I like film...(open thread)

[Guest Benqui]

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Lower Manhattan

M-A, 28mm summaron, Portra 800

 

 

Landscape in our region

 

 

Kodak Portra 160

(dev home Tetenal 30°C)

Leica M7

35 Summilux Asph

 

Image21couvpayskp160lfhtfec++++950.jpg

 

Best

Henry

 

 

and for the pleasure to see just nice color.

 

In comparison with pictures from my two digital cameras ,  it's really

far from what I get in film !

 

Film is not dead !

 

Mondial Air Ballon

taken at about 100 m

almost in sunset

 

Kodak Portra 400

M7-50 Summilux Asph

 

Image1ballonkp400feclfht+++950.jpg

 

Best

Henry

Thank you very much Gentlemen (also in the name of my bedeviled wife),

photos like this are the best medicine against an upcoming GAS when there is a new digital camera (like the new Olympus Pen F)

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[chris_livsey]

How thoughtful that you can retrograde your digital camera to take film. I never knew that. Clever these Swedes !

 

you can retrograde upgrade your digital camera   

[Doc Henry]

Here is a picture dating from 1980 who has not a single fault
not the case perhaps of our memories digital cameras cards in 30 years
because of the obsolescence of our computers and software

 

 

Girl I have cared at one of my first humanitarian missions in Asia

Great souvenir

 

Fuji Superia

R4S Summicron 50

 

 

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Best

Henry

[Doc Henry]

Here is a picture where color is very similar of the slides

(Fuji Velvia and Provia or possible Kodachrome)

it also reminds a lot "vivid" * color of M9 (* Erwin Puts is right)

 

Granville the port

(Normandy-France)

at high tide

 

Kodak Portra 400

Leica M7

35 Summilux Asph

 

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Best

Henry

Edited March 6, 2016 by Doc Henry

[Doc Henry]

For Michael

 

Kodak Portra 400

Leica M7

50 Summilux Asph

 

 

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Best

Henry

[chrism]

Thank you Chris. This is interesting to read. I've thought about the H models because the H1, 2 and 3 are really dropping in price (even with a digital back and lens included). Oddly, while I am entirely uninterested in digital in 35mm, I am open to trying it in 6x6, either with an affordable H or with a back on my 203 (please don't evict me from the thread for thinking these impure thoughts...).

 

Different Chris here, and with a tempting and subversive thought. Film MF cameras are generally pretty cheap now, and given that you already have the necessary skills for working with film you can have a ball playing with cameras that were only things you could daydream about years ago. It has certainly been a great pleasure for me and relatively cheap. Over the years I picked up:

Voigtlander Bessa III

Fuji GW690

Fuji GA645

Pentax 645N

Rolleiflex 2.8GX

Hasselblad 500

Hasselblad SWC

 

It's been great fun and I shall be sorry to send them away, as I must do one of these days. Anyway, my point stands: you can have a wonderful time with MF film and save a lot of the money you would spend on a digital back.

 

Chris

[A miller]

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One week to go then I will be home! I don't think the weather will be as fine as it is in this image.

M7 with Zeiss 21mm lens, I believe.

wow, this is really lovely, Dave.  The boat in the immediate foreground sits perfectly against the dark background of the water.

 

Superb Adam as usual

at the decisive moment

Kodak Portra 800 seems more sensitive and color is warmer in comparison

with KP 400. Not too much grain for a 800 Isos film.

Thanks for sharing

Best

Henry

Hi Henry - yes, portra 800 is warmer than the 400, and it is a lovely film.  I bought a bunch of it for shooting this winter, wanting to try it out and see if developing it at box speed would give me a denser negative than I get with my portra 400, which I usually develop at 800 (which has a tendency to give me thinner negatives, which detracts from the richness of the resolution and colors, although I find this effect only slight).  After 8-10 rolls, I can say that the portra 800 doesn't really give me that much more density.  And the characteristics of the film are very similar to the 400, although a bit warmer which for my purposes which isn't all that impactful (I've seen photos from the 800 from the streets that were really much warmer, even excessively so, and I can attest that this need not be the case if scanned and edited properly.)  Above all, the portra 800 is MUCH more expensive in the US than the 400 ($10 vs $7.35).  So for that reason I think I will stick to the 400.  I will say, though, that the 800 could be the perfect film for certain portraiture, and can be pushed with very edgy results (would love to see Marc give this a try; this video gives a flavor of what I am talking about

).  And also for landscapes and cityscapes in which freezing motion is important, such as flying or floating pigeons that are important to the composition of an image.  My 2 cents...

