Wollaton Hall and Deer Park on WonderPan 400

 My wife and I had the sad duty to attend the funeral of a dear friend in Nottingham at the beginning of July and we planned on staying for a day or two to have a look around and give our friend Kay some company in her time of grief. I travelled light and took one camera, my Minolta Dynax 4 with 28-80mm kit lens, and one roll of film, Wonderpan 400 from Analogue Wonderland, just on the off chance I got to see something worth pointing a camera at.

The day after saying farewell to our friend Jeff, who passed away after a few years of deteriorating health, we decided to go out for a walk with his wife, Kay, to help her start this new stage of her life as best we could. Kay suggested we visit Wollaton Hall Gardens and Deer Park, a huge country park and stately home on the outskirts of Nottingham that is open to the public. We reckoned it would be nice to get some fresh air, so I picked up my camera and off we went.

I have seen Deer up close only a couple of times in my life and just once in over 20 years near my home. To be able to see some reasonably close was an offer I couldn't pass up. I was also regretting tavelling light. I instantly knew my 70-210mm beercan lens was the bare minimum I should have had, yet I only had the one lens, my 28-80 kit lens. I had to play this smartly and try not to get myself in a pickle.

If this was in the Highlands of Scotland, I wouldn't have got this close to the Deer. They are truly wild up there and you don't argue with a big Deer. However, the Deer at Wollaton Hall have become accustomed to the presence of the humans who visit them and there are plenty of signs giving advice on keeping yourself and the Deer safe. I took care to keep a safe distance and really wished I had taken my 70-210mm zoom.

I gently approached the first group I came across, a few Bucks with this years Antlers still covered with velvet. I took my time, stayed around 50 metres away and remained quiet and calm in the hope the Deer would see I was no threat to them, I was just another human with a camera. This seemed to work and I hoped my automatic, autofocus camera would not spook them with it's noisy motors. I took my first shot.

They didn't even bat an eyelid.

This made me feel a little more confident and I took a few photos before moving on to the group of Does in the next field. May to July is calving season and I kept my distance as I knew they would move away at the first sign of trouble. One small group moved, but a larger group stayed and didn't mind me taking my last few photos before I left them in peace to continue their foraging. 24 shots don't last long when you're enjoying some quality time with nature.

It's a priviledge to be able to photograph Deer in their own habitat. The fact the herd at Wollaton Hall are used to humans helped me a lot and encouraged me to want to return with longer lenses and maybe even my DSLR. I took quite a few photos with my phone camera, but it's a far cry from my Nikon D610. That one's coming with me next time along with my Tamron 70-300mm, AF Nikkor 24-120mm, my Nikon F801s and a spare lens to try to cover all the bases.

When I returned home, I developed my film in Kodak HC110 dilution B, 1+31, for 17 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised my film with my Nikon D700 and Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I really enjoyed my encounter with the Deer at Wollaton Hall and you can too as it is open all year round. Just remember to take heed of the signs giving advice on how you can watch the Deer in a safe manner and share some quality time in their environment. You can find more information by visiting the Wollaton Hall website using the link below. Here's a few of my favourite film photos of the Deer and I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Wollaton Hall - WonderPan 400
Wollatonhall.org.uk

Woodland Photography with Harman Phoenix 200

 For my third roll of Harman Phoenix 200 I decided to change cameras and location to really test the dynamic range of the film in challenging conditions. Woodland photography. I loaded my roll of Harrman Phoenix 200 into my Minolta Hi-matic 7 rangefinder camera, set the camera to full auto, the film speed at 200 iso and went for a walk in my local woodland on a bright sunny day in May.

There's a patch of Bluebells that I'm not sure a lot of people visit, despite it being next to a footpath. It's not particularly densely populated with Bluebells, but it always puts on a show. I headed straight for at as it was the middle of Bluebell season and I didn't want to miss it, especially with the conditions being dry and bright sunshine was pushing columns of light through the canopy.

