Film

I discovered, while rummaging through a drawer, that my Nikon F-100 was loaded with film; Fujifilm Superia, a color film. I’ve pretty much sworn off color, but what the hell, I threw a little Godox flash on the F-100 and burned through the rest of the roll. I still had some C-41 chemistry mixed, but it was well past its prime. As is often the case with color film, it was a bust. For some reason the Flash, while it seemed to be firing, left most frames wildly under-exposed. There’s no getting away with underexposing color film. The results were mostly horrible. Oh well. It was fun to use the Nikon again. ...

I finished a roll in the MP today by taking a bunch of self-portraits in my basement “studio”. The shots in which you can see both my hands were triggered by stepping on the release bulb. Clever! 🙂 I really like the look of these. They were shot in my basement with a new canvas backdrop. I used two Profoto strobes. One with a softbox (octogon) to camera left, and a second with a reflector at camera right pointing at the backdrop. I’m learning. ...

Once it a while, a 50mm lens on the Leica M3 is exactly the right thing. I finished the roll and had a ball doing it. Nothing great came out of it, but sometimes that happens. Gail Steve at Hopcat with gift cards Moccamaster Self-portrait with M3 Alice

I’m trying to see how the Summilux 35mm ASPH feels on the film M. Running around indoors with a moving dog and poor light is either a terrible test or a perfect test. Anyway, here’s Alice. Alice with her toys Alice Alice and “Gordo” Alice and Gordo Alice watching for something to bark at Alice in bed

Most of the shots on this roll were taken indoors in low light, so the Summilux was at either 1.4 or 2.0, meaning I missed focus quite often.

Some days I just really need to finish a roll. The photos of Alice relaxing in the sunshine reminded me how good film is at holding onto highlights. I feel like I couldn’t blow them if I tried. ...

I finally finished the roll that’s been idling in the M6 for a couple of months. I took it out of the camera only to discover it was a roll of Portra 400. Color, dammit. I didn’t have any fresh chemicals. The only reason I have some C-41 mixed is that I’ve been too lazy to dispose of it. Screw it, I thought, and fired up the JOBO anyway. Surprisingly, they didn’t end up blank or completely unusable. The color is inconsistent, but that’s always the case with me and color processing. At least I proved that you can keep C-41 chemicals mixed for almost a year and still get images from your film. ...

A roll of mostly self-portraits taken in the basement “studio”. A black cloth backdrop, Profoto strobe with an octobox on left, and a led panel off to the right. Washing negatives. Leica MP. HP5 Plus. Self-portrait with weird lighting. Leica MP. HP5 Plus. Darkroom bathtub after printing. Leica MP. HP5 Plus. Self-portrait. Leica MP. HP5 Plus. Camera identification selfie. Leica MP. HP5 Plus.

Let’s face it, film is meant for well-lit subjects. Every time I bring a film camera to somewhere like a restaurant or a friend’s house, I regret it. There’s just never enough light for candid snaps. I had an old roll of Delta 3200 in the fridge, so I thought I’d see if that helped. It didn’t. I like grain, but not this much grain. Good grief. Flowers. Leica M4. Summilux-M 50mm ASPH. Delta 3200 @1600. HC-110. ...

A few from the most recent roll from of the Leica MP. It’s HP5 Plus, processed in HC-110 (dilution B) for 5 minutes. Scanned on the PrimeFilm XAs. This roll is concerning because many of the frames have horizontal scratches, which could indicate a problem with the film pressure plate. There’s also boatloads of hair and dust. My process needs refining. Chuck the bulldog My Polaroid SX-70 kit Quotes on index cards Skeleton Trash, just finishing the roll Camera Identification Selfie ...

I’ve got nothing. Two rolls shot at the MSU tailgate. One with the MP and HP5 and one with the Olympus OM-1n with expired XP2. Lots of missed focus. Lots of too-far-away. Lots of dust. It’s dampening my enthusiasm for film, but here are a few anyway. Golden looking out back of party bus. (Leica MP. Summicron-M 35mm ASPH) ...

I miss Kodachrome. I was able to shoot a few rolls before Dwayne’s Photo, the last shop capable of processing Kodachrome, stopped processing it for good. The last roll was processed on January 18, 2011. For some reason, all of my original Kodachrome scans are fairly low-res, so I re-scanned the better images using my new Prime Film XAs scanner. Here are a few examples. It was beautiful film. ...

It had been a while since I used the Olympus OM-1n. The Zuiko 85mm f2.0 has been a favorite lens for a long time, so I put a roll through the kit while helping a friend take his boat and dock out of the water for the season. Olympus OM-1n with Zuiko 85mm f/2.0 The OM’s viewfinder is still one of the biggest and brightest I’ve ever used. The camera itself is actually smaller than a Leica M. It’s a great setup. Here are a few highlights from the roll. ...

Steve and Chuck The dogs were very popular, especially Chuck, the puppy Maybe too creepery, but I thought it was a beautiful and powerful configuration. Charlie was tuckered _25.jpg 600w, /img/size/w1000/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_25.jpg 1000w, /img/size/w1600/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_25.jpg 1600w, /img/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_25.jpg 2048w" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1200px" />My Nikon F3HP and motor drive _40.jpg 600w, /img/size/w1000/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_40.jpg 1000w, /img/size/w1600/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_40.jpg 1600w, /img/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_40.jpg 2048w" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1200px" />Megan and Aidan _55.jpg 600w, /img/size/w1000/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_55.jpg 1000w, /img/size/w1600/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_55.jpg 1600w, /img/2021/09/2021-Roll-031_55.jpg 2048w" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1200px" />Megan, Chuck, and Aidan

My 1962 Minolta Autocord has seen better days. I had an expired (in 2006) roll of Kodak BW400CN (C-41) film in 120 so I figured I didn’t have much to lose. The film looks ok, but the camera scratched the hell out of it on the way through. And the frame spacing was all over the place, including a couple of frames with no space between them. The old Autocord was fun to shoot, but I think it’s time for it to retire. It looks cool on the shelf, so that’s something. ...

The little Leica IIIf is adorable, tiny, and capable. Built in 1946, it’s showing its age a bit. Also, it’s kind of a pain to use, so I only drag it out occasionally. I notice there’s also a light leak. This time I used a long-expired roll of Ilford XP2 Super.

I exercised the M6 by running a roll of Portra 400 through it, as it’s been dormant since I bought the MP. This was self-processed in Cinestill C-41 chemistry using the JOBO. Scanned on the V750 and processed in Lightroom with the Negative Lab Pro plugin.

I had the house to myself today, so I set up a backdrop and pulled out the strobes for a few large format film self-portraits using the Linhof. These were all shot with the Linhof Master Technika on HP5 Plus, developed in HC-110 for 5 min (Dilution B) and scanned on the V750. I triggered the shutter by biting the bulb. Try that with an iPhone ???? [ Self-portrait (2021) I can’t explain it

The Leica M3 is The One, when it comes to the Leica M line. I love it so. The higher-magnification viewfinder makes it easier to focus longer lenses, so I sometimes mount the Elmarit 90mm and it’s a fine combination. A few here are using the 90mm. The others are using the Summicron-M 50mm (v4). P The roll of HP5 Plus was processed in HC-110 (Dilution B) and scanned with SilverFast on the V750. ...