an Epson v330 photo would only scan 35mm not medium format so more expenditure was need, luckily there was a sale on in PC World and I managed to pickup an Epson v500 http://bit.ly/VvbQBZ

The scanner is an awesome machine I re-scanned some of my recent negatives which I was very happy with originally and there was a noticeable difference especially in the highlight and shadow detail captured.

I eagerly shot a roll of Fuji 400H pro and rushed into the darkroom to see the results the lens produced.

What I did notice after scanning and viewing in Photoshop was the extreme shallow depth of field even at f8 when using the longer focal length which when my focus was spot on really made the subject appear almost 3d.

To get the best results at F4 I would have to use a tripod and spend a bit of time making sure that what I wanted to be in focus was spot on because there is little margin for error when wide open.

The type of look this camera and lens gives me is exactly what I want when taking a portait and something I cannot come close to using my crop sensor digital slr’s.

I can get something similar using a film slr and a 100mm f2.8 but the quality of the negative is so much better at 6 x 4.5.

I now have taken over two shelves in the fridge with my films since stocking up on Kodak T-Max 100, Portra 400 and some Ilford Delta 400 in 120 format.

click on an image to view larger…….

Elvis has left the building … and is going to Porthcawl ……….

Popped along to the annual Elvis Festival held in Porthcawl last weekend armed only with my trusty Nikon F90x and some ilford HP5+.

Even though we were down there quite early there were plenty of characters walking about all very willing to have their photographs taken.

I was a bit worried taking the shot above due to the Gold jacket and the very bright sunlight but the camera and film coped very well (no instant feed back from the back of the camera with film….lol).

It was good to see Porthcawl busy and vibrant especially after the pretty poor summer weather we have had this year.

All in all I shot just 48 frames all day where as I would have shot hundreds if I had took my DSLR so the editing process was so much easier.

Even though the day was full of colours I am glad that I shot B&W I don’t know what it is but it gave me more of the feel of the day without any distracting colour elements in the frame.

All comments very welcome …….  thanks for looking  🙂

 

Vintage looking photos from Vintage Cameras ………

Here are a selection of test photographs using the 3 vintage cameras I was loaned (see last blog post).

First one is with the Agfa Isolette using ilford Delta 3200….

The next 2 were with the Zorki 4 using expired Agfa Vista 200 as you can see with the 1st shot the shutter was sticking…..

And the last selection was with my favorite camera to use the Yashica Mat using expired Fuji Neopan 400…….

I have really enjoyed using all 3 cameras especially the Yashica and considering the film  used had expired I am very pleased with the results, I am going to have to get myself a nice medium format camera very, very soon………. Thanks again to Mike and Andy  🙂

click on an image to view larger………

 

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

The Bridgend Show…………

Awful weather for this years Bridgend Show, wellies were the order of the day.

This year I decided to just take my film camera a Nikon FM2n with a Nikkor 35mm and try and capture some reportage style shots using ilford HP5.

We went quite early on the Saturday and there was not a great deal going on but I hope I managed to capture a few nice shots.

 

Nikon F90x and some cheap Kodak film………

My wife asked me last week what I would like for my up coming birthday and was not impressed when I asked for a Nikon D800…….lol.

Instead a much more realistic possibility was another film camera to add to my growing collection, I had been looking on eBay for a good, high spec Nikon autofocus camera and plumped for the F90x.

When it arrived it was in immaculate condition inside and out so I loaded up a cheapo roll of Kodak Colorplus 200 and popped into Bridgend where there was an Italian Market event to try it out.

The camera felt great in use, the autofocus was quick using both the 85mm and 50mm f1.8 it felt just like using my D300s without the LCD screen on the back.

Eager to see if the photographs matched my joy at using the camera I got home and processed the film.

I was very happy with the results, the focus was spot on and the Kodak film gave the photos a nice slight de-saturated look especially for the portraits.

I managed to pick up a few rolls of Fuji Superia 400 at a bargain price from Sainsbury’s and loaded up a roll just to see how the camera performed with a better film stock (see main photo of my wife at top) and I must admit the photo quality was great, I shot a load of portraits at f2 and loved the results.

I am going to be using this camera a lot in the future I fell in love with the handling and the picture quality all for a bargain price of £38, you have to love eBay  🙂

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……..

“Bridgend Mashup” digital version……..

As I said in my previous blog post I also shot some of the action type stuff digitally which was so much easier than trying to shoot full manual on my film camera…….

The band shots were also shot on film and I prefer the more gritty feel of the film shots over the cleaner/sharper digital ones.

As you can see in this post there are far more digital photographs than film but that is the thing I like about film it makes you choose your shots far more carefully.

There is no way I would go back to shooting film for everything but I will be taking a film camera be it an SLR or a compact like my Olympus Trip everywhere alongside my DSLR as I feel it really compliments the digital shots and I really enjoy shooting and processing film again.

Thanks for looking

click on an image for a larger version…….