ABOUT ME

I live in a camper van with a West Highland Terrier for company.
My passion is creating images but it is a work in progress.
I am always willing to share what knowledge I have and can be contacted through the comments on this post or e-mail ADRIAN
ALL IMAGES WILL ENLARGE WITH A LEFT CLICK

Thursday 17 September 2015

A FUNNY THING. (17/09/15)

Yesterday I was quite busy. I decided to create a folder and pop some images in it so that I could try and determine whether film was worth messing with from an aesthetic and quality point of view. It is worth it to me for the joy of handling quality old cameras.

I went out to a vantage point looking across the glen with the sun behind me and to my left. I set up a sturdy tripod…..I have yet to hear anyone say they set up a cheap flimsy tripod……and mounted the Bronica with a roll of 100 Velvia loaded. I have quite a posh Sekonic incident and flash meter, it can do almost anything with the exception of making tea or coffee. I got it some years ago as it didn’t work,  I was lucky, it transpired the battery was in the wrong way round and it didn’t have a case or instructions. It now works a treat but all I do is set the ISO and aperture, point it at the camera and see what the shutter speed bit says. It will wire into studio light set ups and remember lots of readings but I can’t understand those bits nor have I got the cords to connect it to anything or anything to connect it to.

Anyway having set the film camera and taken a couple of shots I swapped it for the Canon 1Ds and used the same settings.

_V0G0017

Nothing much wrong with this. If the Velvia processes as well then I’ll be happy. I was packing up and then thought I’d give it a whirl with the Canons internal reflective meter. I set the camera to aperture priority and the metering mode tometer, whatever this icon is called. On this setting the camera meters about fifty or so bits of the view and comes up with an exposure.

_V0G0016

Again an acceptable result. I then set the camera to spot metering, pointed it at the sky and pressed the tiny little button marked FEL. I did this again on the barley and on the trees. You can do this quite a few times and the camera again calculates the exposure. Very clever are those folk at Canon.

_V0G0014

This what I got……I should have remembered to shut the eyepiece off as light leaking in had somehow confused the camera, I have never had this happen before. Must have been lucky or maybe I composed in live view previously. I usually do when the camera is tripod mounted.

The exposure meter battery for the Minolta has arrived and the meter works so next week when I send the films off for processing I’ll order some 35mm film along with some more 120. I’ve not decided what film to get yet. I’ll definitely get some FP4 and HP5, I’ll also get some Velvia 50 but it is blasted expensive. Velvia 100 is dearer still. I suspect I will have to go for 100 ISO as slow films are really not much use in Scotland; definitely not hand held unless I want the arty blurry look and I get enough of those by accident.

Ken and Andrew started combining yesterday afternoon so I wandered up the road to pick some brambles and check on progress. I met the lass from the top of the glen with the posh horses, had a good chat which was more exciting than brambling. I am a bit short of fruit for my porridge but it is a sacrifice worth enduring.

_MG_2022

_MG_2025

_MG_2026

Fifty five years old and still going strong. It seems to be doing a good job as there is very little to no grain in the straw. If it doesn’t rain I’ll go and get lots of video later. I’ll also record sound. I have a story line written down and would like some time lapse in the video. This field isn’t very good for time lapse as there isn’t a good view point for the camera. I’ll wait until they do the field by the van as there is a really good vantage point in there. The video will be a good week away as it will be several days before they get round to the time lapse field and I am a very slow video and sound editor.

26 comments:

  1. Adrain You just love comparing all the different camera performances. I just have 1 camera so no contest! Hope it stays dry for you and the farmer.

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    1. Margaret, I would be lost with one camera. If I had the space and money I would have a room full.

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  2. I know nothing about cameras, but enjoyed the photos, and am delighted that Ken and Andrew are combining. So they should, with winter coming on. They can keep each other warm.

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    1. Frances, combining is delayed as the final drive in the combine needs new bearings. I thought it was going too well.

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  3. geweldig mooi hoe ie oude apparatuur zijn werk nog zo goed doet. ik denk dat ze het gewoon goed onderhouden hebben.

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    1. Bas, heeft gebroken, maar zal binnenkort weer worden uitgevoerd. Het is een prachtige machine.

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  4. There is software that will supposedly give you various film looks, but I know that part of your satisfaction is the process.

    At 55, you're still a kid.

    I liked your find in the previous post.

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    1. John, Photoshop has as many as I want. It has filters as in colour and loads of effects in Image>Adjustments> Colour Lookup> 3dLUT. If you can't find them then e-mail and I'll check where Adobe has buried them.
      I'm not 55 the combine is. I wish I was.

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  5. At first when you said that Ken and Andrew were "combining" I had a mental image of two gay farmers in physical union behind the barn. I was later relieved to see your photos of the old combine harvester.

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    1. YP, that sort of malarkey is not allowed here. The Wee Frees say it's wicked.

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  6. Replies
    1. R.Mac, there rarely are any shots of the dogs. They are rarely close enough.

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  7. There must be something about Canons metering. Every so often I get an over exposed shot. It can be in a series of identical views taken in quick succession. I've never worked out what may have been going wrong. I must take notice next time to see whether the Sun is in just the wrong position to leak through the eye piece, though I would then have expected under exposure.

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    1. John, I suspect that light leakage is not the problem it's purported to be. The IDs has done it before when I'm shooting time lapse but I ignore the frame so never thought about it really. I know that evaluative metering doesn't work on manual focus it switches to spot which is one of the reasons I now use two strobes for macro.
      This camera is quite old now and had done a lot of work before I got it. It does have a new shutter.

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  8. I've often thought about digging out my old film camera and shooting a roll.....but have yet to do so. Nice pics of the combine at work!

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    1. Linda, I am enjoying it for a change. It's the best of both worlds to shoot film then scan and pop in Photoshop for a quick polish up.

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  9. Buenas fotos . Yo sólo tengo dos pequeñas cámaras digitales y me va bien con ellas, me las meto en el bolso y a salir a buscar fotos ;)
    Ese hombre está muy bien puede seguir trabajando más .
    Un abrazo.

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    1. Laura, me gusta complicar las cosas. Ken se siente cansado y más trabajado.

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  10. That is some combine. I looked at it and thought that is a very old beater and thought I might insult you if I said so. but you cleared it up and I'm very impressed with the old machine.

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    1. Red, it broke down on Wednesday night but was up and running again within 24H.

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  11. Sturdy tripod reminds me of the fatuous roadside sign 'fresh eggs'. Who would ever advertise stale ones? I think life is challenging enough and busy enough without getting my old Pentax SLR back into commission even if I now have lenses galore with which to match it.

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    1. Graham, I am enjoying the old cameras. I enjoy digital, I enjoy Blender which doesn't use a camera at all though it can. I have got as good as I can get with digital, I have a long way to go with 3D but that is a winter job. Film isn't really film anymore as it has to be scanned for the Web and once I have a scan it's almost impossible to not give it a polish up in Photoshop. It's only a hobby or maybe an obsession.

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  12. 55 years old......the old ones are the best


    peter

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    1. Peter, it's far from the best but it does the job and in a more interesting way than a modern machine.

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  13. It's comforting that nothing has changed in my absence. I was a bit disconcerted to hear you'd got younger but you've explained that.

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    1. Welcome back Pauline. Nothing much changes.

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