Posts tagged ‘Clayton F76’
Fomapan 100
Beesa R2a, Zeiss ZM 35mm f/2, Clayton F76
This post concerns itself with the look of Fomapan 100. Now, as some of you know, at one point in my life I tried to find a way to emulate the look of film in the digital medium. I now believe that’s a fool’s errand, and if you want the look of film, you need to shoot film. That’s where I stand today.
Captured in the middle of June, 2011
And, so with that epiphany, I have embarked on a search for films that look as ‘non-digital’ as possible. Rather than try and bring the digital to look ‘like’ film, I now try to find and shoot film to look as ‘non-digital’ as possible. This is the reason behind the ‘old’ style developer in Clayton F76, and the look of an ‘old’ design in my lusted-after Zeiss 50mm Sonnar f/1.5, and so forth. Fomapan is an ‘old style’ emulsion, made in the Czech republic, and in June of this past summer I shot a couple rolls. The images in this post are from one of those rolls. I know the frames were ‘seen’ through a modern lens, but the rendering is, to my eye, a ‘classic’ look.
I don’t think I have the vocabulary to articulate the differences I’m seeing, but I do see it the way the steel of the arch renders.
Maybe it’s in the way the blacks fall off, and the softness of the mid-tones? Heck, I’m not sure.
But I sure like the way they look.
Old Meets New
HP5, FTb, 50mm f/1.4, Clayton F76
This image was taken on my May trip to Chi-town but the roll was just scanned over the weekend. Just got back from travel and had some time to get some photo work done.
This post title might be a good sub-title for my blog. Hmmm . . .
Updates
- I received the focusing screens in the mail for both my EOS 3 as well as my 5D. I shot some images with the 5D/C-Y Zeiss 50mm 1.4 and I’ll be posting them as soon as I get them processed. The EOS 3 and that screen and Zeiss lens will be tested this week. Thanks again to Ed and Mike for the info about those screens and where I could get them. The screen for the 5D was great!
- The test-print negative to be drum-scanned has gone out and will be processed this week, I suppose. Then I send it off to Mike Peters for his take.
- The F100 is at KEH for repair and then, when it returns, it goes on the sale block. Anyone who knows someone who might be interested in a near-mint F100, please contact me.
- I ordered business cards from Moo yesterday. My wife had gotten her cards done there and they were spectacular. I used 25 different images spread throughout the print run. I’ll let you know more about them when I get them back from Moo.
- When I was in NYC last week I bought some Portra 400 and shot a roll. I’ll be sending it out. Can’t wait to see what they look like.
More soon!
SF Walk-about
Plus-X, Pulled, Clayton F76, FTb, 50mm f/1.4, yellow filter
I know I’ve posted shots like this before, but I just souped a roll of Plus-X shot in SF in June. Love that ‘depth’ and ‘guts’ I see in pulled Plus-X. Ordering more rolls of it tomorrow.
Updates
1. The F100 is mailed off to KEH for the repair on the coupling-tab. After that, I’m gonna sell it. Why? because . . .
2. Thanks to Ed and Mike, I’ve found focusing screens for the older EOS camera and the 5D. Now I can use my C/Y Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 with an adapter on both cameras (which was the idea in the first place). I’ll post tests with that lens after I fit the screens. Yay!
3. SEnt the negative off to be scanned for the Great Print Test. I’ll post my scanned version and the service’s scanned version as soon as I can. And then Mike will scan the neg as well. Cool!
The neighborhood around AT&T park on SF is just wonderful. Great place to walk aeround. I’ll be in NYC Mon-Tue, so I may not be posting much of anything. Talk soon!
Sometimes things just work out
SF, FTb, 50mm f/1.4, Plus-X, N-1, Clayton F76
One of the most influential times for any photographer, in my opinion, is when they get to sit and shoot the breeze with someone else who wrestles with the craft. Sharing war stories, as it were. Such a meeting for me was the day I spent with Mike Peters. One of the craft-related items we discussed was ‘using the entire frame.’ Something Mike prides himself on doing. I try to, as well, but don’t always succeed.
This image was captured on a street walk-about in San Francisco, California, in June. I shot a number of images of this waterfall, loving the contrast between the foaming water and the geometric shapes. I set up the shot trying to use the whole 35mm frame.
I leaned against a wall, trying to utilize as slow a shutter speed as I could, to get as much movement in the water as possible. My memory is that I exposed this at 1/15th of a second.
Then, just as I was ready to trip the shutter, I saw the man come into the frame. Well, now or never, Bam.
Hassy in the House
Mike Peters' Hasselblad, Clayton F76, Tmax 100
When I spent the day with Mike Peters in May 2011 (post can be seen here), he lat me shoot with his Hasselblad for a while (well, all day, actually). I shot some rolls of color, and one roll of b&w. Of course, that film is 120, and I couldn’t scan it until I received my great birthday gift. So, I didn’t develop the roll until last night and scanned the negs this morning.
Playing with DOF
There were a ton of things that I had never done that I did for the first time that day. Shoot a Hassy, shoot a square format camera, use that kind of finder, etc. So the roll was viewed by me as a grand experiment. And, to boot, Mike was sitting on a bench during this brief walk-round shooting this roll, suffering with an allergy reaction.
It really took me a while to get comfortable with this beastie, and the first six frames are worse than crap. But the last six I was able to play a little more.
