Malta on Cinestill 400D

Here are a bit too many pictures of my first ever Cinestill 400D roll for my first ever trip to Malta.

I bought this roll a while back, maybe 6 months, from Analogue Labs ( where this roll was processed) for what seemed to a bit too much money ( about 18 GBP).

Marsaxlokk

I waited for the correct opportunity and here I am going to sunny Malta for a family holiday.

Marsaxlokk Sunday market

The D in 400D stands for daylight, and the film is described as a fine grain color film with daylight balance. It has soft tones, natural saturation, warm skin tones. The film can be shot between 200 and 800 without push process and up to 3200 with push process.

Marsaxlokk Sunday market cleaning up

I loaded the film in the faithful Leica M6 classic, fitted with the Summicron 50mm v5. ( some shots may have been taken with the 35 Asph v2 or the 38 Asph v1, but generally the 50 is attached to the M6 and the others to the M262)

I set the ISO dial of the camera to 400, not knowing what was best for my situation, the box speed seems to always be a safe bet.

Valetta

The days were very sunny so a lot of the shots were done with high speed and smaller apertures. The colors remind of Kodak Portra ( warm tones) maybe and surely has a certain vintage look to them. Is this expected or not, I am not sure.

The film surely has very fine grain and shows a lot of details.

I also find the shots to have a lot of contrast, maybe just bit too much for my taste. But it is a very nice result I think. I an already looking to buy some more.

Oh and Malta in this story? Malta is a small country consisting in a few islands, the capital Valetta is where we stayed. If you are open minded there are plenty of things to do, mostly around history and architecture.

There are also plenty of outdoors activities.

Diving just outside the city walls is one of them.

The place is attracting quite a crowd of tourists, in this mid-term holidays the place was packed with French and Britons.

A street photographer with his box camera

A couple of steep streets with stairs are hosting several bars and eateries.

Our first stop was Marsaxlokk with a famous Sunday fish market. You can access from Valetta by bus or Uber. From the ferry terminal in Valetta you can access the northern island of Gozo ( we missed because the schedule changed the day we planned to go) or you can take a 2 Euros ride across to the 3 cities.

Tourist boat touring the harbour

Boats in the Three Cities marina.

Typical houses with their bow windows

The fortifications and the war museum

Wuestenwinds beach

At night

Finally on the light picture, you can see a very special effect around the led lights. I think its called halation. Very common on the 800T film, but I was not aware that the 400D would also produce it. Anyway, this picture managed to go in Explore on flickr, so thank you Cinestill.

I hope you enjoyed the reading.

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 —

My Last roll of Polypan 50

Summer holidays are just a memory now and after much procrastination, here is one of the rolls shot in this happy time (12th Roll of the year)

This is a roll of Polypan 50 shot at 100 ISO with the faithful M6 Classic and some Cron or another but most probably the 50mm v5. I have asked the lab to push one stop as this roll was given to me quite a few years back now by a friend in Singapore.

The street scenes are shot in Ai- en-Provence where I spend a couple of days with my family in August. The sun was hitting pretty hard which is quite ok for a low speed film.

You already know I am not too technical, but here we go for the techie moment: The Polypan 50 lacks a anti-halation layer ( I think it means no protection from the light bouncing from the back of the camera); this makes it glow in some areas, making the images a bit old time and dreamy. I also quite like the rather profound blacks, although not as much as in the Rollei retro 80s.

The edges of the fountain are really glowing here you see what I mean.

Aix is quite picturesque, but the next day we went to Chateau Lacoste, a magnificent estate 40 minutes drive from Aix, with Michelin starred chef restaurants, a vineyard, an entrance building made by Tadao Ando and dozens of art works spread in the garden.

Yes the music pavilion was made by FRANK O. GEHRY

Oh no that’s just a barrel.

A beautiful tractor

The olive tree

Yes that’s a Richard Long

More trees

A dirty spaceship

Art work in progress

Really worth visiting, I ll post more shots in the next posts.

Oh I lost track of the Polypan roll, well I think it aged a bit it seems there are marks here and there that are not common to processing issues, so I guess this is a bit of an experimental roll. For such a slow speed film it is a bit grainy, but all in all I really like it.

Biarritz in Black and White

So holidays were not over by then and I was still in Biarritz with the Leica M6 and a couple of Summicrons (35 and 50) when I loaded my second roll of Cinestill XX ( purchased in Aperture UK shop in London).

The Market

I think I changed the roll around the market, so some pictures of this place can be found on my previous post.

Markets are different that in Asia a Singaporean friend told me, Same same but different I reply. Goods, people, food, money,… all the same.

I found this set a bit flat to my taste, although the light was great that day, and it was still reasonably early.

I made the mistake not to ask the lab to scan in high res, so this format is the one at which I got my negs. I will have to rescan them but probably not immediately. I think the low res scan adds to the grain, but maybe I am wrong.

To go or not to go that is the question

Biarritz has a market and also a seaside famous for surfing.

Nah not enough waves

Baywatch

It has sometime a bay watch vibe.

Surf is family thing here

Cal look

On the French Riviera

After leaving Paris, I travelled to my hometown of Cannes, famous for its festival, the beaches and its beautiful weather.

It did not disappoint its son. The weather was perfect, mostly bright blue skies all the time and a far warmer climate that Paris (or London).

Cannes also boasts two main harbours, filled with oversized yachts but also with fishermen’s boats as in the two pictures above showing some traditional fishing boats called “pointus”.

