Film – Page 80 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Is Anyone There?

Last year I was hiking in a favorite area, and came across a movie set. This was what was there, along with spooky gates and other such things. It was situated in a public place. It was Easter Sunday.

There was a security guard there. He yelled and wave his arms at us – like a ghost? – telling us we couldn’t even look at the set, much less photograph it. Well, my taxes pay for the park, it is public property, and I wasn’t hurting anything. I got this picture, but wish I had gotten more.

Later, I called the city, and complained, and they assured me I was within my rights, and they were also annoyed with the movie company as they had emphasized the fact it is on public property.

Unknown film; with a Canonet GIII QL rangefinder ca. 1970.

Thread

This next year I want to explore film photography more. This picture is not really exciting, but it is a jpg produced on a professional scanner by a professional film developing company. I haven’t gotten the negatives back yet, but I suspect it is a 400 iso film; I hope the negs will tell me which film is what!

I like the grain, and I like the colors – not what I would normally get in a SOOC image on any of my digital cameras. In LR, I can really manipulate the noise / grain to make it nearly disappear – but is that what I really want to do?

Looking at the scans, I see there is a lot to consider in film photography, especially since it really does look different than digital, even in a jpg!

Spring Growth

This is a post-production image from my first roll of film in the Nikon FM2N. It is Fuji Superia Xtra 400, bought at the drugstore, developed at the drugstore. Lens is a Vivitar Close Focus 28mm lens.

If you click on the image, a new one will come up. If you have a magnifying glass for your cursor, click again, and the picture will blow up to the original size of the scan. Kinda interesting?

Spring Growth

Spring Growth-Edit

I did a little post-processing of one of the few images I liked from my “checking for a light leak” roll of film. I pushed the colors, and upped the detail a little, as well as the contrast. Below is a detail of the same image.

I am rather intrigued by film and how it processes from analog to digital. I now have a roll of Kodak TMax 400 in the Nikon FM2N (same camera that had this image in it), and took it out for a walk under the nearby oaks. Black and white in the woods. I will have the TMax processed and scanned at a professional lab.

First Shots

Yesterday I went out with two film cameras – the Canonet QL17 G-III rangefinder, and a new-to-me Nikon FM2N. The former I have used in the past, and know it is in overall good condition. The Nikon, though, came from eBay, and is a well-used camera. There is dust in the prism and mirror set up, but I didn’t know if there were any light leaks, so I needed to test it out before anything else. As a note, none of these pictures have any post-processing; they are as they came from the local pharmacy.

QL17

My past complaints with this little camera was my inability to really “get” the focusing. This time around, it was better. As with anything, practice helps. These pictures were for practice on focusing, and getting a feel of the exposures. The needle for the exposures no longer works except when the camera is on “A” – thus, out comes the light meter. The light meter did a great job. Subject content aside, here are some results of my practicing with this camera, indoors and out.

This had a Kodak film in it – and I forget which one! I do know that it has been in the camera for a few years. I like the colors. I also see I will need a polarizing filter on it to do justice to the skies, or else use an ND filter for brighter situations.

This little camera has a permanent lens, a 40mm 1.7 that has a good reputation. In general, I am pleased with the camera; now I have to work with it in different situations.

Nikon FM2N

This camera is a small one, and well-rated in general terms of build and quality. I got it because I can attach any of my Nikon F-mount lenses to it – a definite plus considering my digital camera is a Nikon! The ones which will not work on it are any of the G lenses, as they interface with digital cameras to focus – there are no focusing rings to use, as there are on the D lenses or earlier. It can take AI, and AIS, but not the non-AI lenses. I used a 28mm close-focusing Vivitar lens. Here are the examples I took, using film from the local drug store, Fuji Superia Xtra 400.

The Fuji film is a bit more punchy, perhaps, than the Kodak. Obviously, no light leaks. The metering system in the camera works, using +, 0, -, and a combinations thereof. It was nice to be able to use a different lens, and do some close-up work as permitted by the lens.

Conclusion

I like both cameras. I am indifferent about the quality of the pictures, and this makes me wonder about the quality of the films, but this might have no bearing on anything. I plan to head out to a place I photograph a lot, just to see what I can put together.

Another issue is the processing. Since my needs were pretty simple – light leak? no light leak? – my demands were not high. However, I am not too pleased with the size of the jpgs I got back from the local fast photo – few over 1 meg. Way too small to edit. However, now I can play with some of my resizing software to see what the results might be, and perhaps I won’t be too disappointed.