SAD243

SAD243 :: Nikon FM2n :: Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D :: Delta 100 :: 2008

SAD242

SAD242 :: Nikon FM2n :: Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D :: Unknown Film :: 2008

SAD241

SAD241 :: Dunno film/camera/lens, does anyone care? :: 2007

SAD240

SAD240 :: Pentax ME :: Pentax 28/2.8 SMC :: FomaPan 400 :: June, 2007



This was the fateful day that I smashed my Pentax ME on a rock. I think I've covered that day several times on the blog, because I was very sad about it.

These were the last pictures I took before the camera locked up. Here is the Bard, hiding behind some brush in case a park official should walk by and catch him out of bounds:

SAD239

SAD239 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD238

SAD238 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

Scanning questions

To answer some questions posted recently: I'm using a Nikon LS-50 Coolscan V, and Vuescan. The scanner is awesome, the software is counter-intuitive as hell but still pretty awesome.

The black and white frames aren't appearing in this latest batch because the film is positive. So the frame is just black. Also, if I'm feeling especially motivated, I might take the time to crop the frame out if I think it detracts from the image.

SAD237

SAD237 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD236

SAD236 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD235

SAD235 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD234

SAD234 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD233

SAD233 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD232

SAD232 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD231

SAD231 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 28mm/f2.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

SAD230

SAD230 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D :: Fuji Sensia 100 :: 2007

From then on, I saw in color. It was an uncomfortable paradigm shift, because I realized how much I had missed for the past four years. The SAD photos for the next few days are some I shot on those early rolls of slide film, and none of them would be worth much in black and white.

The life of a graphic designer is not as fabulous and thrill-packed as they make it seem on TV, but I did have interesting co-workers. One of whom had a tattoo that I badly wanted to photograph. He told me that he had gotten it as a present to himself after his divorce.



"It's okay," he said. "He didn't do it. He hasn't got any arms!"

SAD229: Reem's Creek

SAD229 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D :: Kodak Portra 160VC :: 2007

My photo of the Walnut Mountain fire was a big success for me. I had never considered myself a photographer able to work in the media arena, at least not since leaving the newspaper. Using color film or digital capture was selling out. You can go back in the old blog and read about my Luddite struggles.

I have no illusions that having a photo picked up by local papers is "big success." What I mean is that, for the first time, I was able to see the advantages that lay outside the silver-based process. And so, when I heard the news of another fire in Reem's Creek, I was all over it.

I walked into the staging area and asked for the guy in charge. When they brought him out to me, I told him who I was in a voice that implied he should already be familiar with me. I may or may not have made up an newspaper name; I honestly can't remember, but I wouldn't put it past me. I said, "What's the safest way for me to get a picture of his fire?" He said, "There isn't one." But he agreed to let me drive up the road as far as the next group of firefighters.

I drove to within a hundred yards from them, and then I parked my car and went on foot through the woods. Then pastures. Then I was walking through the yards of dark, evacuated houses.

I set up my tripod on top of a ridge and started shooting. I had no idea what I was doing, so I treated it like any other night shot. Some of the exposures were 5-10 minutes long. I laid down under the tripod, so that I wouldn't be silhouetted against the fire. Later, when the Citizen-Times asked me how I got started in my art, this moment was the answer I gave them.

I realized two things: First, I needed a digital camera. My adherence to silver was a stumbling block. Second, all that motivational talk about living the dream and reaching for the stars and hard work and keeping your eye on the ball was behind me. I had just snuck past emergency personnel to get pictures of a natural disaster. Whatever I wanted to do, I was already doing it.

Of course, that didn't guarantee success. No pictures ran from that fire.

SAD228: Walnut Mountain

SAD228 :: Nikon F100 :: Nikkor 50/1.8 AF-D :: Fujia Sensia 100 :: March, 2007

At some point in 2007 I was playing my guitar and realized I hadn't shot a photo in months. I knew I had to do something to get back on track. I was stagnant.

One of the catalysts of everything that has happened since was starting DarkTopography.com. The other was buying several rolls of slide film.

