Sometimes with a roll of film I like to challenge myself with a theme. Thus recently I loaded the Fuji GA645 with a roll of Fujifilm Velvia 100 and set myself the challenge of the theme of Orange. So please see below for the images. Processed E6 by SilverPan Film Lab (in the UK) and scans tweaked in Snapseed.
All images from the same roll, except the chairs one.
If you follow my blog posts you will see I am a bit of a fan of the Washi S film. This is a black & white sound recording film that I really enjoy using but can leave me with mixed results. So far all the rolls I have shot have been 35mm so I was very pleased to see it was also available in 120.
I was staying at hotel in the Sussex countryside for a weekend away with the family so thought I would give it a try there. I loaded the film in my Fuji GA645 and placed an orange filter on the front. All my previous Washi rolls have also been shot with an orange filter.
Let’s get right to the point these are mainly really bad. I have analysed why and believe the Fuji was not the right camera to use for this film. Ok hang before you say a bad workman always blames their tools, let me explain. Previous Washi film shots I have taken were using my Olympus OM1n. With this camera I could meter through the lens and point the camera at various different parts of the scene and then adjust accordingly. With Washi S it can really blow the highlights if you are not careful and conversely if you are too respectful of the highlights all you will get is really dark areas elsewhere.
I did not use a handheld meter with the Fuji and left it to its own metering, I firmly think this film needs to be shot in a camera with full manual settings and use the TTL metering or a handheld meter. I won’t go into all the different types of metering as quite frankly I am a real novice with this and would just be making things up, I just know through practice and experience with my OM1n how the film works for me.
I will try some more Washi S in 120 but this time in the Zeiss Ikon Nettar with my iPhone light meter. Let’s see if it improves. Anyway enough talking now here are the images.
The negative as I thought you may be interested, shot on top of an iPad, hence the funny patterns
The good:
The Bad:
And the Ugly (although love the clouds in these):
I was lucky enough to visit a show in London recently called the London Concours. This was basically a selection of some of the finest sports and classic cars. I anticipated bright sunny weather and knew the cars would be bright and colourful. so packed some slide film for the afternoon.
The challenges on a day like this are basically crowds and reflections. Thus for certain shots I concentrated on the details to avoid both of those challenges.
Here are a selection of shots, taken on a Fuji GA645 with a mixture of Fujifilm Provia 400X and Kodak Ektachrome 200 EDP developed in E6 by SilverPan Film Lab.
I was kindly sent a bunch of Kodak Vision films from @Dizd (Dizzy Cow on twitter). Some 250D and some 50D. I am a big fan of these Vision films especially when they are processed in their native chemicals ECN-2. Nik and Trick in the UK sell the developing kits for this.
I finally had a chance to try a roll a week or so ago, so I wanted to shoot one as practice. All shots are taken on an Olympus OM1n loaded with Kodak Vision 250D developed in ECN-2.
A little side note before sharing the images. Every single roll of film I shoot I see as a practice roll, even if I am going for a specific project. It’s all about learning for the next roll and the next roll and so on. I am never disappointed if I get things wrong in a roll, I am only disappointed if I don’t learn from it. With film photography I firmly believe I will be practising for years and years to come and thus only the last photo I ever take before putting my camera down will be ‘The Shot’
Anyway all this talk has made me hungry, what shall we have for lunch?
As followers of this blog are aware, Washi S sound recording film is favourite of mine to try and experiment with. This film really intrigues me and is one I will keep persevering with. It is an extremely high contrast film and there can be very little between the deep blacks and the harsh whites.
The images you will see in this blog have all been shot using my favourite camera the Olympus OM1n using either a 50mm f1.4 or 28mm f2.8 lens with an orange filter.
I generally use an orange filter just because that is what my research told me. Reflecting on this now, I’m not sure this film needs the added contrast of a filter, so next roll will be no filter to see how that goes.
So back to the details. For this roll I picked a subject of St Paul’s Cathedral. Partly because it is very close to my work, but mainly because it is one of my favourite buildings in London. My plan was to start at one corner and walk around the cathedral taking photos. This walking around did not mean I had to stay close, just that I could see it. All images were taken over the course of about one hour.
So enough talking, come on the walk with me around St Paul’s and see what you hear from this sound recording film.
