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. Alice (2021). Hasselblad 500C/M. Zeiss Planar 80mm f2.8. Tri-X Big Linhof and the little Leica IIIf. ...

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. I loaded four sheets and went out on the deck with Alice to practice. As you can see, it didn’t go all that well. Loading film into the septums was easy enough. And racking the guts of it in and out to “advance” to the next sheet is something I’ll get used to. My problem was that I never advanced past the last frame I shot and then opened the dark slide, exposing and completely wasting one sheet and fogging the next couple. Other than the frontmost sheet, which was totally ruined, this was the worst of them. ...

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. Tom Watson – On my Om Wouldn’t it be nice to have a reasonable alternative to Instagram? I wish it could be Flickr, but I doubt that’ll ever happen. ...

There are too many things that can go wrong when shooting large format (4×5) film. I made four exposures of my friends Steve and Bryan this afternoon. Two of the four were ruined right off the bat: The first, because I’d left the shutter open when pulling the dark slide. The second because I didn’t expose it at all and processed as though I had. Large format is hard. There are so many opportunities to fail that making a successful image is really quite rewarding. Today wasn’t a rewarding day. Both of the photos that weren’t completely ruined were spoiled in other ways. ...

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”? My first 4×5 camera was a beat up Burke & James press camera. Then a beat up Crown Graphic. Then a Speed Graphic, and finally a Wista Field Camera. The first three were super cheap. The Wista was bit more serious, but it was such a beautiful wooden camera. ...

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 Scanned with Epson V750. Cinestill C-41 Negative Lab Pro v2.2.0 | Color Model: Frontier | Pre-Sat: 3 | Tone Profile: LAB – Standard | WB: Auto-Neutral | LUT: Frontier

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. (Sorry, I lost them)

Tri-X in the Hasselblad 500C/M. This was the only shot on the roll that I liked. Alice (2021). Hasselblad 500C/M. Zeiss 80mm Planar. Tri-X in D-76.

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

I enjoy both film and digital photography, but the pendulum has been swinging toward film recently, and I’ve been having a ball. I’ve finally dialed in a film processing, scanning, and editing workflow that works and that I don’t hate. What’s more, I’ve been studying my recent film photos and I really like them. I like that they’re not so perfect that zooming in to 100% is useful. I like the defects and unpredictability. I like the process. But most of all, I like the cameras. Specifically, I like Leica rangefinders. ...