I heard there as a fire in Madison County. At about ten o'clock at night. For some reason, I decided to drive out that way, and even talked my wife into going with me. The air around a forest fire is one of the most invigorating things I've ever experienced. Easy for me to say; my house wasn't in its path.

Anyway, I shot this on slide film. The next day after work, I scanned it and emailed it to several newspapers, two of which picked it up. I was hooked . . .

SAD227

SAD227 :: Nikon FM2n :: Nikkor 50/f1.8 AF-D :: Kodak Ektar 100 :: July, 2009

Lucky SHD 100: The DarkTopo Review!

So the other day I was rummaging through my film drawer out of sheer boredom, when I came upon the brick of cheap film Mr. Pink gave me some time last year: Ten rolls of Lucky SHD 100 New, which is apparently no different from Lucky SHD 100 Old, except that it's New.

Immediately, I saw a solution to my ennui: Another film speed test! Nothing livens up a blog like bracketing exposures by half-stops!

The only problem was that I was out of firearms. It seemed my past two film reviews (Kodak Ektar 100 in 35mm and 120) used up all of my manly photographic machismo . . . until, in a flash of testosterone-fueled memory, I recalled my tactical black KA-BAR. KA-BAR is an ancient Native American word that means "Big-Assed Knife."



A film speed test determines the true sensitivity of a film in a given workflow, which is often different from the manufacturer's rating. For those that don't know, I take these tests very seriously. In a fit of immaculate adherence to the scientific method, I carefully pried one box of Lucky 100 SHD New out of the brick that has been in my fridge for something like a year now. I figure we can ignore minuscule variables like sample variation, shipping and warehousing conditions, the fact that the film is known for its poor emulsion consistency and was bought second-hand on eBay, and that I last mixed developing chemicals in October. It's best not to get caught up in trivialities.

The film is widely reported (and by "widely reported" I mean "I read it on the Internet") to have no anti-halation layer. This means that light passes through the film, hits the pressure plate, and bounces back, re-exposing the emulsion. The over all effect is reduced contrast and a foggy, glowy look to the highlights.

Of course, if you subscribe to the DarkTopo philosophy, halation layers are for sissies. On with the test.

The Specs

Lucky SHD 100 New
Nikon F100 (tripod mounted, triggered w/ cable release)
Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D
Nikon CoolScan V
Pin Cushion "borrowed" from my smoking hot and incredibly patient wife's sewing table
KA-BAR (big-assed knife)

The Procedure

As in previous film speed tests, I set up a gray card with my white and black objects. Since my last two tests, which included a Glock 9mm and an evil black rifle, all my immediate neighbors have moved away. Imagine that. Anyway, I hoped a knife would be less intimidating to passersby and various art types that might read my blog. Yes, I'm a knife owner, but I only use it for target practice.

I used the F100's spot meter on the gray card, and then took a series of photos at half-stop increments from -2 stops to +2 stops from the meter's reading. I developed the film in XTOL according to the Massive Developing Chart: A 1:1.5 dilution, for 8 minutes, at 20*C. I then scanned the negatives after calibrating the black point with the film leader and this procedure from Flickr.

I then applied an identical levels adjustment layer to all of the images. In this adjustment, I dragged the black point up just enough to make the blank spaces on the edges a good, solid black. No other adjustments were made.

Here are the results:


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 400 (Metered -2.0, 1/1000 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 250 (Metered -1.5, 1/750 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 200 (Metered -1.0, 1/500 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 150 (Metered -0.5, 1/350 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 100 (Exposed as metered, 1/250 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 75 (Metered +0.5, 1/180 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 50 (Metered +1.0, 1/125 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 38 (Metered +1.5, 1/90 @ f4)


Lucky SHD 100 New, exposed at ISO 25 (Metered +2.0, 1/60 @ f4)

Ouch. Not what I was expecting.

I don't know how it looks on your monitor, but on mine things are a little . . . bright. My monitors are calibrated, and to my taste the image with the best shadow detail was the one shot at ISO 200. Thus, the film would actually be rated a full stop faster than the box rating, an idea that runs contrary to conventional wisdom.

