Prop

16-05-22

At the beginning of the year I sent my Nikon Af 20mm lens off for repair as it wasn’t stopping down, wondered why the photos were soft and sometimes overexposed. The lens is now working as it should. I must say I’m not that impressed with the lens, it’s very soft in the corners even stopping down, I think I’ll be trading it in for some Olympus glass.

Having said that I quite like this chance image, especially as it was a dull overcast day.

Nikon F601/N6006, Af Nikon 20mm f2.8, Orange filter, Ilford Hp5, 800asa, Microphen.

Half Frame Snapshots – Post Box

06-09-22

Saw this makeshift post box outside a church that was having some renovation work carried out. It was really dark and I really didn’t expect much of an image, Fomapan 100 and the little half frame Agfa (and my focus guesstimate) did well here.

Agfa Parat – Fomapan 100 @ 200asa – Ilford Ilfosol

Half Frame Snapshots – Side Effects

28-02-22

Agfa Parat – Fomapan 100 @ 200asa – Ilford Ilfosol

Didn’t quite nail the focus on where I wanted on this one, in my defence it was a really dull day, and the little Agfa camera is totally manual, focussing is a bit of an estimate.

Half Frame Snapshots – Welcome (To the machine)

Couldn’t resist a nod to the Pink Floyd song which I saw them perform live at Knebworth way back in 1975. (It’s how my brain works sometimes)

Agfa Parat – Fomapan 100 @ 200asa – Ilford Ilfosol

Scanning 35mm Black & White Negs And A Sunbeam

“Warning” this post contains some technical stuff, if this causes you to experience yawning or a mild case of narcolepsy just skip to the last image.

The screenshot below shows the interface for the Nikon Scan software that I use for scanning in 35mm film, Pentax MX and Fomapan 100 in this case.

It looks a bit daunting at first but I find it quite intuitive, and it’s easy to turn all the enhancements on or off.

a) Histogram Black & White Points Unadjusted

This is the histogram display with a straight scan from the negative. I scan my Black and White negatives as a positive and invert the image in post processing. It seems to capture all the tones a bit better doing it this way. The small spike on the left is before adjusting the image size where it has picked up a bit of the area outside the negative frame.

This is the cropped and inverted straight scan of the image. I’ve noticed on various social media sites some people make a thing about the fact it’s a straight scan, but to my eyes at least, it looks too flat.

b)Histogram Adjusted to Black & White Points

I’ve adjusted the Black & White points (circled in Red) to just touch the histogram, this is the useful information captured by the film and scanner..

To me it’s starting to look more like the scene I saw when I took the shot.

c) Nikon Scan Image Enhancer

By selecting Nikon Scan Image Enhancer (SIE) from the scan menu it cuts into the histogram a little and gives a bit more contrast to the image.

It does a really good job on some images, but a touch too contrasty for me.

1930’s Sunbeam – The Final Image

Using scan b), Cropped in a bit tighter, some sharpening added, a small amount of clarity and a touch of vignette.

 

Dams – Hoots & Feral Toms

27-02-19

Dams
Went for a walk again last week to Dams Spinney armed with my Olympus OM2sp loaded with Kodak TriX rated at 800asa. It was for a change a bright cold day. I’m really enjoying visiting this old spinney but worry how much longer it’s going to be there, seems to be little if any tree management or maintenance on the site, you have to clamber over fallen trees that straddle the path around the spinney, but it’s good for the wildlife and that’s so important in this day and age.

Hoots
I woke up at 4 am this morning to the soft sound of a Tawny owl calling, so lovely. It’s normally the screech of a Barn owl that I hear on a few occasions, they seem to like my very tall “Tree of Heaven” (Ailanthus altissima) to perch in.

Feral Toms
It’s a sure sign of the start of spring when the Tom cats come prowling around the garden. My two Female cats are both spayed and watch on with indifference. Being an unashamed cat lover I feel sorry for these guys not having a home so always leave some food outside for them, the dishes are licked clean when I collect them in next morning.

Dams Spinney

Into The Sun

Tendrils 

Natural Arch

Sphagnum Moss

Autumns Leftovers

Swan Lake

Yesterday

First Blossoms

Phone shot

It was a really warm day for February yesterday so I went back to the Spinney to see what if anything had changed, there were signs of new growth and some blossoms coming through. I took my faithful old Olympus OM2n that I bought secondhand in 1992, slipped in some new batteries and it was ready to go. For over 2 years now I’ve had a roll of Cinestill 800T film resting in the fridge so I loaded it up and am hoping for the best, will send it off for processing next week.

De Hickey’d #2

27-12-18

A few more images from around my hometown taken on the Olympus 35DC on Ilford HP5+ at 800asa.

War Memorial WWI 

I used the back light button (BLC) for this one, seems to have worked well.

Cherub

Old hosiery factory, the city was famous for it’s hosiery industry.

A Bit Of Modern

The Old Odeon Cinema

Art Deco style which the Odeon cinema group were famous for. Went to see “A Hard Days Night” there the first week it was released in July 1964.

Curve Theatre

Still haven’t been to see anything in Curve theatre as it’s mainly musicals ! But I quite like the architecture of the building.

Canon 35MC

30-05-18

This is the third Canon 35MC that I have bought, the first two were really cheap off that auction site, neither of them worked very well, but I managed to make one goodish one out of the two, and was impressed enough with the lens quality to buy another from a dealer for £19.00 ($25.25 – 21.65 euro) The only thing amiss the dealer informed me was that the detachable flash wasn’t working, I have a working unit from one the others, not that I’m likely to use it. The camera looks brand new, with no signs of use. It needs two AAA batteries to work, at least these are easy to get. You set the film speed manually, there is a choice of, 64 – 100 – 200 – 400 – 1000 ASA, film loading and rewinding are automatic. The lens is a 35mm f2.8, 4 elements in 4 groups and focuses from 3 ft (0.9m) to infinity. It’s a clam-shell design so you slide the front cover (a la Olympus XA’s) to switch on the camera. The viewfinder shows the autofocus frame and a zone focus indicator which only registers the distance after you have taken the shot ! The automatic shutter runs from 1/8sec to 1/500sec, there is also a slow shutter speed warning lamp. The wind on motor is a bit noisy, typical of it’s era. What I like about it is the quality of the lens and it fits easily in a jacket/trouser pocket.

Loaded it up with some Fomapan 400 and took on a PhotoBuddies walk. I developed the film in Kodak D76 1-1.

Student Accommodation

Great Central

I remember catching a train from here to go to Nottingham Victoria when I was a lad in the 1960’s. The old Station building is being restored, and the area opposite is being developed (more student accommodation !!!!) and a Hotel.

PhotoBuddy

Not Sure What This Is

But I liked it.

Olympus OM101/(OM88) #4 – Last Few

I managed to get a 50mm f2 lens (well another camera as it was cheaper than buying a lens on it’s own) for the last few frames on the roll.

Not Cricket

Anticipation, Waiting For The Queen

Broken

I really enjoyed using the OM101, the manual adapter with 50mm lens let me get some nice out of focus backgrounds. I’ll definitely be using the camera again but at the moment I have 4 different cameras on the go.

Olympus OM101/(OM88) #3

A few more images from the Olympus OM101 and 35-70mm zoom, on Rollei Retro 400s film. They were taken in April at Oakham, Rutland. Was so lucky with the weather it was really bright, and almost warm.

Oakham Cemetery

Oakham Station