Can we talk about film?

[coolguy4747]

Just caught up on all 20 pages of this thread 😅 and frankly learned quite a lot, though of course have still barely scratched the protective coating covering the surface. Especially if I ever want to develop my own, which I hope I don't because I'm already mad enough that I want to shoot film at all!

I found a couple of 30+ year old rolls of 35mm film in a box of 8mm film reels from my late grandmother, which I digitized in Nov/Dec. I loaded the film in a Nikon FM my brother got for a photography class in high school, but I never really got to use because our school switched to digital the year I got there. Anyway, brought the film & FM to family Christmas to see what would happen, and while you can definitely tell the film is way old, I got some usable shots after some digital adjustments. Most are of my niece and nephew and I don't want to show their faces. This one is not my absolute favorite from the group, but the face is pretty obscured so I feel okay sharing.

I had fun shooting and processing the shots, so I bought a Mamiya 645 1000s from eBay and some rolls of 120. So far I did a roll of Portra 400 and Cinestill 800T. I finished one roll of Gold 200 and another 8 shots in. It's fun exploring stocks but I'm also trying to just have fun with it and not overthink it. Here's a few from my first two rolls. I did a just-for-fun shoot with a friend, mostly on digital but with a few 645 shots. Don't want to share her either, so there's a shot of me that I set up and she pressed the button. Don't love the pose, but you live and you learn I guess. I also didn't do much adjustment here since I am also waiting on an Essential Film Holder so I can work with higher quality than the jpeg scans I got from the lab.

 

[Flowstates]

This seems to be a great thread and I'm putting it aside to read it when time comes aplenty.

If you guys don't mind me sharing a few shots I took lately (I hope that you'll pardon the sub-par scanning/development artifacts.)

HP5+ in a Leica M6 with a TTArtisans 35MM 1.4 in a stock ID-11 solution.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

And despite his write up about the M3(which is also poking a bit of fun at some of the die-hard Leica snobs) he's not wrong IMO about the build quality/precision. It really is probably the most solid and well-built camera I've ever handled.

Yes, your Leica looks absolutely beautifully made. Even most luxury commodities aren’t made to that standard anymore.

 

[mollyc]

February roll back. Leica M3 with 5cm Summarit f/1.5 and Portra 400. I'm learning more about this setup with each roll and figuring out ways to get the best images. And I successfully rewound it with no light leaks!

Pretty happy with this roll. Some of the images didn't quite come out the way I'd hoped, but I knew when I took them they were a bit more experiemental (first two in the fourth row). I do take at least one photo a day, and some of these clearly lack imagination and were a "check the box" kind of photo for the day (row 1.4, row 4.4) but some I am really happy with.

March will be a fun month with a long trip for spring break where I hope to shoot a lot of film.

 

[coolguy4747]

I'm going to see my favorite musician next weekend. I've never photographed her with a "real" camera since they're never allowed and I no longer have access to press credentials. I checked the venue's policy which says "no detachable lenses or digital SLRs," so I emailed them asking if "detachable lenses" applies specifically to digital cameras and got a somewhat unclear and repetitive response: "no detachable lenses or digital SLRs. If it is a 35mm film camera or other rolled film, that is fine to bring into shows." So, I'm gonna give it a whirl with my FM 😅 worst case scenario our hotel is two blocks away, so if they don't allow it I'll just run it back real quick. I know about 10 years ago there were stories that the musician would let people take photos with her if they were polaroid/otherwise analog cameras, but not digital, so I know she has a history of appreciating film, but I am not sure how much that matters. Now I just have to decide if I want to try my roll of Cinestill 800 and have to underexpose, or try a 3200 ISO Ilford. I'd prefer color, but I'm sure it would be fun either way.

 

[piatigorsky]

I'm going to see my favorite musician next weekend. I've never photographed her with a "real" camera since they're never allowed and I no longer have access to press credentials. I checked the venue's policy which says "no detachable lenses or digital SLRs," so I emailed them asking if "detachable lenses" applies specifically to digital cameras and got a somewhat unclear and repetitive response: "no detachable lenses or digital SLRs. If it is a 35mm film camera or other rolled film, that is fine to bring into shows." So, I'm gonna give it a whirl with my FM 😅 worst case scenario our hotel is two blocks away, so if they don't allow it I'll just run it back real quick. I know about 10 years ago there were stories that the musician would let people take photos with her if they were polaroid/otherwise analog cameras, but not digital, so I know she has a history of appreciating film, but I am not sure how much that matters. Now I just have to decide if I want to try my roll of Cinestill 800 and have to underexpose, or try a 3200 ISO Ilford. I'd prefer color, but I'm sure it would be fun either way.

Shot this at a friend's performance in a really dark basement venue. Don't be fooled by the end result, the place was actually very dark although not pitch black, but I managed to get enough exposure with a fast lens on Ilford Delta Pro 3200 pushed one stop. I used a Nikon FE with a f/2 24mm lens and 1/30 sec. shutter—I didn't bother to meter, since metering at such low light is not going to be accurate anyway, but rather simply opened the aperture all the way and used the slowest possible safe shutter speed, to ensure I'd get as much light as possible. I'd say go with Delta Pro 3200 to be safe.

(I also made a few prints in the darkroom for her and got her to autograph my copy, in case she becomes an international star ten years from now and an autograph photo would suddenly be worth millions—her words not mine! She really liked the physical print—prior to this she'd only seen digital scans of film, which really can't compare with a real darkroom print.)

 

[bunnspecial]

I used a Nikon FE with a f/2 24mm lens and 1/30 sec. shutter—I didn't bother to meter, since metering at such low light is not going to be accurate anyway, but rather simply opened the aperture all the way and used the slowest possible safe shutter speed, to ensure I'd get as much light as possible.

Great photo and great work!

BTW, 1/30 at f/2 and 6400 is EV 1, which is at the lower limit of the FE's meter coupling range. Of I wasn't there but averaging meters can be difficult to work with in this sort of scenario if there's any kind of spot lighting on the performer against a dark background-nothing insurmountable but can make metering difficult. If you want to meter in low light, cameras like the Nikon F2AS can actually meter down to EV -2, and if you really wanted to go nuts the F5 and F6 are even capable of autofocus(using the center point) down to EV -1.

Also, not to be pedantic, but shooting Delta 3200 at 3200 is already pushing the film. It's actually an ISO 1000/31º film(see the data sheet ) that's designed to handle EI 3200 and extended development quite well. As you've seen, it can work even at EI 6400. BTW, much the same is true of Kodak TMAX P3200(ISO 1000/31º in TMAX developer, ISO 800/30º in most other developers), and that's actually why they branded it as "P3200" and not just TMAX 3200.

Just as another comment, back when I was in high school and trying to make things work in low light for the school newspaper, I used TMAX P3200 some, but also used a lot of Tri-X pushed to 1600-6400 in D76. Part of it was cost, as Tri-X is less expensive(DRAMATICALLY so then) but also I just liked the look of it. Somewhere or another along the way, I tried Tri-X in Diafine, which is a lovely combination that actually just works out to about 1600 without any special effort. Since then, I've used TMAX developer and gained a whole other appreciation for T-grain films. On the whole, I still like my Tri-X(and my Plus-X...) but if I ever shoot Delta 3200 or TMAX P3200 again it's probablty the developer I'll try.

 

[piatigorsky]

Great photo and great work!

BTW, 1/30 at f/2 and 6400 is EV 1, which is at the lower limit of the FE's meter coupling range. Of I wasn't there but averaging meters can be difficult to work with in this sort of scenario if there's any kind of spot lighting on the performer against a dark background-nothing insurmountable but can make metering difficult. If you want to meter in low light, cameras like the Nikon F2AS can actually meter down to EV -2, and if you really wanted to go nuts the F5 and F6 are even capable of autofocus(using the center point) down to EV -1.

Also, not to be pedantic, but shooting Delta 3200 at 3200 is already pushing the film. It's actually an ISO 1000/31º film(see the data sheet ) that's designed to handle EI 3200 and extended development quite well. As you've seen, it can work even at EI 6400. BTW, much the same is true of Kodak TMAX P3200(ISO 1000/31º in TMAX developer, ISO 800/30º in most other developers), and that's actually why they branded it as "P3200" and not just TMAX 3200.

Just as another comment, back when I was in high school and trying to make things work in low light for the school newspaper, I used TMAX P3200 some, but also used a lot of Tri-X pushed to 1600-6400 in D76. Part of it was cost, as Tri-X is less expensive(DRAMATICALLY so then) but also I just liked the look of it. Somewhere or another along the way, I tried Tri-X in Diafine, which is a lovely combination that actually just works out to about 1600 without any special effort. Since then, I've used TMAX developer and gained a whole other appreciation for T-grain films. On the whole, I still like my Tri-X(and my Plus-X...) but if I ever shoot Delta 3200 or TMAX P3200 again it's probablty the developer I'll try.

Yes, I know Delta Pro 3200 is actually rated at ISO 1000, although I've shot it at 1000 before (for example the photo attached to this reply) and thought the contrast was too low for my taste, although I'm sure others will find this appealing. I would like to try Tmax developer someday, unfortunately I've never seen it available here in Taiwan — heck, even Tmax film is nearly impossible to find here! (Kodak is definitely not prioritizing the market here.) I've been using HC-110 almost exclusively for the past two years, half the time doing stand development because I'm just too lazy. I also like living life on the edge, so I almost never shoot at box speed: I've done several 100 ft. rolls of HP5+ and Fomapan 400 all at ISO 1600 or above, and there was this crazy period when I was pushing HP5+ up to 25600 — of course the results looked absolutely horrible!

 

[mollyc]

Oh, I just got around to doing my grids for March. These are all with a Leica M3. The first two grids are exclusively a vintage 50mm Summarit, and the last grid a combo of that lens and a goggled 35mm Summaron.


1. Kodak Gold

2. Kodak Ultramax

3. Kodak Ultramax (smaller grid since some of the roll spilled over into April)

 

[jacobsss]

i recently watched maze runner, anyone else here ?

 

[OldMacs4Me]

i recently watched maze runner, anyone else here ?

I think you might want to view the contents of the thread. It does not relate to movies.