The starting point a bit of artistic inspiration
I dragged myself out quickly as otherwise no photos would have been taken
Then time to cross the road starting with the mystery door
Then the steps
Time to climb the steps and look out from the main doors
Back down and a couple of images from the front
Time to head into Paternoster Square
From here I headed toward a small shopping centre called One New Change
One the roof of One New Change there is a restaurant and a bar, but more than that there is a place to just admire the views
By now it was time to wait for the lift to get back down again
Couldn’t resist one more shot of this view
Now time to get around the other side and see what shots I can get from there
Moving towards the front of the building again
And finally time to reflect on the walk I just did
I hope you enjoyed walking with me, look out for the next in the series of ‘The Sound of….’
Firstly apologies for the time taken for this update it has been a bit busy recently.
So quick recap I took 10 rolls of film with me on holiday recently to Malta and I have been sharing my results here. So far we have had
Roll 1: Oriental Seagull 100
Roll 2: Kodak E100VS
Roll 3 : Velvia 50
Roll 8 : Film Washi S
Roll 10: New Lomochrome Purple
In hindsight probably should have done them in order.
For this update I shot two rolls of Kodak Vision 3 250D. This is a cine film designed for daylight shooting. The film has a remjet coating so is not processed by most labs. It is also designed to be processed in ECN2 chemicals but can be processed in C41 chemicals once the remjet has been removed.
I mention this as I was lucky enough that these were processed in their native ECN2 chemistry.
I get my Cine films from https://ntphotoworks.com/ they are also who I use for getting them processed. They now sell ECN2 kits for those who home develop. These were developed (and two rolls of Vision 50D) in ECN2 to test the kits, as for Cine film this is not their current standard offering and I was very happy for them to use the rolls as test rolls. Please contact them directly for any further info. (This is not a sponsored blog btw)
Thus back to the setting. At this stage in the holiday my meter had broken on the camera so I was bracketing more than normal. In hindsight, especially with this film stock it probably was not as necessary as the differences between one stop were not huge.
The location was M’dina Malta. This is known as the quiet city. It is full of narrow streets and paths and is set among the hills. The city was also used for quite a few scenes in Game of Thrones. All the photos have been taken using an Olympus OM1n. IMHO the Kodak Vision films are one of the best colours film out there, better than any standard colour C41 films and easier to handle than slide film. See what you think
Those of you that know me or follow me on twitter (@givemeabiscuit) will know I am a big fan of slide film, with Velvia 50 a personal favourite of mine.
Thus there was no way I was going to Malta and not shoot a roll of this lovely film. This time however I wanted to try something different and practise long exposure. Thus I also had with my Lee Filters (10stop ND & 0.6 soft grad).
I tried some daytime long exposures with both filters and some at dusk with the soft grad.
When writing these blogs I always like to ensure I share both what works and what does not work. It helps me clarify in my mind how/what to do better next time and hopefully provides you with some insight also.
So here come the images.
The black slides are unsuccessful evening shots
Some normal exposure, (but I still over exposed!)
And daytime long exposure. Lesson one get the framing right next time, lesson 2 if shooting into the sun, either don’t or at least have a the lens hood and lesson three read up on exposure techniques for this film more thoroughly
And in case you are wondering what total over exposure looks like, it is a completely clear slide that scans like below
Yes this really is the scan
There are some slides the lab did not scan (understandably) but I can see something is there, so will get them rescanned and check them out.
In conclusion, I really really ballsed up the roll of film.
As per previous updates I shot 10 rolls of film on my recent holiday to Malta and am sharing how a I got on with each roll. This update is in regard to a roll of Kodak E100VS. This is a lovely discontinued slide film from Kodak. The VS stands for Very Saturated (I think).
I managed to find a brick (10 rolls) of this film and this was the third roll from that brick. The first roll came out OK and the second roll had a large Cyan cast to it, so I knew the results of this one could be flaky.
This roll was shot during the hottest part of the day (it was over 40 degrees Celsius) in full sunshine. I mention this for a reason.
All films on this and previous holidays have been through X-ray machines at the airport. Whilst in the hotel room they are in air conditioned luxury, in my bag and camera they are not and can be carried around for a couple of days in full heat. Whilst I am no way suggesting that we can safely keep our film sitting on a hot radiator at home, I do sometimes wonder are we over cautious with keeping films in the fridge and worrying about how they will be affected by heat. I get storing them long term in fridges/freezers but day to day especially with fresh film we maybe do the resilience of film a diservice.
