Shooting the beast

Sometimes you are really lucky. A few weeks ago, I signed up for the news-letter from a Youtube-channel run by a Canadian photographer named Azreal Knight. If you have not heard about his channel, you should really check it out. A lot of interesting content about analog photography. By signing up to this news letter, I also entered into a little «lottery» or whatever you would call it, and I won. When the price arrived, the box was rather big and I was curious what was in the box.

The content of the box was: One roll of Ilford HP5 plus, one roll of Kodak Gold 200, a selection of stickers, a really cool box-set of darkroom prints of the best Azreal Knight images of 2020… AND… A weird and huge BEAST of a 35mm camera. An Olympus iS-1.

This camera did not make sense to me at all when I first held it in my hand. It was huge and bulky, heavier than my Hasselblad 500C, has a plastic feel to it and the design is best described with the word hideous. At the same time, I am a big fan of Olympus and their lenses never let me down, so I was curious to try it out.

Loading the camera was actually rather fiddly. The take up spool is in the back-door of the camera, in a purpose built box on the back making up most of the bulky design of the back side of the camera. This sounds like a great idea as you would not ruin your whole roll if you should be unlucky and open the back door mid-roll. At the same time, getting the film to load properly is difficult because the motion of closing the door makes the film curl up and away from the take-up spool.

A tree – Olympus iS-1 – Ilford HP5 plus – Ilford ID-11 1+1

In use, the camera is an interesting experience. Even though I don’t really feel that this is a camera for me, I did enjoy using it. Not to be mistaken, there are a lot of small problems with this camera that I find to be very annoying, but using it is very different from using any kind of SLR og PaS-camera I have ever used. This belongs somewhere in the middle from my understanding.

First of all, the camera is heavy and bulky and does not really fit my hand very well. Especially the part about the ergonomics I fear would make me not bring the camera along.

Second, the camera has one of the slowest and least precise AF-systems I have used in a long time, and focusing it manually is fiddly and difficult as well. I ended up doubling and sometimes tripling the shots on many occasions to be sure I had something usable at least.

Third, due to its size and weight, this camera is difficult to hand-hold even at shutter speeds around 1/100, and many of my images shows severe camera shake. Even images I know were shot at 1/100 and above.

On the positive side, I must say that the lens is its Olympus name worthy. It performs very well both on its widest and longest settings and the when the AF hits it seems to be a very sharp lens.

As you can see through the images and their captions, I went for Ilford HP5-plus for my test this time. I actually used the roll that came with the camera. This is a film I use often and that I find works very well with the conditions like what I had on this day. Overcast with a bit of rain. I find that this film adds an extra element of texture to the images in a very nice way with its grain-structure which is visible, but pleasing. Even in 35mm shooting.

Olympus iS-1 – Ilford HP5 plus – Ilford ID-11 1+1

The derelict hut

Over the last year, I have noticed an old wooden hut, standing on its own in a chopping-field a short distance from Gjøvik. The hut in itself is not really that beautiful to look at anymore. The roof has fallen down and the wood looks withered and dry. It would need significantly more than a lick of paint to make it shine once again. All the times I have driven past it or seen it when out walking, it has not worked because of the weather. I have pictured it to work well on a overcast and preferably misty day on black and white film. Today was the day that I would finally go for it and try this old hut, that I for my own amusement has named «Jabba». It is a bit amusing to tell yourself to go out shooting Jabba the Hut.

I rolled up the Hasselblad 500C with a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 and brought with me a selection of filters, including yellow, orange and red, and I set off into the misty and drizzly morning. I found the hut in its usual condition, rather tatty and derelict, but this time, there was some mist in the background, creating a more interesting atmosphere around it. The scene itself is a bit messy and overgrown after a very lush summer, but the mist made it work.

My first frame of the day – Hasselblad 500C – Kodak Tri-X – No filters – Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

I decided to try the compositions in different ways with different filters, partly just to see what they would do to a scene like this. Especially, I was curious to what the red filter would do in conditions like these, and hence, I tried different approaches to learn a bit more about my filters. My pack of filters is rather inexpensive and are just plastic filters. At some point, I will upgrade my collection of filters, but not for this trip.