I knew I was taking a risk with using my Minolta Hi-Matic 7. It has a fixed 45mm f/1.8 lens that is perfect for street photography. However, I really should have used a different camera with a longer focal length to get closer to the flowers than I managed on this occasion. It wasn't a complete bust, I got some nice photos and got as close as I could to the Bluebells without falling over. I'm not good with my balance these days and struggled a bit, but I'm also a stubborn old bugger and got on with it as best as I could.

Once I was happy with my Bluebell photos, I headed to another part of the woodland to visit the old dead tree that local youngsters congregate next to for a few drinks and a laugh around a small camp fire. It's out of the way, does no harm to anyone and it keeps them out of mischief. They keep the area reasonably clean too.

The dead tree is still slowly collapsing, but the tiny sapling I first saw a couple of years ago is still alive. It is growing between the roots of the dead tree and making use of what light comes through the canopy above. It reminds me that the great cycle of life continues to find a way to keep going. The little sapling may not have grown much over the last couple of years, but it is growing. I was having so  much fun I soon finished my roll of film and headed home.

I sent my roll of Harman Phoenix 200 to Analogue Wonderland for developing along with my Sakura roll of Harman Phoenix and a roll of ColorPlus. When my film returned I scanned it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I am rather impressed with how well Harman Phoenix 200 film responds to DSLR Scanning. My Nikon D700 has a legendary colour profile and dynamic range that is well suited to scanning negatives. Inverting the negative in Affinity Photo 2 gave me decent photos with just a few small adjustments needed to bring my vision to life.

I am also impressed with how Harman Phoenix 200 handled the high contrast between light and shade on a bright sunny day in the woods. The pools of light were bright without being blown out and the shadow areas were still full of detail. I took my time processing my roll of Harman Phoenix as I am still learning how to get the best from this film using my home scanning set up. Harman still have a way to go before we can say Harman Phoenix 200 is even approaching perfect, but they have made a great start. I have another roll to shoot in the coming weeks.

Here's a few favourites from my walk in the woodland to shoot Harman Phoenix 200 in my Minolta Hi-Matic 7 35mm rangefinder camera. As always I have placed them and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Harman Phoenix 200 - Minolta Hi-Matic 7

Frugal Film Project 2024 - June - 35mm

 I managed to get out and about well before the final day of the month in June. As luck would have it, the longest day of the year saw me head out around the local farm roads and footpaths on a fine evening with my Olympus OM101 loaded with a roll of Kentmere 400 B&W film.

It really was a glorious couple of days over the summer solstice as summer arrived with bright sunshine and hazy skies. I tried to take advantage of the skies by using an orange filter for all my photos on this walk and I paid another visit to the horses to say hello. 

The horses in the first field were a little stand-offish, but a couple of enterprising horses graciously posed for a photo in the hope a treat would follow. As I mentioned last week, I don't feed the horses, that's something their humans do as they know what the horses eat. I said my farewell to them and headed off to the next field.

In this field the horses were away at the far side of the field and it gave me a chance to try the long end of my Zuiko 35-70mm power focus lens. I set the zoom to 70mm and operated the wheel on the back of the camera to set the focus to infinity and grabbed a couple of long shots.

To get to the third and final field I had to head to the top of the hill where the horses were happily grazing in the evening sunshine. Along the way I visited my favourite tree on the spoil heap and captured some wild flowers at the side of the footpath. It was whilst doing this I started having trouble with the power focus. Oh Oh! Was my second camera about to fail?

I checked the state of the batteries and the beep noise assured me there was power there, but the indicator light didn't light up. I was skeptical after what happened earlier in the year and decided to fit some new batteries that I brought with me just in case. Thanfully it appeared to do the trick and my camera was working properly again.

When I reached the horses they had congragated together and gave me a chance to get a couple of shots to finish my roll of Kentmere 400 film. I really enjoyed my walk in the evening sunshine and despite having to change batteries, I also enjoyed using my Olympus OM101. I packed it in my bag and headed off home. The long way of course, I had another couple of cameras with me to shoot for future blogs.

I developed my film a day later in HC110 dilution E 1+47 for 9 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had to hanging to dry in my bathroom on a balmy afternoon. It didn't take long and later that evening I digitised my film with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I orocessed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I like the photos I got this month, the orange filter definitely helped bring some detail to the haze in the sky as did the longer develoment time. I am falling for Kentmere 400 developed with HC110 dilution E 1+47. It seems to me to be the sweet spot for this film, but other folk may have their own favourite developer and time for it.

