film

All posts tagged film

Moved more by words

Posted by Paul on October 18, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .


My friend Tom, The Photo Father, sent me an e-mail with a link to a video and some quotes by Gary Winogrand, a famous Magnum photographer. Tom, who always sends me interesting links, wanted to know if I liked Winogrand. Truthfully, I didn’t know much about him until a few months ago. I really don’t know much about any famous photographers. I wonder if that is unusual for someone who likes photography. However, I did like some of his quotes, on in particular:

I learned a long time ago to trust my instincts. You see? When I’m photographing, I wanna — if I’m at the viewfinder and I know that picture, why take it? I’ll do something to change it, which is often the reason why I may tilt the camera or fool around in various ways. You don’t learn anything from repeating what you know, in affect, so I keep trying to make uncertain.

Certainly, he was not the most eloquent of fellows, but he got the point across. He liked to kind of shake things up. He figured that if he knew how to take a certain picture, why bother? He was all about learning, experimenting, and trusting his instincts. He was certainly less about follow rules or guidelines. He simply wanted to make his picture ‘complete’. He also talked about failure and how you cannot be afraid to fail because most of your shots will be failures. From watching the video, you can see that this guy was prolific, to say the least. He was behind in developing by the sum of about 2,000 rolls when this film was made back in 1982.

I see many photographers, myself included, get caught up in which equipment to use, instead of working to learn how to photograph, or spending too much time talking about photography and less time actually shooting. Since going and shooting more people-oriented photographs, I try to think of ways to challenge myself, ways to become bolder, moving in closer, etc. Perhaps that is why I changed back to film, to give me something different to do, to learn something else.

Words do more for me than any photo that I could possibly view. Photos seem to capture me for a short time, then I move on. Words seem to hang around for a longer time and, even though I cannot remember the exact quote, the intent hangs around. I’ve always been a reader, so many that’s the strongest form of communication for me.

How about you? What form of communication sticks with you better?

Lessons Learned

Posted by Paul on October 2, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , , .


In my job, one of the deliverable items from a software project is a document called: Lessons Learned. This document contains a list of things that you learned along the way that you believe would benefit another project. Some examples are: Get requirements before coding. Have the customer involved in nearly every step of the way, don’t add risk to your project by adding ‘stuff’ at the end, etc.

Tuesday’s trip downtown to one of the MOJA Arts Festival poetry reading was a first for me in a few of ways. First, I’d never been to a poetry reading. Second, I’d never been to the East Bay Coffee House, which was where the readings were taking place. Third, I’d never taken this particular camera, the M6, and shot with it indoors.

Things that I learned in no particular order:

  • Survey ahead of time: If possible, do a survey ahead of time. Make a visit to the location to get a feel for the lighting and seating. In this case, I really had no choice with lighting, but could have had a better seating choice. I would imagine that showing up early would work almost as well. I did show up early, but could have chosen a better seat.
  • Bring the right tools: In this case, a roll of 400 speed film would have gone a long way in getting better photos. Certainly, I’m not talking about composition, but I did have a few blurred ones do to shutter speed especially as the sun began to set. An earlier visit would have shown that this was an ‘intimate’ setting. In other words, very poor lighting.
  • Plan ahead a little bit, if possible: Had I known that I would want/need 400 speed film, I could have ordered some and had it ready. I have 5 rolls on order. They should be here Monday. I’ll keep them in reserve for just such a situation.
  • Seating: If possible, move around and find the best vantage point for what type of photos you want to shoot. Initially, I thought that I’d want to take photos of the poetess; however, it turned out that I was more interested in the crowds reactions to her poems, especially when I saw where they set up the microphone. She would be backlit! I would have taken a seat a bit further back and more to the left so as to see the maximum number of people. Also, a few of my photos had lens flare even with the lens hood on. It’s kind of hard to get good shots shooting into a backlit situation, as you can see. Getting a better angle on the window would have helped … perhaps.

Given that there were a few things that I learned, I was pleased with the photos that I took. I came away with a few that I really liked. Certainly, a couple of items could have been taken care of by using digital; however, it just wouldn’t feel the same. :-) I really like this process a lot. I don’t get the same feeling with digital. There’s nothing wrong with it, for sure, but I don’t get the same sense of gratification.

I’ll share more images in the coming posts.

Aesthetics

Posted by Paul on September 23, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , , .


For Earl: A 645e shot!
My friend, The Earl of Salisbury, brought up an interesting point in his comment to yesterday’s post. Earl said:

Paul, I’m going to toss my two cents into the ring and hope it doesn’t get tossed back at me. While recent photos taken with the M6 have been excellent, I’ve personally found there’s something I liked better about the earlier Mamiya 645e photos. They had a different feel and I can’t put my finger on the exact reason why they seem “better” to me–it may be a matter of personal taste. I’d be interested to see if anyone else agrees or disagrees.

