Donald Traxler's Poetry

Tuesday, February 15, 2022

He Lives in a Dream / ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎠᎴᏂᏙᎭᏎ ᎠᏍᎩᏘᏍᎦ ᎭᏫᎾ

My Return to Film Photography - X

I've continued to shoot and develop film, most recently in 35mm. I'm using the Canon AE-1, with the new (to me) 50mm f1.4 FD normal lens. This lens is extremely sharp, and the results are so gratifying that I really don't want to shoot with any other lens. Unfortunately, the Canon EOS uses a different lens mount, so I'll be stuck using the 28-80mm zoom lens with it.

Here are a few of my recent shots:

The tree was shot in deep shade, 1/250 sec. at f5.6. For all of these shots, the film is Tri-X, rated at ISO 400.

This shot, looking up into the trees, was done at 1/250 and f16. I think the lens begins to be affected by the diffraction (? don't remember if this is the right word) limit at f16.

I had some trouble with water-spotting with the TX film. I am using a Paterson squeegee that I haven't really gotten used to. For 35mm, I think I would do better using my two fingers. I wish I still had my Yankee squeegee, with the soft sponge pads.

My agèd face shows the sharpness of the f1.4 normal lens. The main light source was the 60W quartz-halogen clamp light, and the exposure was 1/30 sec. at f5.6.

For comparison, here are a couple of digital shots:

I don't think they hold up too well against the film shots, but in the next instalment of this series, I'll try to re-create them on film. Then we can do a more proper comparison. In the meantime, shoot film, if you can!

(to be continued)

Friday, February 11, 2022

This Body Is a Friend / ᎯᎠ ᎠᏰᎸ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᎾᎵ

My Return to Film Photography - IX

Since the last instalment of this series, I've shot a couple of rolls of Ilford HP5+ in the C33, developed them, and scanned selected negatives. I'm happy with the results, though I'm sure I will do better as I re-familiarize myself with the camera.

I am also re-familiarizing myself with the processing of 120 film. For example, the other night I was opening a roll of exposed film (in the changing bag, of course), and that simple step was made much more difficult because I had not folded under the tongue of the backing paper before licking and sticking the tape. Now I know why I always used to do this. I had a hell of a time, because I couldn't find the right place (or any place) to cut the tape. Under normal conditions (especially now that I have a larger changing bag), I can get the film loaded onto the reel and the reel securely in the tank in ten minutes. This simple omission when I sealed the exposed roll added five minutes and some stress to the process.

Having jury-rigged a long cable release, I shot a lot of nude (but modest) selfies, under controlled conditions. Here is a sample:

This is a tight crop, representing about half the area of the original 6x6cm negative. The main light was a 60-watt quartz halogen indoor flood (not very well directed). I believe the exposure was 1/30 sec. at f5.6.

The Mamiya C33 has no internal metering. My handheld Gossen Scout 2 light meter has a selenium photocell that overestimates modern light sources such as LED and quartz halogen. For this reason, I have to set the meter's ASA/ISO at only 150 when I am using ISO 400 film with these light sources. Outdoors, in sunlight, I would set the meter's ISO normally, but I have less need of a light meter outdoors.

Here is a photo of our dog, Betty:

This was a spur-of-the-moment grab-shot (not easy to do with a TLR on a tripod). I panned and hastily focused. I had to act fast, so I left the exposure settings as they were from the previous shot (1/250 at f5.6, for deep shade). This was open shade, so f8 would have been preferable. HP5 has plenty of latitude, so not a problem. Betty's hair needed brushing, and she had some leaves stuck in her coat, as usual.

Since a regular cable release works just fine with the Mamiya, I decided to do a mirror selfie with the C33 beside me. Again, this is a tight crop, representing a relatively small part of the negative:

For this type of shot, one has to double the distance from the mirror to the camera's film plane. This I did, making the effective distance about nine feet, which I set on the distance scale for the 80mm normal lens. I must have stepped back a bit, though, since the camera seems to be more sharply in focus than I. The exposure was 1/30 at f4, so the lens is quite sharp, even at f4.

Until quite recently, all of my film cameras had maximum apertures of f2.8. Now, though, I have an f1.4 normal lens for the Canon AE-1 (two stops faster). This will make it possible to do some interesting shooting, which I'll share with y'all next time. In the meantime, shoot it with film, if you can!

(to be continued)

Monday, February 7, 2022

My Return to Film Photography - VIII

The camera in the photo above is my venerable Mamiya C33, introduced by Mamiya in 1965, just five years after I graduated from high school. It is built like a tank, works great, and produces images of super quality. As I said before, it looks impressive as hell when sitting atop a nice, sturdy tripod.