Trying again at Jabba – Hasselblad 500C – Kodak Tri-X – Orange filter – Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

Based on my rather limited access to the hut, as it stands in a rather difficult area to move around, I only made two different compositions this time. One straight on and one from the side. I did the latter without filter and with all three colors I brought – Yellow, Orange and red – and I must say that the results were a bit different than I thought. I expected that the red filter would give me deeper contrasts than the yellow, but actually, my results pointed in the different direction. That the yellow filter actually gave me much punchier images than the red, and the one without any filters gave me the best results.

What I see that the red filter does, and also to some extent the orange, is brightening up the greens and making the trees in the background brighter. For future reference, I will probably leave the two darkest filters at home for these days, but I do think it was worth the try.

Yellow – Orange – Red – No filter – Hasselblad 500C – Kodak Tri-X – Ilfotec ID-11 1+1

Another reflection I have after this shoot is that I remember why I have stopped using Tri-X and other Kodak-films for my images. At least to some extent. Their tendency to curl when trying after development is very annoying and makes it very difficult tu both scan and print them in the darkroom. I have not had this issue with ILFORD-films and since I really do not see any difference between Tri-X and HP5 at box speed, I usually save the Tri-X for the difficult lighting conditions where I have to push the film, as I see Tri-X to be a better push-film.

A fun little German one

The analog camera market is very focused around a few certain brands and models such as the Leicas, Nikons, Hasselblads and Zeiss’s. But cameras that does not hit the «name requirement» can be just as good and fun to shoot with. Today, I went out to a flea market run by some friends and I found a little interesting camera that I just had to buy. The camera in question was produced from 1957 to 1961 in Germany. With such a short production span, only four years, it is an interesting little camera that probably didn’t hit the market as well as its producer would have hoped.

The camera is an AGFA AMBI SILETTE. A little rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses and some very clever patents on it. The camera has a Synchro Compur leaf shutter and its highest shutter speed is 1/500th second. When changing between lenses, you can use a little switch on the top to set the viewfinder up with different lines to help you compose while using the rangefinder unit. I found the rangefinder on this camera to work beautifully even after all these years, and the main lens, the 50mm f2.8 Color Solinar is clean and appears to be rather sharp based on this test. The tele lens that also came with it, the 90mm, has severe fungus on it, and I’d guess it would affect the image quality, although, I have not really tried it.

The AGFA AMBI SILETTE – straight from the flea market.

Since I knew that a camera purchase would be a possibility, I brought along a roll of Fomapan 100 and two camera batteries. The Agfa is fully mechanical, so the batteries were not used, but I loaded the roll of Fomapan 100 and went for a little walk at Husodden, to try it out and see how it felt to use. Mind you, I hadn’t really read anything about this camera in advance and I had not even heard about this particular model. So this is a true first impression entry.

My first little quest, was realizing that the rangefinder and viewfinder is hidden behind a little covering lid that you have to flap open before using it. This is a really clever invention both because it protects the cleanliness of the glass behind it, but also because it works as a sun shield making focusing easy and smooth without any disturbing sun-glare. After that, the camera is very straight forward and simple to use.

Agfa Ambi Silette – Agfa 50mm f2.8 Color Solinar lens – Fomapan 100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

Age is noticeable on this camera, but it seems like it just will need some use to get back into life. Both shutter speeds and aperture settings seem to be in reasonable working order, but I did not try the longer shutter speeds this time as I shot hand held in the September sunshine. My guess is that shutter lag will be present from shutter speeds lower than 1/60th and that the lens will show diffraction at f22. But this must be for another time.

The most important error I found with this camera, was the fact that my first shots were all double exposed, and I only got a few decent shots on my roll. This seems to be some lag due to lack of use, and I am sure this will sort itself out with some use. I will not give this camera a CLA. That would probably cost more than the camera is worth in 2021 money.

An old barn by a field – Agfa Ambi Silette – Agfa 50mm f2.8 Color Solinar lens – Fomapan 100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

The shot above, was the first shot on the roll that turned out to be just exposed once, and no images after this one showed any sign of double exposure. This leads me to believe that there probably isn’t anything wrong with the film advance other than lack of use.

