XMAS

More BESSA in Baghdad shots

"Victory Over America" Palace (never completed)

"clear your weapon" - not the shooting I was doing.

home - well for 2 weeks

Bessa First roll

Just had my HP5 negs processed - had basic scans done at SupaSnaps just across the road (only 1mb)  - to check out pics - upped the contrast a bit before posting - but that's more my taste with this 400 film.

RJ flight landed Baghdad

Dovecote

Signs on the base.

Sandstorm - mosque and palms from a moving car.

INSPIRATION V - Dark Side

© Juliane Eirich

© Kaitlin Wilson - Bryant

Shots I love 3

Glasgow beauty

Leica M6 - summilux 35mm - Agfa Scala

Birthday Balloons

Leica M6 - Zeiss 35mm

Ketchup - Diner New Zealand

Leica M6 - Summilux 50mm - Velvia 100

Camera Schamera

Suffering from CAS (Camera Acquisition Syndrome) and upgradeitiss - I have had my fair collection of cameras in the last 20 years.

Yashica 35TL Electro Fixed 35mm 2.8

Minolta 5000 Standard 35-70, Vivitar 70-210, 50mm 1.7

Minolta 9000 - Minolta's Pro camera (the first AF pro camera I believe)

Canon T90 x 2 bodies 28mm, 50mm 

College years – sold in South Africa to pay for airticket back

Nikon f90x 24mm, 50mm, Sigma 400mm 5.6 

Nikon FM2 Bought as a second body

Contax G1 28mm, 45mm, 90mm First rangefinder proper

Hasselblad Xpan 45mm, 90mm First panoramic camera

Mamiya 7II 55mm 80mm First MF rangefinder – sold as felt too plasticky

Leica R4s 50mm f2 eBay rashness sold no loss

Leica M6 titanium 

Bought pre-ASPH Summilux 35mm 1.4 Summilux 50mm 

Sold Summilux lenses bought 50mm f2 summicron and Zeiss 35mm f2 Wanted 

sharper lenses

Leica M4P 

Nikon F5 Nikon 17-35mm 2.8, 85mm 1.8, 180mm 2.8

 

Nikon F3HP eBay at low price sold for profit

Current Cameras

Nikon D200 digital 

17-35mm 2.8 ED AF, 58mm 1.4 Voigtlander Nokton, Nikon 180mm 2.8AF

Nikonos II underwater 35mm camera

Nikonos 28mm, 35mm lenses

Horseman SW612 MF panoramic

55mm Rodenstock lens

Voigtlander Bessa R 35mm rangefinder

Voiglander 21mm f4 Skopar

Voigtlander Bessa R and Bessa 21mm f4

Succumbed to the need.

Splashed out and bought a black Bessa R and 21mm Skopar lens off eBay. 

It seems so cheap compared to the expense of my old Leica .... I know I can't or at least shouldn't compare the two brands but it is hard not to. The voigtlander viewfinder seems to be as bright as my old M6 titanium. There has been forum mention of skew framelines (on the Voigt) but not something I can report on just yet.

The wind on the Leica seemed slightly smoother but it's been over a year so my imagination may have made it even better than it actually was. On the plus side - and this is a real plus in my books ... I was always a bit nervous taking the leica out .... thought it would be an obvious target for thieves. And if you don't have your camera out you don't take shots. Camera is currently stuffed in my bag next to me and if the dust of Iraq is no problem then brilliant ... will post some pics on developing.

with vignette added

1. Create a new layer on top. Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N
2. Fill the layer with white. Shift + Backspace
3. Set the blend mode to “Multiply”. Alt + Shift + M
4. Apply the vignette filter to the new layer.
Filter >> Distort >> Lens Correction…
Slide “Amount” left and “Midpoint” sliders in the “Vignette” section.
Press “OK”, and its done.

Digital cross process

So playing around with the thought of cross-processing and was experimenting with CS3 and discovered this on the web. http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/or/cross-processing.html

Also discovered CS3 has a x pro layer built in already - pretty nifty.

Lovely Shots

Mr Nick Reeks
Sound man beyond par has just returned from shoot on Baffin Island .... he said pooing through an ice hole at -25 degrees C was not his best experience ..... still he shot on slide and then had it cross processed. Lovely photos so trying to blag a few shots for my walls ....

Shooting on Provia 100 (no exposure adjustment) and processed C41. Quite a bit of grain - was always told to overexpose .5 to 1 stop ....... will experiment myself.

first dev and contact

Sent film in to snappy snaps - realised film loaded wrong as first frame cut off. Auto dev machine has only got mask for 6x9 so cutoff at the sides ... need to hurry and get the epson scanner organised.

But we might be moving house so need to delay purchase for a while otherwise just another thing to pack and move.

New Lens and Horseman Bar

Just bought a new lens (manual) for my Nikon D200 - needed to replace the Nikon 85 1.8 pice of cr*p plastic lens that fell on a carpeted floor from 2 foot and now all the aperture blades rest in a heap inside the lens. Meant to send it off for repair but have a feeling it will be more costly than replacing.

Voigtlander Nokton 58mm 1.4 in ais mount. Lots of good reviews and images I have seen seem pretty impressive .... love shooting wide open so hopefully a pleasant addition to the kit.

Also took the time to order some 120 film (neopan 400) and a crash bar for the Horseman.

Old SCALA photos I like

Both photos © Richard Crawford
This was from my first early use of Agfa Scala. As soon as I got to love it - it seemed that AGFA withdrew it leaving only specialist processors to fleece money out of its fans.



If memory serves me right this was on a Nikon F5 with that most fantastic of Nikon Lenses the 17-35mm ED 2.8

Lens still great but not as useful on the smaller sensor of digital Nikons (bring on the full sensor D400) apart from the £2800 FX sensor Nikon D3.

A new Scanner

So toying with the idea of a new scanner - used to have a Nikon Coolscan 5 for my 35mm trannies but very impressed with side by side comparisons using Epson flatbeds ... choice now is between a 4990 the V700 or V750 for scanning the 6x12 negs.

Obviously anything amazing I will send off for a drum scan but want something that is pretty good quality.

So far I am probably going to get the V700 as you can get the odd bargain.

Inspiration IV

© Scheffold Vizner