- Where: A lake somewhere in Bavaria
- Camera: Nikon Nikonos IVa
- Lens: Nikon Nikonos Nikkor 35mm f/2.5
- Film: Kentmere 100
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
This is a test roll shot through a recently acquired Nikon Nikonos IVa meant to accompany me on my next swimming trip. I had to check if everything was working, sans testing whether the camera was sufficiently watertight, as I did not want to risk it yet. When I scanned the roll I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp the images came out. There is no way to check the focus during shooting as it is a camera without a rangefinder. This gives me some confidence that this wonderful piece of kit will fulfill its purpose splendidly.
- Where: Munich Westpark
- Camera: Minolta XD5
- Lens: Zeiss Biotar 58mm f/2.0
- Film: Kodak Ektar 100 (suffering from X-Ray damage)
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
After discovering that my Contax D, a fleamarket buy, has shutter-curtain issues, I was looking for a way to at least be able to use the lens that came with it. None of my M42 mount bodies worked with the lens. All of them had issues with the mirror getting stuck when the lens was attached. Then I came across an M42 to Minolta SR lens mount adapter for those lovely Pentax Takumar lenses. With that adapter screwed on, I gave the lens a try on my Minolta XD5. Success! The camera works fine with the lens attached! I found a roll of Ektar 100 in my freezer and went to Munich Westpark to give the setup a thorough shakedown. I love the lens, even though it is a bit awkward to use: It does not stop down on its own when taking a picture, so you end up with a “focus - step down - meter - shoot - open up” dance for each one. After coming back and developing the roll I noticed the heavy X-Ray damage that it was suffering from. That makes judging the lens a bit tricky, but I think I still got some nice shots.
- Where: Seaside, California
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8,
- Film: Hitchcock 50D
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
What do you do when you drive to Seaside to take pictures of a shipwreck from the pier and it turns out that it is too foggy to see the shipwreck from the beach and the pier is long gone? You take pictures of trees on the parking lot of course!
- Where: Muir Woods, San Francisco, California
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8, Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2.0
- Film: Hitchcock 200T, ReflxLab 500T
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
What do you do when you are bored out of your mind, in the late stages of a severe cold on a Sunday on a business trip? Well, what else than going on a mild hike and looking at some trees?
- Where: A lake somewhere in Bavaria.
- Camera: Contax D
- Lens: Zeiss Jena Biotar 58mm f/2.0
- Film: Kentmere Pan 100
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Once upon a time, I bought a Contax D at the Midnight Bazaar. It came with a beautiful Zeiss Jena Biotar and a, unbeknownst to me, sticky first shutter curtain with a pinhole light leak. The image is from a test roll of Kentmere Pan 100, shot on a quick photo walk aimed at getting the darn roll finished. I already had a hunch that something was wrong, which led to some procrastination with getting the camera test done. It is one of only four (of 24) frames that did not suffer from the sticky shutter curtain and despite the light leak, I like it a lot.
- Where: Old Sacramento Waterfront + USS Hornet
- Camera: Ricoh GR10
- Film: Agfa CT Precisia slide film, expired and cross-processed
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
As the Mythbusters famously said, “Failure is always an option!” And with analog photography, failure can lead to interesting results. A few weeks before my trip to San Francisco, I loaded a roll of expired Agfa CT Precisia into my trusty Ricoh GR10 to see what it looked like when I cross-processed that film. I never got around to exposing that roll and eventually ended up with a forgotten roll of film in one of the cameras I took on my trip. Thus, I opted to fill that roll as quickly as possible to free the camera for some more “serious” photography. When I came back home, I cross-processed the slide film as planned, and the result was these oddly colored and coarsely grained images that you see in this post.
- Where: California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8, Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2.0
- Film: RelfxLab 250D (+2 Stops), ReflxLab 500T
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
I love me some nice locomotives! These here images are from a visit to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, which I day-tripped to from the San Francisco area. It is worth a visit when you are in the area, anyway.
- Where: Montara State Beach, San Francisco
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8, Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2.0
- Film: RelfxLab 250D
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Part two of my visit to Montara State Beach.
- Where: Montara State Beach, San Francisco
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Elmarit-R 28mm f/2.8, Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2.0
- Film: Hitchcock 50D, RelfxLab 250D
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Montara State Beach is a few miles south of San Francisco on the Pacific coast. I always wanted to get a good shot of one of those “Baywatch” huts, and I saw my walk along that beach as an opportunity to do so. The first two images were shot on Hitchcock 50D, the remaining images were all shot on ReflxLab 250D. I love the pastel tones on the third and fourth images.
- Where: Munich
- Camera: Leica R9
- Lens: Vario-Elmar-R 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5
- Film: Lomo 800@3200, push-processed by 2 stops.
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Sometimes, a single shot on a roll of film does not fit into any narrative but turns out exactly as I wanted it to. Welcome to “One Shot.”