The focus ring was light, but still firm and very pleasant to use, as well were the rings for setting shutter speeds and aperture opening. The camera seems to have been very well looked after and I believe it to have been serviced before it was stored. It can indeed seem like that. The back door on the camera is somewhat sticky, and the camera came with one of those horrendous leather cases that looks good enough, but makes loading and unloading film very unpractical and the camera bulky and larger than necessary to use. I took it out of the leather case when I used it, and there are no signs of light leaks from the camera.

A tree root – Agfa Ambi Silette – Agfa 50mm f2.8 Color Solinar lens – Fomapan 100 Ilford ID-11 1+1

All in all, the little outing with the Agfa was a fun experience, and I will definitely be shooting this camera again. The only slight annoyance is the patent for rewinding the film. It is one of those that doesn’t have a lever for rewinding but just a small knob that you wear your fingers off while using. But with a camera this good, it is worth some sore fingers.

APX 100, another go!

Yet another time, I find myself out trying the ultra-cheap AGFA APX100 that I managed to buy 100 ft of earlier this year. This time, I loaded it into an old Delta 400-casette because I wanted to use it in one of my more automatic cameras. My initial thought was to use the Minolta Dynax camera I own, but since I loaded it a cartridge DX-coded 400, and the fact that I cannot override the ISO on the Minolta, I had to look another way for this outing, and I opted for the Nikon F80 with the Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm Zoom lens I used in the last entry.

I have previously struggled quite substantially with making this film work for my type of photography, and for this time, I decided to go out to a logging area close to where I live. When you are cutting down trees in Norway, you have to let some trees stand to accommodate for the loss of animal homes, and this creates a rather interesting atmosphere where some trees really stand out. This very contrasty scene should help the film to get this contrasts out rather than creating some bland mushy mess, as it tends to do with very green scenes.

A lonely thistle – Nikon F80 w Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5-5,6 – Agfa APX100@50 – Ilford ID-11 1+1

For positive things, I really found that the sky was brought out really well on these images, if that is due to the exposure or the film I am not sure, but it does create some extra mood and context to the images which I find really nice. Also, this time, I chose to overexpose the film a stop in exposure and develop for the full film speed of 100. Ive found that this gives me the best negatives with this setup and I chose to develop with ID-11. I am not sure if I find ID-11 to be a good match for this film as it seems to enhance the feeling of the grain somewhat. The film itself is extremely grainy for a 100 ISO film, and maybe the best idea is just to embrace the grainy feeling and go with Rodinal.

A lonely birch – Nikon F80 w Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5-5,6 – Agfa APX100@50 – Ilford ID-11 1+1

As you can see in the sky on this image, the grain structure of this film is very coarse and raw even with a fine-grain developer like ID-11, and I actually find it rather unpleasant in these images. Just to rule out the fact that this could be down to my scanner, Epson V600, I went for a quick dark-room session making a print of the Thistle-image, and the grain is very prominent even in relatively small enlargements such as 4×5 or 10×8. This film might not really work very well for landscape-photography in any way, and I think my next experiment with this film will be more in the fields or architecture or urban details and embracing the rawness and graininess of these negatives.

Tree-lines – Nikon F80 w Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5-5,6 – Agfa APX100@50 – Ilford ID-11 1+1

I actually really like the composition of the image above, but it is clear that it does not really work with this setup of film, camera and lens. I like that centered slightly diagonal stem and the upright spruce behind it, bit I do not care that much for the mushy gray grassy-area where one cannot really distinguish what is grass and what is small spruces. Also, the sky shows the raw grain that I feel is rather unpleasant even though it makes for somewhat of a moody feeling.

Shooting with zoom

Many years ago, when I was given my first analog SLR camera as a gift from my uncle, I got my interest for photography sparked immediately. This was a time where digital cameras weren’t a thing, and Kodak was a company as famous as Coca-Cola to me and my friends. If I talk to children and teenagers today, they might not even have heard of Kodak as a company.

