Paris + camera reviews

Went to Paris, took lots of photos. Posted them all on Flickr, and a small selection on Exposure.so, a new gallery/photo curation site that has a lovely layout and is so easy to use. Have a look here: http://portfolio.35millimetre.co.uk.

Took the Olympux XA4 (for b/w) and the Fuji Tiara (for colour). The percentage of shots shows which one I enjoyed using the most - the XA4 is just so quiet. So easy to use, the shots come out so nicely. I can't fault it, it's the perfect snapper's film camera. It needs a clean though, on the outside anyway - it's covered in drawer crud from living in my parents' kitchen drawer for years and receiving no love. I'll get some isopropyl alcohol and cotton buds and have at it over the holidays, I think. Re-discovered how much I like Ilford HP5+ too - such contrast and deep blacks, I forgot how nice it was, and how it fits my ideal of what a black and white photo should look like.

Just before the holiday I also splashed out on a Zorki 4K, a Russian "Leica copy" with a nice Jupiter screw-mount lens.

Phwoar, look at the knobs on that.

It's in absolutely gorgeous condition, the camera and lens. The case is a little battered but looks like it's been kept on for most of the camera's life. I'm looking forward to learning all its little quirks - like not setting the shutter speed until you've advanced the film wind lever. And using a proper rangefinder, which I've not done before. The lens would also work on any of the early Leicas, should I win the lottery and choose to go down that mad path. Hints and tips for the Zorki very gratefully received!

Home dev experiment: Part 2

My second attempt at home developing has gone a lot more smoothly than the first, though I say so myself. I replaced my 1970's Paterson 3 tank with a new AP Photographic one, with easy-load reels. I also used Ilford HP+5, much less curly and sticky. Still having trouble getting the film out the canister to begin with - a combination of squashing the canister and then using the bottle-opener seems to do the trick.

Developed in D-76 as before, for 7.5 minutes, turning every minute. Remembered to tap the tank on the sink after each inversion, to get rid of bubbles. Water rinsing for 30 seconds with some wetting agent in, then rapid fixer (60ml to 240ml water) for 10 minutes, again inverting and banging each minute.

I was a little impatient for them to dry, but soon I should have some bulldog clips to hang them up properly with. Then came the transfer to digital - I used my previous 400D + lightbox combo, as seen here:

Film is held down by books, slid each frame along and took a shot in RAW format. Then processed in Lightroom. The tripod kept toppling forward, so I used some heavy boots to keep the legs down:

A few of my favourites are:









You can see the whole set on my Flickr. I think I've got a light leak, or something happened during processing, as I've got a dark bar across most of my photos. Will need to rectify that!

Super wiiiiiiiide

New lens o' clock! Picked up a Sigma EOS-fit super wide, fixed 24mm, f/2.8 lens off eBay the other day, it arrived in great condition and very well-packed today. Always something of a gamble, buying lenses on eBay, but it's done me right this time. Here it is on the lovely EOS 600 given to me by a friend:

It was cheap as chips, but the downsides are that it is both heavy and really loud. I've got a neck strap on the way for this camera and I'll really need it, it's not a light beast.

It focuses very close, and pin-sharp too. Really chuffed. I need to clean the prism inside, I think, there are little black spots I can see (on all lenses), but looking forward to seeing what I get back from this roll. Going to Devon soon for a short camping holiday, hopefully the wide angle will make for some pretty shots. Can't wait!

The Edit

The Edit from Ed Wargin on Vimeo.

This video is pure film photography porn, every second. Just watch it. A guy back from a photography trip gets his Medium-format slide film (omg) back from the processor, and goes through the process of editing and archiving it. 

Lovely video, if you are like me, you spent the entire time making small whimpering noises whenever a new bit of equipment came into shot (look at that lightbox! The size of the slides! I must get into medium format! etc etc). 

You can see the photos from the trip and read more about the project itself here: http://www.thefreshcoastproject.com