LADP Posted November 25, 2006 Share #1 Posted November 25, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) A shot from the first roll of B&W I have processed in over 20 years. I also scanned it with a new Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED. Shot with an M6, 50/1.4 'lux on Plus-X. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 25, 2006 Posted November 25, 2006 Hi LADP, Take a look here Beach Artist. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
abrewer Posted November 25, 2006 Share #2 Posted November 25, 2006 Nicely composed and exposed Anthony. Scan looks good, too. How do you like the Nikon 5000 model so far? Any problems with the software? Thanks. Allan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnkuo Posted November 25, 2006 Share #3 Posted November 25, 2006 Very nice tonality. I've been wanting to process my own B&W too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lykoudos Posted November 25, 2006 Share #4 Posted November 25, 2006 Hello Anthony, Very tendencyful picture is there successful you. Pleases me expressed well. Particularly the motive for beach and the view into far sea. Greeting Wolfgang (MP grey hammertone, 2,8/28; 1,4/50; 2/90) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LADP Posted November 25, 2006 Author Share #5 Posted November 25, 2006 Thank you Allan, John and Wolfgang. The scanner is great, but to be honest, this photograph is only the 2nd of a handful of scans that I've had time to do so far. I have noticed that some frames have some focus issues at the edges, where the film must be curling a bit. I have read that an FH-3 film strip holder can solve this, but they are no longer manufactured, and are therefore difficult to source. I am trying to find one to buy. In any case, I think the scanner seems to be well built, and it does scan with high resolution. I need to play around with it more to get better with it. I also am thinking of getting the SilverFast software to use with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic vic Posted November 25, 2006 Share #6 Posted November 25, 2006 nie romantic photo man.. and congrats with processing the film... ah.. silverfast is a "MUST" if u want to get good results... take Ai for scanner, or better take aditionally the HDR studio that will allow u to work with the RAW of the scanner.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinop Posted November 25, 2006 Share #7 Posted November 25, 2006 Advertisement (gone after registration) Nicely seen, composed and photographed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LADP Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share #8 Posted November 26, 2006 Thank you Victor and Martin. I will look into the HDR studio you mentioned, Victor. Is that a suite of software from the company that makes SilverFast? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhotoArchival Posted November 26, 2006 Share #9 Posted November 26, 2006 Good to see you posting with your MP. Was a big fan of your Nepal series, even if it wasn't with Leica equipment. Like the tones and the fact that you captured the painting deatils in the photograph. Amado Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leicamann Posted November 26, 2006 Share #10 Posted November 26, 2006 Finally..some "real " B&W photography.... well seen and composed..the lighting mind you is too harsh and contrasty..but what choice do you have in situations like this..except maybe wait for a cloud to act as a filter for you. Thanks for sharing and keep shooting that film ok!!! Regards, Leicamann Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LADP Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share #11 Posted November 26, 2006 Thank you Amado and Leicamann. The lighting was too harsh and contrasty for my taste as well, but that was what the day provided since it was virtually cloudless. I guess with a lot of experimentation in B&W film stocks and soup parameters, I might find a combination that tames that sort of hard, direct sunlight a bit more, but it would take a lot of time and I have neither the time or inclination to do methodical testing on the matter. Thanks for looking, and taking the time to comment! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
leicamann Posted November 26, 2006 Share #12 Posted November 26, 2006 Anthony, as a rule I try to avoid taking too many shoots on a "bright cloudless day". I find that its the cloudy overcast days that will get you the best controled lighting. That much you can do!!!!! As for getting involved in the chemistry and darkroom issues, well all I can say is you'll get out of it how much you put in, the rewards are more in terms of the personal satisfaction of getting the very best from your film / lens and camera. Happy snaps. Regards, Leicamann Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LADP Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share #13 Posted November 26, 2006 Anthony, as a rule I try to avoid taking too many shoots on a "bright cloudless day". I find that its the cloudy overcast days that will get you the best controled lighting. That much you can do!!!!! Well, of course. When we shoot motion picture scenes in hard, bright sunlight, we break out large (20' x 20') frames of silks, gridcloth, frosts, etc. to either diffuse direct light on a contained area with people in it, or sometimes to bounce some fill light. There are a lot of tricks I can do with an electric and grip crew and some grip equipment, but when you are on your own shooting for personal stuff, you either shoot or not given the conditions you are presented with by nature. I was just meeting up with a friend for some fun photography that day, and we got a bit of a late start, and we also concentrated on large format shots first with his 4x5 Ebony. By the time I started shooting with my M6, the sun was already high