My first SLR camera was a Nikon F60 and with it came a Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5 lens. This isn’t by any means the sharpest or best lens in the world, but at the time I was given this package, it was my first try of a real camera with a proper lens on it. I was indeed very happy with it and I shot dusins of rolls of film with it. Usually Fuji C200 or Kodak Gold 200, with the occasional Agfa-film. From that time, I have changed cameras, medias and formats many times, but I have still kept the F60 and this lens. Sadly, the F60 does not work anymore, but I do have a Nikon F80, and I decided to give the old lens a try.

This idea struck me after I tried this lens on my D750, and I was rather underwhelmed by the results I got from that. I then figured it was worth giving it a go, once again with a film and see if it would work.

A little birch – Nikon F80 w Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5 – Ilford Delta 400 – Ilford ID-11 stock

I then figured that I would take another old friend out for a spin as well. The Ilford Delta 400. I have never really got the love for this film because I often tend to prefer the look of HP5+ to the look of the Delta 400. This however, doesn’t mean that the Delta 400 isn’t a brilliant film, and since I was going in rather bright conditions, I figured the finer grain structure would make my images shine more in the highlights. I also went for a development cycle in ID-11 to really give it the finest grain possible with the developers I currently own.

Some grass – Nikon F80 w Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5 – Ilford Delta 400 – Ilford ID-11 stock

I went mainly for what I refer to as «small landscape» for this shoot. I define most of my landscape photography work into the two categories «small» and «big» landscape. A big landscape photo is a view, a mountain, a lovely lake and so on. Small landscape are more details and small snippets of wheat my surroundings look like. This category is often easier to find and work on in the East of Norway where I live, where most of the landscape is forest and rather flat areas.

Some more grass – Nikon F80 w Voigtländer Skopar 28-80mm f3,5 – Ilford Delta 400 – Ilford ID-11 stock

All in all, I had an enjoyable little outing with my old lens and the F80. It is clear though, that my eyes for lenses have changed somewhat over the years, and I am not blown away by the sharpness I see in these images, but it could also be down to my rather «simple» scan process for these images and my general preference for medium format negatives.

Morning mist and APX100

This last week has had really beautiful mornings and the other day, I decided to go for another tryout with the bulk of Agfa APX100. I bought this bulk a while back as I found that it was the cheapest bulk-film on the market and I was curious about its performance and capabilities. So far, I have not been really sold on this film. I find it grainy, slow and to lack latitude. I also find that, even with a very sharp lens and a very accurate camera, I get very inconsistent results. In this entry, I paired it up with my Olympus OM-1 and the 50mm Zuiko f1,8 lens.

From my previous experience with this film, I have found that metering it at 50 – a whole stop over-exposure – and developing for box-speed typically gives me the best results. Also, the yellow filter usually gives me a bit more contrast and definition in my negatives. This was also my tactic for this outing, and my results were just as inconsistent as they have been previously.

Since it was very early in the morning, and I wanted to travel very light, I chose to leave the light meter at home and rely on the light metering app I have on my phone. This is a very simple light meter, but I can easily meter at different places in the scene to get a decent exposure. I have done this in many instances before and never had any issues with poor exposures. If hesitant, I double up with an additional exposure just to be sure that I have at least one usable one. I’ll honestly say, that I only got one out of my 15 exposures this time to be anything that I would refer to as a decent image and what I had in mind while composing.

Over the misty hill. Olympus OM-1 w 50mm Zuiko f1.8 & yellow filter – Agfa APX100@50 Ilford ID-11 1+1

In this first image, which is the only one that I am actually happy with, the film manages the masterpiece of being both over and underexposed at the same time when the range was within about 4 stops. Even so, I find this image to really convey the mood of this morning very well and I like its dark gloominess. However, I know that this image would have looked far better on both Fomapan 100 and FP4 plus, which both are very affordable alternatives to the Agfa APX100, and that gives me more consistent results.

For my second composition, I wandered into the woods looking for a slow-flowing river passing under a very simple bridge. This image did not turn out in any way the way I thought it would. To me, this image is just a grey mesh with a lot of grain and lacking definition on what the real subject was. Even with heavy dodging and burning, I still am not convinced with this result. I also made three bracketed images of this, and all of them are severely lacking on definition.

