[asaru]

I thought long and hard about posting this set. There's no artistry here. What there is, though, is the joy of photography without batteries and without a light meter; without photoshop, without post-processing beyond cropping.

The shots are on ASA 400 Kodak C-41 B&W film, scanned from the negative without further correction, and shrunk to 20%, 25% and in one case to 12.5%. The camera is Pentax SL, the lens Super-Takumar f1.8/55mm (with broken focusing ring). The shutter speed was 250, occasionally 125; the aperture, 2.8 or occasionally 4. The distances were on the order of 1 meter.

This is the first time I ever shot purely eyeball. It was the biggest thrill since the first time I tried metered manual settings around 1985.

The cat's name is Nicky. He says hello.

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Last edited by asaru; 02-03-2011 at 10:02 PM.

[rparmar]

hello Nicky :-)

[icywarm]

I don't know what needs critic, but interesting shots any how... makes me want to go shoot something now with film... on a side note... is that how you always hold your camera? Do you find that you get camera shake? I was always a whole hand holder... but I might have to try fingure tips today for a bit...

[asaru]

^The fingers press the camera into the forehead, old instructions once, I think, for the SL's baby nephew ME. As for shake, judge by the photos -- they're all portrait, second series at 125... I'm glad they make you want to shoot film. It was really very fun to ditch the metering and estimate the exposures by eye.

[icywarm]

Interesting I am going to go try that hold now... I wouldn't expect shake with a 55mm at 125, but I know what it is... I flip mine 180 degrees from you... I support the whole camera with one hand against my chest and the adjust and trip with the other hand, on top of the camera... I have never thought of 'hanging' the camera off my forehead...

my spotie is in a box because we are moving so I loaded the old MZ-S with some Ilford 400... I have been meaning to try a 3:1 D76 for 25mins with 30min in borax. And the weather looks clear and the snow is fresh... time to go find a sunrise...

[Ash]

Seems you are enjoying yourself with your old film camera. These images have turned out alright, but I agree that the photos aren't really amenable to critique - apart from considering the lighting of the subject in the frame and background control as significant limitations of these images.

[asaru]

Hi Ash, thanks for your comment -- I know my photos are very amenable to critique indeed. I am not quite sure what to make of your "significant limitations" statement. Let me ask for specific input on subject lighting and background control in the first series, cat looking out at the world (it's the one I am less happy with). Here's the setup: overcast day, no significant visible patterns in the cloud ceiling, very even white light. Shot is from indoors, the buildings visible being about 50 metres away. I would like both the cat (natural white) and the buildings to be properly focussed and exposed, -- if possible. The three shots were taken at f4, shutter 250, by the following logic: ISO 400 film, overcast/8 --> shutter 500 for the exterior; indoors/2, same shutter speed; average = f4 aperture, shutter 500; but lengthen shutter to 250 to compensate for backlighting and snow: I did not want to widen aperture because wanted to preserve depth of field. I think as it stands with 55mm lens I could have done no better; if I removed the compensation, the cat would be even darker, if I added more compensation, the exterior buildings would have been whited out. So: can anything be done? Perhaps by using a telephoto lens to flatten the cat and the buildings together (through glass?), and some sort of filters to darken the sky and therefore sharpen the buildings (polarizing? but on an overcast day!)... Is this possible, or is it really an actual significant limitation of the frame-up the way I intended it?

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Last edited by asaru; 02-04-2011 at 03:53 PM.