I am finally getting a good run with my Olympus OM101. It likes to keep me on my toes, as this months battery swap shows, but I am beginning to get the hang of it. I hope the second half of 2024 goes well, but I am taking nothing for granted. The one exception is Olympus' fine optics.

The 35-70mm f/3.5-4.5 Power Focus has all of Olypmus skills in it and it's a shame it only works on this camera. I'm tempted to use one of my Olympus manual focus lenses at some point and make some use of the manual adapter that came with the camera. I also have a 50mm f/2 that came with the camera that I can use for the project I have come to love taking part in. I enjoy using the zoom lens, It's right in the sweet spot for a mid range zoom, but it would be rude not to use the 50mm power focus prime lens.

Here's a few of my favourite shots taken in June with my Olympus OM101 on Kentmere 400 black and white film for the Frugal Film Project 2024. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 35mm album on Flickr that you can visit by clicking the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2024 - June - 35mm

Frugal Film Project 2024 - June - 120 medium format

 This month marks one year since I became the proud owner of Baldy the Baldax and I have used this wonderful 1930's folding camera for the Frugal Film Project for 12 consecutive months. We have shared high points and a few low ones during that time, but one thing I do know, Balda made beautiful cameras. I own a few cameras that gave me less grief and have been placed on the "naughty shelf", but not Baldy. A grim determination to succeed has been my motivation for the last 12 months.

For my June roll of Ilford HP5+ 400 black and white film I went for a wander around town re-visiting locations I have photographed many times, but this day was different. I knew Baldy had lasted a whole year and I couldn't be happier. We had some half decent light to play with for a change too and I'm hoping for more as the summer progresses. I really was enjoying my walk and, as is all too often when your'e having fun, time flew by. I finished my roll Ilford HP5+ 400 black and white film and headed home.

I have also made that tough decision of whether or not to bring on super sub. I'm keeping going with Baldy to see if I can make it to a whole calendar year and call 2024 the Year of Baldy the Baldax. I'm having fun, I have accepted that I'm never going to get a full roll of perfect pictures from Baldy the Baldax and I'm fine with that. Baldy is 90 years young and still going strong. I don't want to retire it to the display shelf just yet, we have more adventures ahead of us.

I developed my roll of Ilford HP5+ 400 medium format film in HC110 dilution B 1+31 for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi medium format film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I enjoyed shooting my June roll of Ilford HP5+ 400 with Baldy the Baldax for the Frugal Film Project 2024. I trusted my instincts, eyballed the light, made an educated guess for my settings and it was a lot of fun. They aren't perfect, but that's all part of the charm of using a 90 year old camera. It was £49 well spent at the time and long may it continue. Here's a few of my favourites from the roll. As always, I have posted them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 - 120 album on Flickr that you can visit by clicking the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2024 - June - 120

Minolta Dynax 4 - An Affordable Entry Into Film Photography

A friend of mine decided he needed to sell a few cameras to thin out his collection and one of them was a Minolta Dynax 4 fitted with a Minolta 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. He listed it on ebay with three other cameras that were attracting bids, but nobody was interested in the Minolta. I figured I would help him out and started the bidding at £10.

A few days later, it was the only bid and I was the new owner of this very clean camera and lens. To be fair he wasn't expecting much interest in it and was glad it sold to someone he knew would use it. He duly despatched it to me and a couple of days later it arrived. Knowing how well my friend cares for his cameras I wasn't surprised at the condition. It looks like new and the lens is clear and free from dust. I purchased some batteries for it and set about learning how to use it.

The Minolta Dynax 4, called the Maxxum 4 in the Americas and the Dynax 3 in the Asia Pacific region, was introduced in 2002 and was on sale until 2004. I soon discovered that this light weight, plastic, auto focus camera was listed at the top of the lower entry level, aimed at beginners who want an easy to use SLR with enough features to help them hone their skills over time. It was also at a price that wouldn't be beyond reasonable reach of most people.

