It’s been great having the MP back from DAG. Sometimes I feel like it’s too much camera ($$$-wise), but then I use it and realize it’s the exactly right amount of camera.
I maintain a list of shell commands for updating Make/Model/Lens information in film scans. I’ve always run this via babel in a code block in an Org mode file. Something like this:
I’ve not been shooting much film recently. Yesterday, I was bored and in a mood, so I grabbed the Hasselblad and fired off a roll using Alice as my model. Only one frame was good enough to share. I really like it, so it was worth sacrificing the other 11.
We look good together, no? When I bought the Nikon Z f recently, the way I intended to offset the cost was to sell the Leica SL2. The mistake I made was to buy the Nikon before selling the Leica.
The other day, while bored, I shuffled around the house and burned through a roll of film, just for something to do. I took photos of random stuff that I use or see every day. The photos were boring af but, for some reason, because they’re film I think they’re kind of cool.
In a desperate attempt to spark some enthusiasm for photography, I bought a Nikon Zf. I know, this is not the best approach, but it’s what I did so here we are. I’m jotting down a few quick thoughts and first impressions. (This isn’t a review. Just notes to myself about the camera).
I was so bored today that I grabbed the first camera I saw with a partially used roll (the Nikon F100) and walked around the house snapping anything at all.
One of the shelves in my office
Sometimes I just need to blow through a roll when I’m bored. This is from the Hasselblad 500C/M and 80mm Planar on HP5 developed with HC-110(b). Thankfully, Alice was handy. These were all handheld at 1/30th, which is a terrible idea. The one of me is underexposed and full of dust. ¯\(ツ)/¯
Latest roll (HP5) from the Leica MP. Nothing much here to speak of, although I did use a manual flash on some of the indoor shots. I kind of like flash photos. They look like photos, you know?
Self-portrait in mirror with Canonet I first decided to sunset the Canonet, in 2022 due to a few issues making it less than ideal to use. I have a short memory, and was feeling badly about the camera sitting on a shelf, so I loaded it up with a roll of HP5.
Processing the roll yesterday reminded me why I’d set it aside:
I spent the afternoon with my parents to celebrate their 62nd wedding anniversary. This roll of Tri-X was taken with the Hasselblad 500C/M and the 80mm Planar.
A roll of Kodak Gold 200 was languishing in the Nikon F100, so I used it up taking photos of Alice on our deck. Turns out that’s what I did with the first half of the roll, too :)
I brought the Hasselblad to my parents house while my daughter and grandson were visiting. I underexposed the roll a bit, but the hit rate was better than expected. I love this one of my sister and Lincoln.
Whenever I review my recent photos, I am reminded that I prefer film. Film is fun, if sometimes frustrating, to shoot. Film cameras are cooler. And I love the results.
Original photo: Depositphotos I’ve never been to Burning Man, but for years I really wanted to go. I mean c’mon, a bunch of normies heading out to the beach (at first, but later, the desert) to do drugs, walk around half (or fully) naked, and opt out of society for a while. A place to really hippie it up for a week or so. I think I would have loved it.
Back in photo.net’s and rangefinderforum.com’s prime, there was a gruff, opinionated, brilliant, and helpful forum member and photographer named Al Kaplan. He helped me a great deal after I got my first Leica.
Sometimes I notice the Leica M10-R sitting forlornly on my desk and I’m reminded that I don’t deserve it. A camera like that should be used, and used a lot. Mine mostly sits around waiting for me to take another selfie or photo of my dog. That’s a lot of money tied up in what most people do (and often better) with their phones.
Had brunch at my parent’s yesterday to celebrate Mother’s Day. It was nice. My mom has been suffering from pain in her leg for a few weeks, but the combination of new meds and time seems to have helped quite a lot. I took the Leica Q2 Monochrom and made a few snaps. Here are my favorites from the day.
My Epson V750 Pro, purchased in 2009, has scanned thousands of rolls of film, slides, and prints. After making strange grinding noises recently, it has finally ground to a halt.
I recently read Joe McNally’s book, The Real Deal: Field Notes from the Life of a Working Photographer. While I found his anecdotes occasionally interesting, I didn’t really enjoy the book. I think this was because I don’t much care for McNally’s photographs. Here’s one of his portraits.
I normally don’t like the high-speed films but I’m trying to use what’s in my fridge, so here’s a few from a roll of Kodak T-MAX P3200 shot at 1600 and processed in HC-100.
Zazette
My dad called me from Florida and said that one of his neighbors had died and left a bunch of camera stuff to be given away or sold. He mentioned there was “some old Kodak” and wondered if I was interested in it. I said “Sure, why not” and he said he’d send me a box with the camera and some other stuff that came in the box.
There’s a shutter speed dial with “A” as an option. There’s a numbered ISO dial (so you can see where it’s set even when the camera’s off). There are apertures on a ring around the lens. You focus the camera and the focus stays where you put it until you change it.
All too often someone on a forum or blog will claim that the only reason to even have a Leica is to use Leica’s lenses. Hogwash! While certainly a fine reason, it’s nothing close to the only reason. The idea that one should never use non-Leica lenses on their Leica is nonsense.
This roll was mostly me plinking around the house trying to get through a roll in the M6 before the MP is back from Leica. I love the 50mm Summilux very much.
