Frames of Norway 4

Finally, after a spring seeming never to produce any heat or greens in nature, summer temperatures have finally arrived. And what arrival it took on. Temperatures shot up 20 degrees in just a few hours and from dull and bland grey weather we suddenly saw blue skies without any noticeable clouds. Weather where one has to think about how to deal with the conditions. I decided to go to a local woodland-area called Sevalskogen. An area I just noticed for having really nice «old-forest» conditions and being relatively untouched for a while.

This is also an area that was heavily disputed in the 1920s and 30s. In these years this farm was owned by former Vardal Kommune, the municipality, until it was sold to a private farmer in 1932. At this time, the forest and the uncultivated fields were still owned by the municipality, and was broken up and sold out as so-called «bureisningsbruk». These were plots that people could buy and build their own farms on. This was a very unpopular decision and after just a few (I believe 4) plots were sold, the rest of the land was given back to Seval farm. This lot of land was obviously smaller than the original farm, both with forest and land. All the farms that were built in this time still stands today.

A fragment of the path – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h

To accompany me on this little outing, I chose the Hasselblad 500c. I have found myself to lean very much towards medium format lately, and I love using cameras with a waist-level viewfinder. I chose to roll the camera up with some Fujifilm pro 400h, a film that was sadly discontinued in January this year. I find this film to be a perfect mix of subtle colours and sharp green tones, and I find it to lean towards more of a water-color feel in the way it renders the images.

I went out with a happy spirit, but I found myself to really struggle with «getting going» this time. Just to get started, I made myself a very simple path-scene as you can see above. It is not under any circumstance a very strong composition, but it really helped me to get «into it» and get the right feel. I then progressed on and embarked into a felling-field. And here, the path mysteriously disappeared. My guess is that it has somehow been consumed by lack of use and new lush vegetation rising above the chopped down trees.

The felling field – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h

Although I couldn’t find the path, I saw a lot of small amphibians and I would guess there would be some adders lurking around the area, and since the path was a bit confusing, I decided to abandon the search for a path in the sunshine, and rather focus on the area I was already in. I turned my attention to a little tree-stub and attempted my luck there instead.

A tree-stump thingie – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h

I then started my walk back to the car, and I came across a scene with lovely windflowers and some forest in the background. I decided to capture it and I will share it with you here.

Windflowers sparkling in the green – Hasselblad 500c w planar 80mm f2,8 – Fujifilm pro400h

Misty Woodland

Spring is an incredible time of year in Norway. This spring has been incredibly cold and slow, and even now, in the middle of May, we are bothered with snow in the forest. The good thing about that is that you, as a photographer isn’t very bothered with other people along the paths and you in most cases have the place to yourself. Today, I went out into some local woodland that I know quite well. Yesterday was a very rainy day, and it rained all night, so I figured that the snow was most probably melted away in the forest by now. I was very wrong, and I was not able to walk further into the forest than about four hundred meters before the snow was too deep. Also, the path looked more or less like a stream, and I had the feeling that most people would go for a swim rather than a walk on a location like this.

Traces of winter – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

Nevertheless, I went out this morning and waded myself through the soaking wet forest floor searching for nice woodland-compositions. These kind of conditions, grey, wet and misty days, are the conditions that inspire me the most. They makes the location stand out in a very different way than you would see it on sunny days, and you spot details and areas you wouldn’t see if the light was brighter.

On this particular outing, I went for the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, a TLR-camera that I have owned for a while, and that I absolute love using. There is something about this camera that inspire me. The world looks very nice through the waist-level viewfinder on the Ikoflex, and there is something about the way the lens renders the images that really suits my eye. I chose to shoot at shallow depths of field in this particular outing for two different reasons.

