2018 Rewind

Hard to believe, but it's that time of the year again to reflect on the previous year and start looking forward to the next one. I set out some achievable goals for 2018; namely, to shoot more color film and get more optical prints done at Blue Moon Camera. Mission accomplished, as I currently have several prints made from both 135 and 120 format film over the last year. I also included some prints in with some senior work as well. Some other highlights from 2018:

• Added a 180mm f/3.5 to my Mamiya TLR collection. I just don't shoot that camera often enough. 
• Added a Canon AE-1 Program that is in really nice shape; it just needs a little oil job to get rid of a (slight) squeak. I don't even know if it needs a full CLA; but I don't know that I'm up to a DIY job either. 
• Added a Tokina 25-55mm f/4 in Canon FD mount. 
• Added a Vivitar 55mm f/2.8 Macro in Canon FD mount. Both this lens and the previous do double duty on my Fuji X-T20 mirrorless. 

Also, I've unloaded most of my Canon EF (EOS) gear, so I'm shooting just FD mount these days. 

I didn't shoot as much pinhole this year as I thought I would. However, I do have some prints made from a shoot along the Oregon Coast, and they're beautiful. 

I ran through a 100' roll of hp5+ in about a year. It's time to restock. Edit: An hour after I wrote this, but before it posted, I walked into a photo store and picked up a bulk roll of the stuff. I wasn't even planning on spending any money, and I wasn't even sure I was going to reload with hp5+. It was all they had in stock in bulk rolls, though, so hp5+ it is. 

2018 was my lowest output on this blog. 

Well, that's about it for my 2018 thoughts. See you in 2019.

New Canon in the stable

I came into contact recently with a Canon AE-1 Program 35mm camera. This is essentially the exposure-priority version of the Canon A-Series line that was popular in the 70's and 80's. I already own the A-1, which adds and aperture priority setting. Both cameras are also capable of full manual as well as 'Program' mode, which makes both settings for you.

Canon AE-1 Program. New pony in the stable. Now to run a test roll through it. #35mm #film #believeinfilm #ishootfilm #canonfd #filmphotography pic.twitter.com/ERGqpzKcFQ

— Rick Scheibner (@rickscheibner) November 21, 2018

I wasn't sure about adding another 40-year old camera to the lineup, but I thought I would give it a go and see how things came out. I ran a roll of Kentmere 400 through it and photographed the same image at different shutter speeds, allowing the camera to adjust the aperture with each click of the wheel. 

Glad I did. All of the exposures are consistent, not something I can always say with the A-1.

Test roll complete, exposures consistent throughout the shutter speed settings. Welcome to the family Canon AE-1 Program. This will be a fantastic every day shooter to go along with the A-1. #ishootfilm #believeinfilm #filmphotography #35mm #35mmfilm pic.twitter.com/yySj0mIkaq

— Rick Scheibner (@rickscheibner) November 22, 2018

I should probably do this same test with my A-1. I'd like to see just how inconsistent those exposures are. Or is it just my imagination? Time will tell.

So, it will be good to have an additional camera in my bag. It can be frustrating to reach for a camera only to realize it has a completely wrong roll of film in it for your situation. I know, film problems.

And yes, I need to post more. I hadn't posted anything since August, over three months ago. But I have another post coming through the pipeline soon.

End of Summer Round-up

I don't normally like to get behind on my film developing, but I found myself with a sandwich bag full of unprocessed film last week and decided to do something about it. Most of it was 35mm format, and at least one roll dated back to last spring. There were one or two rolls that, even when I took a glance at my notes in FilmTrackr, I didn't remember shooting. I had to actually pull them out of the final rinse before I could see what was on them.

Ilford hp5+ @ ISO 1600, shot on Canon Rebel 2000. Developed in Ilfotec DD-x 1:4 for 13 minutes. 

I'm pretty certain my only purpose for this roll was to practice pushing hp5+ to 1600. And it looks like I still need some practice.

Rather than create a new blog post for each roll, I decided to just post the best ones here. Or the best of the worst frames, as the case may be.

Ilford PanF+ on a Canon A1. Not the ideal for capturing motion on a bright sunny day, but shoot what you've got. 

In some cases, it's the end of a camera system for me. I've said good-bye to my Canon EOS cameras as I've sold off my digi 5DmkII and most of the lenses that went with it. My remaining Canon system is the resurrected A1 with some FD lenses.

Ilford PanF+ on a Canon A1.  Standard development in d-76 1:1. 

School is starting up again soon and, for my own internal calendar, a time to update and refresh things that are going on in my life. Out with the old, in with the new. For some people that takes place in January. Given my 28 years in and around school systems, mine occurs at the end of August.

Sacajawea at Fort Clatsop. Ilford hp5+ shot on an Olympus Stylus Infinity. Light leak from bulk loading (or at the factory), not from the camera. 

I'm continuing my 2018 goals of printing more of my work. I have some sitting at Blue Moon Camera as I write this. And, I still need to shoot more medium format film with the C220. I'm finding that that's not really the ideal walk-around camera, but something to be used deliberately and purposefully. It's really ideal for landscapes and portrait work, something I need to do more of. And I will as soon as the hot weather and smokey skies go away for the year. Those are my film plans for the remaining third of 2018.

I don't know how, but this shot made Flickr's Explore section for that day. Ilford hp5+.

I much preferred this one. 

