35mm Film

Added on by John Sturr.

Just before Christmas I did the unthinkable.  I shot a roll of 35mm film.  Did I just say that - did I just do that?  My name is JSturr, and I shot a 24 exp. roll of expired 35mm Kodak Royal Gold Film.

With that moment - I became even more film curious now - Hmmm… what’s this film craze all about ?

Nikon FM-2 and Kodak Royal Gold

Nikon FM-2 and Kodak Royal Gold

Flashback:  1985 - Pentwater High School yearbook and I’m using the FM-2.  I was 16 at the time.  I came to develop a love hate with the FM-2, love at first because I didn’t know any better.  I shot over 200 rolls in that body.  Here’s the back story.

My late Father bought the camera in the early 80’s - basically when it first came out - it was quite a piece.  1/4000 max mechanical shutter with 1/250 on the flash sync - unheard of at the time.  Very shortly after it fell out of a canoe and the light meter was fried.  # 3 brother was to be married and the repair time was too close for comfort so Dad made me an offer — pay the repair bill and it’s yours.  He bought an FG (probably the worst body Nikon ever made), as a replacement, and I paid him $110 and got the FM-2.  What I didn’t know at the time - was the FM-2 never really exposed anything correctly except flash.  But I really didn’t figure that out until recently.

Flash forward to this century.  The last time I shot film was 2004 - ISU beginning photo - ugh - and I hated it.  Probably because I was forced to do it - with a communal dark room, etc.

When I was home over Thanksgiving - and rummaging around my late Father’s office area - I noticed these rolls of 35mm Kodak Kodacolor 200.  Hmmm…. interesting I thought - well Hell - can’t let this go to waste.  I should have stopped myself - but I guess the Gin clouded my judgment - and off to the suitcase the 3 rolls went.

It sat on the shelf — until — just before Christmas.  The FM-2, and the 50mm f1.4 AIS.  What was very new to me was the lab’s (if you call the Fred Meyer a lab) ability to scan the negatives.  That changes everything.  That’s half the pain in the ass of shooting film - the viewing and the printing, blah, blah, blah.

Now it becomes a hybrid workflow.  Hmm… I’m thinking again.

So - of that roll I shot before Christmas — a few were interesting and even compelling.

With all of this — now I’m thinking that if I’m going to keep this craziness going - I will need a new body - something fairly recent, and with AF.  I start looking at F3HP’s at first - I remember dreaming of those when I was a kid — but never was able to even come close to opening one.  F3HP’s are running at about $2 + with no decent metering of AF though.  

The body with the decent metering was the FA - a bastard child, if you would.  The FA was a head of it’s time - with Matrix metering.  But no one trusted it so it never really took off.  I really liked the FA - but is wasn’t AF - AF looked more and more better.  

So what about an F5 - they are big, but robust, and had some quirks and were running about $3 - and I didn’t quite know if I wanted to deep dive this early in the game at that price.  Ok — scratch that — onward — then the F100 found me.  A mini F5.

Nikon F100, 24-120 f3.5-5.6 D

Nikon F100, 24-120 f3.5-5.6 D

I found one for about $200 - and here it goes.

So now I have killer AF, Matrix metering, but I need to figure out which film.

All the players (Kodak, Ilford, Fuji) have a smattering of films — really probably the just as many as there were 20 years ago - maybe not the same as before, but just as many.  

I’ve settled on Ilford Delta and Kodak Portra as of late.  Purchasing and development will run about $40 per roll plus or minus.  That price includes scanning, and that’s the other economic model for the labs — scanning resolution price hikes.  Basically $5, $7.5, and $10 upcharge.  If this exercise gains some traction - then I see myself getting a scanner and maybe even processing myself.

Ugh — this is insane I think to myself - but I’m starting to like the change, in a disturbing way.

