Fujifilm

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…

Galivanting Gullwing

Gull
Polaroid Automatic 100, Fuji FP-100C film

I attended another car show last Friday which was a perfect opportunity to test my new cameras.  I took a few shots on my new F6, but I am not yet ready to develop that roll.

My shots from my “new” Polaroid Automatic 100 instant camera came out great and are of course ready for viewing.

I knew the above Mercedes 300SL Gullwing was a valuable car, but I just checked online and in excellent shape it is worth over $500,000 US!

In other news, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops has updated their web site and it seems easier to find workshops by topic or instructor.  I recommend anything taught by Eddie Soloway, especially if you want to work on your natural vision.

Also, Nikon School is coming to San Jose in early November, though they are of course 100% digital now.  I took their class once several years back when it was still film oriented and it was excellent for technical tips and references.

I am going to attend the San Jose Photo Fair this Saturday.  This is my first time so I am hoping they have some finds and/or deals.

First Fully Scanned Sprocket Rocket Roll

SprocketExplore

Sprocket Rocket, Fuji Provia 400F

Nice vertical, eh?  This post looks absolutely tiny in comparison.

I managed to scan an entire roll of Sprocket Rocket photos that I took way back in March.  It took me that long to get a flatbed scanner, experiment with full-width scanning techniques, and then settle on one that seems to work well.

Knit Night just occurred in our household here, and with my Dear Sweet Wife and her friends knitting (and crocheting and quilting) away that gave me the opportunity to scan about one-and-a-half rolls full of sprockets.

On top of my Sprocket Rocket roll I also scanned about half a roll that my DSW took with her Blackbird Fly.  We should both feel freer to shoot with these cameras since we can now use their output.

Next up for my blog I hope to make a little section covering my cameras, and eventually other favorite gear of mine.  I have some cool vintage flash units on loan from my father that I will have to photograph before I return them to him.  (I will return them, honest Dad!)

Fortunately for me I have a new addition to my camera collection, one that should see a lot of film passing through it.  See if you can find the clue in this post about what it is.

Six hours left until I need to wake up… ugh, better wrap it up for this night.

Willow Glen Classic Car Show

PackCars
Polaroid 320, Fuji Film FP-100c

My Dear Sweet Wife already wrote about the wonderful time we had celebrating the birthdays of our two boys.  They turned 6 and 3 recently and we all really enjoyed the celebration.

We had cupcakes, cookies, family, ice skating, more cupcakes, more fun, rainbow cake, gifts, more fun, chocolate cake, more gifts… or something along those lines!

We took a short break from the festivities on Sunday to visit the Cruise for A Cause classic car show in Willow Glen.  This was a great opportunity to shoot some more Fuji pack film in my Polaroid 320.

I love the saturation of the Fuji color film, as well as the soft look of the 320 with its plastic lens and somewhat shallow depth of field.  However, a number of my prints were spotty from pulling them out too fast, coverd with paper fibers from storing them in the cardboard film box, and had blemishes from sticking to each other.

I am still learning how to work with its film and have a couple more takeaways:

  • Do not rush shooting, pulling out, or storing the packfilm!
  • When pulling it out of the camera, say “Pol-a-roid” slowly and keep it moving at a moderate and even pace.
  • After developing is finished and the print has been peeled free, hold it exposed to the air for a bit to allow it to dry.
  • Store the print in a clean case made out of plastic face-to-back (not face-to-face) so that the prints don’t stick to each other

How To Scan Sprocket Rocket & Blackbird Fly

SprocketFlower
Sprocket Rocket, Fuji Provia 400F (in case you couldn’t tell from the code)

I own a Sprocket Rocket, but have had a tough time getting good scans of 35mm strips all the way to the outer edges.

My Nikon LS-5000 film scanner cannot capture into the sprocket holes at all.  I tried using Lomography’s own DigitaLIZA scanning masks with my Epson V700 flatbed scanner, but it turns out they crop some of the outer edges too.  They also were not quite the right height for the V700 to focus properly.

What is the point of exposing over the sprocket holes if you can’t see it all?  I want images taken with this camera to scream “I was taken on film!” at the top of their lungs.

I worked on a new two-step solution this weekend.  I took an extra V700 35mm film strip holder and used my modeling tools (clippers, files, etc.) to remove a middle section of the support.  Then I used Better Scanning’s glass insert to hold the strip flat and in place while allowing for exposure to the edges.

This worked out almost perfectly.  I say almost as the glass insert is ever-so-slightly not wide enough.  If you look closely you can see a bit of its edge making a dark strip in the middle of the film imprinting on top and bottom of the film.

But I am much better off than I was before the weekend.  Now I feel free to fully enjoy my Sprocket Rocket as well as encourage my Dear Sweet Wife to use her Blackbird Fly (which also exposes over the holes) more often.

If you had today off work or school I hope your Labor Day exploits were as fruitful as mine!

 

Seeing Stars

SeeingStars
Canon IV-S rangefinder camera, Jupiter-11 135mm f/4 lens, Fuji NPZ 800 film

Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?

The good news?  Alright, that is easy: I loaded my Canon IV-S with film today, shot the entire roll, and had it developed across the street.

I have no idea what I was doing wrong before when I had trouble loading the Canon.  I think I did everything the same this time around as I did last time.

In fact I did it three times right today, loading it twice with a test roll of junk film and a third time with a good roll.  All three times it advanced just fine, without a hitch.

The bad news?  Do you really want to know?  OK, if I have to…

It is still showing many, many light leaks despite my attempted repair through its cloth shutter.  (You probably guessed that from the above shot…)

My Dear Sweet Wife thinks that the light leaks create an attractive ethereal effect.  But she has been known for picking her preferred Holga based on its leaks, so I am not sure she is a neutral party here.

