Post by moltogordo on Feb 8, 2015 17:51:55 GMT -5
My project, and the one that has become almost an obsession, is printing a display photo from every camera and lens in my collection. It's got me back into my darkroom big time, and has rejuvenated my old bones.
My collection consists of mechanical Japanese/East German SLRs and TLRs between 1951 (when I was born), and 1983 (when electronic shutters became de rigeur.) Collecting is really a form of mental illness, and unless you put limits on it, can be fodder for being institutionalized!!
I use digital for color, but shoot film for all of my B&W, much preferring a silver print to a digital conversion.
The project has also given me a knowledge of some of the new films out there, and I've added Fomapan 400 and 200, as well as Delta 3200 and Tmax 100, to my standby FP4 and HP5, which were always my films of choice. Films I miss the most? 2475 Recording, Plus-X, old Tri-X, and Verichrome Pan. Tri X is different now - Foma 400 is much more like what I shot for available light work in the 60s and 70s. So I use a lot of it.
Let's start off with my favorite camera - the Olympus Pen FT. I'm a half frame freak - the best and most usable of the sub-miniature formats. I have 2 Pen Fs, and 3 Pen FTs, with Pen Zuiko lenses in 24, 38, 70, 100 and 50-90 zoom. Here's the camera and a few shots from it. All shots are scanned prints except the photos of the cameras themselves. I really don't like scanning negatives. Takes all the fun out the printing!!
From time to time, I'll add other cameras and shots to this post and invite others to do the same. But ONLY B&W, please!
First up, a picture of the Venerable FT itself. This is my original, bought in 1967. It was the first SLR I ever owned:
And a couple of shots taken with this camera.
#1, Hoarfrost at Cluculz Creek, BC. 38mm f1.8 Zuiko, XP2 film, 1/125th at f11, ASA 400, scanned 4x6 machine print.
#2, Freezing Swamp, Vanderhoof BC, 100mm F3.5 Zuiko with 1.5x Cambron doubler, 1/60th at 5.6, Fomapan 400, Rodinal 1:50, scanned 5x7 print on Arista Edu Grade #3
#3, Lumber mill at Vanderhoof, BC, 38mm f1.8 Zuiko, Kodak 2475 Recording film (30 year old stock!), 1/125th at f8, ASA 200, D76. Scanned print on 5x7 Arista Edu grade #3. An attempt to re-create a 1950s "Popular Mechanics" style gritty, ultra-grainy photo.
With slow film and fine-grained developer, or XP2, the half frame format is capable of excellent 8x10s and even 11x14s, but that's not why I use the format. I can do those "excellent" prints with medium format. But grain effects and such cannot be bettered by any format. If you like that grain stuff, and go into the darkroom on a regular basis, get yourself a Pen FT and some Fomapan 400 or Kentmere 400, some Rodinal, and you're in business!
Thanks for looking in. I'll add other cameras and photos from this project from time to time!
My collection consists of mechanical Japanese/East German SLRs and TLRs between 1951 (when I was born), and 1983 (when electronic shutters became de rigeur.) Collecting is really a form of mental illness, and unless you put limits on it, can be fodder for being institutionalized!!
I use digital for color, but shoot film for all of my B&W, much preferring a silver print to a digital conversion.
The project has also given me a knowledge of some of the new films out there, and I've added Fomapan 400 and 200, as well as Delta 3200 and Tmax 100, to my standby FP4 and HP5, which were always my films of choice. Films I miss the most? 2475 Recording, Plus-X, old Tri-X, and Verichrome Pan. Tri X is different now - Foma 400 is much more like what I shot for available light work in the 60s and 70s. So I use a lot of it.
Let's start off with my favorite camera - the Olympus Pen FT. I'm a half frame freak - the best and most usable of the sub-miniature formats. I have 2 Pen Fs, and 3 Pen FTs, with Pen Zuiko lenses in 24, 38, 70, 100 and 50-90 zoom. Here's the camera and a few shots from it. All shots are scanned prints except the photos of the cameras themselves. I really don't like scanning negatives. Takes all the fun out the printing!!
From time to time, I'll add other cameras and shots to this post and invite others to do the same. But ONLY B&W, please!
First up, a picture of the Venerable FT itself. This is my original, bought in 1967. It was the first SLR I ever owned:
And a couple of shots taken with this camera.
#1, Hoarfrost at Cluculz Creek, BC. 38mm f1.8 Zuiko, XP2 film, 1/125th at f11, ASA 400, scanned 4x6 machine print.
#2, Freezing Swamp, Vanderhoof BC, 100mm F3.5 Zuiko with 1.5x Cambron doubler, 1/60th at 5.6, Fomapan 400, Rodinal 1:50, scanned 5x7 print on Arista Edu Grade #3
#3, Lumber mill at Vanderhoof, BC, 38mm f1.8 Zuiko, Kodak 2475 Recording film (30 year old stock!), 1/125th at f8, ASA 200, D76. Scanned print on 5x7 Arista Edu grade #3. An attempt to re-create a 1950s "Popular Mechanics" style gritty, ultra-grainy photo.
With slow film and fine-grained developer, or XP2, the half frame format is capable of excellent 8x10s and even 11x14s, but that's not why I use the format. I can do those "excellent" prints with medium format. But grain effects and such cannot be bettered by any format. If you like that grain stuff, and go into the darkroom on a regular basis, get yourself a Pen FT and some Fomapan 400 or Kentmere 400, some Rodinal, and you're in business!
Thanks for looking in. I'll add other cameras and photos from this project from time to time!