However, ISO 200 is also where the highlights begin to block up. Look at the ISO 100 image; the pin cushion is stark white. This reveals a few possibilities:

1. The Massive Developing Chart is wrong, and the film is over developed.
2. Lucky 100 and Lucky 400 are actually the same film with different packaging.
3. Anti-halation layers aren't just for sissies after all.

Number 1 is quite likely, and even if it's not, I'm sure the development could be dialed back to reign in the highlights a little. Worth a try, maybe. Number 2 would not surprise me; after all, this film is made in the same country that sells us toothpaste full of rocket fuel. But my money is on Number 3.

There is also coarse grain and a lack of sharpness to this emulsion:



So far, nothing about the film is looking positive. But everybody on the Internet said it was great, and had a "real look" to it! I'm not sure what a "real look" means, but people usually bring it up when they talk about Leicas and Hasselblads. And Holgas. So is this film "bad," or is that just the "look?"

There was no way to tell for sure without more shooting. And I still had 26 frames. So off I went to my usual testing ground, the clothesline in the backyard. Lately, the clothesline poles have been infested with yellow jackets. But I wasn't afraid, I had a big-assed knife!






Buy this photo!

Alright, the bird feeder shot definitely has a look. Kind of a "Zone V = Zone VII" look. But a look nonetheless. I went downtown.










At least the look is consistent: Not high-contrast, so much as "compressed highlights." It renders everything above middle gray as very light gray. With much post-processing work, I was able to tame the highlights and find detail, but at the expense of the already under-represented midtones. The tone curve of this film isn't published, but if it was, it would look like a flagpole.

That said, any medium is just a collection of gimmicks. The trick is to make the gimmick work for you. Out of the whole roll, I was most pleased with this shot:


Buy this photo!

I feel like this is where the "look" of the film and the reality of the content intersect. So, in that very targeted way, the film served its purpose. But that's not a purpose I'm usually after.

Conclusion

The bottom line: This is not a great film unless you happen to be taking pictures of a dark-skinned girl in a white dress with a white horse against a white sky. I respect the work other folks have done with it, but I wonder why they didn't choose a more capable film and tweak it to get the same look.

"Look" aside, no anti-halation layer, a sub-standard emulsion and poor quality control make this film pretty terrible. And who would have guessed? I mean, at less than a dollar a roll, who but the most wary of consumers would have thought this film would be so faulty? It's a good thing I did a test.

FOR SALE
Nine rolls of Lucky 100 SHD New!
Never been shot!
Has a Real Look to it!

SAD226

SAD226 :: Nikon FM2n :: Nikkor 50/f1.8 AF-D :: Kodak Ektar 100 :: July, 2009

"Gonna tell you a story . . .

. . . bout the house rent blues.

I come home one particular evenin,
had to tell the landlady I done lost my job.
She said, "that don't confront me,
long as I get my money next Friday."
So next Friday come, I didn't have the rent,
and out the door I went.

So I go in my room, pack up my things and I go,
I slip on out the back door, and down the streets I go.
She's a-hollerin' about the front rent, she'll be lucky to get any back rent.
She ain't gonna get none of it.

So I stop in the local bar you know people,
I go to the bar,
I call the bartender
I say, "Look man,
come down here."
He got down there,
said, "Whatchoo want?"

One bourbon,



one scotch,



and one beer.



-George Thorogood and the Destroyers, "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"

SAD225

SAD225 :: Nikon FM2n :: Nikkor 50mm/f1.8 AF-D :: Kodak Ektar 100 :: June, 2009

Another package from the Ukraine . . .

I don't think I've ever used my Pentacon 6 with a aperture narrower than f2.8, and I was having a really hard time getting critical sharpness where I needed it. Enter the Arsenal-made split-image focusing screen.







I haven't really gotten out to use it yet. The viewfinder is much better. Not amazing, but miles better than the stock ground glass. And now the prism is actually worth mounting on the camera, which might make things a little easier, though its coverage is something like 75%, versus the waist-level finder's 85%.

Dark and rainy here today. That is all.