Some thoughts:
Square frame is different, but not THAT different.
It's a big clear finder, but obviously I missed something
Negs this size are fun. Even blown up to 400%, with Tmax 100, grain is hardly visible, and the tonality is beautiful.
Zeiss lenses are great (this goes without saying). There was nothing about the experience that I didn’t like, and getting access to those lenses is very attractive.
Yes, those are indeed dust spots
As I started to get more comfortable with the camera, I opened up the lens and tried to experiment with shallow DOF. One of those experiments are above, and I pretty bad missed the focus on the leaf. So, I wanted to show this image so you could see the bokeh, but I didn’t bother cleaning the dust spots, because that image is never going to get used in any other venue.
All in all, a very nice experience was gifted to me by Mike, and I owe Mike a favor for sure.
New Combo?
Plus-X, N-1, Clayton F76
All the images in this post were shot Friday as a test of a lens/camera combo. I’m not going to be specific about what lens, just thought I’d put these out there for comment. reaction.
It is the same film/developer as the last set shot in the same general location (which is, incidentally, my walk from the office to my car).
I’d love to hear any thoughts.
Yes, this is an f 1.4 maximum aperture lens, and yes, on the image above I probably missed focus on the pull-chain. Just sayin’…
These images, to my eye, do have a ‘look.’
Again, love to hear your thoughts!
Plus-X Pulled in Bright Daylight
Plus-X Pulled on stop, Clayton F76, 50mm 1.4 FD lens, Yellow Filter
The first time I published some Plus-X pulled images, the lighting that day was overcast. Well, the images at the Cubs game were in daylight, but not really high-contrast daylight. Well, right after I returned from that Chicago trip, I shot a roll in bright daylight just to really test the combo. After all, those are the conditions pulling is designed to combat; situations where the light-to-dark contrast is too great for the normal 10-stop range. Here are some images from that shoot, scanned on my Epson and shot on 35mm Plus-X.
Notice also the specular highlights and how crisp the images are.
Remember, this lens is a mid-1970′s Canon run-of-the-mill 50mm. Not even an ‘L’ lens.
Shadow side of the building, bright sun across the street.
The yellow filter helps to darken the skies, certainly.
Tree in bright daylight, dark car in shadows
My Saab in the parking garage.
Now, I certainly like the Nik Silver Efex ‘pulled’ preset, and have used it many times. But it achieved nothing like this.
In my search for a look or ‘looks’ that cannot easily be replicated by digital, this i certainly one of them.
Thanks for looking!
Fomapan 100
Fomapan 100, Canonet, Clayton F76
I’ll wait to post more insight into the new scanner, but for the moment I’ll just post some images.
Strip District in Pittsburgh
When Paul Lester (ho, Paul!) visited in April, we walked around the strip district in Pittsburgh, which is an historic market district near the confluence. For that walk-about, I loaded Fomapan 100 in my Canonet, in order to maximize the ‘old school’ look.
Yes, that's Paul walking ahead of me
Fomapan is an old-style emulsion whose purpose is to harken back to the 1950′s. Perfect for a D76 developer and a 1960′s-designed camera. I’ll let the images speak for themselves.
I really love this combination of film and camera (especially the Canonet’s 40mm lens!). Too bad that after this shoot, the Canonet (bought from eBay for $60) sorta fell apart when I got it home. Trying to decide whether to fix it or just buy another one.
More soon!
I’m back
Biogon, Bessa, Tri-X Pulled one stop, Clayton F76
Boy, I didn’t think it would be two months since I last posted. I really have no excuse, the time (and the summer) just slipped away from me. Indeed, some of that time slipped owing to work around the house, which took much more time than we thought it would.
Some of it was work.
Some of it was travel to Vancouver.
But, honestly, the time just slipped away and then it was halfway through August.
News
Yesterday was my birthday, and the big news photographically-speaking, was that my wonderful wife bought me a new scanner as a gift. It’s an EPSON V-750, one that I’ve been eyeing for a while.
A few reasons why I was interested in the EPSON:
- First, it scans Medium format, which my Nikon did not. I found that I didn’t shoot as much medium format as I would like because I had no easy way to scan the images, so it was hard to see what I was doing.
- Second, Nikon no longer makes my scanner, and in fact had backed off the scanner market entirely. So, if the Nikon went down, I’d be stuck without a way to scan my negs. I wanted options.
- Third, it comes bundled with SilverFast scanning software, a package I’d been wanting for a while.
All the images in this post came from the EPSON. As you can see, they are pretty much indistinguishable from the Nikon (especially at this resolution). In my next post, I’ll put up some medium format images and I’ll comment on the differences I see from the scans.
Sometimes a surprise
Pulled Plus-X, FTb, 100mm FD 2.8, Clayton F76
Just a quick post late on a Saturday night. Today I scanned the last few negs from that roll from which I made last week’s post, and I got a real surprise when I took a look at those last dozen images. This image above really caught my eye, and struck me as a great example of the advantages of pulling film. This is from the Cubs game, and this usher is wearing a white ball cap standing in the direct sunshine and I still managed to maintain shadow detail in his face and his pants. Pretty amazing, honestly. Without using HDR (which, admittedly, pulling film is kinda like HDR, a little) there’s no way digital gets this shot, I don’t think.
This is from that early morning walk with my FTb and the 50mm 1.4 lens.
Gonna try to get some different images up tomorrow.
