Morning in the Garden

Let me preface this post with a few details about using a Nikon D80. “Why?” You ask.  The D80 shares the same CCD sensor as the Nikon D200, a 10 MP DSLR.  Unlike the D200, it does not meter with non-AF lenses, because that’s Nikon. Always dumbing down their “consumer-level” cameras.  I have a Nikon D200 (and D300, D7200 and Df), but the D80 is smaller, lighter, and it cost me $60.  Shooting it with manual lenses is almost like shooting a film camera, but with the instant satisfaction of seeing if your exposure is right.  While the camera does not know the aperture, you can easily change the shutter speed via the thumb wheel on the body, or change the aperture on the lens, or adjust the ISO to get what you feel is a good exposure.  Also, here’s where knowing the exposure triangle and estimating the light comes in handy.  The fact is, I also like the color rendering of those CCD sensors, and even shooting in B&W mode I get pretty good approximations of b&w film.

You can take excellent photographs with an old DSLR.  When the D80/D200 came out, they were considered to be excellent cameras, and they still are. Don't fall for the fallacy that you need the absolute latest digital to get great photos.  

I have used the Lensbaby Velvet 56 since 2018, and on a film body, it’s quite incredibly versatile. Wide-open at f/1.6 gives you some serious out of focus blur and a glow that’s really something. Stop down more than f/4, it is quite good, and since it close-focuses to the macro level, it’s great for flowers, etc.  I’ve shot with it on my full frame Nikon Df, and of course, everything works in A mode.  But on the D80, it’s going to be equivalent to about an 85mm lens in coverage, and I have to expose in manual mode.  Not a big deal for an experienced photographer. I’m not looking for perfection, I’m looking to make art.

Some of the images from this morning in Lightroom

So, this morning I took the D80 out into our garden. It had rained a bit overnight, the sky was cloudy, and very little wind. Perfect for what I wanted to do.  I set the ISO at 250 and upped it to 400 when I wanted to shoot at smaller apertures.  Most of the time I shot at f/4 to f/8, but in a few instances, I shot at f/2.8 and f/1.6.  

At f/5.6

At f/1.6 - wide open.   That's some glow.

I have been photographing flower closeups with DSLRs since 2006, and it’s great using odd lenses and experimenting with instant feedback and then making some adjustments.  That’s the beauty of an SLR, whether it’s film or digital.  And while I have also done similar photographs with mirrorless, I like using an SLR better, since I am seeing directly through the viewfinder, not an electronic rendering.  Plus, the battery lasts so much longer in a DSLR.  That’s my preference, and it doesn’t mean that you have to do it my way.  

I'd call this painterly.  Wide-open.

One of the things about the Lensbaby Velvet 56 that I like is that it can be a sharp lens when stopped down, but it can also give a dreamy velvety glow to images at wider apertures, and today, I really had some fun with it.  I did about 100 exposures in 30 minutes, just walking through out wildflower meadow and our more traditional garden.  The rain drops and soft light were perfect for what I wanted, and I got the shots.  

Senna leaves with drops

Virginia Spider-Wort

Purple Cone Flower is always a great subject

Hosta flowers

These Crocosmia flowers look like glass

Hydrangeas 

Hydrangea leaf

Hydrangea leaf

I sometimes feel that I am chasing down some unattainable level of perfection.  Maybe you do too.  In the end, if you like your results, that is what counts. If an image conveys an emotion, captures a feeling, a suspended moment that is beautiful, you got something that’s worthwhile.  Maybe it won’t happen again that day, but unless you are out shooting, you’ll never know.  That is one of the great aspects of photography.  Sometimes it comes easily, and sometimes it requires a lot of work.  I like being able to walk outside and have that opportunity to explore nature’s beauty right in my yard.

Ladie's Mantle leaves

Coreopsis flower

More Coneflower at f/2.8 or so

Coneflower at f/5.6

Well, it’s the Solstice!

AuTrain Bay, June, 2008.  Summer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is pretty nice.

