Leica IIIC, VC 21 and Kodak Profoto : mundane shots in London

Knightsbidge

Quite a while back actually, I shot a first roll after the IIIC was repaired. But one roll is not enough right?

Notting Hill

So, on a sunny day, I loaded the little fellow with a roll of Kodak Profoto 100 a fool proof colour print film that comes and goes from the shelfs, and screwed the Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mmF4 on its front.

First set of pictures were taken during a big walk to Notting Hill, Portobello road and back.

The area is usually very colourful and have a lovely rendering on film.

And the 21mm give some good dynamics to the pictures.

If you are familiar with my blog, you remember that a couple of years back I bought a metal 21/25mm external viewfinder made by Voigtlander to replace the plastic one that comes with the lens.

The optics of the plastic finder seems to unglue itself and move so its not fit for its purpose. I brought it back to the shop once, then tried to repair it myself, not so easy. In the end I bought the separate viewfinder for about half of the price of the lens ( both new).

As I am in no haste of finishing any roll, a week passed for the next stroll to Brick Lane.

Crossing the City on our way to Brick Lane ( because the tube broke down), we came across this white dead tree which in fact an art work by Maurizio Catellan.

… and we finally hit brick lane and its murals.

And another week passed, until we finally walked by Marylebone (above) and Soho ( Below).

In between, the Thai restaurant below is situated opposite the Aperture Camera shop where the IIIC was repaired.

There is always some action in Soho, but not enough to finish the roll. Luckily there is always a Sunday walk to Hyde Park…

where a lucky young fellow turned 30.

Very happy to walk around with the IIIC again and see that’s its working fine. The 21mm is still a hard beast to master and there are a couple of missed shots with my fingers in the frame. I finally quite like the film, maybe its better for evenly lit scenes. But overall I cannot complain.

2023 ROLL#07 – Here comes the Nikon F3

Buckingham

After a three years hiatus I have resolved to pull the Nikon F3 out of the box. The F3 is amazing, a couple of fresh batteries (LR44 I am not fussy), turn the switch ON … et voila! its working.

Smelling something fishy

You can find a few posts on this blog my F3 :

• Another old fellow back from the magic cupboad – Nikon F3
• The Nikon F3 gets out the closet
• THE NIKON F3 : DOES IT FOCUS OR NOT
• Time travel with the Nikon F3

hurry up Alice

But for a quick summary, when my SRT101 broke in 1992 I bought a second hand beaten Nikon F3. Yes that was 30 years ago! I have carried it in a lot of places other this time, it gathered dust in the 2000’s when digital was the rage and did not get much more use when I went back to film and discovered the rangefinders.

I am a rockstar

But I love the F3. It is a camera I was really longing for, and since I bought the 50mm1.4 AIS for a travel in Nepal, I really have a nice combo there.

So, as I now belong a Nikon F facebook group I decided to ditch the L—- for a while and pick up the F3. That was week end before King Charles coronation so a bit of action was to be expected, or at least a few people wondering around.

What is the experience of shooting with the F3? Well last time I used it was in 2020 so I cannot say I am an expert, it is pretty simple. But alas I always compare to the M6, I think the rings turn i opposite direction, so focusing and adjusting aperture takes time.

reluctant models – I was only interested in the back light

I have a problem of focusing it seems. It may be me or the camera (I never had it serviced) ? Some shots are in focus, some slightly off, some were way off. I really got accustomed to the rangefinder patch.

Gillie and Marc sculpture at the back of Saint Paul

Gillie and Marc sculpture at the back of Saint Paul

It is not so critical, but I would have no confidence taking the portrait of someone and propose to print it for him. I would rate my chances at 30%, I think it would go up to 70 with the M6.

Nice legs

All in all a nice and pleasant experience ( nobody go hurt), it is a good camera to handle. A pleasant roll of my favourite film, the TMAX 100.

What’s on the menu?

So ? Back to the box? For the moment yes. But as I have paid for a full package of batteries, I will have to shoot more rolls to recover my investment. And yes I saw some mint F3s and they are still a pure object of lust, even if I am not 100% satisfied.

A final note, the Leica III is back from ApertureUK, and is loaded with a test roll of FP4. To be continued

Hare Krishna Celebration in Trafalgar Square

A strange sadhu

Here are a few shots of a Hare Krishna celebration in October in Trafalgar square in London. Is stumbled over the party by complete chance.

Hare Hare its all in the flare

I was armed for the occasion ( well not for the occasion then as it was by chance) with the Leica M6 classic and the Summicron 50mmV5.