 

Thank you very much Adam. I think especially for theses cases, the Portra is very well-tempered. By the way, concerning "wrong" film: it reminds me of a saying of my old chief: he always said: if you can not swim, it is almost never the problem of your swimming trunks. Thats why I use the Portra, these trunks work very well 

well put, Marc.

 

Thank you very much Gentlemen (also in the name of my bedeviled wife),

photos like this are the best medicine against an upcoming GAS when there is a new digital camera (like the new Olympus Pen F)

 

I am happy to say that I never heard of that camera, and will not look it up

[Doc Henry]

Thank you very much Gentlemen (also in the name of my bedeviled wife),

photos like this are the best medicine against an upcoming GAS when there is a new digital camera (like the new Olympus Pen F)

Thank you Gentleman Marc

Regards

Henry

[Doc Henry]

wow, this is really lovely, Dave.  The boat in the immediate foreground sits perfectly against the dark background of the water.

 

Hi Henry - yes, portra 800 is warmer than the 400, and it is a lovely film.  I bought a bunch of it for shooting this winter, wanting to try it out and see if developing it at box speed would give me a denser negative than I get with my portra 400, which I usually develop at 800 (which has a tendency to give me thinner negatives, which detracts from the richness of the resolution and colors, although I find this effect only slight).  After 8-10 rolls, I can say that the portra 800 doesn't really give me that much more density.  And the characteristics of the film are very similar to the 400, although a bit warmer which for my purposes which isn't all that impactful (I've seen photos from the 800 from the streets that were really much warmer, even excessively so, and I can attest that this need not be the case if scanned and edited properly.)  Above all, the portra 800 is MUCH more expensive in the US than the 400 ($10 vs $7.35).  So for that reason I think I will stick to the 400.  I will say, though, that the 800 could be the perfect film for certain portraiture, and can be pushed with very edgy results (would love to see Marc give this a try; this video gives a flavor of what I am talking about https:  And also for landscapes and cityscapes in which freezing motion is important, such as flying or floating pigeons that are important to the composition of an image.  My 2 cents...

 

well put, Marc.

 

 

I am happy to say that I never heard of that camera, and will not look it up

Good , in agreement with the experience of Adam

Thanks Adam.

I'll try a few rolls of 800 a bit expensive in France (11 Euros)

Best

Henry

Edited March 6, 2016 by Doc Henry

[A miller]

Indeed, large prints are entirely viable, then!. Apologies, my assumption was that you had used a smaller format. Fujiflex is an amazing material, my Fellowship panels for BIPP and MPA (a few years ago) were printed on Fujiflex mounted onto 3mm acrylic sheet for flatness and then in turn mounted onto 20x16" double bevel-cut matts. As you know the glass-like surface finish of Fujiflex accentuates every undulation of whatever it is mounted on and to get the best from it, the mount surface needs to be as as flat as possible. My advice that you find a good mentor (for want of a better term) stands. I think you are beginning to create an interesting body of work with you NYC urbanscapes and it's worth nurturing this without getting dragged into life wasting arguments over equipment and technique on other parts of the forum. This work is your strength photographically and I do think you could take it far.

Thanks a lot Steve.  I really appreciate your feedback.