First of all, I wanted to emphasis the relaxing bokeh-feeling this lens gives and how smooth the sharpness of this lens is at around f3.5 and f4. It gives a very relaxed feeling to the scene. Secondly, my particular Ikoflex has some faults with its slower shutter-speeds and below 1/50th can give a very unpredictable result when used. From no activity at all, to just a random shutter-speed. I should probably have it serviced, but I guess fixing this one would be too expensive compared to its value, and it serves me well as it is at this point.

Scene of melting – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

For that last reason, I chose to go with a very flexible film to give me some wiggle-room with my exposures. I went for a roll of Ilford HP5 plus that I shot at its box-speed of ISO 400. After seeing the conditions in the forest when I came there, with that layer of mist that I didn’t expect to find there due to the conditions in general, I was very happy about this choice of film for that reason as well. Ilford HP5 plus is fantastic at capturing the mood of a misty forest.

Old mans beard – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

Even though the walk this time wasn’t that long, and the way there was rather wet and unpleasant; I actually had to jump across a stream of melting-water to reach the path; I got some images that I am very happy with. I also really enjoyed my little adveture into the wet and misty forest, and I will certainly be out again in these kinds of conditions soon.

From a wet and misty day in the woods – Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex, Ilford HP5 plus, Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

Frames of Norway pt3 – Redoing pt2

A few weeks ago, I went out to create a second episode of my new series «Frames of Norway», a series where I explore the landscapes of Norway with my analog cameras. I also dive somewhat into the history of the location and other interesting aspects of landscape and the characteristics of the area.

For this second part, I visited Amlisberget close to Moelv to enjoy the beautiful views over lake Mjøsa from high up. At the time, I was very excited about being out for that trip. It was my first real walk in nature for a while, and I got too trigger-happy and blew through a roll of FP4plus far too quickly. I think parts of my problem this day, was that I had the Canon T70 and shot aperture-priority, This made me not think well enough about my compositions to make proper photographs. I went into what I call the «digital trap» and just rattles off the shots and ended up with something that I am not happy with. At the time, when I looked at the images after development, I was very excited and felt they were nice, but after a while, I am not happy at all. So unhappy actually, that I decided to redo the trip.

For this round, I chose to go with medium format, I rolled up the Hasselblad with a roll of Kodak Ektar 100. I figured that most of my compositions in the last attempt were actually dependent on colour, and the weather was rather nice, and Ektar looks good when there is some light around. Also, the fact that I only have 12 shots and have to set them up manually using a light-meter, helps med focus and things closer about what I am doing.

Parts of the path – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F11 1sec – Kodak Ektar 100

One of the greatest things about doing landscape-photography in Norway, is the culture of «friend associations». People sign up as «friends of the area» and spend their time and knowledge preparing and tidying good paths for everyone to use. These people work as volunteers and they are not even always reimbursed for their expenses. This path that I am following this time is marked and maintained by members of two different associations. The local sports-team and Moelvmarkas Venner. I don’t think we can measure the value of their work in money. Access to nature has been very important for the Norwegians during the difficult Pandemic-times.

Parts of the path – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F5.6 1/8sec – Kodak Ektar 100

Much of the path towards Amlisberget goes through woodland, parts of it through copse-areas and some through your typical forest area. Most of the trees are spruces, as it is the most commonly grown tree in this area of Norway. One thing I learned very quickly at this path was to watch my steps. Not even a kilometer into my trip, I saw the first adder. Not that this snake possesses any threat to me at all, it is lightly venomous and not in any way aggressive. Most bites happen on hands and fingers when people try to pick them up or on feet when people step on them.But at the same time, I don’t want to upset my «host» when I am visiting their home. In all, I saw two adders (Vipera Berus) on this trip, and I heard the sound of five others creeping away in the grass as I was following the path. Sorry that I am not giving you any images of them here, I did not have the lens to photograph these images this time.

I walked out around noon this day because I wanted to have the mid-day lights and to use the blue sky and white clouds to my advantage. This gave me relatively short exposure times for most of my images that were not taken in the forest.

