Ooh Wheels- Kodak E100 Ektachrome

A few weeks back a town near us had an Italian festival and part of that (aside from the food and drink) there would be a display of Italian supercars and other car nationalities too. The weather was to be good, so I figured what a great opportunity to finally try a couple of rolls of the new Kodak E100, Ektachrome slide film.

This is not designed to be a film review and I have posted warts and all shots, but I thought it would be interesting for me and hopefully you to talk through my thoughts during the day shooting these cars.

Thus setting out the easiest decision was which camera. My OM1 was still halfway through a roll of Ilford HP5, so I took my relatively new to me Olympus OM2n. I did not want to carry a lot and I like simplicity thus I only took one extra lens. In the past shooting cars I had good success with the 50mm lens so obviously that wasn’t the one I picked. No, I decided to take the 28mm which I knew deep down in my soul would be too wide for crowded places and also my 100mm as you can get a different point of view with it. I regretted not swapping the 28 for the 50 for most of the day.

I started with the 28 on the camera and I don’t know about you, but it takes me a few shots to get warmed up. I think this is for two reasons, one being that it takes me a few shots to get into the swing of what I am shooting, almost practice shots. Even though I have no screen on the camera you get a sense pretty quickly what works and what doesn’t. Secondly, being there on my own amongst crowds I also feel a bit self conscious walking round taking shots like I’m some kind of photographer and feel (for no reason at all) that I’m being looked at by those with their phone cameras having fun with a ‘who does he think he is David Bailey.’

Quick note. All shots were at box speed, with a circular polarising filter on the camera. Some have been tweaked in Snapseed ( the ones I liked) the rest as per the scan. Oh yes, importantly all developed in E6 #SayNoToXpro chemistry.

So here are the first practice shots, as you will see I really had no idea yet what I wanted to capture.

Pretty boring eh, like I said test shots. I was also struggling with crowds at this point so I put the 100mm lens on to try something different.

That all felt better, I was starting to warm up and at this point it’s normally where I slip back into rushing again because I was excited and getting in the mode.

Aaaaaaaaand I was right, I started thinking more about the lens I was using rather than the image. More meh shots ensued.

I call this next set, ‘standing in a crowd waiting for the event to start and as I have a camera in my hand I should take a shot’. I should have shown patience instead.

After giving myself a telling off, I reminded myself that car details can be interesting.

‘Ooh wheels’. Not sure why I thought it would work as I have taken these shots before and was never really inspired by them.

‘Oh look you can see the engines.’ To be fair to myself, better composed and focused these could have been ok.

Again gave myself a bit of a talking too and then tried again with a lovely Porsche

‘Obligatory side shot’

‘Back in the swing of things and concentrating’

Then I tried to get a shot representing Porsche past and present, one close focus, one further. These haven’t really worked but it was worth a try. More patience and thought as well as considered lens choice next time.

‘Ooh wheels.’ FFS man what are you doing

After a short pulling myself together session, I tried concentrating again

Better and then…… ‘ooh wheels’. Dude!!

Concentrate again

‘Ooh Wheels.’ What is wrong with me (answers on a postcard, not in the comments)

Concentrates again

I tried a couple more through the windows shots but they didn’t really work

and a couple of more lined up shots that are OK

It then got to that point in the day when it was time for a drink before heading home. It was then the curse of 36 exposures struck. I was on my second roll and there were about 6 exposures left. So what else was a boy to do but

Dog

Wine

Pigeon

Dog

Flowers

So what is the point/learning of this post.

Well firstly, I am very impressed with the new Kodak E100. I still need to learn to pick my moments better and not get caught up in the excitement. For a while now I have been at peace with the fact I should not expect 36 ‘winners’. Experimenting is fine and good, trying new compositions is important as long as you learn from them. To stop wasting the last few frames on a roll of 36, I mean a Pigeon!! Mainly and overall STOP TAKING PICTURES OF WHEELS.

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The Hoff – Rolls 5&6 oh man not again

My continuing journey in learning the ways of my Hasselblad 200fcw.

This update, as the sun was out, I thought I would try a couple of rolls of slide film in The Hoff. Those of you that know me well know I am a big fan of slide film for colour work.

