The Omnibus Film Photography Thread

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Negs have a ton of leeway. If you’re ever unsure, err on the side of overexposure. I once thought I screwed up a studio shoot back in college as I metered the lights at f/11, thought I had changed the aperture to f/11 on my camera, but actually shot the entire roll or two at f/2.8 with TMax 100 BW film. Oops. Negs were dense as hell, but printed up fine (though needed additional contrast.) It’s when you underexpose and don’t have information that you’re really screwed.

PetaPixel has an interesting series of scanned C41 (color) negs from -3 to +6 and the results here:

I think everything from about -1 to +5 looks reasonable. But that’s just with a scanner. With analog printing and a long enough exposure, I bet that +6 would look fine, too.

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Since my mission was to expose a roll of B&W, I had the camera set to Auto the whole time. It was encouraging that my estimation was confirmed when I looked at the meter reading.

One of my cameras, which I haven’t tried out yet, is a Pentax SV that doesn’t have a meter. I’ll practie Sunny 16 on that one.

I took the AE-1 Program and the A-1 out of the Apache case, and put them both into a small camera bag along with a 35-135mm lens. (The cameras both have 50mm lenses on them.) I’ll take both of them on our vacation. The plan is to load the AE-1 Program with colour film and leave the 50mm lens on. As a consumer camera, I thought I’d just use it like a consumer. I’ll load the A-1 with B&W and try to get some artistic shots.

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When I was waiting for the sun to set last night, I ended up talking to a young German tourist, who had a Polaroid SX-70 Onestep. He was showing me some of the photos he took with it. Not great, but very nostalgic. And, exposure didn’t really matter.

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I think I have one of those around here somewhere, or else something very like it. I used it for taking continuity photos on Cut Up back in the early-'90s.

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I suspect it’s kind of like how there is a cadre of musicians out there who love to record their work on studio tape decks: when they push it hard, say with punchy drums, the tape signal degrades gracefully but usually still captures a usable signal.

Such is the way with negatives: overexpose and they still work, just not quite as perfectly as if they had been properly exposed.

Digital, on the other hand, is harsh in both worlds: audio clipping is unpleasant, and overblown highlights in digital photos are bad.

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Same with slide in terms of harshness if you’re not bang-on. I purposely would overexpose negs by about 2/3 - 1 stop as I like the way it looked and printed better (and it would give me insurance.) This is a matter of taste. It’s not unusual for film photographers to rate their film at an ISO other than the box rating.

Slides I would tend to underexpose a touch, like 1/3 - 1/2 stop.

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I got to thinking about my Nikonos V. I got it just before I stopped diving, and never used it underwater. (It’s been out on the kayak with me.) I thought I’d look up new O-rings on eBay, and man are those kits expensive! Anyway, I got the Nikonos bag out and opened it. Inside were four O-ring kits (four O-rings and Nikon grease) in their original boxes… plus at least one more not in a box in a zip-top bag that I didn’t have time to open. I put new batteries into the camera, and it clicked on A and manual speeds. :slight_smile:

Along the way I dug out a Nikonos (I) that I got somewhere. I probably thought it was neat and bought it off of eBay. I’ve assumed it was broken because I couldn’t figure out how to latch the innards to the body, and the lens (which looks ‘like new’) doesn’t seem to lock.

I’ve just found a manual, but I don’t have time to delve into it right now. But it appears that the top and mechanism just presses into the case. The strap swivels have levers to pry it off. The lens ‘kind of’ locks; but again, I’m supposed to be working and don’t have time to fiddle with it.

The winding lever is on the front. You unlock it, and pull it forward and let it return to its resting position. To fire, press the lever in. At this point you can cock it again.

I dunno, man. ‘Press to fit’ doesn’t sound very waterproof. But I might –might – run a roll of expired film through it to at least see if it works on land.

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OK, I figured it out. I got a tube of grease out of the Nikonos V bag, and applied it to the camera top and lens O-rings. Then I read this important tip in the manual [bolding original]:

To open the camera, the lens should first be detached from the camera…

To put it back together [bolding mine]:

Push the inner camera body gently but firmly back into the outer housing. Then, placing the lens into the camera with the focusing knob on top, turn the lens 90º clockwise until it settles in position.

If replacing cannot be carried out smoothly, apply the specified grease on the O-rings.

