- Where: Königssee
- Camera: Leica R9
- Lens: Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8
- Film: Adox CMS 20 II
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Nestled between several mountains from the Alps, the Königssee is a beautiful tourist destination in the Berchtesgadener Land. I used this trip to try my new Macro-Elmarit-R 60mm f/2.8 lens and two rolls of Adox CMS 20 II. The roll was developed in Adox Adotech IV as per the instructions on the bottle. Touted as the finest grain film available, I wondered what Adox CMS 20 II can do. It turns out the grain is nearly invisible at the resolution that my scanner is capable of. And the lens does exactly what it is supposed to do.
- Where: A place somewhere in Bavaria.
- Camera: Kalimar Six/Sixty
- Lens: Kaligar 52mm f/3.5
- Film: CatLabs X-Film 320
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
The Kalimar Six/Sixty, the successor of the Soligor 66 and the Fujita 66 is an odd little fella. It looks like a TLR, but it is a SLR. I found it on the electronic bay and curiosity got the best of me. The Kaligar 52mm f/3.5 lens has a scratch on the rear lens element, but no issue is visible on the ground glass. Focusing looks like it does not go up to infinity, but according to my collimation efforts, this is an issue with the ground glass not sitting at the correct distance or the mirror sitting at the wrong angle. The images in this post are the result of two test rolls that I shot walking around the neighborhood. First impressions are disappointing if you expect the kind of quality that you get from a Rolleiflex TLR or a Hasselblad. The images are soft all around, getting worse towards the edges, and the lens vignettes heavily. Nonetheless, the softness has some charm to it and a different lens paired with the Kalimar might perform better.
- Where: Warner Brothers Studio, Los Angeles, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
A few snaps taken during the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in Los Angeles.
- Where: San Francisco, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
I do not have much to say for this blog post. It is San Francisco. Nothing less, nothing more. I did not take as many pictures of the city as usual, as I was saving up my rolls of film for other occasions.
- Where: Highway 1, Pacific Coast, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Ektar 100
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
If you like driving, nice vistas and have to go from San Francisco to Los Angeles (or the other way around), take Highway 1 along the Pacific coast. During my last visit to California, I was exactly in that situation, but unfortunately, Highway 1 was closed for a stretch of about 1 or 2 miles. That meant I had to take a detour along Highway 101 and only got to take pictures at the Pacific coast close to the beginning and the end of my trip. The images in this post are representative of this disconnect from my favorite route to LA.
- Where: Pillar Point Harbor, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Pillar Point Harbor is a little fishing harbor north of Santa Cruz and south of San Francisco. It was my last stop as the sun went down at the end of a stormy and rainy day.
- Where: Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: CatLabs X-Film 100 Color, Kodak Portra 160
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
The Griffith Observatory, perched on top of the Hollywood Hills next to Los Angeles, offers exhibits for stargazers and a great view of the iconic Hollywood sign and Los Angeles itself.
- Where: Peterson Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Portra 160 (pushed 2 stops)
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
It is rare to have more than a few images in a day of shooting that one is thrilled with. Some have to be culled because of user error, a good amount are dull, another few are what you would call “good” or “acceptable” and on a good day, you have two or three that do this certain “something” for you. My attempt to cull the images from the seven rolls (eight images per roll) that I shot at the Peterson Automotive Museum “suffered” from unexpected success: I had only a handful that I could throw out because they were below the “good” bar, and I got so many that I liked that I had to change my culling strategy. This post is the next batch of ten images I “like” to “really like”.
- Where: Peterson Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Portra 160 (pushed 2 stops)
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
A gem in Los Angeles that I only heard from during my trip and that I was told I had to see. The Peterson Automotive Museum has three accessible stories above ground with the ground floor dedicated to Tesla worship, the floor above teeming with Porsches of all eras, and the one above exhibiting various famous cars from movies and car culture. The star of the show is the underground garage called “The Vault”. Around 150 classic vehicles are packed tightly for the eager car enthusiast to discover. All images were shot on Kodak Portra 160 pushed by 2 stops to compensate for the low light and f/3.5 aperture of the lens.
- Where: Yosemite National Park, CA
- Camera: Fuji GW690 III
- Film: Kodak Ektar 100
- Scan: Nikon Super Coolscan 9000
Mirror Lake and Yosemite Falls (at least the lower one) are easy to reach from Yosemite Valley and are worth the short walk.