Anyway I digress. This film as all the others was shot in my OM1n, some shots using a circular polarising filter. I rated all shots at box speed.
Before I get to the images I want to say the following. When I see others images with this film I love it and what people can achieve with it which is why I bought the brick. Slide film can be tough to work with but I do feel we shouldn’t be scared of it because when you get it right slides are wonderful and the scans do not do it justice. Yes it is expensive and tough but I do believe it is worth the effort. That said I am disappointed with the results I got with this. Partly because the scans required more than I normally prefer adjusting in Snapseed* but mainly because I have seen what others have achieved and I know I can do better. I am finding this film tough.
*side note, IMHO adjust away the same as a darkroom adjustments but I do like to get as close as possible in camera
Enough said here are the results and oh yeah say no to x’pro E6 all the way
The third instalment of the rolls of film I shot in Malta. This time it is Oriental Seagull 100. I was sent this film (and the 400 version) by @Emulsivefilm (Twitter) www.emulsive.org
My research tells me this is a rebranded film based on Ilford’s Kentmere range. The lab that developed this roll and the 400 used the development guide for Kentmere.
I very much liked the results I got from the 400, so was interested to see what the 100 would be like. (400 example below)
Oriental Seagull 400. Daytime long exposure
The 100 was shot through my Olympus OM1n, at this point in the holiday the meter was working. What I did however find interesting was I set the camera meter ISO to 100, it was a bright day but the meter seemed to be telling me (against my instinct) that it needed more light, it just didn’t feel right. This was interesting to me as I am reliant on my meter, yet when I shoot with my Holga I don’t use a secondary meter and go by instinct. I am slowly learning to trust my judgement with light and scenes.
Anyway back to how I got on with the 100. I like the film a lot and if it is basically Kentmere will definitely buy some more. In terms of the pictures I have taken with it in Malta I am pretty Meh about them, they are only OK. I believe I rushed this roll too much. It was the first of 10 rolls for the Holiday and we were visiting the city of Valletta and in my head I guess I felt the need to finish the roll that visit as otherwise I would get behind finishing the 10 by the end of the Holiday.
Anyway enough of the words, here are the pictures so you can make your judgement
So following on from my last post shooting the Lomochrome purple in Malta, today’s update is how I got on with Washi S film.
If you have not come across this film before it is a film provided by Washi, a French outfit, best known for their film papers. I have shot this film twice before. One time in London where I was very happy with the results and once in Brighton where I got a few images but I wasn’t respectful to the film properties so not so great.
Washi S is a sound recording film used in the motion picture industry. Shot in a 35mm camera it acts as a very high contrast ISO50 Black & White film. What I have learnt in the few times I have now tried it, is that you have to be very respectful to the highlights and also the areas where the sun is reflected.
This roll was shot in my OM1n, metered at ISO50 using the Lumu iPhone app and an orange filter on the camera. A little note, I found it better to meter the whole scene and then also spot meter certain areas of the frame to try and gauge between the bright and the dark to aim to keep the light under control. This again maybe my own blind leading the blind theory but seems to have worked out.
I shot this roll in the city of Valletta, which is Malta’s capital and also a UNESCO World Heritage sight. The conditions were bright sunlight, mainly clear skies and shadows from the buildings.
Here are the results, I don’t normally say things like this, but I am very very pleased with the results and looking forward to using and understanding this film more and more.
An idea what a difference one stop makes below
and another example below of one stop difference
The Parliament area of Valletta
Near the main gate to the city
The lift to the Upper Gardens
The Architecture
Valletta is also going to be European City of Culture in 2018 and they are building up installations, artwork and sculputure to add to the fantastic historical sights they already have.
And finally, my favourite (non-family) photograph of the whole trip. We were sitting in a typical Valletta outdoor cafe, great food and drink when I took this, it is also the first shot of the roll. It has come out exactly as I visualised with the film and I love it.
I hope you enjoyed this, still to come from my holidays rolls: Oriental Seagull 100, Kodak E100VS, Fuji Velvia 50, Kodak Vision 50D, Kodak Vision 250D and Kodak Double x
Film Photography London 