So if I credit myself for the loading, but give the Canon a nod for the unresolved leaks, I guess that makes the score to date:

Canon: 2 – Me: 1

Anchors Aweigh

Anchor
Polaroid 320, Fujifilm FP-3000B

We made a trip up to the East Bay today, first dropping my Dear Sweet Wife off to teach a class at Verb and then the boys and I spent a few hours playing at Fairyland.

I wanted to take my Petri 7S along for some simple fun shooting, but unfortunately its shutter was stuck again.  Even worse than that, when I opened it up I discovered that it had a loose aperture diaphragm blade that appeared to be jamming the shutter.

I might poke around in its innards some more, but given that these cameras go for around $20 in decent shape it probably isn’t worth my time to try fixing it again.

Instead I brought my Polaroid 320 along and finished of a pack of Fujifilm FP-3000B black & white film that had been loaded for a while.

The impressions I shared about this camera last time hold true, but the high-speed film produced very contrasty results in direct sunlight like you see above.  In lower light levels such as in shade or indoors it was more even.

I also popped off a few flash bulbs just for fun using its original flash accessory.  The smell of the burnt bulbs brought about a nostalgic reaction in me, although my boys both said they smelled horrible!

We Have A Winner

WeHaveAWinnder
Nikon F100, Nikkor AF-D 50mm f/1.8m, Fuji Velvia 50

Congratulations to the winner of our first joint Sunny Sixteen/Quilt Otaku blog giveway: Zizophora!

You will be sent your prize soon, a copy of Cotton Time issue #82.  Please just send your name and shipping address to Marisa of Quilt Otaku (e-mail: quilt [dot] baby [at] hotmail [dot ] com) and it will be on its way.

By the way the above image is a photo I took a few years back at one of the historic dairy farms located inside Tomales Bay State Park about an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

This one is not operating any more (although most there are).  You can walk around the grounds and easily practice using selective focus with a wide open aperture as I did here.

Batching It

BatchingIt
Nikon N80, Nikkor AF-D 50mm f/1.8, Fuji Provia 100F

No, I am not talking about having to cope with my dear sweet wife and adorable kids being out of town for any time.  I merely meant that my box of shame has finally forced me to investigate the wonders and mysteries of batch scanning.

I have been a big fan of the Vuescan scanning software for quite some time.  It is a 3rd party application which can be used to control nearly any scanner.  I have used it with at least six different scanners over the last ten years or so with great results.  I love it for its straight forward (if detailed laden) interface, consistent usage model across both film and flatbed scanners, and high end features such as color calibration/profiling, multi-pass scanning, and infrared cleanup of slides.

I am usually a control freak and like to tend to each scan one-by-one, but with 18 rolls waiting for my attention I figured it was time to learn to automate!

I was afraid that I would lose some control if I used batch mode, but actually it is more about saving user time than automating.  I enabled Input>Batch Mode>Auto & Crop>Multi Type and started a preview on a cut strip of film with six images.  Vuescan proceeded to perform independent preview scans of all six images.

The beauty is that before performing final scans, Vuescan allowed me to step through each preview and adjust scanning setting for each independently.  I rotated for vertical if needed, set scanner focus point, adjusted crop (though auto was almost always perfect), and even adjust color settings.  Then when I hit scan it executed all six final scans but with their independent settings in place.  This might not have sped up the overall process, but since I could focus on other tasks (like a blog post) during the preview and scanning phases it felt like I was much more productive.

I wish I had tried this before, as you don’t lose any control at all.  And it also makes me seriously want to process slide film as strips for batch scanning rather than mount them since the days of analog slide shows are pretty much over.

Oh, by the way, one down and seventeen left to go…

First Few Pack Films

FirstFewPack
Polaroid 320, Fuji FP-100C

I finally got the last of my Fuji FP-100C pack of prints from Southern California scanned in.  These include a few more shots from the water park as well as from Legoland (my young sons’ favorite amusement park.) It was only my second pack of film that I ran through my Polaroid 320 camera and so far it is my favorite.

To back up a bit, I tried my first pack ever back in April.  It was some expired Polaroid 100 Sepia pack film (ISO 1500) purchased from Impossible which was a little tough to work with in terms of exposure latitude.  It had a classic B&W look to it but preferred strong light with low contrast.  One or two low-light shots were almost completely washed out and one or two shots with varied lighting levels resulted in clearly over- or under-exposed elements.

This Fuji FP-100C (ISO 100) color pack film definately required strong lighting, but seemed to be much more flexible in terms of contrast levels.  All my shots were in either in direct sunlight or at worst light shade, but every single one came out looking good.  Its color is beautiful and seems both vivid and even tempered.  Its look is very distinct and even when scanned is clearly not from 35mm film or digital capture.

I did start a third pack of Fuji FP-3000B (ISO 3200), however all three shots I tried were complete failures.  I thought this high speed B&W film would allow for shooting indoors but I was wrong. I had major problems with backlighting and even moderate side-lighting from windows.  I didn’t bother scanning these in at all, and will try the rest of the pack outdoors later…

So far my 320/pack film lessons learned are:

  • Use strong, direct and even daylight whenever possible.
  • Adjust for parallax even when subjects are 5 feet away.  (See my ninth shot which appeared fully centered in the rangefinder.  The right mariachi musician is only half in the print.)
  • Do NOT keep the developed prints face-to-face, their emulsions will start to stick to each other and feathering or ripping will occur! (See my tenth shot for some clear feathering on the wall and upper-left transport, in other shots I touched it up a bit in Photoshop.)