Testing the Crown Graphic's Light-beam rangefinder with my favourite female model. Fuji Instant film.
Graflex Crown Graphic + Vintage Flash Sync adapter + Speedlight = Ye Olde Time Strobist
Kodak Ektar 127mm Lens at f/4.7
Canon 580EXii Triggered by PWII's hooked up via vintage ASA-PC flash sync.
Fuji FP-100C45 Peel-Apart film.
Cable release.
Stunned Mullet face.
1st selfie in a while. Testing an eBay 80mm f/2.8 on the Hassy w/polaroid back and Fuji 100B.
Since finishing the 365 project in June, I've been diving back into my film cameras a fair bit.
A recent spate of late-night auction site action led to a 80mm Distagon coming my way for under $400 (Win!_) and maaaybe a Jobo processor as well, for even less.
Casually mentioned to the wife that a small, counter-top film processor is on the way and then quickly switched to talking about her trip away to Israel/the dog/oh the cat's doing something cute etc. This is the real challenge of all enthusiast photographers - how to smuggle new equipment into the small apartment you share with your significant other without them figuring out how much it cost/where it will go.
Hopefully it will integrate into the kitchen with little hassle.
Talked with Eugene Tan from Aquabumps yesterday, and he tells me he's got a 60ft tripod arriving soon.
Yes, a 60ft tripod. I'm guessing it's one of these things : http://www.photo-towers.com/tall-tripods.htm
How he will get that past his pregnant wife I don't know - but he's a super-successful pro-shooter who's able to say "But I need to stay ahead of the game babe!". I on the other hand am not. Hence, I'm dealing with hand-developing my own film in the kitchen sink and buying 2nd hand, average condition lenses off of eBay until I can justify the expense of some serious Leaf-Shutter action.
Anyway, the nice Postman brought the new (old) lens today, and I strapped in on the front of my beaten-up 500C to shoot a few test frames on Fuji Instant film.
Looks good wide open, tricky to get DOF right on a self-portrait with a cable release but it's all looking good.
Here's a frame that is interesting because it's a double exposure, on one frame the flash didn't fire (there was an air-gap in the Pocket Wizard set up) and on the other I'm looking to make sure it does, after having just taken a meter reading.
I'm on location tomorrow so I might shoot some film with it and see what happens.
It's always important to document your work.
Strobist: Vivitar 285 poverty-pack gutsy flash on 1/16th, Hasselbad on 500th at f/4. Fuji 100-B instant film .
Scanned on the dustiest scanner in the land.
Using @Lomography's Spinner 360º. A few tips now that I've shot about 20 rolls with it..
Already owning a 35mm Seitz roundshot, which is sadly on the fritz (another patient for Lenor's Camera repaid on Fairfax and 6th) - a few months ago I picked up a Lomo Spinner 360º. It's a super-fun camera, which takes remarkable panoramic frames if you just remember a few things.
To start with, she's pretty simple.It's rated for 400 ISO film, so:If shooting in bright/sunny conditions on 400ISO, put it on the 'sunny' setting. Cloudy? Put it on cloudy.
Shooting 100 ISO on a sunny day? Leave it on cloudy.
On a 24 frame roll, you get about six spins. As you can see from the photo here, you need about five full frames to get around 360º, so do your maths on how many spins/length of roll.
When loading be careful to make sure the velvet sheet it is flush against the spindle, and not tangled under the film. There is no shutter, so this is how your film stays in the dark.
At the end of the roll (when it stops spinning) - slide the switch to 'R', pull the fan belt off of the small gear beneath the body, and rewind.
'R' closes the shutter. If you rewind without it, you'll expose the whole film that you've just filled with pano-goodness. Bad. After reloading, don't forget to slide switch back to Sunny or CLoudy, and slip the fan belt back on the bottom.
See which way the dolphin above the lens is swimming? That's the way it spins. Be aware that at the start/end of each frame there will be some light pollution, so adjust your grip accordingly when pulling the rip cord. I've found that if you're at 6 o'clock, start with the camera facing 3 or four o'clock to you for best results.
As far as films go? Go for it. Shove anything you like in there.
The E6 I've put through it looks spectacular, when processed as slide film.
The BW is also great. It spins a little too fast for low light unless you put 3200 in it. I'm experimenting with attaching a hot-light to the shoe-mount to see what I can come up with in the dark, I'll let you know how that goes.
When you're shooting, get some angles going on, you'll enjoy the results.Be sure that everyone stands quite close, it's a SUPER wide lens.Great for group shots, and candid selfies.Hard not to get yourself in the shot actually!
Speaking of scanning, go to the frame store and pick up a cheap 8x10 picture frame, keep the glass to help lay the negative flat on your scanner - because it's so frikkin' big.
I've taped mine up with gaff guides and things to help get the film straight on the scan glass. Overall, it's a super-fun camera that captures a scene unlike anything else out there.
It's light and easy to carry around, and quick to reload.Enjoy!
Let me know if you have any questions!
Looking for info on how to fix one of mine, stumbled on this completely awesome Polaroid SX-70 film from 1972.
via youtube.com
I love how the product is revered in this film.
I love how they speak so highly of the camera and the consumer in the process. From how reverently they refer to Edward Land, (the inventor of the Polaroid process) to the pride they so obviously take in the manufacturing of this "Invention".
It's a pity that we don't revere products any more like this, that we don't appreciate the hard work and research that's gone in to them.
We just expect a product to be about 1/4 the cost of what it should be, to work straight out of the box without reading the manual, and yet we're ready to chuck it and buy a new one the moment it might look like malfunctioning.
Enjoy eleven minutes of wonderful worship of design and function..
x
An Alsatian licks a baby's head. I shoot it with a Holga. It's cute.
Trawling through some old negatives today I came upon this shot from I don't know where.
I do know that I shot it, but where - I don't remember.
I think I was at a party somewhere here in LA, in someone's kitchen (You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties)..
Seemed a perfectly good thing to take a photo of.
Eight photos of girls on film, shot by the window. Via Flickr. Enjoy.
Not my photos, but I liked them.
I hope you do too.
x
You Yell, We Shell. Angry rocks in the Mojave Desert
via flickr.com
Fort Irwin Military Base, middle of nowhere, Mojave Desert, California.
Each military company that gets sent to this enormous base to train for warfare (the US army has a desert warfare training facility here complete with a replica Iraqi town - populated with real Iraqis employed to play the roles of inhabitants) brings a rock out to this rock pile and paints their insignia on it.
They go back decades.
Some of the logos are pretty intense, but then again, these guys aren't in the business of making friends.
Horizon S3 Panoramic Camera.
Osher (Andrew) Günsberg
Full-time TV/Radio guy. Part-time photographer, some-time Musician.
Other than that, I'm running miles or on the Yoga mat.
Hollywood, California
(via Bondi Beach, Sydney Australia.)
