The title of today’s post isn’t intended as a metaphor for the subject of the photograph, although I suppose it could be. It refers instead to the fact that I was in a cathedral with only a film camera containing 100asa slide film. While I had a nice, fast, f/1.8 lens attached, there were very few places within the building that gave enough light for even a slow exposure. This table of prayer candles was lit by a bright shaft of sunlight however and I took the chance at handholding the camera at 1/30sec. Somehow I managed to avod camera shake and ended up with a nice looking photograph.
Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).
A few weeks ago I posted a couple of photos of pillar boxes (or post boxes if you prefer) that I shot on some Fuji Velvia 100 and which exhibited vividly saturated reds. Today I have a photo of a different pillar box, this one dating from the reign of Queen Victoria – hence the VR insignia on the front. A quick bit of Google research points to this being a VR Penfold model.
Once again, the slide film has delivered vivid reds. While I’ve tweaked the contrast a little which might account for some of the rich colour, I’ve not touched the saturation of vibrancy controls at all. It looks pretty much like this on the original transparency too.
Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).
One of two theatres adjacent to one another in Sheffield city centre, the Crucible is the younger of the pair, dating from 1971 (the other, The Lyceum, dates back to the late 19th century). It’s probably most famous for being the host venue for the World Snooker Championship since 1977.
As I write this today, Sheffield (and the rest of South Yorkshire) has been put on notice that we will be moving to the Tier 3 “Very High” level for Covid-19 restrictions at the weekend. While, for the most part, these won’t make much of a difference to what I do (it’s nothing like as restrictive as the full lockdown we had earlier in the year), it does place a restriction on mixing with people outside your immediate family or support-bubble, so it’ll mean I can’t see my dad for the next few weeks (assuming it’s lifted by then).
It also means that I’m not supposed to travel from the Tier 3 area to areas at a lower level of alert. This is disappointing as I have a week’s leave coming up and had planned to make a visit or two to the Peak District National Park. While I can still access part of the park (some of it falls within Sheffield, and South Yorkshire’s borders), it’s a relatively limited area and doesn’t include the places I’d hoped to go to. As I would be travelling in a private vehicle and not interacting with anyone, I’m not sure that there’s a problem or that I would be risking any sort of trouble, but I guess I’ll see what happens before making a decision one way or the other. If not, there are plenty of other places within South Yorkshire that I can visit, and not just the bits within the Peak District. I have a project that I came up with the idea for over a year ago, so maybe I can make a start on making the pictures for that.
Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).
This wonderful sculpture was sat outside Midland Station in Sheffield when I walked past a few weeks ago. The day was bright with autumn sunshine and the metal body of the fish caught the light nicely on its scales. The OM-2n metered the scene with aplomb, the Zuiko glass resolved sharp images, and the expired Ektachrome gave a gorgeous look (although I have removed a purple cast that was lurking in the shadows).
Olympus OM-2n, Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 & Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP (expired at some unknown date).
I sent a copy of my zine of New York City photographs to fellow blogger Jim Grey recently and he pointed out that one of the images contained within – of a car dressed to look like a cheeseburger – depicted an AMC Pacer. Apparently this is quite a rare car (and no doubt rarer still to be found garbed as this one is!). I know little of cars, and even less so where American cars are concerned, so thanks for the info Jim!
As I have another photo of the same car that isn’t in my zine, I thought I’d post it here today.
Back in July I bought several rolls of expired slide film from someone on a forum I frequent. They consisted of Kodak Ektachrome 100 EPP, and Kodak Elite Chrome in 100asa and 200asa variants. The seller was unsure of the age of the film and stated it had just been kept in a box in the house, so no refrigeration. Despite this, having had some results from expired E6 film that I’d been happy with, I went ahead and bought some.
About a month ago I shot one of the rolls of Ektachrome 100 EPP from the batch. I have no idea how old it is as it wasn’t boxed, just stored in it’s plastic container (with a Kodak label on the top). The Elite Chrome is boxed and (IIRC) expired around 2010, but I’ve not idea if the Ektachrome is similarly dated.
Anyway, I decided to shoot the first roll at box speed as a bit of a test – still aiming to make appealing photographs, but just shooting at easy to visit locations. This way I’d have an idea of how the film has stood the test of time and also whether I need to overexpose it or not on future rolls. The results are, on the whole, very nice. There was a bit of a purple / magenta cast to the results, but I’ve been able to remove that using Photoshop. In terms of exposure, I think it needs a little more light – the shadows are a little dark on some frames, especially some that were shot on an overcast day – so I think I’ll shoot the next roll at 80asa to see if that works better.
There’s something very special about E6 colour film though – the bright, vivid look of the colours isn’t something that tends to be matched by negative film. It’s just a pity it’s such a harsh mistress (and so expensive!)…
The three frames posted here today are just the ones I’ve uploaded to Flickr so far, so there will be a bunch more in the coming days.
A selection of photos taken around Victoria Quays and the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal. I thought I’d drop in a bunch of them all at once as I’m getting a bit of a backlog of photos – I’ve currently got two rolls waiting to be uploaded, plus another three rolls that haven’t even been scanned yet.
The chap was painting pa picture of the buildings at the canal wharf when I wandered the area with my camera. We were both taking advantage of the lovely light to make our images and I stood and chatted with him awhile before asking if he would mind me making a photograph or two.
When I bought my OM-2n a couple of months ago it came with a Tamron Adaptall lens – a 35-70mm zoom if I remember correctly. The lens was in very nice condition but produced noteably softer results than my Olympus Zuiko lenses, so I sold it on. As I already have an OM-1 I have a small collection of Zuiko glass that I can use with the OM-2n already.
I did notice, however, that my F.Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens had developed a bit of looseness in the aperture ring. I don’t think it affects the funtionality, but the firm clicks when it rotates has become gentle bumps. So I decided, if I could find one at a decent price, to buy another.
I ended up with a Zuiko (note the lack of F.) Auto-S 50mm f/1.8 in great condition and at a low price. The lens is in the 5,XXX,XXX serial number range with “made in Japan” on the front ring. Apparently these are amongst the sharpest of the numerous variants of this lens that Olympus produced – not that any of them are optical slouches. While I’ve not done any like-for-like tests against my other version (and am unlikely to), this lens is very sharp.
I’ve photographed this same vehicle before, but is seems to have suffered some slight damage to the grille in the intervening period. It’s still a lovely looking truck though.