RTFI, fool!

With the top/inner camera body fully inserted thanks to the grease, I could see the other (top) notch for the lens lug and the lens went into place easily. The lens actually locks the inner camera body to the outer housing!

So it appears I have another fully-functional underwater camera!

Imgur

Imgur

Going back to the manual, it says that the exposure down to 1 meter under clear water should be the same as it is out of the water and that the aperture should be opened one stop for every 1m you go down after that. Beyond 5m, it says you’ll need a flash.

The sea floor here is rather drab, and also cold. While I do have my Aqualung, my regulator is way beyond overhaul. So I’m not going to do any underwater shooting; but I think I will (eventually) get some shots on dry land.

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How many cameras do you ‘need’?

Today I made a spreadsheet of ‘all’ of my still cameras (I left out the Argus C4 and the Minolta 450E Autopak), lenses, flash units, etc. and their serial numbers. I wondered, 'How many cameras do you actually need?

If I’m going to develop and scan my own B&W film, I need a digital camera; so I thought about my Nikon D3300. This camera does ‘everything’. TBH, it feels like I need to take a quarter on its operation at a community college – which is why it has been gathering dust on a table for years. I can see how some people may feel that the only camera they ‘need’ is a do-it-all digital camera. But this thread is for film cameras, so fuggeddaboudit.

So again, when it comes to film cameras, how many do you ‘need’? One, that ‘does everything’ (manual exposure, automatic exposure, program exposure)? Or just a mechanical, manual exposure one? Or maybe something in between: a camera that has automatic exposure and manual exposure, with an electronic shutter.

For me, I’d say I ‘need’ two cameras: One mechanical, manual exposure one (because it can be used even if the battery dies), and a ‘top-of-the-line’ model with AE and other desirable features. For example, the Nikon FM3a has electronically-controlled aperture preferred automatic exposure, and full manual control at every shutter speed even without a battery. So I’d say I could live quite happily with a mechanical, manual exposure FM2 and a hybrid electronic/mechanical automatic exposure FM3a. Or I could live happily with the mechanical, manual exposure Olympus OM-1 and the electronic, advanced aperture priority OM-4.

Some people might feel three cameras are appropriate: One mechanical, manual exposure, one ‘top of the line’ model, and one electronic, automatic exposure. Or maybe two cameras, choosing to delete the top-of-the-line model.

Full disclosure: I ‘need’ all of the cameras! Every one in my collection has desirable attributes, whether they are functional or just historically interesting.

So how many cameras do you ‘need’? One? Two? Three? More?

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Same answer as with any hobby: N+1.

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Back when I shot film, my primary body was a Nikon F5; my secondary (really co-primary) body was a Nikon N90s; and I had an FM2 if everything went to shit electronically/battery-wise and I needed something manual to shoot with. Depending on what I was doing, I often shot with two bodies on me; one with a 24-70 and the other with a 70-200. I still feel kind of naked if I only have one body with me.

That said, I really only shot 35mm. I can absolutely see justifying having a 6x6, a large format, etc., in addition.

So, for me, 2 main + 1 backup.

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It’s like guitar players. You can never have too many guitars.

In my case, I can never have too many bass guitars!

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Ok so now a more serious response to how many cameras I need.

Digital is a requirement, so I have two digital cameras: a Fujifilm x100t and XPro2.
I use the x100t to film most of our music videos and I use the XPro2 for all of the digital film scanning.
I also use the XPro2 for serious portraiture, using the X-mount 90mm and 56mm lenses. Crazy thing is, I get more detail in the reflection off of someone’s cornea with that setup than I get in an entire B&W photo, but I still prefer film.

Out of necessity I’d keep the Fujifilm XPro1 with 14mm, 35mm, and 56mm lenses (crop sensor, so those sizes match 21mm, 50mm, and 90mm)

Now to film:
The Pentax 17 has completely earned its place in my heart, so I always need that one–a half-frame camera is pretty darned cool. In fact, I think it’s number one for me.

The Canon A-1 and AE-1 Program pair comes next in necessity. Those kick butt, and allow me to do macro photography and other fun stuff with interchangeable lenses

Then comes the Nikon S3 rangefinder, because rangefinder cameras are so cool. I took that one out shooting on Friday.