Lonely spruces in the view – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F16 1/125sec – Kodak Ektar 100

As you can see in these coming images, this is one of the most important forestry-areas in Norway, and it is located on the outskirts of the huge Taiga – the boreal forest area that goes across the whole Northern part of the globe. It is said to start for real a few kilometers further east, but you can still see the same kind of landscape as you would see throughout the Taiga, from Løten to Vladivostok.

Much of the industry in this area is also based on forestry and wood-work, and in Norway the name «Moelven» is widely known to mean quality lumber. The lumber-industry in this area is still one of the strongest in Norway.

The View – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F16 1/125sec – Kodak Ektar 100

The trip up to Amlisberget is recommended for everyone by me, the last 900 meters are quite steep and you should make sure to have enough water for this part when you are walking. There is also no guess-work where you need to go, as the path is well marked and easy to follow. If you walk in the morning or around noon, you will most likely have the place to yourself. The only person I met on my way up, was a local fireman who was out, putting up warning signs for forest fires. On my way back; however, I met more people. The trip is worth it, the view is magnificent.

The View – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar – F16 1/125sec – Kodak Ektar 100 (The colours are a bit off in this one for some reason)

Testing out some cheap film

I am not usually bulk-rolling film, but not long ago, I got hold of a 100ft roll of Agfa APX100 for very cheap money. I decided to give it a go, as I have previously been very fond of affordable films like the Fomapan 100 which I also tend to bulk-load, as it is relatively inexpensive to do. I have found my way of exposing and developing Fomapan 100 that gives me the results I want. This method includes exposing at EL 50 and shave 20% off the recommended development time with Kodak Xtol 1+0.

As the Agfa APX100 is a brand new film for me, I decided to shoot it at box-speed and develop as the massive development chart suggests. As Kodak Xtol have been out of stock in Norway for a very long time now, I decided to use Ilford ID-11 to develop this film. I chose the dilution 1+1.

Winter leaves as Spring emerges – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

Immediately, when looking at the negatives and their scans, they appear slightly under-exposed, and it is clear to me that this film needs more exposure than I gave it at this first tryout. Especially definition in the darker areas is easily lost, and I think that a slight pull could give me a flatter negative that will be easier to work with in post-processing. My next roll will be tested with the method I use for Fomapan 100, and I will evaluate those results as well.

Spring by a frozen lake – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

For this test, I chose to go with the Konica Autoreflex TC. A camera I bought this autumn and that I have found to work very well and be reasonably accurate at shutter speeds faster than 1/60, which is the area in which I chose to shoot this time. The lens is a very standard Hexanon 50mm f1.8, a lens that is reasonably sharp and is easy to focus. Some of the images were shot using a yellow filter and some without the yellow filter.

The film has the amount of grain that I would expect from a 100 ISO traditional film and it seems to me as it behaves very much like the Fomapan 100 in its sensitivity. The lighting conditions on the day were quite contrasty, and I find that to be very clear from the negatives. They seem more contrasty than I would expect from these conditions with my standard go-to slow film, FP4 plus. That said though, it is important to clarify that I am basing this on just one outing and one roll of film, and that I by no means am a film-expert. I will use this film some more over the coming weeks, and find out how well it works for me and how I can get it to work for my style and preference.

Rocks in the ice – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

What I found when working with these scans in Lightroom, was that getting the correct contrast-levels was tricky. You cannot go to far before you lose your shadows and you easily blow out the whites. The images taken with the yellow filter in general give a better balance in the contrasts.

Darker areas are easily lost – Konica Autoreflex TC – 50mm Hexanon f1.8 – Agfa APX100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

An enjoyable walk

The other day, I went out for a little walk by the lake Mjøsa, biggest lake in Norway. Along me I brought the Canon T70 and a roll of Ilford FP4 Plus. It was a rather windy day and the weather was dull and overcast and with some threatening skies promising some downfall in some form. Whether it would come as snow or as rain was anyone’s guess at this point. Since the weather was rather unpredictable, I chose to not bring any video-equipment, so this is a blog-only post. For readers only.

