Sunset Cemetery at Sunset - 6x12 panoramic images

I'm a little behind in posting things so I'm going to try to post several things by the end of the week.

I just got a Horseman 6x12 back to replace the 6x17 that I had. It was frustrating to use because it was an expansion back, meaning I had to frame the image on a separate ground-glass assembly, then switch in the actual roll-film holder, and finally shoot. The worst part about this was that I could not use any lenses that were shorter than 90mm (a ~75mm might have worked, but I don't own one). Plus, anything longer than 90mm started to clip on the sides and not really be 6x17. A 210mm was already clipped to a 6x12 instead.

The 6x12 back instead requires you to focus on the normal GG, and then you put the back on. It works really nicely and it is really easy to use on the Chamonix 4x5 because it already has frame lines for 6x12 images (as well as 6x7 and 6x9).

Here's three images from Valdosta's historic Sunset Cemetery, appropriately taken as the sun was setting soon after a storm cleared. I am most pleased with the first one, though I wish there was more shadow detail. I'm going back today at the same time to retry it with a different film. I was actually leaving as I came upon that wonderful scene, so I had nothing but some cheap Arista EDU 100 film that I've never shot before. Today I'm bringing some Ilford FP4+ which I've used before, or I might shoot it with Tri-X 400.

The other images were with some HP5+ I had sitting around. I'm trying to shoot a bunch of 120 film that I was given and haven't had the chance to shoot. The roll-film back is especially nice for this.

The first two were with the Nikon 90mm f/8 lens, and the last was with a 210mm f/9 Graphic Kowa:

Stay tuned for some interesting posts in the next couple of days!

Kentmere 400 in Rodinal, 1:50, plus some new lenses/cameras

Had some time to kill yesterday during my lunch break so I strolled around the Fine Arts building on campus and tested out some new lenses and a new camera. I just got in a few classic manual-focus Nikkor lenses along with a really nice F (Nikon's first SLR) as well as a beautiful black Nikkormat EL. The Nikkormat has a TTL meter which is really nice for casual snapshooting, which I like to do on occasion just to get out and shooting some photos.

The lenses I got included a 35mm f/2.8 Nikkor-S pre-AI, a 135mm f/3.5 pre-AI, and the cult-classic 85mm f/1.8 AI lens. I quick check on my digital cameras showed this old design clearly superior optically to my newer AF-D model. While the AF-D lens has obvious spherical aberrations wide-open down to about f/2.5, the old AI lens is sharp and contrasty right from the get-go at f/1.8. The only bummer is the 6-bladed iris which creates really distracting bokeh, but I can deal with that.

The Nikkormat is a cute camera that is nice and small for easy portability. It's the smallest 35mm camera I have that still has a TTL meter.

Here are some of the snapshots from this roll. This Kentmere film I believe is actually repackaged Ilford Delta 400 film. Regardless, I really didn't like the results with Rodinal. Tri-X + Rodinal is clearly superior, but I had this roll kicking around so I decided to try it. I shot the roll at 200 ASA. The Rodinal was diluted 1:50, and I developed the film for 9:30 at 22 degrees C. It was definitely under-developed though, and probably a little overexposed.

I don't know if anyone would particularly care, but I might start doing little mini-review of lenses and cameras as individual blog posts, similar to what I wrote above about the 85mm AI lens, but with more details and example photos. If that's something you would like to see let me know!

Darkroom / Studio is almost done!

Well it's been a long couple of weeks. Finally got all moved in. My office is all setup and nice...but the outbuilding where I am building out my darkroom and studio is slow going. But finally this weekend my girlfriend and I cleaned it all out and started putting things together. My enlarger and such is setup, I'm just finishing light-proofing the shed (or close enough, since I'll be working mostly at night anyway) and putting things where they need to go.

I also put my big black background up on one wall that is my basic portrait background. We have a nice hibiscus plant right outside the building so I clipped one of the flowers and put it in an old vase I had. Lighting was a couple of Nikon SB-800 Speedlights on stands with umbrellas, and I used my D800E with a 200mm f/4 Micro lens. Aperture was f/13 or something like that. Here's the two best shots, one in color, one in b&w. Thought about busting out my film for this but I just didn't have the time. The flower was already starting to droop after a few minutes:

Valdosta Barbeque Cook-off

Today I went out with my Nikon SP to take some photos of the annual Barbeque Cook-off, hosted by 100 Black Men of Valdosta. Unfortunately I was a complete idiot and screwed up the film loading and the spool was spinning while not pulling the film and I shot the whole roll without realizing it. I am very disappointed because I was pretty sure I had gotten some fantastic photos.

I went back out to console myself with my Army Signal Corps Speed Graphic and shot a few sheets. Nothing was quite as good from the shots I imagine would've been on the 35mm roll but that'll teach me to be more careful. Sigh.

Here they are, taken with an Ektar 127mm f/4.7 lens:

Missed focus on that last one.

Pretty underwhelmed with my work here but this was the first time I've used Tr-X 320 and Rodinal. I need to focus more on this combo and do more street shots so that's my new goal after I finish moving.

Some more digital snaps with the D800E

Due to my film developing stuff getting packed up mostly I've been on a little bit of a digital kick. I took some photos out at Grand Bay before another storm rolled through.

Here's a few of the best shots. All were taken with either an 80-200mm f/4.5 AI lens or a pre-AI 105mm f/2.5. Talk about old-school!

I also edited all these to black & white. The colors were boring and drab anyway. Plus, to me, the essence of the landscape is best captured in b&w, with a slight toning desirable. These were toned in Lightroom ever so slightly to have a golden-brown look.

Now this last one is my favorite, and for fun I've included a 100% crop of the 36mp image, pretty much straight from the camera with just a little tweaking in Lightroom: