Lost roll found!

The local camera store dug up a roll of developed film that I’d handed them 2 years ago and forgotten all about. I was sure that I’d just lost it! I think that this was just the 2nd roll of 120 format film that I’d shot on the Bronica 645. Definitely a treat.img179 img180 img181 img182 img183 img184 img185 img186 img188 img189

Blog Week Day 2 – The Many Faces of my Favourite Spot on Three Bridges Road

For the second post of my blog-a-day week I’ll share what I consider one of the loveliest spots near Waterloo, the crossing of the Conestogo River on Three Bridges Road. Located just west of St. Jacobs and a short drive from where I work, it’s a great spot to go during lunch or at the end of the day to grab a few shots.

In the summer, the river is shallow and slow-moving. In the late winter and early spring with a heavy melt, it’s a torrent and the low bridge is lost completely beneath the water. Regardless of the seasonal changes, I’m still amazed at how many different types of photos I can get at the same place. It just goes to show that you don’t have to travel far to get great shots (or pretty good shots, at least).

I used a wide range of equipment for these photos. The bodies (Nikon D300s, D7000 and N80, Bronica ETRS) were paired with lenses (Nikon 17-55 f/2.8, Nikon 35 f/1.8, Nikon 60 f/2.8G Micro, Nikon 85 f/1.8G, Tokina 11-16 f/2.8, Tokina 50-135 f/2.8, Sigma 50 f/1.4, Bronica MC 40 f/4, Bronica EII 75/2.8). On the self portraits I used Nikon SB-700 and SB-900 strobes with CLS control.

I’ll give a prize to the person who gets the most correct gear-to-photo matches!

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New Batch of Developed Film – Part 4

In this fourth and final post from the recent batch of developed film I’ll show some scans from a roll of 35mm Kodak Portra 160. I shot these with the Nikon N80, an autofocus film body that can handle the most modern Nikon lenses with AF-S and VR. That means that the lenses I use on my digital bodies are compatible with the N80. Even more exciting is that, since I normally shoot with a DX (cropped) digital sensor, this is my only opportunity to use my FX prime lenses as they were intended. Photos from three lenses are shown in this post. The Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and Nikkor AF-S 85mm f/1.8G are both fantastic lenses on both DX and FX digital sensors and here on 35mm film. I also used the AF-S 35mm f/1.8G here and while it is a DX lens the image circle is about big enough to work on 35mm although the corners often vignette depending on aperture and focus distance.

The roll of Portra (as well as the others in the previous posts) was developed at Dwayne’s in the USA. I had them make prints of this roll and it is interesting to compare how my scans and digital editing compare to a standard print. Often they are quite similar in that we both agree on colour balance and brightness. I tend to prefer a bit more saturation and contrast than Portra provides so I enhanced both on many of the images using Photoshop.

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Misty Woods of Belfountain

This post shows an alternate, and quite different, take on one of my favourite images of 2012 (the other version is here). While the first image I showed was a panorama taken with a DSLR, this version was on film with the Bronica ETRS.

Two pieces of equipment were absolutely necessary for this shot. First, a tripod with the ability to set the legs at independent angles. I had to set the tripod on a pile of rocks and being able to position each leg to follow the terrain helped considerably. Second, a graduated neutral density filter. These filters are divided in half, top to bottom. One one side they are transparent and on the other they block light by a fixed amount without adding any colour caste (hence, “neutral”). The interface between the two halves is a gradient with one fading into the other so there is no sharp transition edge.

Bronica ETRS with MC 40mm f/4. Probably around f/8, 1/8s on Fuji Velvia 100. Scanned with the Epson V500. Colour correction, levels and sharpness in Photoshop CS5.

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