Crossing the river – Olympus OM-1 w 50mm Zuiko f1.8 & yellow filter – Agfa APX100@50 Ilford ID-11 1+1

In the two upcoming images, you see the main issue with this film, completely lost shadow-detail even with a full stop over-exposure and metered for the shadows. I will keep trying this film for different purposes, but I must say, that it does not look like this film is for me and my use. I’ve read about people using this film for one or two stop push-processes, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why, when I have these issues when overexposing it.

Olympus OM-1 w 50mm Zuiko f1.8 & yellow filter – Agfa APX100@50 Ilford ID-11 1+1

Morning shooting at Næra

One of the most photogenic lakes around my area is bu far the lovely little lake named Næra. Situated a bit east of Moelv, it is the main bathing-water for places like Næroset, Åsmarka, Lismarka and Moelv and it is also an important area for leisure boating. A few weeks ago, as I was pondering around Åsmarka looking for an infrared-view of Næra, I came in contact with some locals. They told me about what was allegedly a much better viewing point over the lake, and I decided to take their word and go there in an early morning quest.

Armed with the Hasselblad and two rolls of film, Ektar and HP5 plus, my friend Cameron and I went for a morning stroll to the viewing point, and indeed, what a view.

The lake Næra – Hasselblad 500C – Ilford HP5 plus @ 200 Yellow filter – Ilford ID-11

Realizing that I had misread the lighting conditions on this scene, I soon decided that the HP5 would most likely be the best film for the job. My total range within the scene pushed 9 stops, and I was afraid to blow out the skies or the water with the Ektar as I didn’t bring a polariser filter because I broke it a few days prior. I then settled for a yellow filter instead, and chose the approach of pull-processing to give me a flatter negative.

Along the path – Hasselblad 500C – Ilford HP5 plus @ 200 Yellow filter – Ilford ID-11

Our path went through some really lovely forest areas, and at one point, we had a row of telegraph-poles making their way towards the farm I believe is named Harabakken. I like the way that the poles made their way towards the farm and decided to attempt a composition with the HP5+. I would probably have gotten more out of this shot using an orange filter, but I decided to travel light, and only brought the yellow.

As we stopped to have out coffee, I spotted a really lovely trail of light coming through the forest, illuminating the path and some grass around. I decided to make an attempt with the Ektar-back, attempting to make a square- image.

Light on the path – Hasselblad 500C – Kodak Ektar – Tetenal C41

Our day concluded with a nice stop by another little pond that I am not going to name because it is more secluded and has a very fragile road going to it. We enjoyed another sip of coffee and had an absolutely lovely time out in nature this warm summers day.

I’ll include some more images in a gallery at the end, please enjoy

Trying Infrared

A while back, I bought a few rolls of Ilford SFX 200 and shot it with a red filter. A normal red filter, as you would use for normal films. I likes the results and I decided that I wanted to take it one step further and try out the invisible spectrum. I bought a few rolls of Rollei INFRARED 400 and began looking into tips and ideas for dealing with infrared photography. I soon learned that what I thought to be infrared films were actually just normal films with an extended red-sensitivity and that it didn’t really go into the proper Infrared spectrum.

My first decision was that I wanted to try this out with my best equipment. I opted for my medium format cameras, the Bronica ETR and the Hasselblad 500c and bought a filter that would fit both of them. A relatively simple an straight forward 720nm filter off eBay, the brand is Greene or something along those lines and it seems to work very well. Although, no filter factor was provided, so for this round I only did two compositions and bracketed a lot to get to know the filter somewhat. From my experimenting, I found that the correct compensation for this filter is about six stops.

A little forest scene – Hasselblad 500c w 80mm Planar f2,8 – Rollei Infrared 400 Ilford ID-11 – f11 4 seconds

My first idea for this tryout was heading towards a little river passing not far from where I live. The area around the river was too overgrown for me to get any shots of at this point, so I decided to go for a forest scene for my first composition. The exposure time got into the multiple seconds, and the one I was most pleased with was the one at 4 seconds. It gave me the infrared effect that I was looking for.

