Contax G1 and G2 Overview Part I

This weekend I ran into a photographer using a Contax G1. I really enjoyed the fact it was a rangefinder and it used Ziess Lenses. I am really interested in this camera and making it apart of my arsenal. I really have carrying my DSLR around because it is super bulky. The size is équivaillent to a Leica size rangefinder.

Check it out!

Hasselblad History in Italian

I wish I could translate it. but none the less its fresh!

Hasselblad Vs Rolleifelx 2.8

Greetings everyone,

It has been a while! I have been a busy dude doing a lot of things and planning the right steps to achieve specific goals in 2012.  For those that follow my blog, you understand that my work horse (Hasselblad) got stolen.  I decided that I wanted something that was more hand held friendly so I purchased a Rolleiflex 2.8c date around 1955-1960.

The Physical:
I like the little camera.  It is compact, light and quiet.  It feels nicer around the neck when wearing it for a full day of shooting compared to the Hasselblad. Waist level view finder is ok, I am used to it due to how the Hassey was made. This version of the Rolleiflex does no give the opportunity to use a prism view finder so the level that you shoot is different. When I was taking shot of people that were way taller than me, I had to stand on apple boxes or a chair to shoot portraits just to be eye-level.  This is a draw back in my opinion if your subjects are like 6' or taller, but great for some one sitting down or for a full length shot.

Loading the film is pretty easy, but the draw back is there arent any multiple backs.  This really didnt matter to me because on my Hassey, I had only one back. Something I used to use alot was a Polaroid back for my Hasselblad to test my shots. THIS was extremely helpful because when you test on a polaroid, that is what you will 9 out of 10 times will get on the neg.
Since I do not have a Polaroid back to test my shots, I have to rely on my light meter which is fine.  I am confident enough to set my apature correctly with meter readings.  Worst case senario, I test digitally. I find that testing digitally does not render the same in the analog format, but that is my personal opinion and my understanding.




Exposure:

The exposure setting on the Rolleiflex was different.  On an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) setting the aperture  was done on the lens itself. The F-Stop and Shutter speed  on the Rolleiflex is on the body right under the view lens ( top lens) and just above the taking lens (bottom) lens. You can see the aperture change due to the setting window right on top of the taking lens.

The shutter speed on the Rolleiflex is limited, and is not that accurate. There is a 1/50th of s second setting but not a 1/60th so the image may be a little under or over exposed depending on your setting.  So for those that scan, its wise to under expose your negs rather than to over expose, especially for slide film.  With the latitude of film, this should not be an issue.

What is pretty cool is that the Rolleiflex has leaf shutters so it can sync at all speeds. I have 80mm Xenotar.  I have read reviews that the Xenotar and Zeiss Plannar lenses are pretty much indistinguishable up to 20x20 images. But even then, its only really a trained eye can tell the difference. Again, a huge advantage of shooting film is the ability to enlarge to great sizes and still retaining sharp, high quality images. Plus negatives are beautiful.  The physical aspect of the shot is something that can not be rendered digitally.  This makes me want to shoot high speed B&W film and print wall size images.



The Photograph:

This photography was taken with the Rolleiflex and 400ISO Fuji Film.  This was sharpened in Photoshop and color corrected.  I enjoy the quality of light and how it is rendered on the image.  I used a tripod and set the focal length but I was a 2.8 because of the available light. Being this wide, if some one breathes its easy to fall out of focus.

There is a minmum focal length of 3.5' I am having issues with sharpness on the images i create. I have a feeling the view lens needs to be adjusted to the taking lens.. either that, I NEED new glasses =)

Then again it could be just me, but the depth of field  is amazing. SUPER Shallow, fits my style of photography very much. This next shot I used the timer.  Yes people a 1950s camera has a timer and there is not a battery included or needed. I placed the camera on the edge of a table focused and held still because I used available light. I wish it was sharper, its sharp enough.  Remember, nothing will be as sharp as digital, and digital will never have the same feeling as an analog camera. Its like electronics vs chemistry.


Conclusion:
I think my Rolleiflex needs to CLA'ed (clean lubed adjusted) but that will cost me maybe 200 bucks depending on whats wrong with the camera. So far the sync works, shutter speeds work ok, and the lens looks good, but there is an issue with focus that I have yet to determine.  I wonder if its user error. We will see.

I like my Rolleiflex, the feel of it in your hands, the style of the photograph belongs to the Rolleiflex. At the end of the day the Rolleiflex and the Hasselblad are two different camreas.. but I do miss my Hassey.  After all, it was the first camera I started with.

How to make a necklace out of negative film

Have some old film sitting around the house? Make it into a necklace by following this handy step-by-step guide.

Via Laughing Squid.

WWII Color Photo Round-Ups

Color photos of World War II have been making the internet rounds lately. Particularly, snapshots of London during WWII & the havoc of Nazi bombings and some shots from before and after D-Day. It's always fascinating to see a world usually seen in black-and-white in color.

Thanks to mental_floss and Trevor for the tips.

AGFA 110 Film is back!

Who would have thought the analog film company AGFA would be resurrected? Well Japanese analog company PowerShovel brings this beloved film back to life in 110! I sure hope that the make the AGFA ULTRA 120 again. That film is wonderful! make sure you check out the site for some cool info.

Develop film with Vitamin C & Coffee

If you are ever in need of a quick fix film developing process, Matt Richardson has a solution for you (as originally proposed by Photojojo): use Vitamin C & Coffee.