To Earl, the 645e photos had a bit more appeal, but when tasked to find the answer of why, he couldn’t put his finger on it. It’s just like trying to define what quality is. You know it when you see it, but you cannot describe it. Now, I certainly didn’t take Earl’s pondering as an attack on my photography or way of doing things. Instead, I looked at it as more of a question to himself as to why he preferred one over the other.

It is in interesting question to try to get a direct, quantifiable answer to. Why is that when we see a particular color, a shape, sound, etc, it is aesthetically pleasing to us, but may not be so to many others? I think that what is pleasing to us comes from all of our past experiences and our preferences that we have built up over time. Who knows? It may be the more evident grain pattern in the smaller frame, the subject matter, even something so subtle as the format of the image that engenders a preference. The format of the 645 is 4:3, while the format of the 35 mm frame is 3:2. These are small differences, but differences nonetheless. Perhaps someone might favor more blurred background, while others prefer razor sharpness from front to back, side to side.

Personally, I like it either way. My only slight dislike, in the beginning, between the two was the apparent grain in the 35 mm film. It’s no larger than that on the 120 film, but it is just magnified more during the scan. However, I have since crossed that barrier and am pleased with both. Probably this weekend I’ll take the 645e and the tripod out for a spin. The shot to the right is from the Leica.

Earl, I had wondered what I was going to talk about today. Thanks for the post! :-)

Leica M6: Impressions thus far

Posted by Paul on September 22, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .

This post has been put together over a number days, perhaps weeks. I have no idea when I will post it. It will sit in reserve for a while, I suppose.

A number of you are interested in my impressions of the Leica M6 that I recently purchased and I am interested in the ‘mystique’. First, how the heck did I even get here? A Leica? I must admit that I was influenced by Mike Johnston’s article about spending a year with a Leica and a single lens. I became intrigued. First, I went and purchased a film camera, a Mamiya 645e, shot that for 3 months continuously, then looked in my bag, saw a lot of stuff that I was not using that I could use to finance my Leica purchase, then just did it. Now I have it and I need to use it.

I’ve always admired simplicity in design, which was why I was so comfortable with manual cameras. Simple devices. With the Leica, it’s back to the ultimate in simplicity. It’s nice to know that I have a camera where even if the batteries were to die, I could keep on shooting. Pure mechanics involved here. Truth be told, I could do the same thing with a Olympus 35 LC/RC rangefinder, which I happen to have. But, I really just wanted to know what all the hubbub was about!

2009/09/08:
I have used the camera a couple of times: Once, in downtown Charleston; The other time when I was at home this past weekend. I like the heft and the feel of it. One of my friends, upon holding the camera, remarked: “It’s got some ass to it! It doesn’t feel cheap.” Translation, it’s fairly heavy for such a small camera. It feels solid. :-) That was my initial impression, too. Although expensive, it didn’t feel like I had to treat it kindly like it was some sensitive, high maintenance prima dona. Nope. This certainly feels like a workhorse, definitely blue collar.

The controls are very few. There is an aperture adjustment, shutter speed, and ISO. That’s about it. However, what more does one need?

The viewfinder is very crisp and bright, save for the times when I accidentally place my thumb on the rangefinder window and leave a smudge, but a simple wiping off of the viewfinder with a part of my shirt brings the brightness right back.

The only issue that I have with the viewfinder is that while using the lens shade for the 50mm lens, the lens shade gets in the way and cuts off the lower right corner of the viewfinder. This is a bit annoying. Now, I understand why pancake lenses would be useful. They’d stay out the way of the viewfinder. This would be especially useful for shorter focal lens that have such wide angles of view.

Film loading:
Many have heard the legend of how strange it is to load a Lecia. Well, it is strange, that is until you read the manual and understand how it works, then it is quite easy to do. Simply slip the film in, guide it into the take up spool, make sure that it is engaged in the sockets. Close the back, put the bottom back on and it never fails. My first load took about 3 minutes. The second about 1 minute. The third just a few seconds. What’s the difference? I found an online manual and read the instructions. Presto-Changeo-Alakazaam! Easy!