Print Your Work

You've probably heard it before, but this year I made a commitment to it. The very first item from my 2018 Directions post was to print more of my film work. I'm pleased to report that I've been able to accomplish just that with both my landscape and paid portrait work. Blue Moon Camera and Machine in Portland, Oregon is one of the last optical color printing labs in the United States. I've been having them develop my color film (something I said I was going to do more of myself, by the way) and then print my favorites from each roll. What's cool is that their counter turns into a light table with the flip of a switch, so you can evaluate your negatives right then and there. Even though they're a couple hundred miles from me, I've been able to get in there several times this year to get it done.

Here are a few of my examples. These are direct scans from the prints and not from the negatives. The scans don't really do the prints justice, but it gives you an idea what I've been able to accomplish:

Bicyclist on the old Columbia River Highway at Rowena Crest. Fujifilm 160NS, shot on Mamiya C220. 

Spring flowers at Rowena Crest, in front of Dry Creek Bridge. Fujifilm 160NS on Mamiya C220.  

Abandoned convenience store in Kent, Oregon. Kodak Ektar 100 shot on Zero Image 618 pinhole in 6x9 format.

Jessica, Class of 2018.  Kodak Portra 160 in 35mm format, shot on Canon A1 with 50mm f/1.8 lens. 

Keomi, Class of 2018. Kodak Portra 400, shot on Mamiya C220 with 180mm f/3.5 lens. 

Canon A1: An update

This is a quick post without any accompanying photographs. I had recently announced that I was retiring my Canon A1 35mm camera (see bottom of that post) because of some over-exposure issues that I wasn't able to pinpoint. The camera had just been CLA'ed and I just figured something was going bad with the electronics. Turns out that wasn't the case at all. I was going to adapt the 50mm f/1.8 lens that was on it for use on my new digital Fujifilm X-T20, when I discovered that the aperture was stuck wide open. No wonder the negatives looked grossly overexposed, 5+ stops worth!  Luckily, I have another lens exactly like it that works just fine. I'm going to run a test roll through it, but I don't anticipate any problems. This is a fantastic revelation for me in that I have loved shooting with that camera.

So, now that I'm selling off my other Canon EOS digital gear, I'll completely get rid of the EOS film cameras I've accumulated as well. Time to pare down.

Coming up: I've recently had a lot of color 120 film processed by Blue Moon Camera in Portland, including prints, and I will be sharing those very soon. Those were shot in both my Mamiya C220 and Zero Image 618 pinhole. One of my goals this year was to print more of my work, and I've made some strides toward accomplishing just that.

Columbia Inland

I love shooting color negative film, but don't always trust myself with developing it myself. Time and temps are supercritical, and my color scanning workflow can sometimes give me results I don't want. I only send my most important and most promising color film out for development.

Cliffs in the Wallula Gap of the Columbia River, SE Washington state.

I recently shot a roll of Kodak Ektar in my C220 medium format camera because 1) I needed to test out a new 180mm f/4.5 lens and 2) the clouds were looking really, really nice that day. This wasn't a roll that rose to the level of important/promising.  So, I broke out my bottles of c-41 developer. This was a batch that had been mixed together 6 months ago or so--the outside recommended limit--and had about 8 rolls of 35mm film through it already.

McNary Dam

For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. A few frames I wasn't able to quite get the colors I was looking for, but had some nice images from others.

Hat Rock. Development streaks duly noted, and another reason to send out your film.

I'm shooting more color film in the Zero Image pinhole camera these days, and I won't necessarily send all of that out. When I can't, I know I should be able to get at least acceptable results by doing it myself. Usually. Hopefully. And hey, there's always the b/w conversion trick when it doesn't work out the way I wanted it to.

Ektar converted to monochrome. 

Agricultural-Industrial

It was good to get out one day after school last week. We were between rain storms and some nice clouds were moving in and out of the region. I already had some business to do in another nearby town that evening, so I brought along the C220 to try out my new 180mm f/4.5.  The only problem was, I neglected to bring the step-up ring so I could put a 52mm filter on the 49mm thread. Oh well. So, rather than throw in the towel and not shoot anything, I just reverted to the 80mm f/2.8 and utilized the red #25 filter that happened to be with me. I'll get to use that 180mm in a live setting one of these days, I promise.

Ilford fp4+ in Ilfotec DD-x 1:4.  

I haven't shot a lot of Ilford fp4+ in the past--probably never in this format--but I picked up a couple rolls on a recent trip to Blue Moon. This seemed as good of a time as ever to shoot it.

Where I live, agriculture comprises a large part of the economy and lifestyle. Farms, grain bins and other related structures dot the landscape, surrounded by wheat fields as well as some notable row crops.  At one point, our region supplied a lot of potatoes to McDonald's. There are even a few wineries in the area.

I can't resist a good straight road shot once in a while.

So when shooting conditions are good but I can't get very far away from home, these are as good of subjects as any to capture.

Surprisingly, there is a dearth of abandoned structures in our area. They're out there, they're just hard to find.  It seems as soon as a house, outbuilding, or grain bin is retired, it gets torn down to make room for something else. Technology in the agricultural sector here moves forward.

I developed these in Ilfotec DD-x for 10 minutes at 68℉. Negatives looked ok, but could have possibly used a little more agitation. Still, they scanned pretty nicely. After scanning so much 35mm film, I'm always amazed at how much more detail I get out of 120.  As stated before on this blog, this is going to be my main, go-to format this year.

On a side note, and very unrelated to all of this, I'm retiring the Canon A-1 that I had just put some money into CLA'ing. My last two rolls have been horribly overexposed, and it's just not worth troubleshooting anymore. I love that camera, but I can't shoot it if I don't trust it. I will instead rely on my EOS cameras (I have three) for my 35mm work. They're not as small and compact, especially considering the glass I have for them, but they're accurate and I will get good, consistent negatives from them. RIP Canon A-1.