Summer Solstice, that is. The longest day of the year, daylight-wise. Still, it’s a special day. This year it is also Father’s Day.  My daughter, who is 38 (how can that be?), is visiting us, and that’s the best Father’s Day present.  It seems that June has just been flying by this year. Maybe it’s just because I’m older.  I think June needs an extra day.

I have been dealing with a health issue that is hopefully going to improve. My lower spine is causing me some awful leg pain that my doctor thought was arthritis of the hip.  I thought it might be bursitis, but a visit to the orthopedic doctor and some x-rays revealed that my hips are fine. It’s my lower spine that’s causing the pain.  I have to say, that the past month has been difficult, and the pain has put a damper in my mood as well as my wanting to go out and shoot.  Anyhow, I am on some medication that seems to be helping, and hopefully, I will be my usual jolly self soon.  At least I know that it’s not my hips.  As the doctor said, “I have some good news and some bad news.”  Hopefully, the spinal issue will not get worse.

Mine will be similar to this

I just purchased a monorail 4x5 to augment my Intrepid 4x5 field camera.  It’s a Calumet (Kodak) Orbit that I paid #112.50 + $19 postage.  I had one very similar to it when I lived in Ann Arbor.  Easy to set up and easy to use.  Definitely a camera for studio and around the yard shots, as monorails are not really travel-friendly.  My previous monorail camera had a custom case for it.  This is the same model camera that Ansel Adams used for many of this photographs in his series of books.  I’m looking forward to playing with it.

Marc Akemann getting photographed by Bill Schwab. Two great men gone. Photostock 2009.

In some years, I planned a photo day for the summer solstice.  A full day of photography from sunrise to sunset.  I won’t be doing that this year, as I am taking it easy.  In some previous years, it was the time to attend Photostock in Michigan.  Those were great times, and the loss of Bill Schwab means that the Photostock will no longer be held.  I met many people that I never would have met without Photostock.  Many of them are large-format and alt-process practitioners, who would not normally be in my “orbit.”  I really enjoyed those encounters with the smell of ether in the air.  

06/21/2012

Yesterday was “620 Day” and I confess that I didn’t even drag out a 620 film camera.  We have had 127 day, 120 day, pinhole day, toy camera day, 35mm day day, etc., and at one time, I did all those things, even Argus Day. Argus Day was by far, my favorite, as it made me get out an Argus camera and shoot with it.  My Argus of choice these days is the C-4.  

06/21/2016, Nikon 1J1.

Happy Summer Solstice!

AuTrain Falls, Argus C-4, June, 2008.

KONO! Color 400 Film

Several months ago I stopped by my local camera store, Ball Photo, in Asheville.  I purchased some different color films since they were there on the shelf, and of course, they were something that I’d not tried before.  One of the films was a two-pack of Kono! Color 400, which has been described by the manufacturer as:

“KONO Color 400 Color Negative Film is a modern interpretation of a classic German color negative film and provides excellent tonal range, as well as a wide exposure latitude. This versatile film has a nominal sensitivity of ISO 400/27° and can be developed in any lab using C-41 chemistry.”

I loaded a roll into my Chinon CS-4 and used a Vivitar 35-85/2.8 zoom, which is a rather rare lens these days.  It definitely weighs more than the camera, pictured above with a Yashinon DX 50mm/1.4 lens.  I spent a few hours over in the River Arts District of Asheville, photographing around the French Broad River, back in March.  A week ago I finally got around to developing all my exposed color films in an FPP color chemistry (ECN-2) kit.  So, now it’s time to discuss my results.  I scanned the negatives with my Epson V700 scanner.

