My first blog post with an image with the new (to me) Rolleiflex. This camera is a work of art! Part of the allure of film photography for me is using classic cameras like this; the experience of image creation is as important as the end result.
Rolleiflex E3, 75mm/3.5 Xenotar lens
Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film, developed in Rodinal 1+50 for 13.5 min @ 20 C
I don’t often get a chance to photograph children, so it was fun recently to get a few images of the younger son of a good photographer friend of mine. He likes to move around a lot, so the manual focus was a challenge!
A few light leaks on the film 😦
Contax IIIa (35mm rangefinder from the 1950’s) 50mm/2Â Jupiter 9 lens
Svema 125 Colour Film (C-41)
Back to the Toronto Beaches, but this time in the evening. This man was enjoying his surroundings.
Pentax 67 camera, 105mm/2.4 lens
Kodak Tmax 400 film developed in Xtol 1+1 for 9.25 minutes
Old architecture reflected by a modern building. I love the distortions.
Nikon F4, 80-200mm/4 Nikkor zoom lens
Svema Foto 200 film, developed in Xtol 1+1 12 min @ 20 C
In 1976, when my father let me use my first “good” camera (his Voigtlander Vito B) he sent me to the store to buy film, with the instructions “Ask for Plus-X”. Decades later, here is an image from a test roll of Plus-X I shot yesterday — expired since about 1983, but still perfectly usable!
Olympus XA, 35mm Olympus lens
Plus-X, developed in Xtol 1+1 for 7.5 minutes
The final post from my shoot with Grace was made with my Rolleicord Va Twin Lens Reflex Grace shows a dancer’s grace, and in a sense my old Rollei is part of another dance — over fifty years old and still going strong; its dance never ends either. 🙂
Rolleicord Va, 75mm/3.5 Xenar lens
Kodak Tmax 400 developed in Xtol 1+1 for 9.5 minutes @ 20 C
In this post, while Grace is amazing in showing character in her posing/expression, I am actually going to talk about the character of a film I have tried for the first time: Svema Foto 200 film, made in the Ukraine, and available from The Film Photography Project. What I like about this film is the grain structure: it’s not fine grain, but it is organic, it just feels right, and it has a lovely tonality! Now if I could only get it in 100 foot bulk rolls!
Nikon F4, 85mm/1.8 Nikkor lens
Svema Foto 200 film
developed in Xtol 1+1, 10.5 minutes @ 20 C
Another Beaches image. I believe the quiet and calm of the early morning hour yesterday lends itself to a minimalist approach to an landscape image.
Rolleicord Va, 75mm/3.5 Xenar lens
Tri-X film developed in HC-110 Dilution B for 7.5 minutes @ 20 C.
Toning adding in post
When it comes to shooting from the hip, it’ hard to beat a twin lens reflex (TLR) camera. I was out yesterday on Queen Street in Toronto with my Rolleicord Va and for this shot I had already estimated the distance and used a small aperture of f11 to get good depth of field. The remained hanging down at my waist while I quickly took the image.
Rolleicord Va, Xenar 80mm/3.5 lens
Tri-X, developed in Xtol 1+1 for 9 minutes @ 20 C
Negative scanned and toning added in post with Nik SilverEfex Pro
Today’s image was created in Niagara On the Lake recently. I used my baby Speed Graphic, with a 120 roll film holder that creates 6cm by 9cm negatives. The combination of the large negative, the classic Kodak Ektar lens, the Kodak Tmax film and Rodinal developer is hard to beat.  There was no post processing of the negative scan at all: no sharpening or anything else, and I love the look!
My Third Eye 