I then moved on to look at the view over Gåstjernet, a little pond in the same area, and I noticed how nicely the clouds reflected in the water, framing the landscape very nicely within the 6×6 format. I think this became the stronger of the two compositions and I also did the same amount of bracketing on this.

Gåstjernet – Hasselblad 500c w 80mm Planar f2,8 – Rollei Infrared 400 Ilford ID-11 – f16 1 second

My next problem was development. I wanted to use a relatively fine grain developer to get the most out of the effect, and the only one I had mixed was Ilford ID-11. However, there were no instructions on how to use this developer for this particular film so I had to get creative. I extrapolated the Xtol-time, comparing it to other Rollei films and ended up with a development time of nine and a half minutes. This gave me very nice negatives and the ID-11 seems to have worked very well with this emulsion.

Another go with APX100

A while back, I made a post where I tested out a film I had never tried before. Agfa APX100. I was not 100% sold on this film at that point as I found it to very easily lose the shadows even when meters specifically for the shadows. After this outing, I have tried it on multiple occasions. I have tried pulling it both one and two stops. Shot at 50 with 20% reduction in development time seems to work the best of these. If shot at 25 and pulled, it comes out dull and grey and you have no shadows, nor highlights left to work with.

In this entry, I am covering my experience with shooting it at 50 and making no changes to the development time. A full stop over-exposure and develop for the full film speed. This test; however, became somewhat untrustworthy, as it seems that the film somehow must have been exposed to light. My guess, reading the negatives, is that the exposure to light must have happened after the images were taken, since the frame itself is visible through the light-leak area. I will include a raw-scan that shows the issue.

The interesting light leak situation. (Unedited scan)

Now, I have not had any problems with the bulk-roll nor with the cassettes or loader before, and my Canon T70 has never shown any signs of light leak. Not that this kind of light leak would happen in the camera anyway. It does not show on all the images, but on most of the,. I was able to salvage 4 images from this roll, maybe the best ones, who knows.

My trip this day, went through a forest-area and into a swampy area next to a very rarely visited forest-pond called Sevalstjernet. I chose this location because I knew it would give me a very varied range of objects to photograph as well as nature. I had never visited this pond before, and I strapped on my wellies, a choice that would be crucial for this outing, as I most of the time waded around in bog and fen. With my normal hiking-shoes, I would have been soaking after just a few minutes.

I was also accompanied by a cloud of black-flies. It is nice to have company when you are out walking, but I would have preferred people or a dog rather than flies. On the plus-side, the huge swarm of flies seems to have kept the mosquitoes and horseflies away, so I should maybe me grateful.

A forest watch-tower – Canon T70 w Canon FD 50mm f1,8 – Agfa APX100 @ 50

It also seems like my idea of exposure helped me greatly on retaining the shadows in this film. I do think, however that this film could be over-exposed another stop in normal development without any issue. I do still have some inky-blacks on some of my scans. Based on mob experience this far, I will not buy another roll of APX-100. FP4 plus isn’t that much more expensive, and it is a far better film. An in between, Fomapan 100 is a film I have found to work very well for me.

Some beard – Canon T70 w Canon FD 50mm f1,8 – Agfa APX100 @ 50

One of the things I love with the Canon T70, is its lens. The little, cheap 50mm FD lens performs consistently very well and is very sharp and flexible. I know there are better FD-lenses out there, but there is something to this lens that just appeals to me. I like the way it portrays the world to my images, especially when photographing the «smaller things» like this little beard-moss on a tree. I think this one was shot at f2,8 but it could also be f4. Since I lost all frames before and after this one, I am not sure.

Finally I made it into the swampy area around the lake. I think the correct term for this land would be either fen or mire, but I am not sure whether it is acidic or alkaline ground here. My guess would be acidic given its vegetation, but I might be wrong here. Sadly, what I would think is my best shot of this pond got lost in light-leaks, but I will add the one that survived.

Sevalstjernet with the farm – Canon T70 w Canon FD 50mm f1,8 – Agfa APX100 @ 50

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.