Half Frame, Lots of Frames

So, when its -1'c outside and I'm sat in my dressing gown, I am not going outside to look at the camera.

Ill just say, I'm not sure what model it is because I've look at loads of google images and wikipedia comparing to pictures on my Instagram and I can't find a camera that look s the same as mine; they all have different shutter buttons.

So mine looks like a PEN EE but has the shutter button of a PEN EE.S. If I braved the cold and gave the neighbours a fright id be able to figure it out, I'm sure by the maximum aperture. But right now I'm happy with just not knowing.  Stay warm!

Either way the camera comes from sometime between 1961 & 1981. It's half frame, fixed focus & fully automatic, meaning it does what it does when you point it at things.

I picked it up for something like a £1 from the Sunday market. At 1st I wasn't interested until I opened it and noticed that the frame mask was tiny and in my head alarm bells rang with a 'its a half frame camera, get it, shoot loads of exposures'

This half frame camera, shoots twice the amount of exposures on a roll of 35mm film. so 72 shots on a 36 roll etc.

But the negatives are small. So don't expect detail and large prints.

Ive only shot 1 roll, not including the few shots that were left on the roll in the camera when I purchased it. A lot of that roll was ruined when I opened the back of the camera not knowing there was a film in it. But who buys an old camera without checking it 1st.

The camera joined us on a weekend away in Norwich, December 2016, a roll of Fujicolor C200 in tow.

Point and shoot.

And sometimes you scratch your head and wonder how so much dust got on only 1 or 2 frames of the whole roll.

I like Anglia Square in Norwich. It's like the place that Norwich forgot. Once the big shopping centres were built there's no real reason to go there and so either shops sit empty or are used by discount chains but who doesn't like Poundland??

Theres a massive vacant office building, trust me I've looked round it for a way in, which is absolutely covered in graffiti.

A perfect subject to capture via a 20+ frame stitched image;

From Russia with love. To Stamford with art.

Don't go thinking that I've been to Russia. Or, by all means, you can go thinking that I have been to Russia, think all you like. I haven't.

However the camera used for these images has been to Russia, in fact it came from Russia.

The Kiev 4 was produced between 1947 - 1987. So I might have been 2 years old when was mine was made, might have?

I paid £5 for the camera and 50mm f2 lens attached. Half of me thinks I paid £5 too much for it. The trouble is I haven't decided if the camera is faulty or not. After about frame number 30 of a 24 exposure roll of Agfa Vista, I thought f@£* it! it's not winding on. Only to develop the film and to discover that it was.

Confused.com.

Granted, like many cameras, I only ever shoot one roll of film before the camera gathers dust in the drawer or gets sold on. So I have no hard evidence whether the camera is faulty or not, it seems I either wasn't counting exposures correctly or its fine?

On to the experience. Its a great camera, its solid, heavy and using the rangefinder is a pleasure with the focus wheel on the top of the body. Im not sure I had the 'Contax Hold' down to a T though as each time I put my eye to the viewfinder I saw my finger.

The photos for this blog were taken on New Years Eve in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
I was surprised to find street art and so I really should go back and search out some more.

Street Art by Snik https://www.facebook.com/snikarts/

The roll of Agfa Vista was my worst home developed roll so far. A truly awful amount of water marks had initially ruined the roll. Until I read that a little bit of breath and a lens cloth is the best way to get rid of it.

I do wonder if my chemicals are reaching their use by???
Maybe I did something that made the process very 'soapy'?

I've got a few rolls waiting to be developed in my fridge.
Theres only one way to find out if the chemicals are still good to use.

Don't let images collect virtual dust.

There is a real problem with film for me. Its my usual problem but it seems to really affect my film pursuits.

Time.

That whole magic, 'you don't know what your going to get', thing for me turns into 'you won't ever know what your going to get until you develop the film that's sitting wasting away in the fridge and then collecting dust waiting to be scanned'.

The saying then continues with 'and once you've scanned them, you need to import them into Lightroom and then finally do something with the images that have taken months to materialise'.

I don't see that phrase being famous and used on posters, t-shirts etc. But I'm  sure i can't be the only person in the world who loses images in their ever expanding Lightroom catalogue. I don't lose them their well named and tagged, its more forget. I've got lots of images that i have forgotten about; whole days, whole holidays that i have never shared and have definitely not printed.

All on my lonely hard drive waiting for one big failure to happen and poof........they're gone.


