A year of film!

It has been approximately a little more than a year since I started shooting film again. I started with a Ricoh point and shoot, then my Minolta X-700 slr, then my Yashica A tlr and then my Yashica Minister D rangefinder. Since then I have added an Olympus Trip 35 compact camera, an Olympus Trip 50 AF point and shoot and a Holga toy camera to my shooters. I have picked up more film cameras but these are the ones that I actually ran film through.

To say that I was nervous to begin shooting film would be an understatement. The only film cameras I had shot up that point were the little 110mm cameras that took the 110 film cartridges. These were simple point and shoot that were not very good cameras. I jumped on the digital bandwagon early and went trough a series of little point and shoot cameras before moving up to more advanced bridge and DSLR cameras. It was very intimidating to start using a film SLR camera and even more so to try a TLR and a rangefinder. I was expecting to get nothing but crap from these cameras. I have been very surprised by the results that I have gotten.

Obviously as I got more comfortable with the cameras and film the better I feel the photos I have taken have gotten. All of these cameras have been either manual focus or zone focus (except the Trip 50 which is an automatic point and shoot) which took me a while to get used to, especially on the TLR. I find that working with manual focus for most of the year (I rarely shoot digital these days and automatic focus seems like a pain now) has made me a better photographer. And almost all of these cameras are manual settings or have the option of shooting of shooting in full manual mode. Shooting in manual has given me a more complete understanding of how photography works. Learning about the Sunny 16 Rule has helped a lot with understanding using manual settings. I also find I more "picky" and shoot a lot slower now, even when shooting digital. I have never been a spray and pray shooter, I am even more methodical and slower now.

I have really enjoyed shooting film, and have shot a lot of rolls over the last year and as I look back I can really see the progress I have made in my photography by shooting film.

                                                        Minolta X-700 slr first roll of film     
                                                     

                                                       Minolta X-700 slr after a few months

Yashica A TLR first roll of film

Yashica A TLR after about 9 months of shooting.

Yashica Minister D rangefinder first roll of film

Yashica Minister D rangefinder after about six months of shooting.

I definitely think that shooting film has made me a better photographer. It has made me slow down, think and compose my shots better. It has also made me more knowledgeable about using manual settings and focusing. I look forward to seeing where this will take me with my art.

More from the Yashica A TLR

I have had more rolls of film developed that I shot on my Yashica A twin lens reflex camera. I continue to get better shots on this camera. Developing an understanding of the Sunny 16 Rule has helped dramatically. Here are some of my latest shots I got from this camera. It is fun to shoot with and really makes you slow down and compose your shots. I am still working on getting the camera level when I shoot it. The "light leaks" on the right edge of some of the pictures were the result of a mess up by the lab, one roll of film they did had some processing issues but I liked the effect on some of the shots.

                                          All photos below are with Ilford's Delta 100 film.

First impressions: Olympus Trip 35 point and shoot camera!

I picked up an Olympus Trip 35 point and shoot camera a few months ago and have ran and developed two rolls of film (and have a couple more to get developed). So far I love this little camera! This is a cool little camera. 

The camera operates in "program" mode and features a selenium photocell around the lens.The selenium photocell does not allow the camera to operate if it doesn't read enough light. If there isn't enough light, the camera shows a red flag shows up in the viewfinder and the shutter will not fire thus saving film. The photocell also means that no batteries are needed to operate the camera. 

The camera has a fixed 40mm f2.8 lens and with two possible shutter speeds, 1/40th and 1/200th second which the camera controls. The camera has a flash sync mode, the camera has a hot shoe and a flash sync. port, where you can manually set the apertures from f2.8 to f22 on a ring at the back of the lens.and the camera sets the shutter speed at 1/40th of a second. The camera has an ISO range is 25 on the fast end which is good, but only goes to 400 on the high end. 