The problem was that the C33 had no self-timer, and my wimpy air release just couldn't cut the mustard. I tried all sorts of things to make the shutter action more hair-trigger, but those remedies prevented secure cocking of the shutter. I thought about getting one of those vintage mechanical self-timers that you screw into the cable-release socket, but the world has changed in some quite inconvenient ways. On Ebay, those little devices are now collector's items and cost a bunch, plus about US$21 additional for shipping. One Ebay seller had a collection of forty-seven of them, which he was trying to unload for over a thousand dollars. I'm not making this up. I decided to forget Ebay.

Finding a solution was just a matter of more flexible thinking. Instead of trying to work with the cable-release socket, it occurred to me to just attach some kind of wire to the thumb-release knob, threading the wire downward and outward. The camera is plenty heavy, even without the tripod, so I would be unlikely to pull it over. I found just the right thing, attached it, and voilà! I'm now almost finished with a roll of Ilford HP5+, which I'm hoping to develop tomorrow. Needless to say, I'll share some of the results with you.

(to be continued)

His Body / ᎤᏤᎵ ᎠᏰᎸ

ᎤᏤᎵ ᎠᏰᎸ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎧᎵ ᎥᎴᏂᏙᎲ ᎠᎴ' ᎤᎸᏌᏓ ᎬᏙᏗ,

ᎤᎸᏌᏓ Ꮎ ᎨᏒᎠᏎ ᎤᏤᎵ ᎤᏕᏅ-ᏚᏳᎪᏛ.

ᎤᏤᎵ ᎢᎦᏗ ᎡᏆ-ᎡᎶᎯ ᎾᎿ ᎨᏒᎣᏎ ᎦᏅᎯᏛ,

ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎪᏩᏙᏎ ᎤᎪᏗᏗ ᎢᏤ ᎢᏳᏍᏗᏗᏁ.

ᎠᏨᏯᎢ ᎧᏃᎩᏍᏙᏎ ᎢᏤ ᎧᏃᎩᏍᏗᏁ.

His body is full of life and light,

light that is his birthright.

His days on the earth will be long,

he will see many new things.

He will sing a new song.

Sunday, February 6, 2022

My Return to Film Photography - VII

There have been some positive developments in my return to film photography. One of my favorite films, Ilford HP5+ (ISO 400), is being produced and is easily available. I now have an adequate supply in both 35mm and 120, and I just ordered some more in 35mm.

Why, you may ask, did I not also order some more in 120? Although I am especially interested in medium-format, due to its superior quality, I have been frustrated by one problem after another in trying to get it going. At first, I didn't have an adequate way to scan 120 film. Now, though, I do. I bought an Epson Perfection V600 Photo scanner, and I love, love, love it. To illustrate what I'm talking about, here is a test shot from my Mamiya C33, scanned on the Epson at 2400 dpi (it is capable of much higher resolution, but this is sufficient for present purposes):

Now, here is a small detail from the same scan:

By way of comparison, here is how that same detail looked when I scanned the test shot on an ordinary printer, at 600dpi:

There is simply no comparison. So that medium-format problem has been well solved. Now, though, I'm struggling with the lack of a self-timer on the C33. I do have a 20-ft. air release, but it's pretty wimpy. Under certain conditions (whether related to the distance setting or to the shutter speed, I'm not sure), the air release simply will NOT trip the shutter. I've tried what seems like jillions of times, and tried for hours to jury-rig a solution with clips, shims, clothespins, elastic bands and whatever, without success. There is, however, a vintage accessory for this vintage-camera problem. I used to have one, and will try to get another. In the meantime, the camera looks impressive as hell on a nice, sturdy tripod.

The Epson scanner also works wonderfully with my 35mm negatives, and here is a sample, also scanned at 2400 dpi.:

In the interest of honesty, I have to explain that the photo above is of me, forty-nine years ago, Those days are not coming back, at least not in this lifetime.

What would you do if you had two great 35mm SLR bodies, taking different lens mounts, one with a 28-80mm zoom lens with a maximum aperture of f3.5 and the other with a 28mm, f2.8 lens. Your mileage may vary, but since I really, really like existing-light photography and really, really hate flash, and mostly use ISO 400 film, I got a used Canon 50mm, f1.4 normal lens for the camera (the AE-1) that previously had the wide-angle on it. Now I'm back in business, happily shooting pics around the house of my wife and our dog. The dog doesn't mind, and my wife is too engrossed in playing Scrabble on her Kindle or watching TV to hear the clank of mirror and shutter. All is well.