Stikkord: winter

Working with a slow film

I have shot some slow films before, especially PanF 50 and I love the way a slow film looks. Smooth, calm, invisible grain and deep contrast. I also love how they allow me to shoot with very open apertures and longer shutter-speeds without having to compensate using ND-filters.

A film I have tried some times before without success is the «Rollei RPX25». I bought some rolls of this film for my medium format cameras, and my experience was not that great. One of the films turned out to be incorrectly cut and was more or less impossible to reel for development, and when I finally got it reeled and developed, it had the nastiest mottling I have ever seen. From some research online, I understood that this problem could be down to lack of prewash. Wiser and happier, I went on to try another roll, but on this one, I got nasty camera-shake even though the camera was mounted on a tripod and triggered using a release cable.

Some weeks ago, I bought a few rolls of RPX25 for my 35mm cameras, and today I set out to try it.

My equipment for the day. Olympus OM-1 w 50mm Zuiko f1,8 and the Rollei RPX25 canister.

I wanted to try this film out in a snowy winter environment, to see if I could tame the contrasts the film gives and end up with a contrasty, but nice winter shot. I chose to shoot at f8 with a yellow filter, to have some aperture to go on, as well as not shooting very long shutter speeds. The yellow filter is also very helpful to shape the contrasts. To be on the safe side, I bracketed the shots to be sure I get something.

Reklamer

So why did I chose the OM-1? I chose this camera because I wanted a reliable camera that I know is fairly accurate both at aperture-settings and shutter speeds. I don’t worry too much about this when I have films I know and that has some latitude, but I was very unsure how this film would handle potential under-exposure, and chose to play it safe. I exposed the film at 20 ISO, which is the lowest my light-meter would go, and developed as shot at 25. My negatives were contrasty but actually rather good looking.

Here are some shots.

Olympus OM-1 w 50mm Zuiko Lens. f8 – f4 for the one of the door. Rollei RPX 25@20 Kodak Xtol 1+1 8 minutes.

I am very happy that my shots didn’t completely blow out the white snow, and the yellow filter helped me keep the detail in the overcast sky, without adding too much extra contrast to the already dark buildings. I am happy with this try-out, and I will finish the roll at another time.

If you want to join the shooting and hear some Camera-babble, a video will be available on YouTube shortly.

Winter is coming

Late autumn in Norway is always beautiful. Thin layers of snow and frost on the ground makes it nearly look like someone has decorated the landscape with some icing sugar. However, today I was not really thinking I would get any of this magic in my shots. When I woke up this morning, it was a foggy and grey morning, and I decided to go for some contrasty shots with fog and artificial lighting from street-lights and and shop windows. I brought with me a selection of films, but planning on using Japan Camera Hunter, Street-pan 400, to get the deep blacks and some find Rodinal grain.

When I got to my chosen location, I had to rethink my whole idea and plan. just next to where I parked my car, and five minutes away from a cup of coffee, appeared this wonderful little lake, and the weather cleared beautifully.

Instead of using JCH Streetpan 400, I went for a roll of Kodak Ektar100. Ideally I would have shot this location with Provia, but since I am nearly never using slide-films anymore, I did not bring any. I rolled the Ektar into the Bronica and quickly came back with some compositions.

The beautiful view I found. Shooting a location like this with a fresh cup of coffee in my hand has to be considered luxury. (Phone-photo)
Reklamer

I have never shot colour film with this camera before, since it is a fairly new addition to my collection. So a new experience for me there. Kodak Ektar 100 with its vibrant range has been my go-to film for colour landscape photography the last years. It gives me nearly the tones of a Slide-film, and the convenience of a negative film when working.

What I would have wanted for this shoot; however, would be a short telephoto lens or maybe just a 75mm. Currently I only own one lens for my Bronica ETR, a 50mm (35mm equivalent in 35mm). This lens becomes too wide for many of my shots, and does not give me the bokeh I want for closer shots.

Bronica ETR w 50mm Zenzanon f4 1/4sec. Kodak Ektar 100, developed in Tetenal C41. Slightly edited in photoshop

For the shot above I would have wanted a longer lens. I lived the way the snow made the colors soft around the tree stump, however, I got too much clarity in the background for my liking.

Reklamer

For the shots over the view of the lake. The 50mm was perfect. And for the last shot on the roll, I saw some beautiful grass that moved in the running water. I took a shot of those as well.

Bronica ETR w 50mm Zenzanon. Kodak Ektar 100, Tetenal C41

The late autumn in Norway is beautiful and can give you anything. Today it gave me these lovely shots (among others) next to a place where I could get a coffee. Tomorrow it might give me the foggy conditions I expected today.