Well, I Was Wrong. And It Cost Me Money.

But that was a long time ago.

I was using a well-known name of SLR camera with well-known film. And a simple set of lenses - f:1.8, f:2.8, f:4. My slides were taken out in the open air and at medium f stops and about 1/250 of a second. And they were sharp and well-coloured.

As photography enthusiasts go, I went, and like many others was not satisfied with success. I lusted after the LX version of the camera and when I got it decided that the 55mm f:1.8 lens was not going to be as good as the 50mm f:1.2. So I traded it in and got a couple of boxes of colour negative film, and went out to take pictures in the twilight.

Not surprisingly, when I got back the results there was more grain in the image, the focus was not as sharp, and the postcard prints had none of the sparkle of the transparencies. I just knew it was the fault of the camera and the mens and sold it all off in a snit to buy the next hare-brained idea - a medium format press camera.

Older readers will detect where I went wrong - f:1.2 is not as sharp as f:8. Low light levels and shadows mean muddy shadows. Negative film has more grain than transparency film. Minilab prints can sometimes be minimal quality. But I convinced myself it was the fault of the camera.

Now I work in the trade and have taken more photos and looked at them. I realise my mistake. I spent out big and spent out wrong because I did not talk to someone in...the photo trade.

Fillum Up With Fillum

I'm not just writing this blog post to use that pun, but you do have to admit it is quite attractive...

So - let yourselves be attracted to the back of the shop - the fillum fridge - and note that we have quite a variety in a present. I see 35mm and 120 black and white and colour  - both negative and transparency. Good stuff too. Kodak, Ilford, Agfa, Fujifilm.

All you need is a fillum camera and we know you have any number of these out there in your cupboards. And fillum cameras are pretty long -lived as cameras go. All the way from the Agfa Isolets and Clacks to the Contarexes and Leica M's and all the way from the Ensigns to the Hasselblad 500's....they all were sturdily made and a lot of them work just as well now as ever they did. You can bet on the Leica M's.

Sick of worrying about charging lithium-ion batteries? Sick of worrying about backup from a card while on the go? Good enough photographer to get the picture in three shots instead of three hundred? Well, get out the fillum camera and off you go.

Processing can be done by you - and we have B/W gear to help with this - or by Fitzgerald Photo labs or other fine photofinishers. You can scan negs and transparencies and then computer at them until you fall unconscious. The world is your lobster, as Arfur Daley would say, and with fillum you can store the resultant neg, slide, or print with far greater certainty that it will survive the next thunderstorm or hard drive crash. And it's damn hard to steal your images if they are hard-copy to start with.

The fillum fridge keeps the stuff cold and fresh, and now is the time to take it out into the landscape - while it is cold and fresh. Or into the studio where there is a coffee pot and biscuits.

Scanning The Easy Way with Epson V700

I sat last night scanning 4 x 5 negatives from my old studio film production period. It was a trip down Memory Lane - chiefly in the ruts. I realised how stilted some of my shots had become. I am glad  decided to dispose of time-expired props every 6 months - those stilts took up a lot of room. And you always seemed to see up everyone's nose...

Using the Epson reminded me how well it had been designed -  and how streamlined they had made the operation. You clap the negatives into a holder, drop it onto the scanner, close the lid. Press preview on the computer screen and see what the result is going to look like. You can pre-crop the pictures, or rotate them, or restore dodgy colour. Then you press "scan" and pick up your cup of coffee. the Epson throws the files into wherever you nominate and you are on to the next lot.

When I scan the old 35mm colour slides, I can slot 12 of them into the scanner plate at a time - no removing them from the mounts. Then just do as before.

The reason this posting has come up is an enquiry from someone who wanted to adapt a large DSLR and a large macro lens to rephotograph colour slides...with the attendant complication of excluding external light and holding the slide parallel to the sensor and getting an even illumination and a correct colour balance...

Do-able, but then so is ice skating in Namibia. That's where the Toronto Maple Leafs learned their hockey skills...*

I do urge people who want the best quality result for the least effort to think about the Epson V-series scanners. They also open the door to recording prints, albums, and written material in an efficient manner with equal facility.

* Ouch, eh...?

35MM Scanners Back In Stock

Good news for people who have a vast collection of 35mm negatives and slides - and wish they were in digital files.

We've got the Plustek OpticFilm 8100 scanners back in stock.

These are dedicated scanners for 35mm film. You get 7200 dpi resolution, high dynamic range, dust removal software, and colour restoration capability. Interestingly, you can also deal with over-saturation in older slides. Those people who used Ferrania and Anscochrome might find this useful, but in my experience most older slides lose colour rather than gain it.

The scanner will preview slides in 8 seconds - it takes longer for a working scan and you can go over your material several times to get a greater dynamic range.

Apparently it also has a quick-start feature that eliminates time required for warm-up.

Best of all is the price - $ 425. You can make your money back doing your own digitising.