This Week:
What: End of the Line
8.31.2015
Classic Kodachrome Monday #55
Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:
8.28.2015
Film Fun Folio #8: Balda Lisette and Velvia 50
Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film. Enjoy the trip!
Feature #8:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 120 folding camera
Film: Fuji Velvia 50
Locale: Oregon
My first roll of film though my newly acquired Balda Lisette was a pleasant surprise in many respects, particularly when it came to color rendition. The Trioplan lens combined with Fuji Velvia film gave off a rich and pleasing color palette that was pretty much unbeatable. The main issues of note however were mainly centered on the sharpness of the lens at wider apertures, a problem that seemed to largely vanish at f/8 or better. Armed with these lessons, I elected to give the Lisette another go with Fuji's flagship film product on my trip west to Oregon, hopeful to see some of the same color magic evident on the first roll, but with the sharpness issues mitigated by using smaller apertures.
Feature #8:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Lisette 645 120 folding camera
Film: Fuji Velvia 50
Locale: Oregon
My first roll of film though my newly acquired Balda Lisette was a pleasant surprise in many respects, particularly when it came to color rendition. The Trioplan lens combined with Fuji Velvia film gave off a rich and pleasing color palette that was pretty much unbeatable. The main issues of note however were mainly centered on the sharpness of the lens at wider apertures, a problem that seemed to largely vanish at f/8 or better. Armed with these lessons, I elected to give the Lisette another go with Fuji's flagship film product on my trip west to Oregon, hopeful to see some of the same color magic evident on the first roll, but with the sharpness issues mitigated by using smaller apertures.
1 - Portland, OR - f/16 1/50 - A classic car lot that I stumbled across on my March trip was something that I definitely wanted to deliberately revisit. Here a sunny afternoon provides a nice retro setting for Velvia to strut its colorful stuff.
8.24.2015
Classic Kodachrome Monday #54
Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:
This Week:
What: Summer at the Lake
8.21.2015
Film Fun Folio #7: Balda Pontina and Fomapan 200
Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film. Enjoy the trip!
Feature #7:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Pontina 6x9 120 folding camera
Film: Fomapan 200
Locale: Oregon
After fiddling around with numerous black and white films, I was smitten with like rather than love for most of them. The same could not be said when I got back my first results from a test roll of Fomapan 200. I was quite impressed with the results I got from this roll, and looked forward to trying it again. However, with Summer ramping up, my use of black and white film was on the decline. Still, I picked up four rolls of this fine film for eventual use. On my Oregon trip, I expected to shoot the majority of scenes in color, but still packed along a few rolls of monochrome film in hopes I could find a chance to put at least one to use. In an ironic twist, my favorite camera with which to shoot color film was the one relegated to shooting black and white on this trip, but I was curious to see how the Fomapan would respond to this camera's fantastic Trioplan lens.
Feature #7:
Camera: ca. 1938 Balda Pontina 6x9 120 folding camera
Film: Fomapan 200
Locale: Oregon
After fiddling around with numerous black and white films, I was smitten with like rather than love for most of them. The same could not be said when I got back my first results from a test roll of Fomapan 200. I was quite impressed with the results I got from this roll, and looked forward to trying it again. However, with Summer ramping up, my use of black and white film was on the decline. Still, I picked up four rolls of this fine film for eventual use. On my Oregon trip, I expected to shoot the majority of scenes in color, but still packed along a few rolls of monochrome film in hopes I could find a chance to put at least one to use. In an ironic twist, my favorite camera with which to shoot color film was the one relegated to shooting black and white on this trip, but I was curious to see how the Fomapan would respond to this camera's fantastic Trioplan lens.
1 - Portland, OR - f/11 1/250 - I didn't fully set the lens platform for this shot, which resulted in the blurring of the Tri-Met bus at left, in what is otherwise a pretty retro-heavy scene. Still, in hindsight, this shot would have worked better without it in the frame. Like the cloud rendering.
8.17.2015
Classic Kodachrome Monday #53
Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:
This Week:
What: Strolling the Boardwalk
8.14.2015
Film Fun Folio #6: Rodenstock Citonette and Provia 100F
Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film. Enjoy the trip!
Feature #6:
Camera: ca. 1936 Rodenstock Citonette 645 120 folding camera
Film: Fuji Provia 100
Locale: Oregon
I don't usually feel I have a good idea of a camera's worthiness until I have shot a roll of color slide film through its chambers. After all, reversal film (as it is also called) leaves little margin for exposure error in the way that Color Negative and even Black and White films do. Every film camera that I've shot has seen at least one roll of slide film come its way while in my possession. Except the Rodenstock/Welta. Since acquiring this camera from a sale on Analog Photography Users Group, I had started it off with a roll of Ektar 100, followed by Ilford and Fomapan offerings in Black and White. With a westward trip on the horizon and a desire to get as many images as possible, it was the perfect time to finally give this camera a chance to show what it could really do when given a film that allows little room for error.