Hare Hare its all in the flare

For once I had a Kodak TMAX 100ISO film loaded, not the usual Ilford HP5 coming from my endless bulk roll.

Cling cling

And the band kept on playing

Very friendly atmosphere, an opportunity to remember and share our love of India and its culture.

Some may still be lost…

Paris in Summer

“Paris est une fête” as goes the say (Paris is a party) ; I am not 100% sure about it but Paris in summer surely put me in a great mood, and I enjoy shooting in the streets that I am rediscovering after so many years.

— Asian tourist checking a Korean restaurant —

This is summer 2022, probably my 5th or 6th trip in a year, carrying the M6 (The old one) and the Summicron 50v5 and a roll of Kodak TMA100, my favourite film very appropriate (I think) to the summer time. This is my 16th film of the year, so I am now far from my past One-roll-a-week diet, but ok this is not a competition.

— Lets go surfing —

— Watching the world goes bye —

— two trios —

— A classic style paint shop —

— Saint-André des Arts —

— Passage Choiseul —

— The Conran shoppers —

— an odd workshop in the centre of town —

2022 Roll 10

Paris rue de Buci

I still keep track of my rolls and sort them by date and year and enrich in Lightroom, the camera, film and lens ( Often an estimate). But when I used to boast of my one roll a week productivity, I must say I have now fell below one roll every second week.

Paris – Azabu

I would like to shoot more but I don’t have time and may lack enthusiasm / drive / inspiration. This roll was shot in June 2022, with the Leica M6 classic, over a week end in Paris and the next one back in London.

Paris, 4th Arrondissement – Communist Party “Art and Society” branch.

This is a roll of Kodak TMAX 100, a film I really love for its high contrast in sunny weather, I bought a couple of rolls from Analogue Labs a few weeks before.

A Jazz band busking in “Le marais”

Most of the shots were taken with the Summicron 35mm Asph v2, really my go to lens. I love it for the perspective, but the 35 makes the pictures a bit too wide for me, my subject is always a bit lost in the frame, as I tend to avoid confrontation when I snap in the street with my wife/family.

Histoires de Paris – Hôtel d’Hallwyll

On the other hand I frame my shots with just a couple of different styles, I think I manage to build a consistency in my flickr photo stream. I like my subject centred most of it.

The embrace

We are so much into candid and street photography nowadays that sometimes I find it difficult to shoot non human subjects. They form a big part of urban poetry nonetheless.

Back in London it was Wimbledon and Mayfair offered public screening, with desk lounge chairs and drinks (of course)

Wimbledon

Outside Paul Smith in Marylebone

Finger pointing

Above shot is a bit missed, I thought the shadow would be more obviously funny/interesting, maybe I should reframe, but I rarely do too radical reframing just put upright a bit.

The music shop

Heading to Soho always gives some opportunities, I met an American photog when shooting the above also carrying a M6 and a TLR.

Crossing carefully

Soho I said is always offering some opportunities.

As the light was going down, with 100 ISO the shutter speed had to go below 1/30’s hence the slight blur above.

The Harvest

I carried the camera to the office on Thursday to finish the roll and bring it back to process to Analogue Lab, so I did a few shots between Liverpool street station and Spitalfields market… but not enough to finish the roll. I am pretty good with the rapid loading on the M4 and M6 so I easily hit 38 frames in a film, sometime 39.

I hope you enjoyed the roll.

CNY 2021 ON KODAK EKTAR

The Buddhist lodge on Kim Yam Road

So when I brought my last roll of Portra to the lab the uncle coaxed me into buying some Ektar 100, not wanting to look mean I bought not a roll but a box of 5 rolls. I must say this is a decent deal as it comes with five coupons of one dollar to be rebated of their processing. If I remember correctly this is 52 dollars for the 5 rolls and they do processing + super decent scanning at 11 dollars (Singapore Dollars).

Monkey God Temple in Tiong Bahru

I shot Ektar before, but mostly in 35mm, I must say it pays credit to the claim that it is the finest grain film. So I loaded the good old Hassie 500 CM with my first roll and hit the road to give it a try.

Chinese Lantern Tiong Bahru

12 shots on a 120 roll is not much, but walking through overshot areas on a Sunday afternoon, it can be quite a challenge to finish a full roll.

The ex-Majestic Hotel, now the Straight Clan asscoation

We walked from home to Tiong Bahru, then headed to Chinatown. The Straight Clan is where the Majestic hotel used to be. I spent 5 weeks in this hotel in 2006 and have some interesting shots from the construction site period, when it was converted. Maybe I’ll share this some time.

