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.

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!