and contrasty. I still chose to shoot however, because the artists painting at the beach were a bit of a pleasant surprise we hadn't expected. I also wanted to see how Plus-X would do under those conditions, since I hadn't shot it in many many years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic vic Posted November 27, 2006 Share #14 Posted November 27, 2006 hi anthony... yes.. the HDR48 is a kind of suite... those are the differances: 1. silverfast Ai, is both a scanner operator/driver and an editor and optimizer software. it is a "MUST HAVE" for any scanner unless u use imacon or creo scanners with their amazing native software (flex-color and oXYgen). the silverfast has amazing tools and quality control of your scans, and if u work properly with it (which is very eassy after some practice), then u will get perfect to near perfect scans, wether it is slide film, negative colour or b/w. 2. HDR48studio, is independent software. it has all the controls and editing tools of Ai, but it is not a scanner operator or driver. actually, what u do is that u create HDR-tiff files with Ai which is like RAW data from your scanner, and save it to your hard disk. u can sacn in batch everything. now u will have a file that u can work totally independatly of your scanner. and u always can rework it if needed. the overall workflow is much faster, flexible, and in fact, more precise in terms of quality. additionally, u can use the HDR48studio with digital cameras with RAW (for supported cameras), and any kind of full quality TIFF files. for example, i can bring files from top post production scanners that are saved as 16bit TIFFS. i can bring files from digital medium format backs after i have converted the RAW in their native software and saved it as high-quality TIFF. why to do that? cause silverfast, in my experience, allows u to achive the best quality and the best "look" to the files. as close as possible to the "film richness" and "film coherance in look". photoshop has its advatages of course as digital monipulator, but i have to say, most of the time i use silverfast and that is really sufficient to get a real photograph out of the file. the software can be dowloaded as demo i think.. so try it out and play with it for a week or two. the HDR48 is not the cheapest, so make sure u like it too after u become femiliar with it. there must be also moveis demostrating many functionalities of silverfast. go to their website and surff a little. about lighting.... as john says... we have our prefered lightings many times... but i dont think that this should reject us from using any light avaliable. light is light, and one should find attitude to this or to that lighting conditions. sun, for example, can be a pain to use, but from the other hand, it also can be a great creative oprtunity to work with sun. so, developing attitude to lighting conditions is extrimly important. it is even more important with leica camera.. i dont use anything with lieca camera... everything i do with it is avaliable light... it can be sun, it can be couds, it can be flourecent light or strong tungsten of any kind.... i dont mind... i just adjust myself... this is the key point... using exposure/developing combination, using proper framing and scanene rendering etc etc.... it comes very naturally/instinctivly after some "studies".... about the reflectors... yes.. in fashion.. reflectors are used too if needed or desired. well, in fashion photo, unlike in movies, there is also option of using strong flash light as a balancer. personally, i usually prefer the reflectors though, even with sometimes the flash gives enourmouse control in balancing and with ease. anthony - i have one question to u and need your advise.... i want to get a movie camera... super16mm probably. as a photographer, i develop visual concpets that are used in motion pirctires, and i also involoved from time to time in those processes in different roles... but im totally ignorant about movie camera as "operator of camera". i see arri cameras for example, but no way i will use it, and besides, i think it is too expenssive. they seem to me too complicatied for operation... man... think about leica mp camera.. we both have it :-)) now, this is what i want, something analogically pure, simple and convinient as mp camera, and eassy to operate. i have heard about aaton. and they have some nice little A-minima camera... i dont know anybody who has this camera... what do u say about it??? also, i see bolex cameras from time to time, but dont know how the models are called and dont know how to operate them, is it an option? maybe soon i can try to use some bolex to see how it goes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LADP Posted November 27, 2006 Author Share #15 Posted November 27, 2006 hi anthony...anthony - i have one question to u and need your advise.... i want to get a movie camera... super16mm probably. as a photographer, i develop visual concpets that are used in motion pirctires, and i also involoved from time to time in those processes in different roles... but im totally ignorant about movie camera as "operator of camera". i see arri cameras for example, but no way i will use it, and besides, i think it is too expenssive. they seem to me too complicatied for operation... man... think about leica mp camera.. we both have it :-)) now, this is what i want, something analogically pure, simple and convinient as mp camera, and eassy to operate. i have heard about aaton. and they have some nice little A-minima camera... i dont know anybody who has this camera... what do u say about it??? also, i see bolex cameras from time to time, but dont know how the models are called and dont know how to operate them, is it an option? maybe soon i can try to use some bolex to see how it goes. Victor, I have owned a number of 16mm, and 16mm/Super16mm cameras over the years, and