So to get back on track I'm going to start with the remaining shots from a roll of Truprint 35mm.

The box speed was ISO 400 but an unknown expiration date made me think shooting at ISO 100 would be a good idea....it was.

In a previous blog post I'm sure i said how much i liked the vivid colours that i got from this roll. I continue to apart from one shot where the horrible red skin colour is just too overpowering but its important to share a failure now and then;

But now thinking about this guy might of the beetroot persuasion???

For subjects such as a local funfair the vivd colours are very fitting.

What you looking at!? 

The House on the Hill

Kings Lynn Street Art

A little Macro photography with the Tamron 90mm F2.8

 So I'm really going to try and sort my blogging out and really start to share some of the photos that have been collecting virtual dust in my Lightroom catalogue.

Stay tuned.

And i do apologise for the random image content this time. I just really like the colours from this roll.

Truprint Portraits

Occasionally I get given film and cameras.

I love it.

One of the many Kodak Brownies I've been given sits proud in my living room. It makes a great ornament.

This post is about a roll of Truprint 35mm film that was a welcomed gift from an ex work colleague.

Its been stored in my fridge for a year. Im not sure how it was stored previously; likely a kitchen drawer.

I have know idea of the expiry date but I'm guessing it would be in the 90's or the early 00's. It was labelled up as ISO 400 but because I was unsure of the life but also sure it was well beyond I shot it at ISO 100. Besides I sometimes feel that my film images can be a bit under exposed so at ISO 100 I could even be over exposing by a stop....win win!

I loaded it up the last week of March into my Canon EOS 600 SLR and headed out with Laura around Kings Lynn with a Tamron 90mm f2.8 attached. 

Plenty of available light on this bright and fresh day.

All images f/3.5.

Colours!!!

The day after we went for a walk around Sandringham woods.

All images f/4

I wish I had more of this film. Its scanned really well (since this roll I've improved my scans so these images could be better), the colours are really vibrant and all the images have come out really warm.

Early Mornings. Find beauty. Shoot.

So I've blogged the Analog Nights and the Kodak Moments in Wisbech.

This leaves the shots i took on early morning winter starts.

Cold, foggy, intense low sun, wet, fresh, either/or but always there is beauty if you look for it.

And you really don't have to look far.

Perhaps the wrong way to go but ill start with my most treasured early morning frame.

I can't explain how magical i found this scene to be.
I hate fog, i especially hate the use of car fog lights. So a foggy start is guaranteed to put a downer on the journey. It was one of those bright early mornings where the sun is intense in your windscreen as your trying to see past the condensation on the window. Nothing visible but the street furniture and cars directly in front.

Heading to somewhere that i don't want to go to.

And then.....

Blue sky, white clouds and the towers peeking above the fog. The beauty i wasn't looking for that found me. It sent shivers down my spine. Something as simple as the change in weather.  The moment that the fog started to clear.

This is what opened my eyes to looking for beauty, this shot, this scene right here.
No matter the crap that you have to wade through everyday, if you just look, something like this magical moment will be happening in front of you, if you just open your eyes.

Maybe it was just a turning point for me. Not long after this i walked out of my day job.

Shooting the scenes on film really did let me relive the moments. When i scanned the fog scene and it slowly appeared on my screen i shouted out loud "yesssssssssss", knowing me there would have been more swearing. Id forgotten that i had taken the shot on film. Id also taken a shot on my iPhone and so i thought the moment was captured but over.

Oh, the waiting for film magic!

Why do i take so many car mirror shots?

Bloody love this car. It reminds me, I've not driven it for a month. Time to wash, polish and sell.........sad face.

So theres the final bog from the roll of Kodak Color Plus shot with a Canon EOS 600 SLR.

A Kodak moment in Wisbech

This roll of Kodak Color Plus has got to be the best roll of 35mm I've ever shot.

Or at least its the best roll thats ever come out. For all i know those fails, when the film wasn't winding on or when the camera back opened, now they might of been epic.
Emphasis on the might of been, probably less on the epic.

I enjoy using the EOS 600 SLR. It cost me about a tenner, its electronic, i already had a battery that fit it, its simple to use; years of DSLR use means its a doddle to pick up and alter the exposure. My collection of EF lenses from fisheye to 70-200 means i can grab a lens and go.

Autofocus; the photographers best friend. Ive got camera & lens combos that are manual focus only, with a bit of patience you'll get the shot. But having autofocus, despite it being only in the centre is a welcome feature.