That’s the story so far - I guess I’m telling it to easy the craziness - and convince myself I’m still normal.  I’ve Delta 3200 asa shot at 1600 in the can to be sent to the www.theFINDlab.com in Orem.  They will be the lab of choice for now - and are about 1/3 more expensive then others in the space.  But from what I’ve seen their services may be without peer.  We’ll see.  I may frequent the www.darkroom.com.

Looking thru. All Nikon V1.

Added on by John Sturr.

This was a tough one for me as the abstract nature of this possible image was difficult for me to see.  As I shoot - I'm trying to be better at seeing the abstract.  Here is some of the backstory - walking thru a residential house remodel I saw past the dirty bathroom to this window.  When carrying my camera, I always try to shoot and not be of the types who have it slung on the shoulder all day — but I digress - so I forced the shot.  

Meaning - I tried to make something of the nondescript scene.  And - some times - luck has its way.

And all is good.  No crop.

Shooting Film

Added on by John Sturr.

When I was home over Thanksgiving I found some rolls of my past Fathers unshot film on his shelf - Kodakcolor 200, expired of course, as it was dated 2004.

And the idea of shooting this film came upon me.  At first I thought how nutty - and then the idea started to simmer a bit - and I became “film curious” again.

The last time I shot film was at ISU for an intro photo class.  It was quite the pain in the ass to say the least - but I slogged thru and worked the challenges.  Developing the B/W rolls was the easy part - but the most difficult was the printing in a communal setting.  I didn’t like that very much.

So - I dug out the FM-2, motordrive and 50mm f1.4.

“The Medium is the Message” — Marshall McLuhan.  

Aside from the most obvious difference, the film, Autofocus is the most game changing function of today’s systems.  AF was introduced on the Nikon pro side with the F4 - although some F3’s had a cobbed together system, it has allowed my technique to become abbreviated with a better outcome.

It would be difficult for me to use a non-AF system and still be relevant.

The shooting experience was about the same with the caveat that one must be able to trust their equipment as there is no “chimping”.  Development was a crap shoot - as it was done at the local grocery store but as luck would have it there is a nationally known lab close to SLC in Orem called theFind (Film Is Not Dead) - go figure.

This isn’t a cheap endeavor though - not counting the film, development was $12 - and at a theFind that would be about $22.

All in all it was an interesting experience - and I would be really interested in shooting Ilford Delta 3200 on an F5.  Until then I may just do this on the FM-2.

the Chickens

Added on by John Sturr.

At the time these were taken - mid October, I didn’t give them much thought - but I had the idea the complicated scenes “may” come out as something decent.  So I tromped out and took pictures of chickens in Twin Falls, Idaho; my Brother-in-Law’s place.

All were shot with the V1 and the 18.5mm (50mm equivalent) and most times I don’t second guess my lens choices and stay with one.  Most of the time it is for convenience, but then the convenience factor becomes a creative factor.  It is what it is.

Upon developing I used Nikon ViewNX, as the NX-d kept crashing and I didn’t need NX-d’s noise correction.  After cooking them out I brought them into LR-5 for the lens corrections.  Since these were all web - I pushed to .jpg vs. .tiff and cooked them out again in LR in order to watermark.

All corrections were in ViewNX and the color profile was a factory Vivid or Portrait with a boost in contrast - Sharpening is a bit powerful in ViewNX so I keep the slider at 2-4 depending on what the image can absorb and rarely do I go past 5.

It’s kindof a pain - but that’s the work flow.

The more I look at these the more I love them - the framing, the subject, the colors - not trying to toot my own horn here - but it’s taken me years to be able to view my own work and consider it viable as decent and something to share.  I maybe print one or two of these 13x19 on aluminum.

 

 

I guess the lesson learned here is being able to force the capture of the photo.  I had no intention of taking pics of chickens that day — none.  But I had the gear - and some how - I came away with some interesting images.

A walk of a non-descript street

Added on by John Sturr.

Sometimes recognizing the scene is half the battle - and visualizing the result is the final outcome of that exercise.  And thats when all of the photos take in the past - become an asset of the present.  Whew -- ok -- enough with the heady -- here's the picture.

Nikon 1 V1