I have used pretty much all of the currently used 16mm cameras around, so you've asked the right person. First, it would depend on your intended workflow. I have owned two Aaton 16mm cameras over the years. The first one was an XTR plus, and that was followed by an XTR Prod. These cameras were and are state of the art camera systems that cost a little over $100K when I purchased them. That is for a full fledged package with accessories needed to be a working outfit (tripod + head, mattebox + filters, Canon 8mm - 64mm Zoom lens, 4 400' magazines, etc.). I owned these cameras to rent to production companies on 16mm or Super 16mm projects I shot, such as documentary films, commercials, etc. The cost of a 400' roll of 16mm film is right around $130.00 USD, and that will run for 11.5 minutes at 24fps, or normal shooting. If you overcrank the camera for slow motion, the real time will be less, but the screen tme will remaiin 11.5 minutes (barring any transfer effects like transferring at 12fps or 6fps for example). In any case, the transfer cost for the footage to videotape (for editing and potential distribution) can cost anywhere from $400.00 - 700.00 per hour not including videotape media for a supervised transfer session. You may be able to get through 2 - 3 rolls (or about 20 - 30 minutes of footage in that time). This is the stage where you work with a color timer to get your footage to look the way you want it. You could also do an unsupervised dailies transfer and do a proper color correct transfer later. This would be a decision made on a project to project basis. My point in outlining some of these costs is to make sure you know what kind of money you will be getting into in order to shoot 16mm. There are less expensive 16mm cameras, like the Bolex that you mentioned, and I'll get to that in a moment, but the raw stock and post considerations will not be any different. So now on to other cameras. The Aaton A-minima will run you around $25K - $29K for a body and a mag, along with a videotap. Lenses will be additinoal, and the sky is the limit. Current state of the art zooms will run well over 20K. That above mentioned Canon 8 - 64 zoom that I owned cost me 14K in 1995 to purchase new. I was actually one of the first Beta testers of the A-Minima when it came out, and I just worked with the latest version of it last week again. It is a great camera for what it does, but it is quirky to load properly, and the eyepiece is non-orientable, so that can be a drag. It is so small though, you can mount an on-board monitor and run and gun with it operating off of that. Personally I think it is a niche camera, and wouldn't recommend it or the bigger brother XTR's or Arri SR's to you for that matter. Most of my work these days is 35mm, along with some digital HD formats as well (although I just did some operating on a 16mm commercial just last week, and I occasionally work on a TV series that shoots 16mm). I sold my Aaton about 3 years ago when I realized it just wasn't working enough anymore. It had paid for itself nicely over the years, but it was no longer generating much income since I was mostly shooting 35mm. I do own a 16mm Bolex Rex 5, along with some Kern Switar prime lenses. A 10mm T1.6, a 16mm T1.8 and a 26 Macro T1.1. We use "T-stops" in motion picture, but they are basically interchangeable with F-stops (F-stops are theoretical light transmission, while T-Stops are calibrated and measured actual light transmission accounting for absorbtion by the glass, etc.). The Bolex is great, and I still use it from time to time. The lenses are excellent (especially the 10mm and the 26 Macro), and the camera runs off a spring wound motor. You can drive it with a battery powered electric motor, but the beauty, simplicity and elegance is lost when you start attaching those types of accessories. It was made to be a hand held, highly maneuverable non-silent camera. It is not ideal for shooting when sync cound is desired. It takes 100' daylight spools (although you can attach 400' mags to it). Like the battery powered motor, I don't recommend that. I got lucky, as I got mine by trading an old Arri 16S that I bought at a yard sale for $30.00. The Arri 16S requires a battery to drive the motor, and it was not as convenient to use in the manner I like to shoot my Bolex in. A Bolex Rex 5 in good condition with the lenses I mentioned above will run from $2500.00 to $3500.00 in today's market I would guess. Another possibility is Super 8mm. It is a format that I actually use quite a bit on commercial shoots (and it has been used on several big hollywood features for certain looks in various sequences). There is a company in L.A. that repackages all available Kodak motion picture stocks (and many Fuji stocks) for Super 8mm. They also have Lab and post transfer facilities so that you can transfer your footage to any videotape media you require for editing. This is the cheapest format to get into and shoot, and the results are quite astonishing with the modern stocks available. You can get a great Nizo camera for between $250.00 - $600.00 or so on eBay. I have a Nizo 481 Macro, which I have rented to numerous commercial production companies to shoot footage to augment 35mm and 16mm (and also HD) footage that is the primary format of the commercial. This may be more than you were looking for, and maybe I should have PM'd you this. If you'd like to continue this discussion via email, I'd be happy to. Just PM me your email address. Hope this helps to start with! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic vic Posted November 27, 2006 Share #16 Posted November 27, 2006 anthony - thanks alot man for this details... it is super informative and inlighting to me what u say. i will PM u rite now for further questions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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