Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Sometimes, you come across a DIY film camera that’s just beautiful in its simplicity. The LIMES 120 is one such camera. Made from an old Hasselblad medium format film back, it shoots 120 roll film and sports either an Industar 110mm f/4.5 lens and a tea can, or a pinhole.
Created by photographer Daniele Sandri, a comparison of the camera was recently posted to the Branco Ottico website to show off each of the two lenses.
If you’re new to film, pushing and pulling it when developing is a bit like ramping the exposure slider up or down in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom. Except, here you’re doing it with a purpose when you shoot. Sometimes it’s for technical reasons. At other times, it’s purely an artistic choice. In this video, Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens tells us all about the how, when and why to pushing and pulling film.
Have you ever wondered how some film cameras just know what speed ISO (or ASA) film you’re loading into it? Well, have you ever noticed those black and silver squares on the side of the roll? That’s called DX Encoding and that’s how the camera knows what film you’re using.
This video from photographer Azriel Knight goes deep into the origins of DX Encoding. He talks about how it was created, how it works, and how it was received when it was first introduced. And, no, it’s nothing to do with Nikon’s 1.5x crop cameras.
This is big news in Europe, however it has not made a big splash in the US and has flown under our radar. The very day after Photokina, Tetenal announced they’re in financial turmoil.
Due to some bad business practices from their suppliers, Tetenal is in a state of insolvency. We learn the film resurgence is real; however, it is still in a very fragile state. Their collapse could potentially decimate film photography industry.
Although meters in digital cameras have come a very long way and become extremely advanced, metering with film often isn’t so simple. With digital, even if your camera’s meter isn’t that great, you can quickly and easily see the results on the histogram to know if they’re right and adjust accordingly. But for film, we need to be a little more sure.
In this video, Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens walks us through three ways of metering our shot when using film. Specifically, Kodak Portra 400, Fuji 400H and Portra 800.
Intrepid, the creators of the wooden 4×5 large format camera have now announced their new 4×5 enlarger. It mounts to the top of a tripod and is designed to be used in conjunction with the 4×5 large format camera you already own. This brings the cost down to a ridiculous £119 (~$155). It launched on Kickstarter yesterday and it’s already 300% funded.
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.
I’ve never had the chance to have a good look around an active film lab. I’ve been developing my own film at home for years now, and film labs have mostly died out since then. But there are still a few out there, and they seem to be making enough to stay in business, too.
Jay P Morgan at The Slanted Lens had the opportunity to get a good behind the scenes look at what goes on inside one of them. The Richard Photo Lab in Valencia, California. And, fortunately for us, he filmed it.
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.
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.
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