street – Page 2 – tim dobbs photography

Tamron 35-70mm f3.5 macro testing with my Olympus OM2n and some HP5……..

The other week I came across an Olympus OM10 in a local car boot sale. As I already have my original OM10 I didn’t really need another but it did have a nice looking Tamron 35-70mm zoom with it and a Manual adapter so I asked the seller if he would sell me them as I didn’t need the camera and he agreed to £10 which was a bargain and after paying he said I may as well take the camera for free as he has had no interest so double win.Today was the 1st time using it on my OM2n and it worked great, 35-70 is a very handy focal length spread and f3.5 throughout was also useful.It’s not the sharpest lens ever in fact its a little soft until you get to f8 but to be honest I really don’t mind as as a walk around lens its far more useful than being stuck with my 50mm. All in all for £10 I am well pleased and this lens will be permanently on my OM2n.

Thanks for looking………

The Streets of London with the Fuji X-Pro1 …………

We have just got back from a few days in London which was a present for my 50th from the better half.

It was a few days of excessive eating and drinking with a little bit of walking and photography, in fact we really blended in with the 1000’s of typical tourists.I shot all the time with my Fuji X-Pro and the XF 18mm f2 except for a few of the night shots where I used the XF 18-55 f2.8 and then processed them with SilverEfex as I felt the B&W contrasty feel gave the look I was after.I shot both day and night and the X-Pro performed great, I really love this camera the quality of the raw files is top notch even at iso 3200.Street photography is so easy in a place like London, nobody seems to mind you shooting not that has ever stopped me but I could spend hours just walking and shooting.

Next time I am going to shoot some film as well…It was an enjoyable few days and even though I shot less than 100 frames nearly all were keepers (I shot quite a few on my iPhone too).

Please Click on an image below to view larger…………………..

Thanks for looking

1st ever roll of Fomapan 100 …….

My favorite film is ilford HP5, I also shoot Delta 400 and T-Max 400 but after reading quite a few posts on the internet and recommendations from some fellow Twitter photographers I bought 5 rolls of 35mm Fomapan 100.

I shot it at box speed and processed it in Ilfotec HC at 1+9 dilution and the results were very pleasing.

The images shot in bright sunshine where lovely and contrasty with plenty of detail in both Shadow and Highlights while the one’s shot in low natural light almost glowed while still holding detail.I am extremely pleased with this film and after reading more on the web I will be getting some Rodinol next as this seems to give even better results.

Please click on an image to view larger …….

Thanks for looking, comment most welcomed 🙂

Fuji X-E1 & 18-55mm on the streets of Aberystwyth ……

Last weekend we went to Aberystwyth to pick up Amy for the summer and in between all the carrying/cleaning and throwing out bin bags I managed a walk along the seafront to see where her next terms accommodation will be and took the X-E1 with the new zoom instead of the primes.

It’s very handy to be able to zoom slightly especially if I see a shot and have to get it quick, its not so good when attempting shooting from the hip as I got far more missed shots than I did when I tried it with the 18mm prime.

Click on an image to view larger ……….

Fuji X-Pro 1 on the street …….

I treated myself to an early 50th birthday present last week …. a Fuji X-Pro 1 along with the xf 18mm f2 and 35mm f1.4.

This post is short and sweet and is just to show my 1st quick attempt at some close street shooting using the 18mm wide open at f2 just as a test.The lens is very sharp even at f2, obviously not the best aperture to be sure of getting the image but as it was an experiment I wasn’t to upset at the missed shots.

I had a few surprised looks as I took the images but I didn’t feel as conspicuous like I do that close with my Dslr.I am shooting Raw and Jpeg at the moment and I must say the Jpegs are really nice, great colour and sharpness and seem to have the added bonus of a little lens correction in camera over the Raw (not drastic but noticeable) which makes a difference with the 18mm.

I will post a lot more in the next blog, I have just tried the 35mm at f1.4 and its gorgeous 🙂

Thanks for looking …….

My Fuji x10 and SilverEfex ………

I had a day off today so as the sun was shining briefly this morning I loaded up my Mamiya 645 with some Fuji Pro 400H and my Fuji x10 and popped out while the sun lasted.

While waiting for the film to dry I decided to run through the shots from the X10, some of which I processed using VSCO film 1 presets and the Fuji 400H setting just to see if the actual processed film was similar. (still waiting for it to dry)

All of these however were processed in Silver-Efex to give a Dark, grungy feel which I really like.Any comments very welcome.

click on an image to view larger………. I also have a Film only blog at …….

http://usingfilm.wordpress.com/

and Flickr stuff at ……

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timdobbsphotography/

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 🙂

Canon 50mm f1.4 and Ilford XP2……..

I had 2 deliveries on Friday.

A Canon 50mm f1.4 FD from West Yorkshire Cameras which was such a bargain compared to the equivalent Nikon offering as I can use it on both my Film Canon SLR’s and also my Olympus EPL-1.

And another package was from Ilford customer services with a load of different Ilford films free of charge as they will be using 2 of my film images on their website in the near future to showcase HP5+.

Firstly I must say how over the moon I am with the lens, its twice the weight and build of my 50mm f1.8 which I was pleased with but the f1.4 is so damn sharp it hurts especially on the Olympus.

The DOF and Bokeh is lovely and on my Canon T90 the viewfinder is extremely bright and easy to focus.

I am so glad I bought this, I wasn’t sure if it would be this much better than the f1.8 version as it actually is.

I have never shot Ilford XP2 before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, sadly my C-41 chemistry is shot so the results were a bit mixed but I managed to get a few shots I was pleased with.

The negatives are very easy to scan and have a very smooth tone that suits the type of images I was shooting with shallow DOF but is also nice and contrasty when stopped down a bit.I also had some SFX200 and PanF 50 which I have not shot before either so I am looking forward to see what comes out.

Thanks for looking

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

I love getting new camera’s especially when they are FREE………….

A few months ago a photographer friend who knew I was getting back into film photography sent me a message to say he has a Canon A1 he has never used and I could have it if I wanted it. Obviously I said YES! PLEASE! but we never got around to meeting up until last week.

After a little clean up and a visit to Camarthen Cameras http://www.carmarthencameras.co.uk/ to get a lens, a Canon FD 35mm for a princely sum of £30 I loaded it up with some expired Agfa Vista 400 and went off to Porthcawl to try it out..

The variation in the colours of the film gave the photos a vintage sort of feel but as you can see here the camera and lens performed excellently and for a total outlay of £30 I couldn’t go wrong.

I would like to Thank Gareth for his generosity and even though I really like this camera (my 1st Canon) I will not be turning to the dark-side just yet as I am too heavily invested in my Nikon equipment.