The greenish film base looks like Orwo NC500

I-240 bridge

Waiting for the Kudzu to burst forth

railroad trestle over the French Broad

White Duck Taco remains closed since Hurricane Helene

I-240 bridge

any vertical surface seems to attract graffiti

the old Asheville Paper Recycling facility

Now, in the past, I’ve shot a couple of different Kono! labeled films and the current ones in their catalog are certainly interesting, due to their range of color implementations.  This film, however, is awfully similar to the Orwo Wolfen NC 500.  Since it’s stated that the film is made in Germany, I am pretty sure that’s what it is.  The greenish base of the film certainly looks the same. The muted colors are also obvious.  If you were expecting something like Kodacolor 400, this film isn’t it.  Much like Lomochrome Metropolis and NC 500, there is a muted look to most of the colors.  Now that’s not a bad thing.  In our current era of everything being super-saturated, maybe being somewhat muted is a good option.  The film isn’t exactly fine-grained, and that can be a plus with the right subject, but the grain isn’t bad, either.  

I think it’s a film worth trying out if you are looking for something different.  I’ll shoot the second roll this summer, with different colorful subjects and see what I get. I’ll know what to expect though, and that will affect my choice of what I shoot.

Hi-Wire Brewery

Hi-Wire loading dock

Building the covered pickleball courts at Hi-Wire

If you like the muted color palette of this film, then it certainly could be the film for you.

An old Kodak folder lens on 4x5

Last November, I acquired an Intrepid 4x5 camera from my fellow photographer, Russ Young. I’ve already written about my re-acquaintance with large format back in April.  A month or so ago, I found an old Kodak Kodex No. 1 lens/shutter assembly in a drawer. I’m pretty sure that it came from a Kodak Pocket 1A folding camera that was in bad condition, so I just saved the lens from it.  I never thought about putting it on another camera until recently.  My first thought when I looked at it was, “Will it work with 4x5?”

Lensboard with 32mm center hole.

It needed a lens board though, before I could do anything with it. My buddy Bill Pivetta cut a lens board with a 32mm center hole for me from a sheet of gray plastic that I had in my garage. After some final sanding and trimming, I mounted the lens and attached the lens board to my Intrepid camera.    When I looked at the ground glass, it appeared that the lens does in fact, cover 4x5.  A few shots with the lens confirmed that. The photos below were taken on Arista Ultra 100, at apertures of f/22 and f/32, with a time of 1 to 2 seconds.

This lens is a 111mm Meniscus Achromat, with numbered aperture settings of 1,2,3,4.  The shutter speeds of T, B, 1/25 and 1/50 are sufficient for low ISO film.  Now, what are those numbered apertures?  From what I’ve found 1= f/11, 2= f/16, 3= f/22, and 4 = f/32. This is NOT a fast lens, and was likely found in the least expensive version of the camera.  At the maximum aperture of f/11, the image on the ground glass is quite dim, and even more so at f/22!  Of course, this lens was used on the original camera with a reflex viewfinder (which are not bright, either), and the camera had set positions for subject distance.  Using this lens on a bight day isn’t too bad, though.

Yes, it covers 4x5!  f/22 @ 2 seconds

The whole point of this exercise was to see if I could use this lens on my 4x5, and I was successful in that.  There are better lens/shutter combinations available on those old Kodak folders that may yield better results.  This lens, at 110-111mm is on the wide end of 4x5, and I’m looking at my Kodak Vigilant Six-20 with its 101mm lens and Kodak No. 1 Supermatic shutter and maximum aperture of f/4.5 and I think I’ll have to try that one next on my 4x5.  In fact, while writing this, I took a half hour to remove the lens from the Kodak Vigilant Six-20 and mounted it on the same lens board. It fit perfectly, and now to do some more testing.

Now, to try this one out. Stay tuned.

The fun thing with 4x5 is that I am able to easily experiment with old lenses, and it takes just a sheet or two of film to see the results.  There are a lot of old folders out there with beat-up bellows and extinct film formats. Why not give it a try?  

Ektapan To the Max!

The best 400 ISO film?

