Ok, its been a couple of months since i posted anything, but in that time i have found myself with cameras in hand most days, but my digitals haven't been seeing a whole lot of use, Ive been shooting a whole bunch of film, and loving it.
Why have i been loving the experience of shooting film again? Well, it takes the immediacy of the digital age out of the picture, and it also takes the lets just shoot a thousand frames and choose the best ones, shooting film has a very limited number of frames to use, so it slows me down to think what do i want to take with this press of the shutter release, have i got all the settings right.. then when the roll is finished, i still have to wait for a few days for the film to come back from the lab to see if it was alright.
I digress, as i have been shooting these films, i have also been looking at the bank account go down as the cost of getting film developed is not cheap, with a single roll of C-41 negative costing around $10-$15 dollars a time, and a proper black and white or E-6 film costing double! It got me thinking, i used to love developing film back in the day when i was at high school, and using a darkroom.. I did the numbers, and went about buying all the gear i needed to develop film at home... I went to my camera store, and ordered a developing tank that will hold 2x 35mm or 1x 120 roll film at a time, thermometer, mixing jugs, a squeegee, measuring things, a dark bag, and clips to hold processed film, and chem. I worked it our that to pay off the initial cost of setting everything up, i only need to shoot 10 rolls of black and white and its payed for, and i am already 20% of the way there as i had a couple of B+W films to process.
I have also found a supplier who will ship a simple 4 step ready to go c-41 colour neg processing mix to NZ for not bad money, and i will be able to get my costs for developing down to around $4.50 a roll for colour, and $3.00 a roll for black and white..
I will endeavor to post a step by step of developing a roll or 2 at home in the future. but lets just say film is a whole lotta fun now i can develop at home, and my camera store will love me because i will be buying a whole lot more hahaha
Sunday, 30 October 2016
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
Peacocking around...
An Interesting title yes, but it also has some meaning.
I recently purchased some Lomography Peacock film for my 110 cameras. For those who are not sure, Lomography are an Austrian company who love film, and have brought back several old emulsions and some fun emulsions for various format cameras including 35mm, and Medium Format cameras with 120 roll film..
Sure i have 120 cameras, but Lomo also make 110 film, yes those groovy little cartridge cameras from the 70s and 80s now have new film available.
Lomography have brought back a standard color negative film called Tiger, a Black and White film called Orca, Lobster which is a Color negative film that has an extended red cast, and for this post, Peacock which is a Slide film using the E-6 emulsion... yes a color transparency film for 110 cartridge cameras!
On getting this film, i loaded it into my Pentax Auto 110 camera and off I went. I had no clear project to shoot this film, so i just took pictures.
On finishing the film, I sent it off to be processed by the team at Photo & Video International in CHCH. I asked for the film to be cross processed in the normal C-41 processor as P&V do not have the ability to process E-6 in house.
The processed film arrived back and on scanning the negatives i love the results, sure the images are grainy being a 110 film of 200ASA, but thats the charm i love of 110.
Will i use Peacock again, your darn sure i will be, its a great little film that gives some gorgeous results cross processed, next film i will send off to a lab who still process E-6 and see what the results will be..
I recently purchased some Lomography Peacock film for my 110 cameras. For those who are not sure, Lomography are an Austrian company who love film, and have brought back several old emulsions and some fun emulsions for various format cameras including 35mm, and Medium Format cameras with 120 roll film..
Sure i have 120 cameras, but Lomo also make 110 film, yes those groovy little cartridge cameras from the 70s and 80s now have new film available.
Lomography have brought back a standard color negative film called Tiger, a Black and White film called Orca, Lobster which is a Color negative film that has an extended red cast, and for this post, Peacock which is a Slide film using the E-6 emulsion... yes a color transparency film for 110 cartridge cameras!
On getting this film, i loaded it into my Pentax Auto 110 camera and off I went. I had no clear project to shoot this film, so i just took pictures.
On finishing the film, I sent it off to be processed by the team at Photo & Video International in CHCH. I asked for the film to be cross processed in the normal C-41 processor as P&V do not have the ability to process E-6 in house.
The processed film arrived back and on scanning the negatives i love the results, sure the images are grainy being a 110 film of 200ASA, but thats the charm i love of 110.
Will i use Peacock again, your darn sure i will be, its a great little film that gives some gorgeous results cross processed, next film i will send off to a lab who still process E-6 and see what the results will be..
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| St Clair Beach and Snowy hills |
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| Sunrise |
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| Gate and Wall |
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| Beverages |
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| On the Street |
Friday, 15 July 2016
New Scanner and old film
Its been a while since i posted, but there has been a lot of things happening outside of my photography that has left me rather frustrated about not being able to spend time with my photography... BUT, i have also made a couple of fun little investments for my photography.
The first is a brand new Canon CS9000F Mk II flatbed scanner. For me the CS9000F fit my requirements perfectly, its affordable ($499 NZ) and it will scan 120 negatives, 35mm neg and slide AND with a little patience 110 film.
I have over 100 rolls of 35mm film and about 10 rolls of 120 plus a few 110 films to scan, so i am going to be busy for a bit while i scan and archive all this film.