Threatening skies ahead – Canon T70 + Canon 50mm f1,8 FD lens – Ilford FP4 Plus – Adox Atomal 49

At this time of year the lake is still low and one can walk on what most of the year is submerged by the lake. Once the snow-melting in the mountains picks up some time in the middle of may the water level in the lake will rise and the are I photographed this time will noe be accessible.

Frozen water motion – Canon T70 + Canon 50mm f1,8 FD lens – Ilford FP4 Plus – Adox Atomal 49

I snapped some shots on my way along the lake towards a little woodland area not far from the main path along the lake. I noticed a lot of motion in the water, and I tried to freeze it in action with the higher shutter speeds on the Canon, and even though some of the ended up slightly under-exposed I also got a few decent exposures.

Once again I chose to develop this film with Adox Atomal 49, a developer I know gives me very fine grain and is very good at keeping shadow-details without blowing out the whites. Whether this is considered a compensating developer or not, I am uncertain, but I find it to give me relatively flat negatives that are easy to scan and work with in post-processing. After using 10 liters of this developer I have found that the dilution 1+1 is the right one for my taste. I also like the way you get Perceptol-grain without having to sacrifice film speed. In these times when Kodak Xtol seems to be in shot supply, I have used Atomal instead. However, for my next big-batch I am mixing Ilford ID-11 instead of Adox Atomal 49.

A bent tree – Canon T70 + Canon 50mm f1,8 FD lens – Ilford FP4 Plus – Adox Atomal 49

After a while I approached the trees and the little woodland-area which sadly has shrunk quite a bit over the last years due to construction of new residential areas closer to the lake, but some interesting trees are still left, and with the snow disappearing, it is once again accessible.

I find woodland-photography the most pleasant challenge for me as a photographer. Shooting a decent woodland composition can be very difficult, but at the same time, working in such an environment has a certain peace to it. The feeling you get from being in the woods is unlike anything else.

Better times ahead- Canon T70 + Canon 50mm f1,8 FD lens – Ilford FP4 Plus – Adox Atomal 49

Frames of Norway 1

With this entry, I am opening a new series of entries and also Youtube-videos. In these entries, I don’t care too much about the camera or film, but rather focus on composition and my thoughts behind the choice of location or film in regards to what I wanted to achieve. Everything is allowed in these entries, regardless of price of camera. And yes, obviously I will still have some entries in the old manner too.

For the kick-off of my new series, I chose one of my favorite cameras. My Hasselblad 500c, which not by any means is a cheap camera. I love shooting square format, and the Hasselblad along with my Ikoflex are to me the most inspiring cameras I own. There could be something with the waist-level finder that just makes everything look very lively and nice and makes composition very easy.

My location for this outing is the site of an old derelict saw-mill just north of Gjøvik. Back in the day, this was a very active saw-mill with close proximity to the lake and easy access for boat-cargo on the lake. There are still a lot of poles and marks in the shallow water after extensive log-driving on Mjøsa.

Remains from the Log-driving on Mjøsa – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

Log-driving was a dangerous job and many log drivers would drown while working on floating timber. Sometimes, workers had to do the dangerous maneuver of loosening up jammed logs using a pike-pole. To utilize this tool, they had to walk on the floating logs, and sometimes, they either were hurt when the jam broke up, i.e. being crushed, or they could stamp on a loose log and fall unto the water and get stuck in the water under the massive amount of logs.

In honor of the history of these brave workers, I decided to go with a somewhat gloomy look to these images. To me, gloom means additional grain and a rather «grey» palette. A film I have often had issues with being too grainy or gloomy for my taste is the Bergger Pancro 400. I have used this film just a few times, and I still have some lying around in the freezer. I thawed up one of them and went for this choice.