It’s been a while since I’ve used Kodak’s T-Max 400 (now also known as Kodak Ektapan 400) in 35mm.  I have used it occasionally in medium format, and the 120 version has been a good choice for a lot of things.  However, I just have not shot much of it in my 35mm cameras over the years.  Back in early May, I had two rolls from Ball Photo in Asheville, and took them with me on my trip to New York and Connecticut in mid-May. I shot them with my Nikon FM2N, a very reliable camera that I’ve owned since 2008, and have also not used it much in the past few years.  It was time to take it on a road trip and give it some love.  

First of all, the Nikon FM2N is one of Nikon’s longest-selling 35mm SLRs, and it is fully manual, with LEDs indicating the exposure with +/- and an “o” when the light meter determines the proper exposure.  Not really all that different from a Pentax Spotmatic F.  Since I’ve owned this camera, I’ve used it more for low-ISO films, since it has a range of 12-6400.  Being all-mechanical, it was also a good choice for winter photography when I lived in Michigan.  I have also taken it on trips as a back-up to my Nikon F3HP.  As you would expect from Nikon, it’s a very reliable camera.  Mine looks like it just came from the store. 

We drove our usual route to New York State, via I-26 to I-81, and then I-84 and the Taconic Parkway to Dutchess County.  The trip was to attend my brother-in-law’s wedding, and to also visit a spot on my “bucket list” - Steichen’s Pond in Connecticut.  On the return home, Adrienne and stayed in Winchester, Virginia, and also visited Luray Caverns on our way home. A lot of driving over 5 days, for sure.  

Besides the Nikon FM2N, I brought my Nikon Zfc and my Ansco Pix Panorama cameras. It was a short trip, so I didn’t plan on doing a lot for stopping and photographing.  I shot two rolls of Kentmere 400 and two rolls of T-Max 400 in the FM2N.  The Zfc was mostly used inside Luray Caverns (where it performed quite well).

From the Kodak/Alaris site

I developed the film about a week after I returned home, and used Kodak’s T-Max RS developer for the T-max 400 film.  The negatives were scanned on my Epson V700.  The moment I saw the negatives hanging up to dry, I knew that the T-Max 400 really delivered good images.  The Kentmere 400 negatives were likewise excellent (D-76 1:1).  However, I’m here to praise the T-Max 400.   

By this time, you have possibly seen something about Eastman Kodak rebranding T-Max 400 as Ektapan 400.  The Kodak-Alaris brand of T-Max is still available, and they are exactly the same films.  I’m glad that I chose T-Max 400 for the low-light shots, as they came out really well.  I used a 50mm f/2 Nikkor lens, and I’m really pleased with the results as shown below.

Some examples:

Poughkeepsie, NY

Chicago House, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie

Vassar College

A huge Sycamore, Vassar College

Steichen's Pond and house, Topstone Park, CT.

old train station, Winchester, Virginia

We stayed here in Winchester, VA. I highly recommend it!

I've shot T-Max films over the past 25+ years, and have generally been happy with my results from them.  T-Max 400 hits the right spot in terms of fine grain, sharpness, and shadow detail.  It also lies perfectly flat in the scanner, so that's another plus.  It's more expensive than Kentmere 400  and Fomapan 400.  I checked the B&H Photo its, and 36-exposure rolls of Kentmere 400 are $7.99, Fomapan 400 is $8.99, Ektapan 400 is $11.99 and T-Max 400 is $10.99.  So it's at least $3.00 a roll more expensive than Kentmere 400, which is my usual 400 ISO film.  It's only 50 cents/roll more expensive than Ilford HP-5.  B&H sells Kodak Tri-X for $8.99, and for more comparison a  36-exposure roll of Ilford Delta 400  (a T-grain film ) is $16.49!  So, T-Max 400 isn't the most expensive ISO 400 black and white film.  I'm definitely ordering more for future trips.

Is it the best 400 ISO b&w film?  It really depends on what one wants from their film, but I'd say that T-Max 400 is a film that I really like.  The photo of the train station and the hotel were taken near sunset, and there is a lot of detail. The grain is quite minimal, too. So, I'd rate T-Max 400 at the top.