Chalmers via Soviet Russia

I took this about two years ago for International Commie Camera Day. I used a Zorki 4 with an Industar 50 lens (not the sharpest), and if memory serves, some Fuji 400.

And those are indeed birds on the pointy bits of the tower.

Agfa Isola - first results

Again, there appears to be light leakage from the lack of tightness of the roll. It wasn't unexpected.

This isn't too bad a camera, but it feels awfully light, and it's only marginally more complicated than a Holga, so it might not get a lot of use. But I do like it.

Zeiss Ikon Nettar - first results

Not too shabby. The results are probably on par with my sadly defunct Isolette. There appears to be a bit of light leakage around the bottom of most of the images, which stems from the roll not being very tightly wound. If anyone has tips on how to avoid this, it would be helpful.

I think this would make a good camera to take when my wife and I got for day trips hither &/or thither - it's fairly compact, simple to use, and in such good condition I could never imagine a situation where it would fail completely. I just have to get that winding issue sorted and I think it'll be close to perfect.

ol' timey

Latest photos from the Holga 135. I am more and more impressed with this camera every time I get results back. I was a bit worried it might be a bit like a "pseudo-Holga" in that it mimics the look of the Holga 120, however I think that would be a bit unfair to say: the Holga 135 is definitely it's own camera.

Film used was Fuji Neopan 400.

Echo (part III)

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

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)

Waub's Bay

New Year's Eve 2009. A shame I missed all the lightning.

Kiev 6C photos

Latest photos from the MURK. Took about 3 weeks for it to come back via the local camera chain, and cost a small fortune (thanks to someone requesting high-res scans.

Top one is my birthday cake as presented by my wife a few months back.

The three in the middle are of our cat, Ava. She doesn't usually play up to the camera like this. Poser.

The bottom two are from Bridport in NE Tasmania. Nice beach for swimming. People love it. I don't blame them.

I'm loving the MURK. It's one hell of a camera. A bastard to load the film if you're in any kind of a hurry, though. But so far, it hasn't let me down in the quality of images it produces.

And as I am currently prone to making broad sweeping statements of love, I'd like to go on the record as saying I now love square format. A lot.

some recent (and not so recent) photos...

I found a roll of film behind the chest of drawers in the hallway. Turns out it included a couple of photos (bottom two) from our portrait session with our wedding photographer. This roll was taken using the Vilia, which I haven't had much time for recently, unfortunately.

The other photos (top three) are from a recent BBQ at Stu & Sam's house, which involved the playing of Wii...

Zeiss Ikon Contaflex - first results (finally)

8 months down the track, I've finally got some results from the Zeiss:






Also the first roll of Fuji Neopan 400 (B&W, not C41) I've had developed. It's quite grainy, but I don't mind. Seems to do the trick, and at the price I paid I'm certainly not going to complain about quality.

Having another look at it, the film does seem a bit cold, so it might be well suited to non-people shots (architecture? abstract? studies?). I have to admit there were a few people/animal & landscape shots in there that I just didn't like all that much. Well exposed, in focus, but not quite suited to the film.

Could just be the development! Anyways, just my initial thoughts on a film I think I quite like...

Kiev 6C - first results...

The first roll from the Kiev 6C (AKA "The MURK"). I'm pleased, even if the shots aren't that particularly interesting. I don't think I've metered the images well as the water is washed out in quite a few of the images. Either I didn't meter well, or the meter isn't metering well.

Either way, I'm encouraged by the Kiev's performance on this occasion.

Sausages, Monkeys & Cyclamens

Reala gone?

I was told today that Reala is no longer being manufactured. As I can't find anything to back this up, I'm running with the idea that it might have been a sales pitch (especially as the salesperson in question also said "we'll be doing an order soon, so if you want to buy 20 rolls, you better get in quick". Hmmmm.

I'll wait until I confirm this news before I start to panic.

Velvia? No thanks.

When we finally booked our honeymoon to NZ, I went a bit nuts with the idea of taking the Minolta on a bit of a trip. I'd always regretted not taking it to Europe in 2007, so I was determined to make this a good'un.

So I stocked up on film: 10 x Reala, 2 x Velvia 100, 2 x Kodak slide film (not used).

After quite a while of waiting, I finally got the Velvia developed. Results above. The thing holding me back was that it was going to cost a lot of money to have them developed & scanned (about $42 each film done locally). SO thanks to a reasonably favourable return from Mr Swan, I finally got them done.