Focusing the camera is on a zone focus set up. There are icons on the top of the lens for four different focal lengths.They are Headshot (1m/3ft) Two person shot (1.5m/5ft), Group shot (3m/10ft) and Infinity for landscapes. The bottom of the lens features a distance scale to aid in focusing. The camera features a non coupled optical viewfinder (non TTL) that is clear and easy to compose your shots with. You need account for the fact that the viewfinder is off to the left side of the camera and not aligned with the lens but once you get used to that the camera is a joy to shoot. 

So far I have only tried Kodak Gold 200 film with this camera and I love the shots I have gotten. I want to try it out with black and white film, maybe Ilford HP5+. Here are some of the shots I gotten with this camera. 

I love this combination of the Olympus Trip 35 and Kodak Gold 200 film. This camera has become one of my main go too cameras. It is small, easy to use and takes amazing photos. It is a camera that goes into any camera bag I take with me. I may do a more intensive review of this camera later on, but I don't know how much more praise I can put on this camera! I had heard a lot about this camera before I had an opportunity to buy one, that is the reason I bought it, and I have not been disappointed! I highly recommend everyone buy one if they get the chance, if you are as lucky as I was you won't regret it. 

Holga 120n: First roll of film

I found a Holga 120n in Owen Sound's Value Village (I love that store, best thrift store I have even been too, so much better than Barrie's). I got it for $4.99. For those who don't know about the Holga it is a company that made cheap, plastic camera in various formats. Like all my reviews this isn't so much a technical review as it is a first impressions. I am going to give a some details about the camera but mostly it is about the shooting of the camera.

Holga's are made from all plastic, including the lens. As such no two Holga's are the same, no two give you the same results.The camera has a 60mm f8/f11 plastic meniscus lens and results are unpredictable. Some cameras give you crystal clear results but others often have distorted results. The cameras use zone focus and have a non ttl viewfinder so you never know if you are in focus or not. Because of all that it is not uncommon for fans to multiple copies, because each camera will give a different result. 

The 120n takes 120 medium format film. The camera is supposed to come with two inserts(called masks), one that gives you a 6x6 negative and one that gives a 6x4.5. The 6x6 gives you 12 exposures and the 6x4.5 would give you 16 exposures. The camera I bought only had the 6x6 mask, I can get myself the 6x4.5 mask through B&H camera store's website.

I shot a roll of Ilford Delta 100 black and white film through the camera. The results were interesting. Some of the photos are pretty clear while others were blurry. Each shot had a bit of vignetting around the edges of the shot, like a frame. It gives the shots a unique look. 

I am looking forward to shooting more rolls through this camera, different types of film and maybe even some colour film. It is one of those cameras that the anticipation of what the shots will look like, that make the camera so fun to shoot with. It is so basic, set the zone focal length and shoot. There is no aperture or shutter speed to set, no exposure compensation to worry about. Just get out and shoot and see what you get. It is not a camera that I would use often, or use for projects. But if I am looking for a fun camera to just get out and shoot some cool shots, maybe something a little artistic than this may be the camera I grab. 

A visit to St Thomas Ontario!

A couple of months ago we visited St Thomas, which is in the southwestern part of Ontario, Canada. We went there for a friends Birthday party. I have only driven through the city and this have never taken time to explore. I still didn't get a lot of time to explore but I did get an hour or so the morning after the party to visit the downtown area and take some shots. The city has a lot of history and a lot of it seems to tied up with the railroad. They have a railway museum that unfortunately didn't get to visit, and they have a train sculpture that greets you as you enter the city.

The city has some really nice old buildings that I did get some shots of. I hope to return there sometime and spend more time photographing the city and especially the downtown core. Here are some examples of the shots I did get to capture. All shots were captured using my Yashica Minister D on Ilford HP5+ film using the "Sunny 16" rule to get my exposure.

                                    The train sculpture that greets you as you enter the city!

                                Some shots I captured in St Thomas' downtown core.