It turned out better than I expected, and this film might just be perfect for this kind of shooting. A few pieces of reflection though are the following:

Be very precise when exposing Pancro 400 as it handles underexposure extremely poorly and easily loses the highlights. I tries my best to nail my exposures dead on, and did reasonably well until my lightmeter decided to produce a flat battery. After that I had to rely on a simple app on my phone, which surprisingly worked rather well.
Take your time with this film. I have tried different development cycles for this film, but this is by far my best results with it. I often shy away from very long development times of more than 12 minutes if possible, but to me, it seems like the results with Pancro400 gets better the longer you develop. This process in Adox Atomal 49 1+1 took 23 minutes.
Fix for more than the double time of what you would normally do. As in the previous point. Time is gold with this film. I fixed this one in fresh fixer for 12 minutes, double the time recommended by Bergger, and that seems to give clean negatives. Anything gives harsher grain due to remaining emulsion I guess?
Use it for its potential of making moody and gloomy shots. This is not an «everyday happy snappy film». You have to work with its strengths.

The remains of Biri Bruk – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

From my research online, I find that the sawmill was active until the early eighties. I cannot guarantee my accuracy here, but it was defunct before the nineties. In 1994, Lillehammer hosted the Winter Olympics, and the old sawmill was being restored, the goal being it becoming a restaurant. Situated along the road between two venue-towns, Lillehammer and Gjøvik, the location was ideal.

During its restoration, something happened and the old sawmill house caught fire and burned to the ground on Friday the fourth of June 1993. The fire started in the old chip-silo and quickly spread resulting in devastating damage with fire-fighters unable to over-win the fire. Today, only the foundation walls are left, and is what you can see photographed in some of these images.

Ruins of Biri Bruk – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

For me, this location has some personal value. My grandfather used to work in this place as a lorry-driver for many years, and when walking around, I can still hear his voice takling about all the interesting and struggle some days they had at work in this old sawmill. What was important for me in this outing, was to capture the mood of the place in regards to its history and how it is a symbol of a very decentralized way of structuring agriculture. And maybe most important, how we still have some remains of a very active workplace in a very smack little settlement.

Remains from the Log-driving on Mjøsa by Biri Bruk – Hasselblad 500C w 80mm Planar f2,8 -Bergger Pancro 400 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

I hope you enjoyed reading this entry, and that you can catch the mood I am trying to convey through them. I would also love hearing your thoughts about Bergger Pancro400 and if you have different or supporting experiences.

Old Wood

One of my favorite subjects for my photography is driftwood and other types of old wood, such as dry tree-roots or fallen branches that has been lying around for a while and gotten touched and greyed by the elements. To me, this represents a strength and a a token of persistence shown by nature. Yesterday, I was out very early in the morning, before sunrise with just the colours trying to capture them with my Hasselblad. Once my roll of KODAK Ektar was filled, I broke out my Olympus OM-1 with its incredible 50mm Zuiko lens and a roll of Kodak Tri-X in search of some driftwood.

Just a little sneak-in from the Hasselblad because I absolutely love this image – Hasselblad 500C – Planar 80mm f2,8 – KODAK Ektar

My location for the morning was Husodden in Søndre Land. A secluded little headland in the lake Randsfjorden, home to amazing sunrise-light and a wide selection of birds and forest colours in the summer. It is also the home of a little air-strip used by the local flying enthusiasts. I didn’t meet any of them this morning, but I made sure not to be in their way if they were coming.