And I found out that I don't much like Velvia. It's okay, but not something I'll be using again. Feels a bit...er...over saturated. Silly thing to notice about Velvia, I know. But I just don't much like the feel of it. Over saturated & very cold (the examples above don't relfect this well, as all those scenes were fairly cold anyways).

Another learning experience. I'll stick to Fuji & Ilford print film in future.

Agfa success

First roll from the Agfa Isolette. I'm pleased. I had to eyeball the exposure, but you can't really go wrong with 800 film, can you?

Kudos to local camera chain store for getting the job done well.

Now, bring on that Kiev...

Mode: Acquire

Recently I've just been buying film, not shooting it. Apart from the brief hiccup that was International Commie Camera Day, I haven't taken a single photo, let alone had anything developed.

Anyways, in the latest instalment of my saga to give the local photography chain store a "go", my order of Pan F came in...in 120. Useful, seeing as I don't own a manual 120 camera. I doubt the Holga would deal with a fim so slow (or more correctly, I wouldn't have the patience to make it work). So it'll be another week or so now. Patience, patience. I did buy some Fuji Pro 400H to compensate, although I am still also waiting for the 800Z to come in.

Honestly, it would be much easier for me just to go to the Fuji Pro Shop in the UK, but the postage cost annoys me a bit. If I had someone to go halves with, I wouldn't hesitate...

Fuji disposable

Pictures taken with Fuji Disposable.

We did a bit of sea kayaking near Nelson during our honeymoon. We took a waterproof disposable camera, which thankfully was a Fuji - loaded with Superia 800. I'm quite pleased with the results. I really appreciate Fuji film, the results are always pleasing. And they seem to still care about film, and I'm not sure Kodak do.

Film arrival

My Fuji order arrived yesterday. That meks it 7 days from the UK. Not bad for a parcel destined for the antipodes.

They also gave me a nice choose-film.com pen.

Now I have to find an occasion to test the 160S. I've been promising to do some portrait shots for some friends whose wedding i missed while I was overseas (a gift of contrition), so I'll probably use that as it is supposed to be good for skin tones & stuff.

The Neopan? I just got it because I wanted to have a nice stock of B&W film.

And these last few days I have been eyeing off the Holga thinking "what can I do with you?", so I may even see if they have any short-dated 120 film, as the exchange rate + the postage makes for a good deal at the moment. I had a look at Calumet's website & they wanted to charge me $70US for the same films, + $111US postage! No thanks, I'll stick with the mother country, thanks.

I'm just not sure what to take photos of now. I like taking photos, but I have no idea what I really like to take photos of. Except Heidi & Ava. And one of them's a cat.

A couple of photos from Strathmore, a property behind Evandale. Incidentally, this is where I was married 4 weeks ago. These shots are from the morning after our celebration (bear in mind this is not representative of where our wedding actually took place...that was in the garden area around the other side).

Ilford XP2, Minolta XG-M, 50mm lens. And, if I remember correctly, the first time I've used the UV filter. Whether it had any effect on the resulting film is difficult to say; some say UV filters are only good for protecting your lens from scratches. I have a weak theory that as we have higher levels of UV in our skies down here (thanks to proximity to the ozone hole), it's not completely unneccesary. But I have nothing to back that up.

--

Following this wonderful day, we spent three weeks in sunny New Zealand by way of honeymoon. I took 10 rolls of Fuji Reala 100, 2 rolls of Fuji Velvia 100, and picked up 2 rolls of Kodachrome 100 (which went unused). I think I have 3 rolls of Reala left. I'll be developing those in the next few weeks - more correctly, Stallards will be developing them, and I will be paying them - so I'll post the results as they happen. First time I've used Reala or Velvia, so it'll be interesting to see the results. The Reala I shot at 80iso on advice from a friend, the Velvia I shot at 100 as I've heard horror stories about correct exposure...and as I'm new to Velvia (and slide in general), I thought it best to stick with the safest path, and branch out if I feel like it later.

I'm excited to see how the Reala comes out, as I've had nothing but good results with the standard consumer-level Fuji film (Superia 100, 200, 400), and Reala is supposed to be the bee's knees of Fuji neg. Green is supposed to come out wonderfully vivid, so we'll see...Heidi kindly obliged by buying and wearing a wonderful green knit from Akaroa on our third day in NZ, I guess that will come out pretty amazinglier and stuff.