Articles Written By: Bubble Level

Sprocket Rocket Exposure Tests

SprocketTeest
Nikon D300, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6

Those of you familiar with the Sunny Sixteen rule will see that there is something fishy about Lomography’s suggestion to use ISO 400 speed film in the Sprocket Rocket.

It is supposed to have a shutter speed of 1/100 second and “sunny” aperture of f/16.  This would mean you should use ISO 100 speed film for shooting in direct sunlight.

I have experienced and others have noted that the Sprocket Rocket is quite “light hungry”, which simply translates into its published specifications being incorrect!

I shot two rolls of Fuji Provia 400F slide film together, one in my Sprocket Rocket and the other in my Nikon F100 with a 20mm lens.  The results confirm my suspicions:

  1. The “sunny” aperture is more like f/22 and the “cloudy” aperture f/16, both about one stop darker than documented
  2. If you press the shutter release very quickly, you can speed up the shutter dropping another stop of light from reaching the film!

This would indeed mean that you should be shooting ISO 200 to 400 speed film in your Sprocket Rocket depending on whether you are slow or quick on the trigger.

On the bright side (har!), with practice you could get three stops of exposure variability out of the Sprocket Rocket via the aperture settings and good finger speed control.

Down the Slide Redux

Slide
Nikon D300, AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8

Here is my same son from two posts ago, but on a different slide and of course shot on a different camera.

We hit Happy Hollow today, both my sons and I.  They had a blast, as always, running around and playing to their heart’s content.

Our younger son was a bit behind on his rest this weekend.  When we got home around 4PM I tucked him in for a late nap and he said “Goodnight Daddy…”.

He is still sleeping in there as of nearly 9PM.  Either he is out for the night (I hope!) or he is going to be up at 4AM asking to watch the Cars 2 rental we have from Netflix.

I shot today digital with the D300, using my 24mm and 50mm prime lenses which are equivalent to 36mm and 75mm focal lengths due to the camera’s smaller sensor.

I am still running Windows Vista on my desktop, which does not recognize my vertical shots as such.  I tried using Downloader Pro under its demo license to dump the images from my flash card to my PC and perform loss-less JPEG rotations in the process.

It worked like a charm, my vertical shots came through as verticals wether viewed in Windows, Photoshop, or uploaded to Flickr.  Downloader Pro seemed to have a number of other interesting features so I will explore it some more before paying for the full version.

Cayucos Pier

CayucosPier
Nikon FA, Nikkor Ai 200/4, Fuji Velvia 100

This is a shot I took while we were on our summer vacation in Cayucos.

This was the first time in a long time I had the opportunity to plant my camera down on a tripod. We are a very active family these days and pretty much everything I shoot is handheld, so this was a nice break.

The sunset was not spectacular, but there were some nice purple tones just after it fell below the horizon.

Velvia 100 is slightly less saturated than Velvia 50, but the colors still pop off the slide and screen with this shot.  I adjusted black/white levels a bit with curves in Photoshop, but otherwise this scan was as true to the slide as possible.

I had a great time shooting this sunset with my father-in-law.  I don’t recall seeing what he got here, will have to ask him…

We are already thinking of making a reservation in Cayucos for a similar stay next summer.

Down the Slide

DownTheSlide
Rollei B 35, Ilford XP2 Super

I have now put a few rolls of 35mm film through my latest two new cameras.  My initial impressions shooting with them are 100% positive.

The Nikon F6 is an absolute dream to use.  In theory it is just an evolutionary step up from my F100 (mixed heartily with plenty of DNA from the F5), but it is noticeably nicer to shoot with in almost every single way.

However, I don’t have much film from it developed just yet so impressions on its metering, autofocus, etc. will have to wait.

The Rollei B 35 is an entirely different kind of camera, but has thrilled me just the same.  I have found myself carrying it around with my nearly all the time at night and on the weekends when I am sporting my off-work cargo shorts.

I thoroughly enjoy setting the aperture, shutter speed, and focus distance completely manually.  The Rollei doesn’t even have a rangefinder so I am honing my jedi mind tricks by thinking “Is that four or five feet away from me?” all the time.