Via Laughing Squid

World's Largest Pinhole Camera

In 2006, The Legacy Photo Project embarked on a quest to create the world's largest pinhole camera. Inspired by an empty airport hanger at the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro, California, the group set about turning it into a pinhole camera, measuring 45 x 160 x 80 ft. After a 35 minute exposure, the camera created a 31.6 x 111 ft photograph. Due to its size, the photograph had to be developed in a swimming-pool sized developing tray.

Via HUH Magazine

Introducing the Lomo LC-Wide

Lomography has released their newest camera, the Lomo LC-Wide, an analog wide-angle camera. It can shoot three different formats on 35mm film.

Check out the stop-motion film celebrating its release:

Via Laughing Squid

Kromskop: Color Photos of SF After the Great Quake

The Associated Press reports a museum volunteer unearthed the earliest known color photographs of San Francisco, taken immediately after the 1906 earthquake. These photos, taken through a technique known as Kromskop, developed by Frederic Eugene Ives, are in stereoscopic form.

Via Laughing Squid

Kodak teaches you "How Film is Made"

Part 1:


Part 2:


The film has great graphics and images from the 1950s (the documentary was made in 1958).

Via Laughing Squid

Vivian Maier: Amateur Street Photographer Extraordinaire

Recently discovered street photographer Vivian Maier has some 100,000 photographs to her name. She shot from the 1950s-1990s, mostly in Chicago and mostly with a Rolleiflex camera. John Maloof, a real estate agent who discovered her photographs, keeps a blog where he posts her photos. There is currently a Kickstarter campaign to fund a feature-length documentary about her life and work.

Maier, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 83, was an intensely private person who wouldn't show her pictures to anyone, hence why they were not unearthed until now.



Also, check out this video about her Jeff posted.

Via mental_floss.

Black and White to Color

mental_floss has a great article on the process of colorizing black and white films, and why it happened in the first place.

"Studio photographs of productions and romps through studio costume shops often helped determine what color a prop or costume really was. If those methods failed, technicians could fall back on coloring items at their own discretion. As you might expect, this process wasn’t cheap; it set producers back upwards of $3,000 per minute of film."

Goodbye, Fair Film

With the end of 2010 came, too, the end of Kodachrome. Dwanye's Photo, the final spot where Kodachrome could be developed, took the last orders of film to be processed by the end of December 2010, making any remaining rolls obsolete. Many people vied for the position of having the last roll ever developed so, to remain unbiased, the honor of the last roll processed went to Dwanye himself.

The word is still out about the contents of Steve McCurry's roll.

See the complete story at The New York Times and enjoy the musical version of Kodachrome while you're reading.

On Polaroids and Pickaxes

Airform Archives has a great excerpt from Harry Mathews "20 Lines a Day" that describes the act of capturing a pickax in a bathtub with Polaroid film. I cannot do a better write-up than Mathews' words themselves, so read them and see the rest of the Polaroids here.

Reflecting the Bright Lights: Preserving 19th Century Photo Techniques

Reflecting the Bright Lights: Capturing a Moment with Silver Nitrate from London Sessions Productions on Vimeo.

In "Reflecting the Bright Lights," Walter Hugo demonstrates how he meticulously exposes, processes, and develops silver nitrate portraits on glass plates. He uses a room-sized camera, too! What a fabulous way to preserve

Also, the video is set to this song, which I adore.

Via It's Nice That

Bright Bright Day

The beauty of Polaroid, sigh.. nothing like it. During the age of digital technology, we have applications and filters on your phones and image editing software to recreate analog photography. I believe there is a fine art to creating well executed Polaroid pictures.
Today I have been researching and have stumbled across the Tarkovsky Portfolio. His work is very refined and elegant considering it is instant film. Portfolio of 25 Tarkovsky Polaroids. Printed in Florence, Italy 2007. Edition of 10 + 3 A/P. Lambdas printed on 40x50 paper with Polaroids 30 cm large.


Annette Pehrsson

Ms Annette Pehrsson is an amazing artist. Her work is very intimate and her style is something I admire. There is a nostalgia to her work and places an emotion in her work that many people can identify with. She is top 30 women under 30 and is exhibiting her work. Check her out.

Film Does Exist Through Jonathan Leder

With this digital age, and automatic everything cameras, analog photography seem to be a vintage process now. It is always refreshing as an analog shooter to come across another photographer that shoots film. It is one to shoot film but to find a photographer with great work, style and a client list that supports analog shooting is very seldom.

Jonathan Leder is a new find for me. He shoots 6x6, 35mm and Polaroid. How freaking awesome is that?! On top of that, his style is very retro and what alot of photographers are trying to recreate digitally with hipstamatic apps and plug ins that do one touch magic filtering.... how neat is the digital age.

For more of Jonathan's work please visit his site.
http://www.jonathanleder.com/

check out his New York Times article here!

It's difficult to remember the world didn't used to be in black & white

Allow this Kodak film test from 1922 to remind you. Shot 13 years prior to the first full-length color film, it's a fascinating glimpse into history.

See the original Kodak post for further details on the conservation process.

Via Mental_Floss.

Kodachrome: The Final Frontier

Many mourned when Kodak announced the discontinuation of its Kodachrome film in June 2009.

The final roll of Kodachrome produced was bequeathed to Steve McCurry, the National Geographic photographer famed for his photograph of the Afghan Girl, which was taken with the film. McCurry recently sent his final roll in for processing. The results, discreetly held back, will be debuted in an upcoming National Geographic documentary.

If anyone is still hording Kodachrome film, the deadline to get it processed is December 30--the service is only available at Dwane's Photo in Parsons, Kansas.

[via Obsolete via NPR]