Photography

There are too many things that can go wrong when shooting large format (4×5) film.

Mostly snapshots from our family reunion. Leica MP, HP5+.

Anyone who’s dabbled in large format photography knows the name “Linhof”. It’s one of those companies with a long history and a reputation for building some of the best 4×5 field cameras available. I’ve always been curious about them. Are they really “the Leica of large format”?

First, I have to admit that I’m not a fan of Instagram. Viewing tiny little photos on tiny little phones fed to us between advertisements in an order defined by a giant anti-privacy, disinformation-spreading corporation is the worst way to enjoy photography. But, Instagram is where photographers are and I kind of want to be there, too. I want to focus on only photography (rather than socializing with friends and family) so I’ve created a new account to do just that: JackBatyPhoto. So, go ahead and “smash that Follow button” or whatever it is we’re doing now.

After a year of buying really nice cameras and lenses, I’ve gotten to a point where I’m feeling the weight of having so much money tied up on photography gear. Some of it has to go. This post is me thinking it through. I hate selling gear. Dealing with buyers and potential buyers isn’t fun. Shipping is a pain. There’s always a risk of damage, loss, or dissatisfaction. But mostly, the problem with selling is that I no longer have the things I’ve sold. Regret sucks.

I’m either going to have to shoot this faster or stop drinking Diet Coke.

Leica Leica MP | Leica Summilux-M 50mm ASPH | Portra 400 400

Sometimes it’s fun to throw a roll through the little Olympus Stylus Epic. Mostly self-portraits around the house because I was bored.

Now that I have my dream MP, I should probably sell the M6. If I do, this will have been the last roll I shot with it.

Out with the new MP and a roll of HP5+. I think these are all shot with the 50mm Summilux ASPH

Here are a few from the very first roll through the new Leica MP.

Tri-X in the Hasselblad 500C/M. This was the only shot on the roll that I liked.

If I knew how to take a good picture, I’d do it all the time

I enjoy both film and digital photography, but the pendulum has been swinging toward film recently, and I’ve been having a ball.

These are all taken with the Leica M3 on HP5+ and were processed in HC-110 Dilution B. I’m pretty sure I used the Elmarit-M 90mm f2.8 for the entire roll.

A photograph is a universe of dots. The grain, the halide, the little silver things clumped in the emulsion. Once you get inside a dot, you gain access to hidden information, you slide inside the smallest event. This is what technology does. It peels back the shadows and redeems the dazed and rambling past. It makes reality come true.

Leica M6, HP5+. HC-110 (dilution B). Scanned on V750 with Silverfast. Processed with Negative Lab Pro

I’m trying to stick with the Adobe suite for processing, editing, and managing photos.

Yeah, I’d definitely get the black-paint version. The only problem is that kit is around $17,000 as pictured. Still, just look at it.

He’s a good one.

I purchased the Leica Q2 Monochrom (new) from Camera West in February 2021. It’s in like new condition and has fewer than 600 shutter actuations. Price is $5,100 net to me. That’s a savings of $1,000 off the price of a new one.

I bought my first Olympus Stylus Epic in 2004 and fell in love. I’ve owned one ever since. That original copy was replaced in 2012 for $10, in the box, from a guy on Craigslist. Those days are gone. These little fellas have grown quite a following and fetch upwards of $300 on eBay. I’m not going to be paying that much once this one dies.

I’ve owned a lot of cameras and lenses.

I felt guilty that the wonderful Leica APO-Summicron-L 75mm was sitting unused for a while, so I went into the backyard with Alice and snapped a few.

I’ve never loved editing photos in Adobe’s Lightroom (Classic). It does the job fine, and it has all the tools one might need, but it’s no fun. I prefer editing with Capture One Pro.

But just because we always come back to the barn with “results” doesn’t mean we got anything. When we get nothing, we have to have the discipline to know we got nothing, and not try to force it to be “something”

I haven’t been using film much this year, but once in a while it’s fun to get out and shoot a roll. I took the M6 out yesterday and finally finished the roll of HP5+ that I’d loaded into it a month ago. Here are a few from the roll. Most of these were shot while out walking around the neighborhood.

I haven’t seen my parents in a long time, so we got together on Easter. Everyone is fully vaccinated (ok, technically I’ve only had my first shot) and it was wonderful being “with” people again.

I uploaded this photo of my daughter to Flickr on July 5, 2004. It was taken shortly after I got my first Leica rangefinder, (an M6 TTL), and I was practicing timing and focus. It’s still a favorite.

I’ve had this Minolta Autocord for so long I don’t remember where I got it. Or when, exactly.

I was supposed to sell the Leica SL once the SL2-S arrived. I almost did it, too. It’s technically still listed for sale in a couple of places, but I’m not ready to get rid of it yet. I mean just look at it.

I watched the following video by Ramsey Spencer yesterday and I’ve been fuming about it ever since: What a load of elitist bullshit. I realize he’s just trying to make a name for himself so people “click Like and Subscribe, guys,” but grrrrrr!

My last house had a proper darkroom. It was a little janky, but there was a big sink, room for three enlargers, a wet side, a dry side, etc. When I moved into my new house, I originally planned to turn an extra room in the basement into a shiny new darkroom. That didn’t happen, so I’ve been using the bathroom instead. It works fine.

It’s not that I made a promise or anything, but I had no intention of shooting film in 2021. I put away my scanning rig, stored the chemicals, and placed the cameras on a shelf.

You’re lookin’ at him. I’ve been asking myself, “Who[sic] should I let manage my photos?” as a way to talk myself into letting Lightroom and the Adobe ecosystem take over the nitty gritty of file and library management. In the end, I couldn’t go through with it, so I remain in charge.

I have for many years kept my photos properly named and in a dated folder hierarchy on my hard drive: /2020/12-December 2020/2020-12-02-Alice.dng

When I first saw the Leica SL, I was amazed by its brutalist audacity. Coming from the M series, this was not what I pictured when thinking “Leica”.