The end of the bay on the east side is called la Pointe Croisette and hosts the casino named “Palm Beach”, whose name is sometime used to designate the area. The casino is under renovation, and for those with a culture in French cinema, the crane you see is located where the famous swimming pool of “Melodie en Sous Sol” was located.

Cannes is not just for stars : locals still play the “petanque”

And not all drive Rolls Royces.

A tiny Autobianchi can be found on the harbour (in excellent condition)

And a 1950’s Peugeot 203 can be found driving around (slightly less good condition).

There was a lot of activity along the beach this year. Some relax, some have to work, thats life.

The sunsets on these winter days were often breath-taking.

All shots with Leica M262 and 35mm Summicron Asph v2 or Elmar 50mmF3.5 ltm, what else do you need?

Bye Bye Paris

Paris by night

If you read the last two posts, you get that I fell in love with Paris for the second time (or the third maybe, one shall not count when it comes to love).

Palais Royal

So this is my last post of the digital shots made with the M262 and the Elmar 50 or the Summicron 35.

Goldilocks was here

You guess by this last sentence that there are indeed some analogue shots of Paris but that will be for another post.

Goldilocks’ car a pre WWII Citroen Rosalie I think

To each his (her) own

6 or 7 weeks after these pictured le M11 is out and the M262 really feels like an antique. But I still really like it, faithful device, my goto camera.

The model and her phographers.

False hopes?

I did not go camera shopping in Paris. Err, ok I went to the Leica shop on the Faubourg Saint Honoré, to check on the film MP prices in France. This camera is a beauty, but do I really need it? Ah let’s wait a bit longer…

That week Josephine Baker made it to the Panthéon. A bit of history captured here.

Patron un p’tit coup on a soif

Probably translate literally to “Boss pour us a little one, we are thirsty”. Paris and its bistro’s could fill a life of photography.

Paris by night again and again

Bye Bye Paris

Bye bye, but don’t be sad I will be back soon.

Cho Cau Long market Hanoi

This is a follow up of the first roll shot in Hanoi (here). On the way back to Sapa, we stopped in the area from Hanoi which is close to the lake for a single night, lucky enough thee was this nice market next door.

Best shot of the roll was the first one, on the evening of the arrival, this man was barbecuing meet outside of the market.

Mother and son breakfast before school (I just imagine)

This also is a roll of Tri-X 400 shot with the Leica M6, and the Summicron 50mm v5.

 

The market is small but large enough to shop with your moped.

Toufu stall

The market though small has several entrances making for interesting lights (not that I may have used it).

Outside the market the area is very lively with street sellers, small shops and all.

Street fruit seller

 

Street flower seller

On the fringe of the old quarter this is a nice area to visit, a lot of small hotels, shops, an further out you can walk to the lake are.

 

Christmas in Vietnam (Roll 1)

I think this one  is a great cover.

So off to Vietnam for Xmas 2019, for a bit of chilling time over Christmas. In the bag, the usual kit, M262, M6, 28,35 and 50 crons and of course a couple of Tri-x rolls.

Hanoi is a great place to shoot. People are friendly and generally not photo  adverse. There are so many pictures to take, that if you cannot take one, just walk to the next.

As usual, the M6 is most often mounted with the 50 cron, that ensures a reasonable distance for candid shots.

Street side food vendors and their patrons are still a great subject.

I was last in Hanoi 10 years ago and the traffic has not changed, crossing the roads still feels like an adventure and motorcycles are omnipresent.

We arrived late on Christmas eve, so our first outing was a walk to Saint Joseph Cathedral on Christmas day. The mass was already going on when we reached and people were standing outside of the church.

After the service an orchestra was playing outside.

A good opportunity for selfies.

We walked down to the Metropole hotel, where the two Citroen below are standing guard. I stayed there 10 years ago, and at that time  they could be sent to fetch you from the airport in style.

Grab delivery men are ubiquitous through the city

We then walk north in direction of Long Bien bridge, going through the old quarter.

Among many, I met these local photographers and we took shots of each others.

Finally we made it to Long Ben bridge.

Where I met the two young film photographers below.

Hey this was a long post. Be reassured the next roll is not as good.

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.

A tour around Taipei

I am cleaning a bit of my backlog, and found on my work-space some remaining pictures of our Taiwan trip back in Feb/March.

The only day we decided to take a tour with our friendly guide was also the only rainy day of the trip so it ends up being a no so great experience.

We took off from our hotel in Daan and headed to the North West, to visit what I believe is the Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden. A historical house and garden from a rich Taiwanese family.

This is a very nicely preserved house, a quite interesting visit, not a good as the Lin Family mansion in Banqiao  district but still a nice thing to see.

We then drove down to see the change of the guard at the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine, but we arrived too late, and the rain started. Continuing further west we stopped in Beitou, a suburb of Taipei known for its hot springs

The place made its living through mining and hospitality, including bath and spas.

There is a very nice museum is an old bath house, including the beautiful pool below.

At this point we headed along the Tamsui River to the fisherman’s wharf for lunch. We did not find anything much exciting, had a sandwich and then a long walk, without rain, before finding our car again.

The last stop was Tamsui old street, that we reached after visiting the interesting Fort San Domingo, showing an interesting display of the colonial times. By then the weather started to be very.

We nevertheless spent a good hour walking along the Tamsui River and through the old street with a stop at the beautiful Longshan temple, above and below.

Finally, after a nice Taiwan beer in a dry place, we happily headed back to the city and our hotel ( probably the rain stopped along the way ).

All shots Leica M262, Summicron 28/50/35, it was another day where the weather was not enticing to pull out the M6 and play with two cameras.