The above shot is one of many that I like (most of which are in focus!) that came out of a roll of Ilford XP2 Super film.  This is a 400 speed B&W film which is developed in color print film chemistry, so you can take it into your corner drug store to get it processed.

Stacked Cameras

Stacked
Nikon D300, AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

Well, I have updated the design of my blog to include a genuine banner.  The above shot is part of it, but those of you following the feed should check the home page out.

Thanks to my DSW for some Photoshop help to tweak the lighting, color, and shadows.  She wanted to be sure the glory of our jalapeño pepper green kitchen wall came through in force.

You may recognize some of the cameras from a number of my previous posts. The complete rundown front to back is:

  1. Rollei B 35 – I carry this almost everywhere these days
  2. Canon IV-S – sadly the shutter is still full of leaks
  3. Petri 7S – also sadly, its film advance is stuck again
  4. Kine Exakta – I haven’t even tried this yet, its shutter controls are a bit daunting
  5. Nikomat FTN – my workhorse SLR for shooting B&W
  6. Nikon FA – The most advanced manual Nikon ever made
  7. Nikon F100 – My main film camera until recently
  8. Nikon F6 – My new king of the hill

How did I order them?  Not by age, nor purely by size.

They are arguably ordered by technical features as you start with the viewfinder Rollei and proceed to add a rangefinder, average metering, single-lens reflex, center-weighted metering, matrix metering, autofocus, and finally color matrix metering.

I might have ordered a few of them differently, but in the end I think this made for the best looking shot.

Halloween in Available Light

HalloweenAvail
Nikon D300, Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G

I hope all you out there celebrating Halloween had a great time on Monday!  We certainly had a blast in our household.

Our six-year-old dressed up as a “stealth ninja” (not just any old ninja he is quick to say).  And our three-year-old went as a wizard, a home-made costume created by my DSW 4-years ago for our older son.  They both had matching glowing blue swords, because, well, don’t ninjas and wizards need them?

I actually had trick-or-treating in mind when I rented a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G lens for the week.  I considered shooting film initially, but then decided I was foolish to pass on our DSLR’s low-light ability and immediate feedback.

The angle-of-view was a bit tight using this lens on our D300 due to the smaller sensor crop factor, but it still worked out.  I never had to backup further than the curb to nicely frame each home’s walkway and front door where the eager kids had buckets outstretched.

A friend who was out with us commented on how good my pictures looked, and how natural the flash lighting was.  Then I reminded her I wasn’t using flash and she was quite amazed.

Most shots worked with available light @ ISO 800 to 1600 and still keeping around 1/50 shutter and an aperture between f/1.4-2.8.

I am a bit more tempted by this lens now that I have used it in very low-light situations.  Hopefully I can shoot something else with it before I have to return it on Friday.

And a big congratulations to my DSW on her blog’s 600th post!  Quilt Otaku is going strong after nearly five years.

Comparison of Three 50mm Nikkors

3Nikkor
Nikon D300, Nikkor 35 f/2 O.C

I love shooting with a prime 50mm lens, a so-called normal lens on a 35mm film or “full-frame” digital camera.  It has many advantages including a very natural look, not too compressed like a telephoto or warped like a wide angle.

I have an opportunity that I can’t pass up to compare three recent normal Nikkors: I own one, I rented another, and our current house guest my sister-in-law brought a third with her.

There are plenty of places to look up Nikon lens specifications as well as read reviews and comparisons of them, so I am just going to focus here on my impressions of their features and usability.

My AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 was the first lens I bought along with my N80 about ten years ago.  It has served me well and gotten as much use (if not more) than any other Nikkor I own.

It’s strengths are that it is the smallest and lightest of the three and it stops down the most to f/22 (the others stop at f/16).  Its primary weaknesses is its maximum aperture is 2/3 of a stop slower than the others so it is slightly less capable in the low-light and selective focus departments.

My sister-in-law brought along an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D (on loan from my father-in-law, truth be told).  It has a faster maximum aperture (a plus) and only stops down to f/16 (a minus), but otherwise is almost identical to the f/1.8 aside from being a hair heavier and larger.