Buddha tooth relic temple

We moved to the Buddha tooth relic temple where I notice the Buddhist flags which where not there last week ( you can check the post) and I though it was a nice opportunity for color sampling and smooth grain demonstration.

A peanuts stand in Chintaown

In Chinatown every year temporary stands selling goods for the occasion the Chinese New Year appear and disappear in a mater of a few weeks. Generally they close late on the eve of the New Year day. This year everybody was masked, there were less stands as the people coming from other countries could not enter Singapore. If you want to ne picky, the focus is on the cage bars, not the seller.

Welcome to the year of the Ox

Exiting Chinatown, I took this shot of the Ox silk paper statue. This is not the best angle as it is quite busy with the traffic lights posts and cars. The best angle is diametrically opposite I think. But you can see here how nice and bright the colors are.

Substation on Armenian street

Nice mural on Substation, an art center on Armenian Street, close to the Peranakan museum. Substation used to host gigs and has a broad program, with what seems to be a focus on the street / youth culture.

Rendez-Vous Hotel

The last shot in order to finish the roll : a mundane view of the Rendez-Vous Hotel at the bottom of Orchard Road. Totally uninteresting but very nice blues.

I you missed the links in the text you can check the post CNY 2021 in Chinatown with the Hassie 500CM to compare similar shots with Portra 160.

All shots: Hasselblad 500 CM with standard 80mmF2.8
Kodak Ektar 100 shot at 100
Processing and Scanning : Whampoa Color

Caffenol rebirth : week 3

I am pushing my luck by trying the my brew from two weeks ago again this Sunday.

First things first, shooting a bit of film. The weather is not improving and I did not had a chance to shoot much this past week. So this morning I loaded the old Agfa Isolette with a roll of Rollei 80s (my favourite film) and hit the road in direction of Arab street with a detour by Little India to finish the roll of Acros I processed last week.

Cool and Joy Barber

Waiting for a ride

Morning break

The waitress

Arab street art

The Sultan Mosque

Cleaning after the rain

The cute rider

Arabica

More arabica

at the crossroad

The Agfa uncouple rangefinder is no longer working so distance are guestimated. I also use the EM-01 KEKS light meter.

For processing I used the two week sold Caffenol stored in a green bottle in the shade at ambient temperature (more or  less 28 C). I think it turned out quite well (5 minutes processing at 28 degrees, 30 second inversions then 3 inversions every minute). The negatives are of average thickness, maybe I could have added 30 seconds. The caffenol is now old and this is the 3rd film processed with this batch.

I made a fatal mistake by wiping the film with my kitchen towel, lot of dust I had to clone in Photoshop. I will have to find how to do this properly. The fixer is starting o have some deposit. Maybe it wont last after the next couple of films.

Plans for next roll is to start a new batch of caffenol to see if the process is repeatable.

Caffenol Rebirth : perseverare humanum est

We roll models

So what happened since last post and the “Caffenol rebirth” ; well nothing much happened in town nor to myself, so I shot half a roll of Fuji Across, mostly Saturday

Lonely dinner

Last Sunday I pour my Caffenol in a bottle of green glass (Perrier) and kept in just in case.

Gelato

So tonight I was restless and I decide to give Caffenol another try.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Time for a nap

or catching up with th enews

Chinatown is her catwalk

As I did not finish my roll, I opened the Leica M4 in the dark, fiddle a bit with the film and managed to cut a 1 cm lead for the rest of the roll and unload the 22 first shots from the camera. I then loaded it in the Paterson tank and proceed as last week.

The lovely newly weds from China

That way

Massive Development chart give me again 6’44 @ 28 deg, for 100 ISO Accross, the Tri-x was overcooked last week, but that was 400ISO, so I though that I should give it a try, but actually I emptied the tank at 6’14.

Time for a trim

Double ciggie break

The film is still dense, but can be seen through in normal light. Probably some of this is due to the coffee coloration (I can see if is brownish), so for the next 12 shost I will cut the time down by maybe another 30 or 45 seconds.

Social distancing

Orchard back-light

I kept the Caffenol again, I read you can keep for 6 or 8 weeks. Without being so extreme, if I can use one batch for my monthly shooting this changes the economics of it totally, at 2$ a roll this is a no brainer. Plus it is amazing to have all the products ready and go through the motion in about 45 minutes.

My new fav model

Ok so now I’ve been through this roll what is the conclusion. It looks quite good for what it is, no reticulation, reasonable grain, the contrast is quite good.

Walking in the sunshine

This was also measured using my new Keks EM01 ligh meter.