Reklamer

After sunrise, but when the light was still rather bleak, I got soft and nice contrasts, but seeing the conditions become more and more contrasty, I decided to shoot tie Tri-X at 200 instead of 400. The only filter on the lens was a Hoya UV-filter, that I find to be helpful on this lens. Although it is supposed to be Multi-coated, I have found it to react somewhat with haze if used without. (Could be anything else as well, I am no lens expert)

Details in the old bark – Olympus OM-1 – 50mm Zuiko f1,8 – Kodak Tri-X @ 200 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

It never ceases to fascinate me how incredibly nice the textures in old wood can be. The image above here was taken of a very small detail on a bigger log, but really shows the worn details in that old bark and how incredibly beautiful that is if you isolate it like this. I also thin that pulling the film a stop was the correct choice for this occasion, as it gave me the opportunities to shoot wider apertures such as this f2,8 with the shutter speed 1/250th. I don’t trust the Olympus at 1/1000th after having some uneven exposures with that shutter-speed. Also, I do appreciate the extra shadow detail, but I don’t think that would have been an issue with Tri-X at this shot anyway.

For development, I chose to go with Adox Atomal 49. A developer I have used a lot the last months. I bought it after having some «bad» experiences with my usual Kodak X-tol where it didn’t mix properly (two batches) and I was curious about trying something new. Ive found Atomal to be a brilliant match with many of the films I use, especially Tri-X and FP4 plus, but also HP5 plus and Fomapan 100. It gives me very fine grain and seems to give very nice grey-tones and full film speed. Trouble is, it is somewhat cumbersome to mix and consists of three bags of powder rather than two. It has also «coloured» my 5L-container red and I will have to get a new jug for the next batch.

This old log – Olympus OM-1 – 50mm Zuiko f1,8 – Kodak Tri-X @ 200 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

The image above is taken at f 5,6 and shutter speed 1/125. I just love the lines and how it almost seems charred in the dark-area to the right bottom. The balance in this image is very soothing I find, and it really shows why I find the Olympus to be my favorite 35mm Camera.

Since I was at an airfield – Olympus OM-1 – 50mm Zuiko f1,8 – Kodak Tri-X @ 200 – Adox Atomal 49 1+1

I shot 36 images of drift-wood in different ways and I only included my top-picks here. However, on my way back to the car, I spotted the wind-indicatorthingie (whatever it is called) and decided that I would attempt a 37th frame. I find that the «last image» don’t always come out, but I figured it was worth giving it a shot. I think this was f8, but it did not take any notes about this shot.

Scouting a location and shooting slow film

Today I was out and about with one of my lovely analog cameras again looking for locations for some early-morning sunrise photo trips. I came across this lovely location called «Husodden» not too far away from where I live. Being sensible and staying local is an important part of the world we currently live in. While I was walking around Husodden to shout for possible locations, I did some photographs with the Olympus OM-1 and a roll of Rollei RPX25. I metered it at around ISO 18 (My light meter goes to ISO25, so I opened the aperture slightly more) and shot with an orange filter to get the popping effect in the sky and boost the contrasts a bit.

Randsfjorden, the lake, was still frozen and it became a white carpet in many of my images, and gave some extra contrast as well.

Sky-pop over Randsfjorden – Olympus OM-1 Rollei RPX25@18 Kodak HC110 Dil-B

I tried to use the remainders of the snow as a lead-in line in many of my images, and I aimed for a very large separation between snow and sky. In retrospect, some of these images would have benefited more from being shot with a graduated filter rather than a fill orange one.

Reklamer

I decided to develop the film with «an old friend». Kodak HC110. I have not used this developer for a very long time, but there was something about the shots I took today, that made me bring out the golden syrup and mix Dilution B. HC110 used to be my favorite developer and, it is very economical and gives really nice greys. Also, there is something about it that I just like. I don’t really know what it is, but there is something about using that thick concentrate and stirring it properly that really wakes the «geek» in me.

A quick and pleasant day out for me today, and I am really looking forward to visiting this location again at some point in the near future. Both for woodland detail work and for early morning sunrise-shots.

Eight frames of Retro 400s

On a foggy, snowy day a short while ago, I shot about half a roll of Rollei Retro 400s with my Olympus OM-1, aiming at capturing the hard contrasts of the really nasty weathered day. I cut the outing short because it got very difficult and nasty to work in the wet and snowy gale. I cut the film out of the camera, and saved the rest for another day. That day came, and I put it into my Canon T70 and went to a local church that I find very interesting to shoot.

