Playing with the Christmas decorations is not an activity reserved for cats. When I tested the Petri 7s for the first time in the beginning of December, I noticed how good the lens seemed to be. Even though my test then showed that the camera had seen better days, the f1,8 lens turned out to give very nice, details and I decided to shoot some frames to test it out. I decided to go with the Christmas, or actually Advent, decorations. I lit a candle in a glass candle holder, and let that work as a foreground, and I placed the rest of the decoration approximately 80cm away from the lens, which would be the closest focus length for this camera.
My setup. Petri 7s on a black glass plate with the decorations. I have taped the camera because the back has a tendency to «pop open» at any point.
I went with shots at f1,8, f4 and f16 to see how much difference there would be in sharpness and how they would turn out. I did not change the lighting conditions, but I adjusted my shutter speeds to compensate for the smaller aperture. for the f16 image, that was two and ha half minutes with compensation for the Schwarzschild effect.
Petri 7s – Ilford FP4 plus Xtol Stock. f1,8 1/8 seconds – f16 180 seconds – f4 1/2 seconds
All in all I think the lens gave me the results I anticipated. The f1,8 gives me a very nice bokeh, but the focus is a little bit off, so maybe the focus ring isn’t as accurate as I would hope for. The f4 image gives more sharpness and retains the nice bokeh feel, and the f16 gives a very sharp image.
The mood changes a lot between the images, and I am not sure which one is my favorite. You can make a judgement yourself, and I hope the images are to your liking.
Some days ago, I was contacted by another Norwegian photographer who has a collaboration with Ilford Photo. He kindly sent med some rolls of Ilford Delta100, some DD-X developer, Fixer and Wetting agent to try out. Today I went out with my Bronica ETR to try it out. Before I go any further, visit his amazing gallery on Flickr and read his posts here.
When I heard that I would be sent Delta100, I was thrilled. When I took up analog photography again some years ago, Delta 100 was one of the films that really rekindled my interest in film-photography and I find it to be one of the best films I know about. The smooth and soft T-grain structure gives pleasant results. even when developed in Rodinal. In most cases I shoot Delta 100 at 50, but today I chose to go at box speed, because of the lighting conditions.
Reklamer
My location for this outing was Tallodden. A beautiful little place not too far from where I live, and I brought my Bronica ETR, some square filters and a tripod. I always mount the Bronica on a tripod. It is too heavy to shoot steadily by hand, especially at shallow apertures or longer shutter speeds.
My setup at the location.
There is something about walking around with a proper MF SLR like this. It makes people interested, and I had a shot chat with a nice elderly man who was out for a little stroll along the lake. He told me that he had not seen anyone with such equipment around that area for years, and asked me all sorts of questions about the camera, my lens, film, plans and where I would post my images for him to see.
A lonely autumn leaf. Bronica ETR w 50mm Zenzanon f2,8. Shot at f2,8 1/30th with yellow filter. Developed in Ilford Ilfotec DD-X 1+4
I spent some time scouting around for interesting subjects that would give me a smooth and calm mood to my images. I wanted the fine grain the Delta100 gives to be one of the main focus on my shots. I chose to use a yellow filter for most of the images to boost some contrast, and get the most out of the range. But I swapped for an orange filter for shots where I wanted the «silky water» effect, and more depth in the range.
I then went home and developed.
Reklamer
This is the first time I have ever used DD-X. Actually I have never used Ilford Developers before, so I was very excited to see what the grain structure and the range would be like. This is a shoot where I would normally have gone for Kodak Xtol, and I am comparing a bit to what I would have expected from Xtol.
I am very happy with my results, and I am happy to see the smooth and lovely grain in this shoot, and I think the DD-X brought it out beautifully. I still have more rolls to shoot and develop in this developer, so I will not come with any analysis of any kind based on my limited knowledge, but so far I am very happy.
Bronica ETR w 50mm Zenzanon lens. yellow and orange filter. Ilford Delta 100, DD-X 1+4
Once again, thank you for sending me films and chemistry to try out. More entries with this film and developer will come. Also a video of me making darkroom prints of some of these images.
As you may remember from a previous post, I came across a strange, unknown camera and bought it cheaply at a thrift shop. The Camera is an M42 mount SLR, and I tried it out with a roll of StreetCandy ATM400 a few weeks back. The other day, I took this camera out once again with a roll of Ilford FP4 Plus in it, and my aim was to test the depth of field and the sharpness of the Weistar Lens.
I went for a shot walk this day, just a few kilometers, and I chose to look for opportunities for shooting at apertures bigger than f4. I did some nice shots around Elgsjøen, where I both tested the DOF on a little branch with leaves close to the water, and on some stumps that were spread around for people to sit on.
Reklamer
I was taken somewhat aback of the incredibly pleasant bokeh this lens produces. In addition to this, the subject is pin sharp and has a crisp tone to it. I must say that this lens surprises me, and I am looking forward to playing with this as a portrait lens at some point. (Stay tuned)
Weist SL35 and Super Weistar 135mm f2,8. Here with he beautiful grain provided by Ilford FP4 Plus at box speed in Xtol stock.
If you ever come across a package like this. Don’t hesitate. Don’t doubt. Don’t walk away. Buy this camera and lens and shoot happily ever after.
A bit more than a week ago, i bought a rather cheap Zenit E Olympic edition off eBay. It arrived in the mail today and I loaded it with the first film I found, an Ilford HP5, and went for a spin at an old school building.
The lighting conditions were a bit demanding, so I decided to go for pushing one step to 800 ISO, and shooting at shallow apertures, to really play with that amazing Bokeh of the Helios 44, f2 lens that followed the camera.
The Zenit E and the HP5 that was used.
I decided to develop in my favourite solution, Kodak HC110 1+31, and at slighgly above 20 degrees water, I used 9 minutes 15 seconds.
I got a little surprise when the negatives came out of the tank. Some frames were immensely overexposed, while others were close to perfect. I used the same light meter app, and followed it carefully, so all frames shloud theoretically be equally over or underexposed. I’ll fiddle a bit more with it and familiarise myself with it. Maybe the main issue is the photographer not the camera.
An example of the amazing image quality I got
All in all, I am very satisfied with the results from this adventure, and I cannot wait for the next adventure with this little, Russian friend. The Bokeh and sharpness from the Helios 44, combined with the sturdy feel of the camera inspires me.
I also really love the look of HP5 at 800!
Still cannot remember what this is!
«Photograph not only what you see but also what you feel.» – Ansel Adams
Cheap Camera Adventures 