Autumn 2021

All across the northern hemisphere Autumn is upon us, trees are changing colour by the day as they prepare for their winter hibernation. This is a magical time of year as the last display of colour of the year both amazes and mesmerises photographers. I haven't been able to get out this week so it's a week off to recharge and hopefully return next week with some colour film photo's of the local woodland which has already begun to change. 

I always try to take a DSLR with me when out with my film camera, mostly for trying compositions. I would normally take my Nikon D90, but on this occasion I took my Nikon D700 as I hadn't used it for a while. I also put my Tamron adaptall 2 28-70 f/3.5-4.5 lens on as I have got used to using manual lenses on my D90 and figured I would keep it up.

It was during the course of my walk that I remembered why I bought my D700. It is hands down one of the finest DSLR's ever made. It forgives mistakes with a dynamic range that can pull detail out of a highlight or a shadow with an ease that made it a legend amongst Nikon photographers. There was an awful lot of professional photographers that used the D700 as a second camera on shoots and some who used it rather than the flagship D3 that cost twice the price of the D700.

The pro's loved it but it is the multitude of serious enthusiats like myself who bought the D700 second, third or sometimes fourth hand that have kept a good supply of D700's relevant in the age of mirrorless cameras with ever increasing megapixel sensors. The D700 does one thing, (one ping only, Vassili) It takes photographs and by eck it does it very well indeed. My photography improved enormously when I purchased my D700, it opened my eyes. 

Here are a few digital shots I took when out and about with my Nikon D700. I have put the full resolution images in an album on my Flickr account that you can view via the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Autumn 2021

Improving My DSLR Scanning

 A few blogs ago I spoke of scanning film on a budget using my trusty Ion Slides2PC 5mp 35mm scanner. In that blog I also mentioned I can scan film with my DSLR using my 50mm f/1.8 and an extension tube. Whilst I can use this method I was never really satisfied with it. if I wanted to change from 35mm to medium format or vice versa I had to change to a different extension tube and adjust my tripod. I recently made a purchase that has taken that hassle away from my DSLR scanning workflow. I bought a Macro Converter.

"What the heck is a Macro Converter?" I hear you ask. It is an optical device that converts a 50mm prime into a macro lens, thus allowing me to take better quality images of my negatives without the hassle of swapping between different extension tubes. I found a Panagor branded one on ebay and decided to give it a try.

Panagor was a brand used in the UK, Europe and Asia by Jaca Corporation, a Japanese distributor of photographic gear that operated along the same lines as Vivitar. They bought photographic gear already in production at various Japanese companies and got their brand printed on it. The Panagor Macro Converter was one such item.

I had been looking for a Nikon F mount macro lens for a while and they were always just out of my financial reach. I saw this macro converter and noticed it was an M42 mount. I have a couple of M42 to Nikon F adapters and I also have a Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 M42 mount prime. I figured it was worth a try and hit the buy button.

When it arrived I knew I had bought an excellent item as it looked virtually unused. The macro converter was originally sold in the 70's and 80's during the hey day of film and I decided to fit it to my Nikon D700 full frame to take advantage of its 1:1 macro. It is also adjustable to 1:10 and with the focus of the 50mm lens I had a lot to play with. My Pixl-Latr and A5 led light pad held and illuminated my negs and I fitted my D700 to my Tripod with an arca swiss style L bracket.

It didn't take long to get the hang of using the macro converter, I just kept making small adjustments until I had the focus and frame size as good as my eyes allowed using the live view function on my Nikon D700. Patience is the key and once the first frame is right, the rest follow on pretty quickly. I edited my images using Affinity Photo.

Here's a few of my DSLR scans of various B&W films I have shot this year. The level of detail retained with a DSLR is far better than the cheap dedicated scanner and with practice I know I can produce images that I can enlarge to A4 and above with little to no problem. I have put the DSLR Scans in an album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below.

DSLR Scanning Test

Pulling Ilford HP5 to 200 iso

I really enjoy shooting Ilford film, HP5 and FP4 are superb emulsions with a wide exposure latitude that produce great results and are very forgiving. HP5 has been pushed way beyond it's box speed but pulling it is something I have not seen a lot of online so, for lack of anything better to do, I figured why the heck not. I loaded a roll into my Olympus OM-1, set it at 200 iso and headed into town to see what I could find. I actually shot this film over the course of three days, two in town and the most recent an afternoon around the local farms.

I wasn't looking for any particular shots whilst out and about. I like to see what is in front of me and find a shot. I have always been less than impressed with my efforts when I do go looking for a particular shot, so I began reacting to my surroundings rather than hope my plans would come to fruition. It's good to see Wigan bustling with shoppers again, the last couple of years has been very stressfull for the retailers in town and not all of them have survived the lockdowns caused by the pandemic.

I finished the roll around the local farms, there's always a shot for me there and I found some half decent cloud scapes that go well with an orange filter, even when it's hazy. The trees are showing their autumn colours and I must get back there in the coming days with my FED 2 and a roll of ColorPlus. I left my Frugal Film Project colour film for autumn on purpose as it is probably the most colourful time of year. It's as though the trees have seen what the flowers have to offer through spring and summer and said "hold my beer!"

Here's a few of my images from this roll of HP5 shot at 200, I am quite pleased with how they turned out. As the days get shorter I will be going the other way and pushing a roll or two of HP5 before the year is out. I just have to decide how many stops I am brave enough to tackle. I have placed these images and more in an album on Flickr that you can access via the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Ilford HP5 at 200 iso Flickr Album

Frugal Film Project 2021 - September

September 2021 has been a busy month shooting colour film and learning the art of developing it. Also I seem to have become an Olympus shooter almost exclusively without consciously deciding to do so. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course, Olympus made damn good 35mm film camera's and they do the job exceedingly well. I think that making a repair to my OM-1 has made me appreciate it more, it was my dream camera when I was a kid, maybe it's the kid inside my mind having fun. Whilst enjoying using my OM-1 and OM-2, I also had my 35RC in my bag loaded with Kodak ColorPlus 200 for the Frugal Film Project.

One thing I have been glad to continue is shooting ColorPlus at 100 iso. It's a great happy snappers film at box speed for sunny summer holidays, but if you want to experiment, pull it to 100 and it comes alive. I think the colours become more saturated and it gains contrast making separation much easier to accomplish, which can only be a good thing. Thankfully we got a few sunny days during September and I was able to have a slow wander around town looking for compositions.

I tried to find compositions I haven't explored over the course of the project. It's easy to get caught up shooting the same things all the time and with each passing month that becomes increasingly difficult, particularly if you don't really know the area. Having lived in Wigan for 30 years I have a good idea of where things are, but there are a few little nooks left that surprise me. One shot in particular of a pretty non descript back street came alive with afternoon shadows.

As I spoke of in previous blogs, I definitely wanted to develop at least one roll of colour film for the project. I made the most of my Film Photography Project Unicolor C41 kit and managed to shoot and develop 8 rolls over the course of September. I think I am confident enough in my skills at developing colour film now that I can produce decent negs worthy of the Project and developed this month's roll of Kodak ColorPlus with a roll of Kodak Gold. I think it has come out pretty decent.

For October I plan to change camera and maybe shoot a roll of Kodak ColorPlus at 400 iso in my FED 2 just to see how it turns out. The days are getting shorter so a little more light on my film has to be worth a try, if it works I will share them. Until then, here's a few of my photo's from September's roll of Kodak ColorPlus shot at 100 iso and developed and scanned at home. I have also placed them and more in the Frugal Film Project 2021 Colour album on my Flickr account, you can see them in full resolution by using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.


Frugal Film Project 2021 Colour