- Where: Olympiapark
- Camera: Nikon F3 Titan
- Lens: Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2.0
- Film: Kodak Portra 160 NC (expired)
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Winter, about a year ago. I spent some time exploring the Olympiapark in Munich, as I had not done so all the time I have been living “nearby”. At least not as thoroughly as on this walk. A few days before, I had picked up a Leica Summicron-R 90mm lens that had been converted to Nikon F mount. Thus, I took the opportunity to give it a run for its money. My Film fridge still had a couple of rolls of expired (but still quite usable) Kodak Portra 160 NC (neutral color, I guess) in it, ideal to be used as test rolls. This is the first of two rolls from that walk, and I am quite happy with the overall results. There were enough decent shots that I could take the opportunity and pick some that have a similar color palette.
- Where: Tutzing
- Camera: Pentax 67 MLU
- Lens: SMC Takumar 105mm f/2.4
- Film: Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Images from a short visit to the town of Tuzing at Lake Starnberg. I brought the then new to me Pentax 67 with the first lens I got for it, the excellent SMC Takumar 105mm f/2.4, and two rolls of Kodak Potra 160. All pictures have been taken on a walk along the lake shore.
- Where: At the middle station and from the top of the Wank.
- Camera: Pentax 67 MLU
- Lens: Schneider Kreuznach Cinelux Ultra 140mm f/2.1
- Film: Kodak Ektar 100 & Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
I like hiking, but physical fitness is not my strong suit. So what could be a better testing ground for the freshly acquired Schneider Kreuznach Cinelux Ultra lens adapted to my Pentax 67 than hiking in the Alps? With this massive piece of kit, “A photo studio!” would have been a much more reasonable answer. Nonetheless, I wanted to combine its trial run with doing something good for my health. Thus, up the mountain, I go! Taking the cable car to the middle station, walking around for a couple of meters, collapsing exhausted on a nearby bench, and then getting back to the middle station to take the cable car for the remaining bit up the mountain, to be precise. At least I got a bit of sun and fresh air, some minor exercise, and filled 4 rolls of film—two rolls of Kodak Ektar 100 and two rolls of Kodak Portra 160. The lens tends to flare a bit when taking pictures in the general direction of the sun and there is some vignetting with the lens hood on, and there have been some other oddities visible in some images that I am not sure how to explain. So instead of going with 5 frames from one roll, I am going with 9 frames from 4 rolls. Enjoy!
- Where: A lake in Bavaria
- Camera: Rolleiflex 3.5F
- Lens: Planar 75mm f/3.5
- Film: Kodak Ektar 100
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
My first photo walk along a nearby lake with a newly acquired Rolleiflex 3.5F. The camera is an absolute beauty, and I have to say that I am impressed by the image quality that it can produce. Kodak Ektar 100 has been hit-and-miss for me so far, and this time it is definitely a hit. There is not much to say about the photo walk itself, as it was just me leaving my apartment to give the Rolleiflex a run for its money.
- Where: Tegernsee
- Camera: Pentax 67 MLU
- Lens: SMC Takumar 105mm f/2.4
- Film: Kodak Portra 400 VC (expired)
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
A winter visit to Rottach-Egern at Lake Tegernsee (not to be confused with the town called Tegernsee). I brought the Pentax 67 MLU and a few rolls of expired Portra 400 VC that I shot at about ISO 25 if I remember correctly. The images in this blog post are from two different rolls, one processed normally and one pushed by 2 stops because I had another roll of Portra 160 to develop that needed 2 stops pushing and I usually develop in pairs. Interestingly, after scanning, it seems to not make that much difference.
- Where: A lake somewhere in Bavaria
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2
- Film: Kodak Gold 200
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Wintertime is the ideal season for digging up your black-and-white film from the bottom of the freezer. The world is covered in snow and the plants and trees are dull and gray. But somewhere in this monochromatic landscape, hiding beneath a blanket of whiteness, we can find little splotches of color. Maybe it is worth taking some color film with us? Who knows what we might find?
- Where: Deutsches Museum
- Camera: Hasselblad 503cx
- Lens: Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8
- Film: Kodak Portra 160 (Pushed 2 stops)
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Many months ago I visited the “Deutsches Museum” in Munich with my trusty Hasselblad in hand and a couple of rolls of Kodak Portra 160 in my pocket. I had not been to that Museum before, so I walked in without knowing what to expect. As it turns out, visitors are greeted by a large collection of Aeroplanes from various decades right after entering the first hall. I started taking pictures left and right, but soon noticed that I won’t get very far at stock film speed. At around the place where the museum exhibits book printing presses and other related machinery, I switched over to another roll and decided to push that by 2 stops. I must say I am pleasantly surprised about the results. Of potentially 12 images (with one image blank because I messed up), I have 9 keepers that I dare share with you in this blog. It has been a while since I took the pictures, so please bare with my vague image descriptions.
- Where: Göttingen
- Camera: Hasselblad 503cx
- Lens: Zeiss Planar 80mm f/2.8
- Film: Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Somewhere along the A7 between Hannover and Kassel lays the quaint university town of Göttingen. It was the last quarter of 2022 and I took a one-day detour on my way back from visiting relatives in the north. The day was sunny and I had a few hours before sunset when I arrived. What better way to spend that time than to go for a walk in the historic downtown district of Göttingen?
- Where: Maisinger Schlucht & See
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2 (F-mount conversion)
- Film: Expired Kodak Gold 200
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
The general rule for expired film seems to be “expose one additional stop for each decade past the expiration date” if the material has been stored in a reasonable manner. With film bought through “the bay”, it is often unclear how it has been stored over all these years. While the general rule so far has worked sufficiently well for my purposes with film stock that runs below the ISO 400 mark, exposing film for longer than originally intended can lead to some amount of color shift. So what if we ignore the rule for a random roll that expired somewhere around 1998? (Note: That was 22 years ago.) I gave this a try with Kodak Gold 200 on a hike along the Maisinger Schlucht and around Maisinger See the day after. After development, I got mixed results for this experiment: The base came out pretty dark and the images were a little thin overall. After converting the negatives with Lightroom and Negative Lab Pro, I got images with a lot of grain. Especially the shadows are full of random green pixels, which I would attribute to the thin negatives and the dark base. Images with little-to-no shadows and generally a lot of green came out fine. Everything else suffered greatly from the lack of overexposure. Nonetheless, I managed to get at least 5 images out of the roll that I deem interesting.
- Where: Medical Campus in Munich
- Camera: Nikon F6
- Lens: Leica Summicron-R 90mm f/2 (F-mount conversion)
- Film: Expired Agfa APX 100
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
On one of my previous exploratory walks around the medical campus in Munich, I developed an interest in the shapes that the buildings in the area exhibited. As a consequence, I took another exhaustive walk with the sole goal to take pictures that expose the shapes, textures, and other elements that caught my eye on the first visit. Usually, I find it easy enough to cull the 36 frames of a roll of film to get down to the five frames needed for my average blog post. This time, to my surprise, I had a hard time getting it down to 10 usable images.