Because of the conditions on this particular day, I chose to overexpose the film by one stop to 200, and shave off 20% of the development time. Basically a one stop pull. This would give me more shadow-detail and give me more to play on with the apertures on a bright afternoon in the snow. I never got to use that last point, as it turned out that the total number of frames left on the film was EIGHT.

Aas church on a bright afternoon – Canon T70 – Rollei Retro 400s – Foma Fomadon Excel 1+0 7m30s

My negatives were more contrasty than I thought they would be, so I am very happy that I pulled the film one stop for this shoot. I mainly shot at f11 and f8 for this outing, and I have to say that I think the little 50mm Canon Lens performs rather well. For a standard kit-lens it is decently sharp and helps me capture the moods I want. I have, however, seen some diffraction on f22, and I avoid that aperture when using this camera.

Reklamer

The aperture-priority setting on the Canon seems to work very well. Even on these shots, where the sky was very bright, I managed to retain decent detail in the sky, showing the cloud-formations etc, without using any filters.

A naked graveyard tree – Canon T70 – Rollei Retro 400s – Foma Fomadon Excel 1+0 7m30s

I also have a hard time walking past an interesting looking trees, and I saw one at this grave yard by the fence by some graves. Because of the deep snow, I was not able to study the tree and identify what type of tree it was, but it made for a really lovely composition. I shot it from two different distances because I was uncertain which one that would be the most efficient. I will include both here.

The same tree further away – Canon T70 – Rollei Retro 400s – Foma Fomadon Excel 1+0 7m30s

I also attempted a cool shot of the entry area of the church, but I am not very pleased with how it turned out. I find that it is a rather «bland» composition and that it does not either emphasis the contrast nor the shapes of the church in the way I imagined it would. This would probably have worked better if shot at box-speed.

Not very pleased with this one – Canon T70 – Rollei Retro 400s – Foma Fomadon Excel 1+0 7m30s

Playing with muted colours

And somewhat exhausted C41 chemistry

A few days ago, the weather and conditions were perfect for a little afternoon outing, and really worked set itself up for some lovely muted colours. Since I had some C41 chemistry and a few rolls of different colour films, I decided to go for Kodak ProImage 100 and the Canon T70.

I wanted to shoot hand-held, and I wanted a film that is gentle with the colours, but not either over, nor under-saturated. As it later turned out, my C41 chemistry is probably shot. The scans I got had a severe cyan-green cast, and since the C41 mix is three months old, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is a dying blix.

I chose to drive up to an old outdoor-museum, a museum with an old, lovely yellow farm-buildingand some old houses. The area is accessible for everyone at any time, and walking around there is very relaxing, since there rarely are too many people around.

The break point of a fallen branch – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 FD – Kodak ProImage100 (somewhat colour corrected)

Outside the main farm building, there was evidence of a snowy winter with heavy and mild snow. Big branches had broken off the tree outside the main building and I took the chance of photographing them, as they are likely to soon be removed when the snow melts. The broken branches made for some nice compositions in themselves, but they also «framed» some other nice elements, such as wilted autumn leaves, that have been buried by the snow over a long winter.

Reklamer

A wilted maple leaf – Canon T70 w Canon 50mm f1.8 FD – Kodak ProImage100 (somewhat colour corrected)

This time with the Canon, I went for images demanding wider apertures. The last time I used the camera was a very bright day, and I mainly shot f11 and occasionally f8. This time, my narrowest aperture was f4, and in most cases, the lens seems to perform very well: The images have a sharp and defined focus, and creates a soft bokeh that is very pleasant to the eye. There are no evidence of any vignetting or other issues with the lens at these apertures. But I have found it to have some diffraction when used at f22 (not in this outing obviously), and I will avoid that in the future.