With the price increase of Fuji and Kodak we also got new film stock here in Tokyo. Yodobashi Camera now has a bunch of Rollei B/W films and CineStill films on the shelves.
... and I couldn't resist.
Read MoreA friend of mine had a look at my pictures on Flickr and the first feedback I got was "from these photos I can tell you're really tall". True, in Japan I am taller than the average. I've been shooting the 35mm focal length almost exclusively for the past two years and slowly I am finding out what works and what doesn't.
Read MoreIt's that time of the year again. Cold enough outside to sit alone in a small room for hours with chemicals at 35℃.
Read MoreDid I really get over it?
In the past few months there's very little that interests me. I don't go to camera stores and I don't read any reviews. After my Ricoh GR1v broke I was looking for the perfect replacement and just couldn't find it. The Ricoh was great for parties and indoor events. It fit in my jeans pocket and just worked.
Finally I gave up and now resort to disposable Fujifilm cameras for parties.
I don't want to worry about having to test new cameras and get used to new gear. "Right tool for the job" - I get it, but the less I have to think about what to use the better.
Last Sunday I met up with a friend who just bought a SONY A7r ii.
I haven't been following news and rumor sites for almost two years now. Once in a while I see stuff pop up on youtube or facebook. It seems that manufacturers are releasing the same cameras with minor changes every year if not more often. It's really mind boggling how people keep buying these things. A7r ii is one of the latest and most interesting releases in the digital camera market. So I had a 10 minute go at it.
It feels great in hand and looks pretty neat. My sample had a 55mm 1. something lens on it. The first thing that shocked me was the electronic viewfinder. I picked it up, peaked through it and everything looked like you're looking at a video game version of the world. According to my friend and numerous reviews online, this is the best EVF on the market right now. I guess EVFs have far ways to go if they will ever be a competition to bright DSLR viewfinders.
Next I had a go at shooting some people on the street passing by while I was sitting outside of Starbucks having a coffee. People passing by were almost always between 2-3 meters away from me. It was a nice sunny day so I set the aperture to f8 and wanted to focus to 2.5 meters... but you can't! the lens doesn't have any focal range markings. You have to either auto focus for every single shot (which obviously makes the shutter lag even worse) or use focus peaking to manually focus. While focus peaking works, but is not easy, you have no idea if you're focus is still spot on after a few shots. The lens has no markings whatsoever. Looking at the lens you have no idea whether the focus wheel has turned or not.
Every time you take a shot the EVF blacks out and takes a short but very noticeable amount of time before you can have a go at your next shot. 3 years ago I owned a Nikon D600, which beats any of these mirrorless cameras by leaps and bounds. The viewfinder was crystal clear, bright and beautiful. Like any SLR it blacks out at the moment you fire a shot, but it's only for the duration of the shutter speed. Almost all lenses for the F mount had focal distance scales marked on them. It looks like DSLRs will dominate for a long time to come.
Recently had some big changes in my personal life and all of a sudden I am presented with this huge amount of extra personal time.
I've been wondering how to use that time productively.
I've been trying to settle on one film for a while now and just can't do it.
I used to love the grittiness of black and white film and decided I should shoot it exclusively for a while and see where it takes me. That experiment didn't last very long. While I still love the grain and the whole experience of developing my own film, I soon grew tired of the monotone! I love Michael Kenna's work for example but it's a mystery to me how he can refraining from shooting color film ALWAYS.
Once summer came I felt I need to pop in some color film. I haven't shot a roll of black and white for 3 months now!
I really admire people who pick a film and stick with it. I can't do it. What works best for me is actually shooting one thing on one film.
For example, I used to bring different types of film with me when traveling and it turned out to be the same damn problem I had with lenses and cameras. I just hate having to choose which one to use. The less I bring the happier I am. Furthermore, it also makes my shots more consistent. At least on the level of albums.
For my California/Seattle trip in April for example I only brought Provia with me. The same thing for my summer vacation in Yamaguchi, Japan. I was away for 10 days and brought only provia film, but two cameras. My Leica and my Holga. Next challenge will be to restrict myself to only one camera at all times.
I can't see myself however going on a long trip and only bringing the Holga.
Disclaimer: Technical Tutorial. This has nothing to do with the art of photography.
The Frontier is one of the most popular film scanners. Most people prefer it over the Noritsu for the colors it produces. I am not sure which one I like better. I think I kind of like them both. The Pakon also does an awesome job but doesn't seem to be used by any of the big labs. Probably because it's not supported by Kodak anymore...
Read MoreI recently went on a two week trip with my wife to Washington State and California.
I haven't been to California in almost 8 years and was really excited to shoot a lot of pictures while I am there.
Read MoreA few things I want to get done or change this year:
I'm writing this because I could never find anything relevant on this topic. Everytime I searched for it I ended up with 35mm film related results or the never ending lens reviews.
Read More>print("Hello World!")
Hello World!