The Rollei 35 is in the display cabinet waiting for me to gain the courage to do deep surgery. But when it comes out, that will also be in the rotation based on the “rule of cool”

Finally, I can’t do without a 6x6 medium frame camera! But I have two, a Mamiya C330 and a Mamiya C220. One is beautiful and heavy, while the other is practical and lightweight. I could be persuaded to part with one of them, though I’m not sure which.

You’re talking about my children here! How can I choose?

Barest essentials for film?

I’d keep the Pentax 17 and the Canon A-1 with its lenses.

The other film cameras are all prima donnas that are fiddly and require manual metering and such. I’d even do without medium format: it’s fun to use, but not such a joy in the darkroom since the square format is annoying to work with in the enlarger (paper sizes and such)

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I brought the AE-1 Program and the A-1 on vacation with us. First, a digression:

I bought a Canon FD 35-105mm f/3.5 lens from eBay, and intended to bring it with us. First, the new Canon rear end cap wouldn’t fit. (Strangely, an Olympus one almost does.) So I tried it on the AE-1 Program. Wouldn’t fit. I tried it on the A-1, the New F-1, and the FTb, and it wouldn’t lock onto any of them. Weird. So I brought the 70-210mm f/4 lens instead (along with a 50mm for each camera). So onward…

Since the AE-1 Program is a consumer camera, I’ve been using it like a consumer: Colour film, and shots that I might take with my iPhone. I really wish I could have used that 35-105mm zoom, The 70-210… is a bit long, and the 50mm is too short. Anyway, I shot a 36-exp. (well, 35 exp) roll using mostly Program, and some shutter priority, mode.

I’m leaving the 50mm lens on the A-1 and have loaded it with 400XT B&W film. With that combination, it really encourages me to look for closer shots that I find interesting. So far, I’m shooting mostly Program and Aperture priority, but I used shutter priority for a couple of indoor shots.

Something I noticed is that the Canons are more difficult to load than my Olympus cameras. The tabs want to jump out of the take-up slot, whereas that doesn’t tend to happen with Olympus.

In other news, the camera store in town called me Saturday to let me know the two rolls I brought in were back… The slide film that was in the New F-1 when I bought it came back blank. It’s reasonable to assume the seller opened the back. But there was till half a roll that shouldn’t have been affected. I tried to shoot aperture priority just to burn up the film. It’s possible that AP isn’t working, or there’s a problem with the lens. I’ll have to check it out later. (I did take some manual shots too.) The B&W negative was apparently correctly exposed, and they’ll have it scanned (probably) by the end of the week.

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The Canons are a sweet pain in the backside to load!

I prefer loading the Nikon S3, even though you have to take the back off to do so, and better still is the Pentax 17, which has one of those rubber roller setups that were popular in the 90s–just lay the tongue on the roller and close the back for a perfect load.

And the suspense is palpable. I hope your shots turn out well!

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Sounds like the QL on the Canonet.

Yeah, no instant gratification with film! Especially since Fotomat went out of business like 100 years ago! It will have been four weeks to get the film back (well, the B&W since the slide film was toast) from processing and scanning. I did find a place online a couple of weeks ago that seems as if they might be quicker. My fingers are crossed the photos turn out. I’ll post a couple of photos if they do.

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I used The Darkroom for my first rolls of 6x6, and I was happy with them. Not cheap, but I had my film developed in a week and a half and they gave me instant access to a gallery where I could download the digital photos. Nice place.

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I’ve just ordered a ‘top mint’ Yashica 124G. It cost a ‘mint’; but as you said earlier, you may as well get the best cameras you can. Should’ve bought one in the '90s when the ads in the photo magazines had them new for $125.

I shot one roll of Fuji 200 in the AE-1 Program on our trip. I exposed some B&W in the A-1, but didn’t finish the roll.

I’m not quite ready to try to develop the film I shot a week or so ago. I want to watch your video again so that I can be confident using the app.

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Just to be clear, I was referring to these guys:

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Most film developing orders are shipped back to you within 3-7 business days after they enter production. We are located in Southern California, so mail takes 2-5 days to reach us from almost anywhere in the country.

That was my first question. I don’t know what ‘not cheap’ is, since the roll of E-6 and the roll of B&W came to over $50 at the local place. The Darkroom’s turn-around time is much better than four weeks.

I assume they return the developed negatives?