Took Friday off work for a much needed mini break down the Oregon coast. Only made it to the Northern tip and we hung out there for a couple of days. For those who are amused by others [near] misfortune (i am), you’ll be glad to know we got into a bit of a pickle when I left the car ignition on while sitting reading for an hour or so. Had my phone connected over bluetooth, mp3’s playing, heated seats on… within what felt like no time, the car electronics …

I purchased an Olympus OM 21mm f/2.0 lens for my OM-4 a few months back and have loved it on the film camera. This lens is special (in my opinion) as its a) tiny b) great quality and c) the fastest super wide you can get this side of a $5k Leica.
Last night was the first time I mounted it on a Canon (5D Mark II) and thought I’d test a Zuiko lens characteristic of close focusing…
Attack of the sea monster.

A few test shots from my first roll of tri-x 400… developed in DD-X for 8 mins with ilford fixer. 100% scans show very fine grain for a 400 film. Sharpness doesn’t compare to say Fuji Acros (100) but when I got it right, it looked v good. I read that the DDX development is a similar effect to xtol (fine grain effect). I printed the last shot at 19″x13″ tonight (via scanning) and was blown away. I’m constantly amazed at the resolving power of medium format. Makes going back …

I’ve been hearing increasingly loud and frequent rumours that fuji is changing their film line up. those rumours seem true now. this shows the changes:
http://fujifilm.jp/information/articlead_0029.html
I think the net is that Neopan 100 Acros in 120 will only be available in packs of 5 and Neopan 400 is effectively discontinued. can’t seem to get a straight answer on whether it’ll be continued in other countries somehow. anyway, unpleasant news as this is my favourite BW.
I posted this originally over in lost in focus, looking for suggestions as I was about to …

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently took ownership of a Pentax 67ii and the one thing that had me worried was the mirror bounce…. this was largely down to reviews which speak of the difficulty in handholding the camera. The Luminous Landscape writes about how ghosting is possible even on a tripod with long lenses / slow shutter speeds while a seller on Craigslist offered 50lbs worth of sandbags free with his 67ii gear… Given I don’t even own a tripod (and have never shot with one), this was obviously …

My long struggle to find the right MF system for 2010 may be over. About a week ago, after much research, deliberation and procrastination, I finally decided to order a Pentax 67ii… This is a relatively new medium format camera, built on a 30+ year old system. It was recently continued but my MF standards this is a new body with modern lenses. I started with just a 67ii body and metered viewfinder (purchased from KEH at a premium but at least I knew what I was getting) and a …

Work got busy the last couple of days so had no time to post. Here’s a quick filler post with a couple of minor updates.
First of all, my two Switar C mount lenses finally arrived. These are the 25mm f/1.4 and 75mm f/1.9 lens. Since I purchased it, I’ve seen samples of the 25mm and it gives mixed results – looks super sharp in some yet heavy blurring of the edges in others… will be interesting checking it out – it’s tiny by the way. I’ll post more on that …

Zeiss Ikon is a storied name in photographic history. Originally a company formed in the 1920’s out of four optical German manufacturers, Zeiss Ikon AG went on to create a series of great 35mm rangefinders. The company shut up shop in the 70’s but with the recent resurgence of the Zeiss brand, a modern era Zeiss Ikon film rangefinder was announced in 2004.
For the past month I’ve been shooting with the Zeiss Ikon. This is my hands on review which will detail how this modern film camera fares in a …

A follow up to The Resolution of Film. These are quick and dirty observations about film vs digital while I write a larger article on the topic.
This post is about the dynamic range of film – something film is famed for in photography.
Actually, I should be specific. It’s negative film, both black and white and colour, that has a highly regarded dynamic range – usually considered to surpass that of digital. For transparencies / slides (e.g. Velvia), this is actually the opposite as film of this type actually has a …

I have a copy of the above lens for review… It’s Zeiss’ new and highly regarded macro lens for the Canon mount. I don’t have the Canon macro on hand to compare it to so will be writing a standalone review of it in the next two weeks (as used with my 5D Mark II). Let me know if any special requests, things you want me to cover, otherwise it’ll be the usual real world review with plenty of high quality image samples, etc.