I’ve gone through many photographic workflows. Each time, I’m certain that I’ve figured out what works best for me. Finally! Then a few months later I switch back or come up with something new. I wish I would stop doing this, but I probably never will.
The Leica SL series of cameras are special, but not unique. I had an original SL and then bought the SL2-S when it was released. It’s a capable, well-built, beautiful camera. But, if I’m being honest, it’s just another mirrorless camera system. And it was very expensive. Purchased today, my kit, consisting of the SL2-S and the Leica APO Summicron 35mm and 75mm lenses would run close to $16,000. Um, who do I think I am?
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.
Late last year I printed a couple (black and white) photos, scanned from film negatives, on my Canon Pixma Pro-100 inkjet printer and I loved them. “There! I’ve finally figured it out!”, I said at the time.
The above photo is a good family photograph. Why? Because it doesn’t just capture members of the family, it captures a family moment. So many family photos are smiling selfies taken at arm’s length. Selfies say, “Here these people are.” but not much more. They’re fine, but ultimately not much more than basic record-keeping. I much prefer photos showing family simply living and interacting in their natural habitat. Here’s another from the same roll:
I was tinkering with the strobes and standing there with the Leica Fotos app triggering the camera and lights, I eventually ran out of normal faces to make so started getting a little silly. So this happened (photos uncropped and unedited from the Leica Q2 Monochrom).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Dogs, myself, and cameras are about the only things I’ve been photographing lately. I just don’t seem to have any ideas. Well, that’s not true; I have plenty of ideas, but I’m too lazy to act on them. So, I sit around the house and shoot what’s in front of me.
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.
My repaired and overhauled Leica M4 was returned to me today. It’s beautiful, and with new shutter curtains and gearing, it works flawlessly. It’s so smooth! Apparently, most of the original lubricants had dried, which was making it a little catchy. Now it’s like butter again. Original (broken) Leica M4 shutter curtain
I’ve been making 5×7″ prints for several years. I like small prints that are handy to toss around on the coffee table, are easily mounted in notebooks, and don’t take too much wall space (or storage). But I also complain a lot about the problems with viewing tiny Instagram photos on a phone. “Too small!” I’d lament. It got me thinking about making larger prints. I don’t mean crazy 16×20″ monsters that eat up ink, paper, space, and money. I was thinking maybe 8×10″ would be a nice, larger change of pace.
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.
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
A friend of mine mocked me for carrying a camera around my neck and I said, “I like to always have a camera with me.” and he held up his phone and said, “I always have a camera with me, too, see?” and I asked, “Does it take film?” and he laughed and said, “No, of course not.” and I said, “Then you don’t have a camera with you. You have a computer that can record images.” and I’m kind of a dick I guess.
My Leica Elmar 9cm collapsible lens was made in 1957, making it nearly 70 years old, and it shows. The front element is hazy, causing images to be very low-contrast. Here’s an example (mounted on the SL2-S)… Hazy self-portrait with Leica 9cm f/4 collapsible It’s like a real-world Instagram filter and I don’t care for it. If it were in better condition, I might like the overall softer look for portraits.
Jonathan Slack:
But this is not just about Chromatic aberration, as Peter Karbe explained to me, the lack of aberrations results in much more contrast at the point of focus than in an ordinary lens, and that this contrast falls off very quickly in front and behind the point of focus. This means that an f/2 lens can appear to have the same depth of field as an f/1.4 lens (or even less in the case of the 75 f/1.4 compared to the 75 f/2 M lens).
I was surprised to find that I had 55 rolls of various 35mm and 23 rolls of 120 negative film stocks just wasting away in my fridge. I mean, look at this treasure trove! Rolls of 35mm film from my fridge I’ve standardized on Ilford HP5 Plus for black and white film and Kodak Portra 400 for color. This doesn’t mean I won’t try something different occasionally, but those are my go-to films.
I’m trying to use up the rolls of expired TMAX 100 that have been taking up room in my fridge for a few years. I pulled the Nikon F3 out of a drawer, loaded batteries in the motor drive, and shot a roll. As usual, it was mostly photos of Alice and I around the house.
I love the way the Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad render. The 80mm Planar has been my standard and favorite for years. I put a roll of Tri-X through it today, just for fun. Of course it was mostly shots of Alice, who poses patiently for me whenever I ask.
The gentleman who sold me the Linhof later sent me (at no charge!) a Grafmatic sheet film holder. The Grafmatic will hold up to 6 sheets of film at once and allows one to “rapidly” expose them. Here are some instructions.
Take a look at this list from my notes about how I manage my photos: 2019-01-01 I’ve decided I’ll be using Lightroom CC. 2021-05-15 Don’t listen to 2019 me, I’m using Lightroom Classic 2021-06-03 Don’t listen to May 2021 me, I’m using Capture One now. 2021-08-12 Don’t listen to June 2021 me, I’m using Lightroom Classic again. 2021-08-15 Don’t listen to last week’s me, I’m using Capture One. Obviously, I struggle with which tool to use. I was certain I’d “permanently” settled on Lightroom Classic just a week ago. In my comparisons, Lightroom wins nearly every category. But there was this entry:
For example, currently, we don’t have likes. If and when we launch a feature in that vein, it’ll be private. We’ve intentionally avoided any public counts. We don’t want Glass ever to become a popularity contest. We’re not home for influencers. We are a home for photographers.
