Starting in the middle of the pandemic, I began buying an assortment of films to experiment with. Prior to that time, I had used only Kodak and Fuji consumer films (UltraMax and Fuji Superia X-tra 400) bought locally. Black-and-white film entered my repertoire in late 2020, via UltrafineContinue Reading
A few weeks ago, I read a post recommended by Jim Grey. It talked about the “best” camera in terms of capability, quality, and dependability as compared to the one you use most often. After giving this idea some thought, I realized that I’m in the same boat asContinue Reading
This has been the best summer ever for garden images. The Pentax 645 finally made it back into the rotation after two years of neglect. I bought the Pentax 645 expecting to use it mainly for studio shots because it’s too large to carry around. However, using aContinue Reading
This summer I’ve shot a lot of flower images, more (probably) than any previous year. I’m aiming for portrait images, but not macro-photo views. Capturing colors with good fidelity has been a challenge, especially for the “Pink Flirt” daylilies. They have colors that are not replicated well byContinue Reading
After trying macro lenses for the last five years, I decided it was time to try extension tubes. Typically, one uses extension tubes for higher magnification than is possible with a dedicated macro lens. However, at present, I’m more interested in experimentation with decreased minimum focus distance for regularContinue Reading
Last summer, I shot a roll in my Semi IIIa while strolling through Midtown. On developing the film, I discovered that the focus was off, and the film advance/double exposure mechanism was faulty. As a result, every frame was blurry, and there were many double exposures. After goingContinue Reading
Last winter, I shot six or seven rolls of film — color and black and white. I was pleased with the results—the B&W showed a pleasing, but not overwhelming, amount of grain, even at 400 ISO. The color was the same. Then, in March and April, I began testingContinue Reading
Like everyone else, I was thrilled to learn of Harman’s new color film. I bought two rolls last year, but I did not get to them until a few weeks ago. Going in, I had no particular expectations for this film being a great emulsion. Many reviews cited itsContinue Reading
At one point, I stopped using Tri-X because it curled so badly. Then, I figured out how to stop the curling, which I wrote about in October 2023. Last year, when Kodak lowered the price, I decided to stock up on Tri-X because at $7.99 for 24 frames, itContinue Reading
Description: Gardenia in low sunlight Background: Using exposure compensation was one of the trickiest things for me to apply properly with film because of the lag between shooting and viewing the result. Accounting for backlighting was easy, and backlit frames usually turned out as hoped. But flowers proved to beContinue Reading
