Looking straight down onto a small frozen puddle/
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Steel City Snapper photography
35mm, medium format and large format film photography (with the odd bit of digital every now and then…)
Looking straight down onto a small frozen puddle/
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Power lines cross a field, it’s crops just beginning to show, before passing a lone farmhouse. In the distance the buildings and chimney-stack of Steetley dolomite works are visible. This chimney can be seen from miles around in this part of the countryside.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
This was taken shortly before the picture of the hawk on the power lines that I posted a few days back (that field was the next one over, beyond the hedge and tree that can be seen in the image below.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
At the bottom right of this shot you can just make out a side-track that joins this road. Let me assure you that, despite appearances, and in spite of the frosty and icy ground, it was very muddy!
Worth it to get this picture, I think, although there was more mud to come later in the hike…
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Ah, one of my old favourite subjects; power-lines marching across the landscape to destinations unknown. This one enhanced, I think, by the compression given by the telephoto lens and, most of all, by the hawk perched upon the wires.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
We’ve not had any frost (at least not that I’ve been up early enough to witness!) for a few weeks now. This was shot six weeks ago.
It’s not the best ever picture of a frosty leaf (I’ve taken better ones myself), but it was a decent test of the 70-200mm lens on close-up subjects. Parts of the leaf have fallen out of focus due to the the closeness of the subject from the lens.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026
Last month I wrote about how I was unsatisfied with the quality of the Tamron 28-200mm lens I had and how I’d traded it in for a Nikon 70-200mm.
So far I’ve shot the Nikkor on a few occasions and the results have been noticeably sharper than those from the Tamrom, which is good. The downsides that I also discussed (size, weight, and lack of flexibility mostly) have also been borne out, but I knew this would be the case, and the improved image quality win out.
I’ve already posted a digital picture I took with the lens, but these are the first film shots I’ve shared on the blog. They were taken during a walk around the local country park, which has a healthy population of waterfowl.
Nikon F80 and Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 ED VR on Fomapan 400 (@320asa). Semi-stand in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour @ 20°.
Taken on 8 February 2026