The third is an AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 G that I rented from BorrowLenses.com for the week.  It is a dramatic redesign from the previous two and differs in many ways, but is not the clear winner I had assumed.

It does have a nicer feel to the focus ring which can be used manually at any time (the others require you to shut off the camera AF first).  It has theoretically better bokeh due to its 9 rounded diaphragm blades (two more than the others).  And it has a solid snap-on hood compared to the old screw in rubber type.

But its negatives weigh in heavily.  The AF-S focusing should be fast but isn’t.  It’s G designation means it has no aperture ring and doesn’t work with manual focus bodies.  Its filter ring is an odd 58mm which is a hassle.  And to add insult to injury it is dramatically larger than the others.

While I thought my rental might be a “try-before-I-buy”, so far I have to say I don’t see a compelling reason to retire my trusty f/1.8 in favor of either of the faster lenses.

Jedi Cross Processed

Jedi
Nikomat FTN, Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 P, Kodak E100G cross processed

The second roll of cross processed film I just scanned was taken at about the same time as the first, back in June.  However, instead of classic cars at Fuddruckers it mostly contained Jedi at Legoland.

Well to be honest storm troopers, droids, and even wookies are well represented too.  They had just setup a bunch of new displays of Star Wars themed Lego scenes in their Miniland and I couldn’t resist taking some pictures with selective focus to keep the miniature feel.

As far as the photos go, this roll of Kodak E100G cross processed seems to me to have slightly more natural colors than the previous roll of E100GX.  I see a trend here which is the films which are more saturated when processes normally (ex. E100VS) are also more saturated and have a greater color shift when cross processed.

Note that I am using the auto white level feature in my scanning software Vuescan which to some extent counters the cross processing effect.  I think for most shots (especially with people) the raw or neutral color setting produces too wild a result, so I prefer reigning in the cross processing effect a bit.

Bel Air Cross Processed

GreenCar
Nikomat FTN, Nikkor 35mm f/2 OC, Kodak E100GX cross processed

Believe it or not almost four months later I am still working on scanning my box of shame.  I have been making progress on it, but also have been shooting plenty of new film.  I think (or hope…) my “backlog” is gradually dimishing.

I just scanned two rolls of cross-processed slide film which I shot back in June on my Nikomat FTN.  These were only the 2nd and 3rd times I had tried cross processing, the first being a roll I shot on Kodak E100VS back in March.

The above shot was taken at the Lake Forest, CA Fuddruckers regular Tuesday night classic car rally.  For this roll I cross processed Kodak E100GX which is normally less saturated than the VS.  I think this holds true for cross processing as well, as my earlier roll seemed to have deeper greens and reds.

But I like the metallic sheen in this shot, I think it worked for this Bel Air.

More next time on the second roll…

Ponies, Pumpkins & Parents

Ponies
Polaroid Automatic 100, Fuji FP-100C film

Two of our dearest family friends are regular volunteers at DreamPower Horsemanship in Gilroy, CA.  They invited us to the “Ponies, Pumpkins & Parents” event that occurred yesterday.

DreamPower is a non-profit organization which provides therapeutic horsemanship lessons, clinics, and camps for children, teens and adults.  Their staff includes seasoned horse handlers and licensed counseling professionals who help people facing challenges (medical, behavioral, etc.) by practicing animal care or simply how to ride on horseback.

We had a great time as a family, with my Dear Sweet Wife and I learning about parenting tips while our two boys played with horses, ponies, goats, chickens and ducks.

Their favorite activity had them playing out horse and rider, taking turns holding or wearing (!) the bridle.  While they thought it was a game, it was actually an exercise to practice responding to when others don’t behave the way you expect them to.

And as we hoped the visit made for some good photo opportunities.  Above is a shot I took on my Polaroid 100 of the horse “Pete” who is under the excellent care of our friend.

I also took some shots with my F6 and Rollei B 35 (which need to be developed), and my wife with her Fuji Instax Mini and D300.  Yes, we can be a little “over formatted” at times…