Focusing:
I’m getting better at focusing. Rangefinder focusing is a little different, but accurate … I find that zone, or hyperfocal, focusing is the way to go. It allows one to simply frame and shoot. What could be easier? At first, I was rather against it, that is, until I tried it. I’m not doing any sneaky shooting from the hip. I’ll put my camera to my face, frame, and shoot. It all happens in just a few seconds. This kind of shooting is interesting in that lots of times, you’ll be surprised at what you captured in the background. There’s not a whole lot of time futzing around trying to get the elements just right. The moment could be gone before you know it.

DOF:
This, I think, is the most difficult part to get used to. I’m used to looking through the lens and seeing what my DOF looks like. I rarely use a DOF preview, knowing somewhat intuitively what my DOF will look like at about the first 3 f/stops of my lens; I’m not there yet with the Leica. Looking through the viewfinder, everything is so bright, clear, crisp, and in focus. Nothing is out of focus, so there is no starting point to imagine DOF. You just have to ‘feel’ it. It will take a number of rolls of film and a lot of paying attention for me to figure it out.

2009/09/21:
Exposure meter:
So far, I’ve shot about 5 rolls of film. I’m not shooting just to be shooting. I’m taking my time with this. I’ve finally gotten used to how the shutter speed dial vs the exposure arrows work. If the left arrow is on, then you need to turn the shutter speed dial to right to get the other arrow to come on. Of course, the opposite is true: Right arrow on, turn left to make the left arrow come on.

Funny, there’s not a whole lot to say about this camera. It’s very simple in it’s design. My only problem that I’ve had with it is that it seems just a tad small for my hands, but it does feel good. As mentioned earlier, I tend to smudge the rangefinder window with my thumb. This only happens when I’m focusing. If using the hyperfocal method, it’s not an issue.

I’m curious to see how it compares to the Olympus 35 LC, whenever I get it back from its cleaning.

4 cameras?! WTF???

Posted by Paul on September 19, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .


Hi! My name is Paul and I have a problem … I collect cameras, sometimes unwittingly, unknowingly, and unintentionally! Well, that’s probably not so true about the unknowingly, etc. :-) About a year ago, more or less, I sold down my camera ‘stock’ to 1 camera, a Nikon D300. I don’t count the Canon Powershot point & shoot that I never use. Well, the other day I had a look and that one camera has now grown to 4! 3 film cameras, one digital. Huh? Say what? I know, I’m just as surprised as you are, maybe even more!

So, here’s how it happened: I’m going to blame the first film camera on Chris Klug for telling me about the the Mamiya 645e. Yeah, he came all the way from Arizona, at the time, twisted my arm, took out my wallet and made me order it. Honestly! He did!!! Well, after absolutely falling in love with medium format and those glorious negatives, then somehow, I got bit by the Leica bug. I think that I’ll point the finger at Mike over at TOP and his Leica for a year article!!! Yeah, that’s it. It’s his fault! You can’t trust those people from Wisconsin!

I thought: Hmmm, it would be nice to have a rangefinder. I’ve never shot one of those before, so I went to eBay, saw the price of the Leicas and decided to go with something a lot cheaper. I made a bid, $25, on a Olympus 35 LC rangefinder. I placed my maximum bid at $35, I think. During that time (7 days), I decided to treat myself to an extravagant expenditure, a Leica. After all, I had some glass to sell and could more than make up for the cost of the Leica, right?! (Yeah, Paul! Whatever helps you to sleep at night!!!). I had a friend in need who wanted to sell his camera to me and Presto! Changeo! I had a Leica.

Not a problem, right. I figured that I’d never get that other rangefinder for $25! Wrong! No other bids! We have a winner!!! Crap! Oh well, so that’s how I got 4 cameras. I’m waiting for the Olympus to come back from Camera Repair dot Com. I sent it in for a CLA, Clean, Lubricate, Adjust, which cost nearly 4 times what the camera did! If you’re going to use it, it might as well be in tip-top shape!

I plan to load the Olympus and the Leica with the same film, head to the streets, shoot both of them, and then let you try to decide which was taken with the Leica, and which was take with the Olympus! It will be an interesting test, to be sure! I’m interested in the outcome myself. Naturally, I will use the same developer/temperature/agitation on both batches of film.

Of course, I’ll have to photograph different scenes with each one because one has a 42mm lens, the other has a 50mm and you might be able to tell based on crop/object size within the image. I imagine if no one can tell the difference, it will amount to heresy and I may be censured by the Leica community for even suggesting such a test, let alone actually performing it! :-)

Stay tuned!

Mindless entertainment

Posted by Paul on September 15, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , .


Please Note: This image can only be taken with a Leica M6 0.85 TTL equipped with a 50mm f/2 Summicron lens, loaded with Ilford FP4 and developed in Rodinal for 15 minutes @ 20 degrees C. Any attempt do to it in another way will result in failure! Sorry! I didn’t make the rules. That’s just the way it is! When you approach a scene, please look for the placard that will tell you what is the proper equipment to use! :-)

I like to laugh. My favorite types of movies are comedies, especially well thought out parodies. Heck! I also love slapstick comedy. My wife, and many other females that I have met, never really can understand why men like The Three Stooges! It’s a guy thing, I guess. “Hey, Moe! I’m tryin’ ta think, but nothin’s happening!”. Classic!

If you want mindless entertainment, the web is a great place to get it. Heck, you can get a lot of it on this blog! Of course, unless you’ve been trapped under a rock, or you get your Internet service from Time Warner (ouch!) *, you know about the Leica M9, S2, and X1 releases on 09/09/09. There have been endless articles, posts, reviews, and forum debates about the M9, which seems to be the most notable release of the three.

I believe that most of you have heard of Ken Rockwell. In general, it seems that about 50% of the people like him, the other 50%, not so much. I find his reviews entertaining. They are not dry like the technical reviews that you’d get on DP Review. They are rather hyped up and full of opinion. For example, his most recent ‘musings’ about the M9 state that People really are dumping their old Nikon D3X and Canon 1Ds Mark IIIs for the LEICA M9 as fast as they can!, in reference to this article, which plainly states that some photographers are ditching their DSLR cameras for the new M9, but later on another vendor notes that about 99% of the people who are buying the M9 were already Leica fans. Mind you, Ken has not even held, let alone used an M9 yet, but he has declared victory over the DSLR! :-) Entertainment.

Another source of entertainment, though very short lived, is to look at the debates on the forums. I was reading one that went something like this:
P1 – Person 1
P2 – Person 2

P1:I might buy a camera to shoot pictures of kids and I’m thinking about an M9.
P2: It might be a good choice, but you’ll have to get used to a rangefinder. It’s a different way of shooting.
P3: No! You should stick with a DSLR! P2, are you saying that you can get good photos of kids with a Leica rangefinder? If so, prove it. Let’s see the photos.
P2: OK. Here are the photos taken with my Leica M8 (Shows 8 or 10 really good kid photos)
P3: OK. So then are you saying that you can ONLY take good photos with a $15,000 set of camera and lenses?
P2: Well, obviously, all you want to do is argue, so I won’t continue …

And on, and on, and on, and on. As I said, short term entertainment. It used to amaze me at how much time, effort, and energy that someone will put into an argument just to convince someone that their point of view is the correct one. Now, I just laugh and move on. Forums are rather like slapstick comedy and Ken Rockwell is more of a parody of a review, though he does have some good points, you just have to dig through the hyperbole to get to them. :-)

*As you can guess: Not a big fan of Time Warner! :-)

Classics

Posted by Paul on September 9, 2009
Posted in: Photography. Tagged: , , .


Deep discussions
A classic is defined as:

Something that is judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind : a classic novel | a classic car.

Today, Leica made and announcement of 3 new cameras. You can find out about them in numerous places on the web. DP Review even has a review of the brand new M9 digital rangefinder. You can have one of your very own for $6,995 USD. I’ve only had this M6 for about 2 weeks. I’ve shot and developed 2 rolls of film and I like what I see. I don’t know that it has any magical properties, but I like the simplicity of it and am beginning to like the feel of it.

Leica cameras, all hand-made, are classics. The lenses for them are classics. It’s hard to dispute this, or if you don’t want to call them classics, you could call them top-notch performers. The build quality, fit and finish, is superb. It’s no wonder that nearly all of the M series have become classics. However, when Leica introduced the M8 they made a few technical errors that hurt them, mainly having to do with white balance and not having an infrared filter on the sensor! Doh! So much for classic status!

My friend Tom, of The Photo Father, told me that he had the opportunity to use an M8 and the experience was ‘horrible’, I believe, or perhaps terrible. Nonetheless, let us say that he would not add the M8 into the realm of classic. Now, with the release of the M9, I wonder. I know that Leica has to produce digital cameras to stay in business. Also, I think that it is good staying with what you know, rangefinders. They couldn’t compete with the likes of Nikon or Canon in the DSLR market. As for digital rangefinders, they are the only game in town, not only in town, but in the world! So, they can command a high price and get it. But, does that high price make it a classic. Will it stand the test of time? Will you be able to buy batteries for it 10 years from now, 20, 30?

Can a digital camera ever become a classic? Is the notion of ‘classic’ simply a romantic idea? I suppose that it is just that. We attach some emotion to a thing and give it great value because of what we feel about it. I have no answers, only questions. Perhaps you could provide some answers.