A COVID hero back from work

THE NIKON F3 : DOES IT FOCUS OR NOT

The Big Buddha is a work in progress

Before moving to the focusing bit, lets start by a few shots from Phuket. My eyesight for short distances is becoming quite bad so I cannot read the markings on the camera, so when I loaded this roll of Kodak Pro image 100 I put the speed selector to 1600 instead of 100.

So the pictures from Phuket are underexposed by 4 stops, but end up being quite exploitable , the colors are still pleasant. Nice job Kodak.

Inside the shrine

 

Karon football stadium

Karon football stadium

A resort in Karon

Karon beach scene

Phuket airport

I realized my mistake at Phuket airport and changes the speed. Above the colorful planes at the airport terminal; I quite like the colors of this film.

Apples in Chinatown

Back in Singapore, I had my black and white film processed and as the results were OK (See last post), so I decided to finish this roll with the F3. I changed the screen to the Split screen model K as its easier to focus, so it will give a better indication of the accuracy of the camera focusing.

Lost in Chinatown

Of course the shot above is a hip shot where distance has been guesstimated, so it does not prove much.

Taoist ceremony in Chinatown

The two following shots are related to a Taoist ceremony in the center of town, the afternoon weather was quite bright so the shots were done with a small aperture, balancing potential focusing problems.

Flags in Chinatown

I think this ceremony is held by one of temples situated in the nearby habitation block. The place were the tent is set, often hosts funeral wakes, and even a medium ceremony after Chinese new year.

Inside TWG tea shop

In TWG tea shop at raffles hotel, the lens was nearly wide open and the focusing on the letters quite easy, it looks the picture is in focus.

Yellow throat lizard

The lizard also is is focus, though small.

Tiong Bahru Monkey God temple

The shot above  was done probably at F4 and quite close, looks reasonably in focus as well, I really love the warn tones or the film.

Next table

So far so good until the last shot, wide open (F1.4) , the light was a bit dim, I focused on the glass at the front where it seems the actual focus is on the middle of the table (or the Asahi beer logo), so 10 to 15 cm back. So this is not very conclusive then.

• Nikon F3
• Nikkor AI-S 50mm F1.4
• Kodak Pro Image 100ISO
• Epson v800

 

Australia on slide (Ektachrome Leica M6)

Holidays are (were) here, once again I was very excited at the perspective of having something different to shoot (or just something extra, or just something). Something different this time was Australia, a family trip to the Coral Reef and Ayers Rock

This is the … err the rusty stuff in the sea

As usual now I picked up the travel kit in my travel bag (3 year old Wotancraft scout) : The Leica M262 and Leica M6, plus a few lenses, 28 / 35 / 50 Summicrons and also the 90mm Elmarit. I know that’s a bit too much, but hey you don’t travel these places every week.

Green Island jetty

I was quite excited to shot a roll of Kodak Ektachrome. This is my third roll and I quite like it. I an not a great landscape photographer, but I had to give it by best shot.

Seascape with dead wood

Most of the shots here are done with the 28mm Summicron Asph V1.

The models

I could jest by saying my recipe to shoot slide is : load the roll, removes the lens cap, aim, shoot. But that’s pretty is actually, the M6 meter is accurate (I changed the batteries before the holidays).

Chinese tourists at the beach

100 ISO is great for full daylight, still it was very bright, I cannot recall exactly, but a lot of shots where around 1/250 and F11.

Dive boats at sunset

The next best thing to shooting the the seascape is looking at sunsets. I often mock shooting sunsets, a bit cheesy, yeah yeah, but when its nice, its nice.

The jetty

And the slide film is doing a good job in this case as well. Mettering was a bit more on the guesstimate side. It was a bit easy for me because I made the guesstimate work with the M240, so I did not lost many shots doing the above and the next one.

The sunset

Final sunset with drinks at the jetty above before heading back to Cairns the next day, and hanging around a couple days there before reading to Ayers Rock.

Uluru in the evening light

Ayers rock is a beautiful place, at that time of the year (late October) but very hot (40 degrees Celsius), the colors are gorgeous. We had a very short stay there, so we did what we could.

Uluru

We walked around the rock at lunchtime and dined under the stars.

Uluru is surely a superb place, beautiful, magic to a certain extent, maybe not as toutching as other places I have been to, but maybe I did not stay long enough.

The rock

And finally before you ask, I was in Uluru after the rock was closed from climbing, and would I have been there the week before I would have not climbed it.

A beautiful gorge along the rock

Finally I shot a single roll during that week. The rest is digital and maybe that would be for another post.

Sunset over Kata Kuja

Meanwhile, visit Australia and shoot film.