caught off guard

The fountain in Princes Square, Launceston, 2002-2003.
Probably taken with a Minolta XG-M, on Ilford HP-5+.

Family Portrait

 

It's honestly not as bad as some might think.

Left to right, top to bottom:

Minolta XG-M; BelOMO Vilia; Holga 135BC

Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super; Agfa Isola; Holga 120GN; Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515/18

LSI Fisheye 2; Kiev 4

Holga 120SF; Kiev 6C; LOMO Sokol 2

Kodak Brownie 127; Zorki 4; Agfa Isolette 2; Moskva 4

extension tubes

Had a chance to use the new extesnion tubes last week, just wandered around the house taking some photos. It was much easier without needing to juggle an unattached lens.

I'll admit they aren't the most exciting images. But it's all about testing it out and stuff. Eventually I'll get around to photographing interesting things using the extension tubes.

memory tape

An image doesn't always have to be in focus to work for you.

Macro on the cheap

As I am a bit of a tight-arse (or, more correctly, I have a mortgage to pay off), I am reluctant to spend upwards of $300 for a good quality macro lens for the Minolta. A few weeks ago I came across a zero-cost way to get around this: you simply take off the fixed-focal length lens, and hold it backwards against the film body. Voila! Macro lens for nix.

The main issue I encountered is that focussing suddenly becomes a case of moving the whole camera back and forth until things are sharp. As I was also holding the lens in place at the same time, this was trickier than it sounds -  especially as I was trying to prevent light leaks as well. Not helping the situation was the need for the aperture to be wide open at 1.7 to cater for the poor lighting in my kitchen.

For the people interested, I used a Minolta XG-M slr, the lens was a Rokkor 1.7 50mm prime lens, and the film was Fuji Pro 800z. The subject above is a nozzle for piping icing onto cakes. The subjects below are a fork, the tip of the nozzle, and some spilt flour.

It didn't turn out too badly. Here's some other results...

Rolls

I miss summer...

I need to get some more Ilford Pan F 50. Just a shame that it takes two weeks for a film to come back from the lab here...

Eggs (part 2)

Eggs

Echo (part III)

Never known a cat to snuggle up in the bathtub, especially when it's still wet.

Echo

Gigantic Orange Head

Good Friday 2010.

Holga & Minolta

These two have been my two recent favourites. I haven't seen results from the Holga 135 yet, but the amount of shots I've taken mean I should get something done about that sooner rather than later.

I am enjoying using the Holga 135, but it does make me feel slightly not-in-control. I prefer to have more than two apertures to choose from, and more than one shutter speed. I might just have to get used to that, though - this is part of the reason I choose to use Holgas, all the 'technical' side of things is dispensed with straight away.

However, I do much enjoy the Minolta. There's a challenge there (although the Aperture Priority mode can hi-jack this somewhat), and the results are usually superb - especially with that Rokkor 1.7 lens on board! I've heard one or two people say that the lens-film combination are what matter, and the camera itself doesn't have a lot to do with end result. I say "poo" to that (with knobs on) - if you're not comfortable with the capabilities and features of the camera body you use, it doesn't matter how good your lens or film is because you'll end up with crap.

That's not to say my photos are brilliant by any stretch. But I'm never disappointed by the Minolta.

Old stuff: 6

Minolta XG-M, Ilford HP5.

Old stuff: 7

Sometime 2003-2003.

Old stuff: 5

The gorge in flood, 2004.

Minolta XG-M, Ilford HP5.

Holga weirdness & Kodak Ektar vs. Echo

The top three images are from my first roll of Kodak Ektar 100. I am most impressed. It's close to replacing Reala as my favourite film already. We'll see what further films come out like. The kitten in the images is Echo, our new bundle of destructive joy.

The bottom two images came form the Holga. I can't explain the rather unexpected effects (although the usual light leaks seem to be at least some of it). Why the numbers & symbols from the backing paper are burnt onto the negative is beyond me. Having said that, I don't mind the images themselves...

Clown (with boil)

Old stuff: 4

Same fountain, same set-up.

Old stuff: 3

From a fountain in central Launceston.

2002-2003, Minolta XG-M, Ilford HP5...