It's the kind of camera that you can carry around all day every day with no effort and capture photos good enough to hang on the wall using full auto, the various scene modes or fully manually. The standard Minolta 28-80mm zoom, sold as a kit lens with the camera, is not the fastest zoom lens, but certainly a solid performer and capable of producing excellent photos.

I learned it is very similar in operation as the Minolta Dynax 500si I bought for my grandson a couple of years back and does everything that camera can do. Shutter speeds are from 30 seconds to 1/2000th of a second with bulb mode and a self timer. It has scene modes for portrait, landscape, macro, sport and night photography. A film DX code reader is built in and if you want a little more creative control the iso can be manually selected ranging from 6 - 6400. There's also a built in flash too. I loaded a roll of Agfaphoto APX400 35mm B&W film and headed out for a wander to try it out.

That wander turned out to be indoors at Salford Museum and Art Gallery on a day out with my wife and our pal Keith who came to visit. The good folks at Salford Museum and Art Gallery were great to let me and Keith loose with our cameras. Their conditions were "No Flash" and we had to sign an agreement not to sell any of our photos. We said we would send them some photos and signed on the dotted line.

I upped the iso to 800, set the camera to aperture priority and took a deep breath, I knew I might have to breathe like a sniper for this one. I was glad I upped the iso to 800 as it gave me enough shutter speed to keep camera shake at bay without having to shoot wide open all day long. Even the couple of photos I took in the dimly lit Lark Hill Place street exhibit were well exposed. My entry level Minolta Dynax 4 with its kit lens performed admirably and I managed to shoot an entire roll as we wandered around Salford Museum and Art Gallery.

I developed my roll of APX400 shot at 800 iso a couple of days later with Kodak HC110 dilution B for 11 1/2 minutes at 20 celcius. and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it the next day with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2,5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the raw files with Affinity Photo 2.

I have to say I am rather impressed with how well my photos came out. The Minolta Dynax 4 was on the market at the end of the glory days of film and was discontinued after 3 short years. The inevitable move to digital by all the big players saw them discontinue all film camera production by 2006 which left only disposable and simple plastic cameras left in production to the present day.

If you want to learn film photography, you can pick up a Minolta Dynax 4 and it will feel instantly familiar to those who have been using DSLR and Mirrorless digital cameras. It has all the famiiar functions and presets that were designed in the 80's and are on all modern cameras today. They are also in the class of "Plastic, Auto Focus" film cameras that dont get a lot of love and consequently are dirt cheap to buy. Mine was £10 well spent.

Here's a few favourites from our day at Salford Museum and Art Gallery. if you want to see them for yourself in all their colourful glory, the museum is open all year round and it's free to get in. Donations are of course welcomed and there's a café for drinks and snacks if you like to have a break during your visit. More information about Salford Museum and Art Gallery is available via their website using the link below.

Salford Museum and Art Gallery

Sakura Hanami with Harman Phoenix 200

 For this years Sakura Hanami, I wanted to see how Harman Phoenix 200 handled the pink, green and brown hues of the trees filled with cherry blossom. Despite the almost constant dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy days here in Wigan, I managed to get out on a reasonably bright, yet overcast day in mid April that would diffuse the light and hopefully make the colours pop. I chose to again use my Olympus OM10 with my 28mm f/3.5 and 50mm f/1.8 Zuiko lenses. I loaded my film and toddled off out.

The Cherry Blossom never fails to impress me with it's full spectrum of pinks interspersed with the dark colours of the branches and green leaves. This year, despite not being the warmest start to spring I have noticed over the years, the Cherry Trees had once again taken their chance to put on a superb display for us. The overcast sky did try to let a little sunlight through, but for the most part it was diffuse light.

As I was enjoying the beauty of nature, a couple stopped their car, got out and started taking photos with their phone cameras. It was nice to see it's not just me that appreciates the cherry blossom near my home. Spring always brings a smile to peoples faces as they climb out of the winter doldrums and see the earth awaken with colour.