Yes, 99% of my cityscapes that I share here are taken with medium format.  Either with my Hassy SWC or with my very old Linhof Technika Press 23 with custom fit Zeiss lenses (53 biogon, 100 planar and 180 sonar), all of which is from the late 50's and was used by my father who was a professional photographer during mostly the 60's and early 70's and did mostly stock work and was a successful paparazzi in NYC.  The Linhof is a BEAST(at least 13KG with the 180mm mounted) and about a year ago I acquired a 6x9 film back and have been in heaven ever since.  The lenses are only SINGLE COATED, which would make a modern gear snob cringe and claim that they won't give me good colors (or corner to corner sharpness) b/c they are so old and not MULTICOATED.  I think that here is a tiny bit of truth to the part about the colors, but I really don't think it is a problem (especially with Ektar and Velvia 50) and actually think that it gives me somewhat of a unique signature (which I think I need a couple of more years to fully prove out and establish).  And any thought that these lenses are lacking in corner to corner sharpness is rubbish, as these bad boys are legendary optical gems.  Properly stopped down, these lenses are laser sharp and image circle is plenty big for the 6x9 format.  I show high resolution versions of my images on my Flickr page; not trying to pure you there but it does give an idea of the quality output that these dinosaurs provide.  

 

Love the comments about the fuji flex.  Great insights and I will keep them in mind for future framing/mounting purposes.

 

As for life wasting arguments on other threads, I think the combination of being a New Yorker, a lawyer sand passionate about the craft gets the best of me sometimes.  The majority of discourse is fine, healthy and quite enjoyable.  But there are times in which the directness of my comments may not come across the right way on the internet to a particularly sensitive or unfriendly (such as NB23) forumite.  Anyone who knows me personally, including many forumites, will attest to me being the opposite of a nasty person and very friendly, thoughtful and fun to be around.  But unfortunately the internet gets in the way sometimes.  I think may of us  get drawn into word choices and lines of argument that are subject to the wrong interpretation from time to time in specific situations.  Such is life here in outer space.

 

Regarding a mentor, I love them and want them; and I view you and many others on this forum (and this thread) as mentors in a certain fashion, though you may not realize this.  It is b/c I am genuinely a good listener and share photos here to get and listen to critical feedback and not just to get praise.  

 

Speaking of mentoring:  Today I might shoot more wall murals with velvia 50.  In those cases in which there is decent shade and my exposure is on the long side (say between 1/8 and 1 second), would it help to use my 81B warming filter?  I don't have any other color or temp correcting filter in my LEE set at the moment and the exposure isn't long enough to warrant a magenta filter (as per the Fuji data sheet).  But there is a slight cool cast to some of the photos that I have taken in these conditions so far and I wonder whether the 81B would help.  I might try to shoot with and without and see but I thought you might have a sense of whether it is even worth a try.

 

Best,

Adam

[Doc Henry]

Interesting advice Adam  in your reply to Honcho.

 

 

 

Fuji Superia not so far in color tonality of Kodak Portra

At the beginning , I bought a lot Fuji , Portra not being commercialized

 

Pha That Luang *

Stupa with Buddha's hair

entirely gilded

Laos

 

Fuji Superia

MP-50 LA

 

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Best

Henry

 

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pha_That_Luang

Edited March 6, 2016 by Doc Henry

[chris_livsey]

Different Chris here, and with a tempting and subversive thought. Film MF cameras are generally pretty cheap now, and given that you already have the necessary skills for working with film you can have a ball playing with cameras that were only things you could daydream about years ago.

 

Chris

 

Are we going to number the Chris fraternity? At work we have two so I am ChrisL

 

Agree totally, that was why I picked up the H1, dream camera in 2002 at launch now more than affordable. I have three film backs, cost around £120 each, still listed just the same new they are £530 !!

Best

ChrisL

[Doc Henry]

Are we going to number the Chris fraternity? At work we have two so I am ChrisL

 

Best

ChrisL

Both you're good guys and photographers Gentlemen 

Best

Henry

Edited March 6, 2016 by Doc Henry

[Doc Henry]

With spring, many flowers shop open in Paris

 

Kodak Portra 160

M7-35 LA

 

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Best

Henry

[Doc Henry]

and a last for today

 

The Channel and nice color of the sea

 

 

Kodak Portra 400

M7-35 Lux Asph

 

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Best

Henry

[chris_livsey]

Likewise, Ric, along with Shackleton. I have a sardine tin and a pemmican tin from a food dump that Scott's final voyage didn't make it back to. It was discovered, along with chocolate, in a carving glacier on the Ross Sea ice shelf. The pemmican tin still has the paper label intact.

