Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
I’m not a fan of western superhero franchises.
Yes I fully appreciate that I’m in the minority here and it’s certainly not my intention to turn you away in the first sentence, but rather to solidify the fact that this exploration of colour in cinema does not come from a fanboy solely driven by vapid, one dimensional characters and napkin narratives, but rather pure adoration of a masterwork in cinematography.
Fujifilm has announced that it will be implementing “a worldwide pricing revision for its photographic films and photographic papers”. Fujifilm says that they’ve been facing the rising cost of film and logistics. They say that they’ve absorbed some of the costs through structural reforms, but can not risk sacrificing the quality of their product, so prices are going up.
Scanning film is one of the biggest issues with shooting film today. It’s not that it’s particularly difficult, it’s just a pain because most of us tend to do it so little. Maybe a roll or two every few weeks. Pulling out the scanner and hooking it up can be a chore, so we put it off and just never get around to it. I’ve got plenty of rolls here that have been developed but not scanned yet.
Photographer, Matt Day, however, has a simple solution to this problem. A solution that’s compact, quicker to set up than a scanner on your computer, as well as being faster and easier to actually “scan” in your images. Using a simple copy stand and an LED panel, he can get through a lot of film through very quickly and easily.
I’m not what you’d really call a “camera collector”, although I’ve collected enough over the years that it’s been a long-running joke between myself and several friends that “he who dies with the most cameras, wins”. I buy cameras, including film cameras, in order to use them. They have a purpose when I acquire them, and then I just don’t get rid of them.
I think we’d all lose to Juho Leppänen and the team at the Camera Rescue, though. It’s their goal to rescue 100,000 film cameras by 2020. Jordan Lockhart from Cameraville went to visit Juho in Finland to find out more about Camera Rescue and what they do with all these cameras.
Towards the end of last year, Tetenal Europe GmbH, one of the largest and possibly oldest manufacturers of photographic chemicals in the world announced that it was entering a restructuring phase to help save the business. Now, according to imaging + foto-contact, Tetenal HQ in Norderstedt, Germany has informed their employees that the company would be closing down, and is expected to shut the doors completely on April 1st once the current production runs have completed.
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.
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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