Time will tell it is any good but nice to see someone getting into the color film game.
photography today
Media on the frontlines – Listening Post – Al Jazeera English
Media on the frontlines – Listening Post – Al Jazeera English.
Very powerful!
You Have Nothing To Fear But Film Itself
Ok, total crap move by Nikon! Who’s afraid of the quality of film cutting into their digital sales?… apparently Nikon is.
Considering the vast history of amazing images made with Nikon film cameras this strikes me as nothing more than a money grab… and yeah, photo contests like this suck anyways.
http://www.nphotomag.com/2012/10/29/nikon-photo-contest-bans-images-from-film-cameras/
Viva la Revolution-
Stephen
Cine Film for Still Shooters with C41 Processing
Interesting….
http://www.fotoimpex.de/shopen/films/cinestill-xpro-c-41-800-tungsten-13536.html
“Our very custom Premoval (patent-pending) process makes motion picture ( ECN2 / ECN-2 ) film safe to process in standard C-41 photo lab chemicals or at home.”
I may have to order a roll or two….
Viva la Revolution-
Stephen
A Leica Worth Showcasing
I am sure many of you are as disappointed in the new Leica introduced today as I am…. the Leica X Vario. This coupled with the M 240 which I am NOT a fan of makes me think Leica needs a swift kick to get back into the game. A note to Leica… do not try to compete with Fuji or Canon or Sony as you can not… Instead, do what you do best and make cameras like the M9P and my MP a la carte. Anything else is just a waste of time.
Now to put a smile on your face (well, it did mine!)… here is my newest camera with some fun additions…. a black paint Leica MP a la carte with my PinZonie 28mm pinhole lens as well as a 18mm pinhole lens in the Leica Lens Holder M on the bottom and the very cool Leica Universal Viewfinder – The Frankenfinder!! (covers 16mm-28mm with a brilliant clear view and also has parallax correction for close up distances which is sooo nice… for me the perfect walk around camera!
Viva la Revolution- Stephen
Emulation – Film Is Still King
Please click on the audio play button below to listen to a 3 minute discussion why digital emulation “proves” that film is still king!
The End of Photojournalism?
I’ve been saying it for years – Photojournalism is dead! The perfect storm: easy video and digital capture, an acceptance on the part of the public to settle for less, unrealistic and unprecedented restrictions on photographers, and ever-tightening budgets… are all combining to end newspaper photojournalism as we have known it. Exhibit A, below.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-sun-times-photo-20130530,0,4361142.story
Film Testing Kodak 400TX and Diafine Developer
Amazing couple of days running dozens of different developer tests all with 400TX… love the look of the grain and depth of this film! In the end I came back to an old friend but with a new twist. Diafine is back in my life in a big way! Diluted 1:1 and used as a one shot developer it is spot on in my JOBO with very nice grain, great tonality, no processing issues and best of all a usable EI from about 100-1250 (the chart shows 200-1600… I think 1600 is a bit on the edge for my works but is totally usable in a pinch. So again, in a JOBO speed is 4, temp does not really matter but I ran at 75F, Dilute part A and B 1:1… I did 3.5 minutes in each followed by a 2 min wash with water then fix (box time), clear (box time) and hang to dry…. easy as pie!
Of course an advantage of Diafine that I have written about here before is that many different films can be souped at the same time which is a huge time saver. Diafine negs are a bit flat and do requiere an “S” curve in PS to make me happy but I am now quite happy indeed. I will post links to Diafine articles I have written and a great one from a friend Sandy King from View Camera.
My suggest EI…. 800.
Viva la Revolution– Stephen
All images shot with a Leica MP with a 35MM Summicron ASPH… on Film!
LINKS:
Sandy King Article Diafine…. a must read!
as for articles here… there are a lot!!!! Just type in Diafine in the search box and enjoy!
Also please note these were just quick scans (first set) as I am leaving tomorrow for a week of shooting but the final scan (last image) is quite nice and shows the real potential for this amazing combo.
Film Testing
So I very recently got a Leica MP Black Paint a la carte with a matching black paint Leica 35mm F2 ASPH Summicron… Nice! But what film? I’ve been shooting a lot of 4×5 film recently, mainly Kodak 160 Portra and there is NO way a 35mm negative was going to give me the tonality or depth of color that I had grown acustomed to. So what to do?!
Here are the results of my first tests…. Kodak 400TX processed 1:100 at 68F for 20 minutes with gentle agitation every 3 minutes. The negatives when scanned on my Imacon scanner at 6300 dpi were fantastic- I love grain! I made a test print at 28″ x 40″ on Canson Aquarelle 310 on my Epson 9900 using the BW mode and it was spot on. But…. was it perfect? No. Since this first test I have run many others and now feel that a bit more agitation is needed, perhaps one gentle inversion per minute. I also have ran a test with D76 1:1 using my JOBO and the results were quite nice but the grain was not as crisp as the Rodinal.
So today I am running one last test as I am leaving tomorrow for a week of shooting from FL to VT (will mainly be shooting 4×5 color but want the Leica for my reportage work.
My test today will use PMK developer which I used a lot back in 2006-2007 and I remember how amazing the never ending highlights were…. more as that test concludes.
Viva la Revolution- Stephen
Kodak and Pro Film
Kodak announced yesterday :
“Eastman Kodak Company today announced a comprehensive settlement agreement with the U.K. Kodak Pension Plan (KPP), its largest creditor, with respect to its Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization. Under the agreement, which will be filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Kodak’s Personalized Imaging and Document Imaging businesses will be spun off under new ownership to KPP.”
But, you ask, what does this mean for the future of Pro films like TX400, Portra and Ektar? The answer- direct from my friends at Kodak is:… nothing! All pro films both still and motion are not affected by this agreement. Furthermore, this agreement should give Kodak a better financial footing (exit chapter 11!!!!!) and help to keep film production in Rochester alive for the forseable future- a very good thing.
Now take a deep breath and go buy and shoot some film!
Viva la Revolution- Stephen
Link to press release:
Figital Revolution 