 

As a Shackleton fan I wonder if you have seen this about the famous ad: Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success

 

 

http://discerninghistory.com/2013/05/shackletons-ad-men-wanted-for-hazerdous-journey/

 

No original source!!

 

And a reward if you can find it!!

http://www.antarctic-circle.org/advert.htm

 

 

Similar to the myth of the D-Day landing pictures of Capa "damaged" in drying, in real life he never shot them: a lot of vested interests, not least Magnum, in preserving the myth but the overwhelming evidence is now irrefutable: 

 

http://www.nearbycafe.com/artandphoto/photocritic/major-stories/major-series-2014/robert-capa-on-d-day/

 

Another is the HCB "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept"

 

The quote appears to be part of a conversation apparently during a portrait commission by "Vanity Fair" of Helmut Newton as subject towards the end of HCB's life. It does not appear in print AFAIK directly written by HCB but is reported as said by HCB during the shoot, but as I discuss that seems unlikely, by Newton who was his subject:

 

"He had his little Leica," Newton remembers, "and he simply would point and shoot." Since Cartier-Bresson's hand isn't as steady as it used to be, some of the pictures were a bit fuzzy. "Sharpness," he told Newton, "is a bourgeois concept." Newton sits back and laughs: "I thought that was just divine."

The portrait session was July 4th 2000

Reported in "Newsweek" 6/2/03

 

Presumably this was not said during the session, although the narrative flow would suggest that, as HCB was on film and not "chimping" so sharpness would not be "seen" !!! So perhaps formed part of a discussion over the contact sheets, this is not made clear.That Newton would have seen and discussed the contacts however is strange as HCB was famously reluctant to share contact sheets. Did Newton and HCB meet again later to discuss which frames to submit  and he made the comment then but Newton placed the comment at the time of the shoot for a "better" anecdote?

Alternatively perhaps HCB was aware his hands were unsteady during the shoot and he was repeating frames which Newton, as a photographer noticed and commented on, but surely that would be common practice in such a session, and Newton does say "the pictures were a bit fuzzy" implying he had seen them but he could not have done so at the actual shoot.

 

 

The portrait session was July 4th 2000

Reported in "Newsweek" 6/2/03

http://europe.newswe...-attract-137833

The portrait used by "Vanity Fair" can be seen here:

https://iconicphotos....air-portfolio/

and larger here:

https://iconicphotos..../03/img013.jpg

 

Interestingly they, "Vanity Fair", report the remark as "Focus is a ......." again interesting as I presume Newton told them the story first and "Vanity Fair" published it in 2001 whereas the "Newsweek" article is from 2003. Neither report the French and would HCB have conversed with Newton in English anyway?

Edited March 6, 2016 by chris_livsey

[Keith (M)]

OK, after a brief hiatus (work, and the immediacy of digital) I am back, sort of.

Shot a roll of Foma Retropan, more out of curiosity. Not sure if it is me to be honest, I was bought up on "soot and whitewash", and the less grain the better. I'm old enough to be retro, and I don't recall any of my early B&W looking like this. Maybe I am getting old.

I'll deposit a few shots here and there over the next few weeks.

All with the M6, all with either the old collapsible 50 Summicron (so a softer/older look to start with).

Processed in Rodinal 1:50.

Next roll will be something slower/sharper I reckon.

Gary

Thanks for showing these Gary.  I now know not to add Retropan to my list of films to buy next time I need to stock up!  

[Trev]

Kids needed...

 

Swingin' by -Captures...Moments....Forever-

 

M4-P. Biogon 35mm 2.8

TriX 400

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[chrism]

Waiting for some 120 Ektar to dry, I thought to add a couple from the last roll of Pan F:

 

Pond, Malagash by chrism229, on Flickr

 

Twig, snow by chrism229, on Flickr

 

I'm beginning to like Pan F enough that it ought to take out a restraining order on me...

 

C.

[chris_livsey]

Doors, one of my favorite subjects:

 

 

F100 50mm f1.8D Tri-X Pyrocat HD

Edited March 6, 2016 by chris_livsey