I thought as it was a special occasion, for my first slide films in The Hoff I would go for two special films. Fujifilm Provia 400X a sadly discontinued but absolutely fabulous film in 120 format (for some reason I’m not such a fan of it in 35mm) and a roll from 1995 of Kodak Ektachrome 200 that I knew had been well stored from new.

I loaded the Provia 400X first and spent two lunchtimes walking around the City of London taking what I consider the best 12 images I had ever composed. When I finished the roll I unloaded it and…….

I’D ONLY BLOODY GONE AND DONE IT AGAIN. I HAD LOADED IT BACKWARDS!!

But still best 12 images ever and no one can prove me wrong.

Note: I plan to rescue this roll by re-rolling it back in dark bag, Provia 400X is too good to waste.

You may recall from a previous update I said I should get a lens hood. I found one on eBay for a really good price as it had a small dent and some scratches which didn’t bother me

I looked up that it was for an 80mm lens and it arrived nice and quickly. I took the camera out to put the lens hood on and…..

IT DIDN’T BLOODY FIT, WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT!!

Note: I haven’t had time to research into this yet, but will hopefully let you know in the next update what I did wrong.

Anyway I am not one to dwell on failure and like to get up and start again. So I loaded the roll of Kodak Ektachrome 200.

A little side note I like to use a polarising filter when shooting slide film. Not for every shot but it can really make the colours pop. Try Velvia 50 with a polarising filter and E6 process and you will see what I mean.

The very nice man who sold me this camera (Hi Mike) gave me the B60-67mm adapter so I could use 67mm filters on The Hoff.

So out I ventured again and guess what

I LOADED IT THE RIGHT WAY AROUND THIS TIME!!

So excited was I a put another roll of Fujifilm Provia 400X in and went out again.

Thus before sharing some images with you there are two more things I wanted to mention.

Aside from the mishaps is there anything else I have learnt about The Hoff this time. Well actually there is. Don’t wind the shutter crank on until you are ready to press the shutter. Basically compose your image fully first as once you wind the crank and the shutter is ready, the view through the viewfinder is much much darker so it is much more difficult to compose. This was a change in process for me compared to how I shoot my 35mm camera.

Secondly, I purchased a 2nd A12 back so now I can shot two different types of film at the same location.

Enough from me now, here are a few images from both the Kodak and Fuji rolls

E6 cars

I have not posted a blog in a few months due to being very busy so I aim to start posting regularly again.

I took my trusty Olympus OM1n to an American car show recently and shot a roll of Velvia 50 and a roll of Provia 100F. Below are some of my favourite images of the cars on show. Hope you enjoy viewing them.

Orange

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.

Chrome Headlights

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.

Your Vision

Hello,

I have been very busy lately so not been able to update with any blogs. I am hoping to get back on track and start writing regularly again so here is a short blog to kickstart the process.

When I first started shooting film, I was very much in the ‘I must get it right in the camera’ camp.

There was to be no cropping or editing. Over time I felt this was harsh and although I may have been getting the technical parts right, when I looked at the image it didn’t always match the way I visualised it when I took the shot.

Now this does not bother me nearly as much and I use Snapseed to help me get the image how I visualised it. As I am editing from scans they have already had some manipulation anyway. I demonstrate this with the unedited scan and what I wanted when I took this shot in the two images below.

My basic point is whether you shoot film, digital or any other medium. How much or how little you edit and post-process is your choice. So don’t get hung up over it, be honest with yourself and your audience but above all produce the image that matches your vision.

Image taken on a Fuji GA645 with Fujifilm Velvia 50.

SCAN:

MY VISION:

Fireworks

The schools in our area put on a yearly joint fireworks show. I thought I would take the opportunity to take a few photos but did not want to lug around lots of gear as it was a fun family night out. Thus I decided to take the Zeiss Ikon Nettar and one roll of Fujifilm Astia. I had no idea how well the Astia had been stored. I figured with a slow lens and ISO 100 film I would only be able to catch the briefest of lights but hopefully with a dark black background. I set the shutter to 1/25 as I wanted some movement and I set the aperture to f4.5 and shot handheld.

The film was E6 processed and the shots edited in Snapseed. A couple have been cropped quite a bit as I have obviously not got used to the parallax view yet. Enjoy

The Holiday: Roll 3/10. Velvia 50

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.

The Holiday Roll 2/10 Kodak E100VS

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