On going into my old films, i randomly chose a few 35mm rolls and decided to start scanning. The results are just fantastic, one of the first films i grabbed were from 1994, so it was interesting to see them scanned up and ready to go.
With the scanner set to 4800 dpi to get a feel for things, the first batch of negs scanned out to over 6800 pixels wide and 4500 pixels high, and an average of 14mb per JPEG, or in megapixels, over 30 megapixels As you can see from the frames aboe, they came out pretty good.
I then scanned a few 120 frames, and they at the same settings are over 9000 x 9000 pixels each frame and the JPEGs are 45mb in size!
Ive also scanned some 110 frames now that i have the Lomo Digitaliza 110, this scanning mask for 110 i got from www.southerncameras.co.nz (its also where i get my film from too) the 110 takes a little more to scan than the 120 and 35mm frames but come out at a shade over 3000 x 2400 pixels in size but that makes them pretty good size to do a little with..
The first is a brand new Canon CS9000F Mk II flatbed scanner. For me the CS9000F fit my requirements perfectly, its affordable ($499 NZ) and it will scan 120 negatives, 35mm neg and slide AND with a little patience 110 film.
I have over 100 rolls of 35mm film and about 10 rolls of 120 plus a few 110 films to scan, so i am going to be busy for a bit while i scan and archive all this film.
On going into my old films, i randomly chose a few 35mm rolls and decided to start scanning. The results are just fantastic, one of the first films i grabbed were from 1994, so it was interesting to see them scanned up and ready to go.
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| Originally shot in 1994 with a Minolta Riva AF35 |
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| Originally Shot 2002 on Canon EOS 500n |
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| Originally shot on Canon EOS 500n 2004 |
With the scanner set to 4800 dpi to get a feel for things, the first batch of negs scanned out to over 6800 pixels wide and 4500 pixels high, and an average of 14mb per JPEG, or in megapixels, over 30 megapixels As you can see from the frames aboe, they came out pretty good.
I then scanned a few 120 frames, and they at the same settings are over 9000 x 9000 pixels each frame and the JPEGs are 45mb in size!
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| Original image shot on Lomo Color 100 on Bronica S2a in 2016 |
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| Original shot on Lomo Color 100 with Bronica S2a in 2016 |
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| PV-1 Ventura Brisbane 2016 Shot on LOMO Tiger 110 |
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| Brisbane 2016 Shot on Lomo Tiger 110 |
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| Brisbane River Shot on Lomo Tiger 110 |
Overall im pretty happy with the CS9000F mk II, i got a lot of film to scan but it will be worth it in the long run.
Saturday, 20 February 2016
Fun in Film
Again, its been ages since i posted anything, but i felt its time to post something again, and again hopefully i will start making this a regular thing.
Late last year i managed to aquire a couple of new for me but classic cameras.
A customer of mine came in with a bag of cameras that were no longer used, and they had no need for them anymore as apparently they did not work. In the bag, there was an Agfa 110 with flash unit, and a Minolta 110 SLR Zoom Mk II.
The Agfa i didn't know a heck of alot about so i put it back in the bag and concentrated on the Mk II,
A little background, 110 film were small frame cartridge films that were semi popular in the 70s and 80s, Many companies made cameras for 110, but some of the coolest came from Pentax, Minolta and a couple of other small companies, and film makers like Agfa and Kodak had a big range of cameras for the format.
The big thing if you can call it that was the film was pretty similar in width to the 16mm movie film that was in widespread use at the time.
My 110 SLR Zoom Mk II looks like a mini SLR camera, with a zoom lens permanently attached, it has Aperture priority, exposure compensation, a flash hot shoe and is a pretty cool looking little unit.
After a little digging i changed the batteries, and was surprised that after winding the advance on, and taking it off lock the shutter fired! The fun thing is the 110 SLR Zoom II was produced from 1979
So a little testing and the shutter and metering unit seemed to be ok as at various apertures, the shutter responded like it normally should, varied shutter speeds and meter readings.. I had a little minolta flash unit that was part of another camera kit where the body of the camera was beyond repair, that worked, so on it went and low and behold it fired perfectly on the 110.
So I had a working camera, but as far as i knew, the only 110 films left available were old films that were pretty much expired as Fuji were the last company to actually make 110, and stopped making it in approx 2005, what was i to do?
I was trolling ebay one night looking at the 110 films and found some from Lomography saying it was new release film... this had me intruiged, i'd heard of Lomo before, makers of the Diana, and Holga cameras that use 120 and 35mm film and legendary for their plastic lenses with some interesting results.
I found their site, and because i work in a camera store, sent an email asking about wholesale, and a month later we had Lomo films in stock, in 35mm, 120 AND 110, with a mix of color neg and black and white Neg.
Im going to concentrate on the 110 since this is what im looking at.
Lomo in 110 format make color neg, black and white neg, AND yes they make an E-6 Slide film.
Ive had fun with the Minolta, its a neat little camera, but since i got the Minolta, i have also acquired a Pentax Auto 110 kit..