I was having a lot of fun hunting nice flower heads and generally documenting the display for 2024 that I hadn't noticed I had almost ran out of film. I took my final photo and made my way to the next part of my walk to try out my recently purchased second Balda Baldax, loving named Baldy Jr. Once that was done I headed for home to have a well earned rest and a cuppa tea.

I sent my roll of Harman Phoenix 200 back to Analogue Wonderland for developing. I was very impressed with how my first roll turned out and I was happy to send my other rolls to them. It takes a little time, but it's worth it to give my Harman Phoenix 200 to a proper lab for developing. I would also rather not have it sitting in my fridge for months waiting for me to shoot enough colour film to make it worth my time buying a C41 kit.

When I got my negatives back from Analogue Wonderland I had a good look at them. The conditions gave me a chance to explore Harman Phoenix 200 when shot in diffuse light. It loves to be exposed on a bright sunny day, but an overcast day was a challenge to get my exposures right. I had put my faith in my OM-10 and it's excellent aperture priority metering when maybe I should have gone with my instincts.

I shot it at box speed on a grey day when the sun didn't quite manage to shine through the overcast sky. I could have rated it at 100 or maybe even 50 iso to gain that extra exposure time. However, it does make for a different aesthetic that I would not have got with my favourite Kodak ColorPlus 200. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but we live and learn for another day.

I know the two are miles apart in terms of research and development, but ColorPlus is the cheapest colour film in Kodak's current roster. Harman Phoenix at the very least needs to be on par with Kodak's cheapest film in a wide range of lighting conditions and I reckon it will in future iterations.

I digitised my film using my Nikon D700 (I was counting on it's dynamic range and bespoke colour profile to help me out), Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

When I started processing my RAW files I could see the potential for next years Cherry Blossom season shot on Harman Phoenix 200. I like to keep my editing simple and the auto functions in Affinity Photo usually do the trick with a little sharpening and small adjustments. Colours are decent, there's still that red halation and my exposure settings aren't the best. Some did need a little more work, but that's ok, it's all part of the fun of editing. They were easily tweaked in Affinity Photo 2. I just need a sunny day to get the best from this film.

Here's a few Cherry Blossom photos from my roll of Harman Phoenix 200 shot with my Olympus OM-10 and Zuiko lenses. I know they are much different to my previous Sakura photos over the years, but that's fine by me. Harman Phoenix is an experimental film and will take time to perfect. In the mean time it's fun to experiment and give Harman as much data as possible. I have placed them and a few more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Sakura Hanami - Harman Phoenix

Frugal Film Project 2024 - May - 35mm

 I am always leaving things to the last minute and it's something I will forever struggle with. Don't ask me why it keeps happening, I have no idea, it just seems to work out that way. Thus it was that I went for an afternoon walk around the local farm on May 31st 2024. I loaded my OM101 with Kentmere 400 and headed out to say hello to the horses who are back in the fields for the summer. One day I will do this in the first week, not the last.

I had taken a couple of shots in Wigan a day or two earlier and I just wasn't feeling it. I was more concerned with finishing my medium format film, so I left it and I was glad I did to be honest. The light was never going to magically become perfect, it was a hazy afternoon, but better than a few days earlier.

I always enjoy seeing the horses in their fields. They have become accustomed to the strange human with the clicky box thing coming to say hello. They were waiting patiently for their humans to come and see them when I arrived. Horses are quite pragmatic, they tend to trust those who care for them and know when it's time for their humans to arrive. They will also not turn down a treat from passing strangers.

This is a strict NO! If you're walking in the countryside, don't feed or touch any livestock you may encounter on your travels. Horses can get Colic from a number of things, at best it is very painful and can be fatal in the worst cases. You don't know if a horse or a pony has a special diet, so it's best to leave their food up to their humans. You can say hello, horses don't mind you stopping by for a little chat, but it will be a one way conversation. I don't mind that, I was having fun and it seemed like I was only out for 10 minutes when I finished my film and headed home.

I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 with HC110 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 size led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

I enjoyed my walk to visit the horses. It's always good to get out after a few days of rain and cloudy weather. Here's a few of my favorites from my May roll of Kentmere 400 35mm B&W film for the Frugal Film Project 2024. I have put them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2024 35mm album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2024 - May - 35mm