1 - Portland, OR - f/8 1/50 - My first color transparency shot with this mid-1930's folder looks pretty flippin' awesome! The Twin Coach parcel truck interestingly dates from the same era as the camera!
Feature #6:
Camera: ca. 1936 Rodenstock Citonette 645 120 folding camera
Film: Fuji Provia 100
Locale: Oregon
I don't usually feel I have a good idea of a camera's worthiness until I have shot a roll of color slide film through its chambers. After all, reversal film (as it is also called) leaves little margin for exposure error in the way that Color Negative and even Black and White films do. Every film camera that I've shot has seen at least one roll of slide film come its way while in my possession. Except the Rodenstock/Welta. Since acquiring this camera from a sale on Analog Photography Users Group, I had started it off with a roll of Ektar 100, followed by Ilford and Fomapan offerings in Black and White. With a westward trip on the horizon and a desire to get as many images as possible, it was the perfect time to finally give this camera a chance to show what it could really do when given a film that allows little room for error.
8.10.2015
Classic Kodachrome Monday #52
Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:
This Week:
What: Cloud-palooza
8.07.2015
Film Fun Folio #5: Agfa Billy Record and Expired Ektachrome 200
Periodically, I'll be posting scans of some complete rolls of film on here, showing both the good and the bad, and giving some basic information as well a little write up of the shoot as well as the reasons why I selected each camera and film. Enjoy the trip!
Feature #5:
Camera: ca. 1951 AGFA Billy Record 120 folding camera
Film: Kodak Ektachrome 200 (expired in 2006)
Locale: Oregon
June of 2015
Even a momentary fit of boredom can be both a good and a bad thing. While perusing that all too well known auction site that has certainly captured the time and money of more than a few of us hobbyists, I elected to see if I could find any 120 Kodak Ektachrome that had only expired in the past year or so. The good news was that I did indeed find an unused roll of Ektachrome. The bad news was that it had expired in 2006. This seemed to be a good choice on which to do a follow up roll of film using cross-processing, since faithful color rendition would not an expected outcome anyway. I loaded it into the same Agfa camera on which I shot the first cross processed roll, but only a few exposures into the roll, I changed my mind about developing in C-41. After all, I had never really shot a roll of badly expired film in recent memory, and I was curious what the results might be if I just developed the results in E-6. Even if there was a fog or cast, I was curious if the images might be salvageable with a little help from Photoshop. It seemed like a novel experiment for me.
The result is that you will see two images for each exposure below. The first is one that generally replicates how the actual transparency looks to the eye, while the second uses the "Restore Fading" option in the scanner to try to correct the color shift. This will definitely be a new way of presenting shots which I myself have taken.
1 - Portland, OR - f/11 1/200 - Given the very nostalgic subject matter, I'm actually partial to the original image above over the restored image below, though the scanner software did do a very commendable job of restoring color to a scene awash in magenta, while keeping a somewhat muted pastel palette.
Feature #5:
Camera: ca. 1951 AGFA Billy Record 120 folding camera
Film: Kodak Ektachrome 200 (expired in 2006)
Locale: Oregon
June of 2015
Even a momentary fit of boredom can be both a good and a bad thing. While perusing that all too well known auction site that has certainly captured the time and money of more than a few of us hobbyists, I elected to see if I could find any 120 Kodak Ektachrome that had only expired in the past year or so. The good news was that I did indeed find an unused roll of Ektachrome. The bad news was that it had expired in 2006. This seemed to be a good choice on which to do a follow up roll of film using cross-processing, since faithful color rendition would not an expected outcome anyway. I loaded it into the same Agfa camera on which I shot the first cross processed roll, but only a few exposures into the roll, I changed my mind about developing in C-41. After all, I had never really shot a roll of badly expired film in recent memory, and I was curious what the results might be if I just developed the results in E-6. Even if there was a fog or cast, I was curious if the images might be salvageable with a little help from Photoshop. It seemed like a novel experiment for me.
The result is that you will see two images for each exposure below. The first is one that generally replicates how the actual transparency looks to the eye, while the second uses the "Restore Fading" option in the scanner to try to correct the color shift. This will definitely be a new way of presenting shots which I myself have taken.
1 - Portland, OR - f/11 1/200 - Given the very nostalgic subject matter, I'm actually partial to the original image above over the restored image below, though the scanner software did do a very commendable job of restoring color to a scene awash in magenta, while keeping a somewhat muted pastel palette.
8.03.2015
Classic Kodachrome Monday #51
Every Monday, I'll be spotlighting a different classic Kodachrome slide that I've picked up, and trying where I can to detail the who, what, when, where, why, and how (much) of the image:
This Week:
What: Hot Town, Summer in the City
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