The Auto 110 is smaller again AND has interchangable lenses, it still is the worlds smallest ILC camera.
Lomography's 110 films have animal names, the Color Neg is Tiger, the black and white neg is Orca, and the Color Slide is Peacock. I purchase mine from http://southerncameras.co.nz/Lomography?page=1 here in Dunedin City.
I have shot a roll of tiger through the Minolta, and one through the Auto 110.
I took both 110's on my recent vacation to Brisbane, with the Minolta having a cartridge or Orca, and the Pentax a Tiger Cartridge loaded. The Orca i havent finished yet, but last weekend here in Dunedin was the annual Thieves Alley market day, i took my Olympus OM-D and the Auto 110, i did notice many people having a look at me when i brought the camera to the eye, as people noticed this tiny camera being used and wondering what the heck it was.
I got the same look in Brisbane, i was standing at the top of Mount Cootha and a bus load of tourists, possibly Japanese arrived, and one of the passengers was looking rather interested at the Minolta and Pentax around my neck.
Im not normally a street shooter, and i think it shows in most of the images, but im trying to learn new ways to photograph things
Lomo's Tiger is an ISO 200 film, and as you can see, reasonably grainy despite the low ISO, because of the small neg size. I do like the Auto 110, but i need to get it checked out, or just get it cleaned.
Late last year i managed to aquire a couple of new for me but classic cameras.
A customer of mine came in with a bag of cameras that were no longer used, and they had no need for them anymore as apparently they did not work. In the bag, there was an Agfa 110 with flash unit, and a Minolta 110 SLR Zoom Mk II.
 |
| My Minolta 110 SLR Zoom Mk II |
A little background, 110 film were small frame cartridge films that were semi popular in the 70s and 80s, Many companies made cameras for 110, but some of the coolest came from Pentax, Minolta and a couple of other small companies, and film makers like Agfa and Kodak had a big range of cameras for the format.
The big thing if you can call it that was the film was pretty similar in width to the 16mm movie film that was in widespread use at the time.
My 110 SLR Zoom Mk II looks like a mini SLR camera, with a zoom lens permanently attached, it has Aperture priority, exposure compensation, a flash hot shoe and is a pretty cool looking little unit.
After a little digging i changed the batteries, and was surprised that after winding the advance on, and taking it off lock the shutter fired! The fun thing is the 110 SLR Zoom II was produced from 1979
So a little testing and the shutter and metering unit seemed to be ok as at various apertures, the shutter responded like it normally should, varied shutter speeds and meter readings.. I had a little minolta flash unit that was part of another camera kit where the body of the camera was beyond repair, that worked, so on it went and low and behold it fired perfectly on the 110.
So I had a working camera, but as far as i knew, the only 110 films left available were old films that were pretty much expired as Fuji were the last company to actually make 110, and stopped making it in approx 2005, what was i to do?
I was trolling ebay one night looking at the 110 films and found some from Lomography saying it was new release film... this had me intruiged, i'd heard of Lomo before, makers of the Diana, and Holga cameras that use 120 and 35mm film and legendary for their plastic lenses with some interesting results.
 |
| My Pentax Auto 110 |
Im going to concentrate on the 110 since this is what im looking at.
Lomo in 110 format make color neg, black and white neg, AND yes they make an E-6 Slide film.Ive had fun with the Minolta, its a neat little camera, but since i got the Minolta, i have also acquired a Pentax Auto 110 kit..
The Auto 110 is smaller again AND has interchangable lenses, it still is the worlds smallest ILC camera.
Lomography's 110 films have animal names, the Color Neg is Tiger, the black and white neg is Orca, and the Color Slide is Peacock. I purchase mine from http://southerncameras.co.nz/Lomography?page=1 here in Dunedin City.
I have shot a roll of tiger through the Minolta, and one through the Auto 110.
 |
| Old and New in Brisbane Pentax Auto 110 Jan 2016 |
I took both 110's on my recent vacation to Brisbane, with the Minolta having a cartridge or Orca, and the Pentax a Tiger Cartridge loaded. The Orca i havent finished yet, but last weekend here in Dunedin was the annual Thieves Alley market day, i took my Olympus OM-D and the Auto 110, i did notice many people having a look at me when i brought the camera to the eye, as people noticed this tiny camera being used and wondering what the heck it was.I got the same look in Brisbane, i was standing at the top of Mount Cootha and a bus load of tourists, possibly Japanese arrived, and one of the passengers was looking rather interested at the Minolta and Pentax around my neck.
Im not normally a street shooter, and i think it shows in most of the images, but im trying to learn new ways to photograph things
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| Theives Alley, Dunedin Feb 2016, Pentax Auto 110 |
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| Thieves Alley, Pentax Auto 110, Dunedin Feb 2016 |
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| Stilt Walker, Thieves Alley, Dunedin Feb 2016, Pentax Auto 110 |
I like the 110 format, simply because its fun, and im trying to find some more fun in my photography, I will be taking both 110's to the biannual Warbirds Over Wanaka show in March, where no doubt i will get looks from other show goers for the 2 small cameras, my Bronica S2 and my OM-D all hanging off my camera vest.
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