Back over to my favourite photography haunt; Wisbech.
Im always there. Ive shot it a million times but i will continue, although i admit its getting a little boring. The same roads, the same alleys, the same shadows, the same faces.

But different camera, different lenses, different medium.

I tried and tried to get the purple tone out of this image.

Peekaboo 

Yes please.

Standing in the same spot, using the same exposure, you can get a different photo every time.
Zoom, crouch, focus.

Analog nights

Every now and then i throw a roll of film into a camera and head out.

The camera sits in the car, in my bag and it might take a me a month to shoot the 24 or 36 frames.

Why rush these things.

It then takes me a lot longer to get round to developing the films. I usually leave it until I've got a handful of films to develop before i get the chemicals out and start the mad panic, rushing around, agitate, invert, what temperature is it, i need to pour it out, arghhh!

And scanning them, well i may never get round to scanning them. I forget.

Scanning 35mm is an art form in itself. Im yet to find the best method. Maybe i won't ever find one. Does it matter?

Around October last year i 1st loaded this roll of Kodak Color Plus into a Yashica Minster III Rangefinder, i enjoyed shooting a load of frames but then released that the film wasn't winding on properly. Sometimes it would wind, mostly it wouldn't, damn, i liked using that camera, sad face.

I then reloaded the film into a Canon EOS 600 and re-shot the roll.

The great thing about using a Canon SLR is all my great lenses.

Although saying that the majority of the photos taken were using a Helios 44-2 lens just for the added focus challenge.

It was October, the days were short, the nights were long. 

Dogs need walking in the dark and wet evenings.

Lets see how well i can get on shooting an expired film at ISO 100, with a manual focus lens wide open at f2 in the dark.

I wasn't overly optimistic but lets say I'm pleasantly surprised. 

Focus isn't great, the scans suck, as the shadows/blacks are all smudgy but Voila there is light in the darkness.

As I just said the focusing isn't precise; no focus confirmation, no split image in the viewfinder.
The lens itself could be over 50 years old so the focus may be off anyway.
Im full of excuses today.

All shots were handheld at 1/50 or less. No tripod for me; I'm not carrying a tripod around whilst walking 2 dogs.

When I see and take a shot like this I always think of the film Bladerunner

Thanks to Lloyd for manning the clock during developing. Although next time talk less, time more!

Do I or don't I?

Challenge, challenge, challenge.

I'd be lying if i said i didn't think about the word challenge at leat once every day.

I keep using the words on these blog posts, on my Facebook and Instagram pages, twitter, you name it.

Challenge is my buzz word and it has been for some time.

I have a freezer drawer full of films, ranging from 35mm Agfa Vista ISO 200 from Poundland to 120/medium format from the 1970's. All nice and cold to prolong the life a little more, waiting for me to use it.

Problem No. 1; Not really a problem, more of a question. Why shoot film when i have some amazing digital cameras? i know it doesn't make sense, its just a desire.

Problem No. 2; Will it come out alright?  Not the exposure, more, will the shop/lab develop it correctly, how do they know what i was feeling when i took the shot?

Problem No. 3; How to view my images? the traditional method was to print, i like prints but i want to share too. After all we are now the internet generation, travellers on the information super highway, everyone loves a 'like'.
The scans of previous films have left me wanting more, more quality, more information, bigger files. They lack sharpness, they're usually quite soft and muddy.

Problem No.4; The cost. Oh the cost. Pay to develop, pay for prints, pay for scans of the images so you can share them. The better the quality, the pricier the service.


So, the answer to many of my problems is home development. Yeah i can do that, i have lists of the equipment i need and have various kits saved in my eBay watch list. I figure it will cost me £100 to get set up.

The practical experiment will be enjoyable I'm sure once the paranoia and stress of getting it wrong subsides.

It does leave me with the biggest problem from above though; viewing the images and allowing others to see them too.
Do i shop scan?

Do I buy a flatbed scanner? the more you spend the better it is.

Do I buy a 'budget' film scanner, again it seems the more money spent the better the scan.

Do I scan with what I already have to hand; another camera.

Yes it's a little odd. Yes it almost defeats the object; Why shoot film if having to then digitise via a digital camera? 

It works though;

Tripod.

DSLR.

Macro Lens.

A light to illuminate the negative; iPad.

Film holders; pens.

With a piece of white plastic bag and the glass from a picture frame to block the pixels from the iPad showing through.

Crude!

Challenge.