Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
The noise surrounding Ektachrome’s return has been quite fascinating. A lot of people are getting very excited, and also very impatient about it coming back. Originally announced at CES 2017 Kodak later said a “limited supply” would become available for testing with general availability in 2018.
Things are a bit behind schedule, though. And we’re only now hearing of the first test rolls going out.
The other day, I posted on here about The Standard 4×5 large format 3D printed camera. I was a little sceptical about The Standard at first until I saw that the project files would be released into the open source world upon completion of the campaign and deliveries to backers.
Now, another new 3D printed large format camera has popped up on Kickstarter. The Cameradactyl. This one, though, won’t be releasing the files and doesn’t quite leave me with the same warm fuzzies.
Film is definitely back on the rise, to the point where Fuji may even be bringing some of theirs back. While most of the films available today are C-41 negative films, E-6 transparency film (also known as slide film) is still available, and quite popular for certain things. But how do you know when to use which? And what are its limits?
That’s what Jay P Morgan explores in this video. What is transparency film? What is its dynamic range? How does it compare to standard C41 negative film? Why and when would you choose slide film over negative film? He compares Kodak Portra, Fujifilm Provia and Fujifilm Velvia to find out.
This is an odd one – but very cool. Fujifilm has spent the last few years systematically killing off all their film. Apparently, though, they’re considering starting up production of some black & white film stocks again.
There might be a little lost in translation here, but the news was posted to Yahoo Japan (from ITMedia News). They say that Fujifilm is considering bringing back some of their discontinued films due to popular demand.
I love that large format seems to be coming back in fashion. I really do. In the last couple of years we’ve seen some great new large format cameras come into existence, like the Intrepid, and the Chroma – the latter of which we saw in person at The Photography Show.
Now we have a new one, The Standard 4×5, which is made from 3D printed parts. It’s is being billed as a DIY 4×5 large format camera that you can build yourself – which is a really awesome idea. It’s being funded through Kickstarter, and the prices aren’t that bad, either (even though the early birds have already sold out).
We all know that digital images are made up of red, green and blue “pixels”. Often, to capture this, sensors are in some kind of side-by-side pixel array, like with Bayer and X-Trans or layered, like Foveon. But that’s not the only way to create a full colour image. Many video cameras do it with the use of a prism splitter and three separate sensors capturing red, green and blue signals which are then merged together.
Mike and JohnBen at Clovehitch Productions wanted to try to replicate this last method using black and white film. They wanted to see if it was possible to capture just the red, green and blue parts of the spectrum on three separate shots, and then merge them back together to produce a full colour image.
The 90s was a strange time for photography. It began with a lot of new and advanced film camera technology and ended on the cusp of the digital revolution. In between, though, various companies attempted to bridge the gap, dragging film kicking and screaming into the digital age.
One such product was the APS film format. Slightly smaller than 35mm, it held a lot of promise and potential for photography, especially more casual photographers. And you could even put your film rolls into the Fujifilm AP-1 photo player and see a digital slideshow on your TV screen. In this video, YouTuber Techmoan takes a look at this technology and his struggles with it.
With film’s usage on the rise, the issue many film shoots have is how to share those images with the world. How can we get them onto the computer to post them to social media or website portfolios? Many go with a scanning service when they send off their film to be developed. But if you develop yourself, you’ve basically got two options. Scan it or photograph it.
Scanners, especially quality ones, can be extremely expensive, particularly when you jump up to 4×5 large format. Photographing them is a more cost-effective option and with the resolution of today’s cameras a viable one. But holding film and keeping it flat can be troublesome. That’s where the pixl-latr steps in. It’s a film holder for 35mm, 120 and 4×5 large format film for digitising.
The return of Ektachrome has been getting many film photographers very excited. Announced at CES in January last year, Kodak went on to commit to a launch in 2018. It may be a little later than that announcement suggested, but Kodak has now finally released the first test shots from the new Ektachrome film. And it looks wonderful.
Dora Goodman is a creator of beautiful handcrafted and customised analogue film cameras. She’s always had an obsession with handmade objects, and cameras afford her many options to pursue that. She loves to design and build her own cameras from scratch. And for the last two years, Dora’s been working on an Open Source modular camera design that others can build for themselves.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.
To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.
JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.
Find my work on My website or follow me on Facebook or My page
