My lovely new Bronica EC

What does a good person do when they can’t go to the pub for months?
That’s right - save up that cash and buy a Bronica!

Yes, I went and bought something I’ve wanted for quite a while.
A proper system-based medium format camera.

I couldn’t afford a Hasselblad. I’d been eyeing up the Bronica ETRS for a while, as well as the Mamiya 645 (but both have recently jumped up in price quite a bit). I’d even been contemplating a Kiev 88 or one of its spin-offs (reliability put me off). The Bronica S2A was very attractive, but once again - quite expensive unless you went for the slightly older S2 - and I’d heard that they could be a little bit tricksy with the gears stripping over time.

Which brought me to the EC. People were scared of the EC because of it having an electronic shutter. But I’ve got two other film cameras (Olympus OM10 and Yashica Electro 35) which rely on electronics and they work like a dream. And with all my research, I couldn’t find anyone who’d actually owned one say that the electronics were crap. So the naysayers make the EC a bit of a bargain… and I went for a nice all black one!

A detail of some boat rigging in Charlestown.

The first thing you notice with the EC is the weight. This is not a light, chuck-it-in-yer-bag camera. But that’s OK - I still have my Yashica 635 for lighter days. However, even though it is heavy it is a work of beauty.

And the CLUNK of that mirror! Even my wife had to admit, “Yeeeeah, that is a good sound.”

I ran a test roll through as soon as I got it and all looked good. But the proper test was going to be taking it to Cornwall for ten days on a family holiday/visiting the in-laws trip in October. I know what Cornwall can be like - quite changeable in weather, so I wanted a film that could (a) let me test the camera and (b) handle lots of different kinds of light. I settled on Fomapan 200 - a film I’ve shot with a lot. It hasn’t got as wide a latitude as some others but still perfectly workable for what I needed. Also, familiarity is always important when getting to know a new toy.

Shadows on the floor of a cafe in St Just.

Straight off the bat I was in love with this camera. Yes, it’s heavy. But after a while I didn’t notice that whatsoever. The viewfinder is stunningly bright - I found myself composing and focusing shots quicker than I’d ever done with an unfamilar camera. I was feeling so confident with it that I didn’t even meter every shot, as soon as I had a good measurement for a scene I just went for it and used my instinct.

Much as I love lighter cameras, I am thinking maybe I’ve found a near perfect camera for me. It has a phenomenal lens (a Nikkor 75mm f2.8), it feels great in the hands and - for a medium format - is quick to work with. I love the modular aspect of it - at present I’ve only got the one back but I will buy more so I can load up with different films. But further on from that I can build it with different viewfinders, lenses, grips, even viewfinder screens. It is a fantastic camera that can grow with me.

Film from https://analoguewonderland.co.uk
Dev and scans by https://www.silverpan.co.uk/

The little guy’s gonna end up in here somewhere, hasn’t he?

The quarry at Wheal Martyn. It is BIG. And I love all those textures.

Also at Wheal Martyn, a gorgeous wooded area.

One of the old railway trucks at Wheal Martyn.

Ruan Lanihorne on the Roseland Peninsula. Losing the light whilst metering on something quite delicate.

Waiting for the King Harry Ferry back over the River Fal.

Ilford Ortho Plus

There was muchos excitement all around when Ilford released this orthochromatic film a couple of months ago. And not wanting to miss out on the party, I grabbed myself a roll from the wonderful Analogue Wonderland.

The talk was of fine grain, nice contrast and excellent tonality. And it did not disappoint…

This film is amazing. It has absolutely gorgeous tonality with near non existent grain in the right light. The contrast is spot-on. Being an ortho film it doesn’t react to red whatsoever, so skin tones are dark. But for landscape and detail-type shots - YUM YUM YUM!!!!

As usual when I’m trying out a new film, I stuck my roll in my Oly OM10. I think all of these shots were using my Zuiko 50mm f1.8 lens. Mostly shot in Cornwall over the Christmas period, the weather wasn’t great - gloomy, misty, rainy…. but the Ortho took everything in its stride. It really captured the atmosphere.

It ain’t the cheapest of films. But it really is worth it as it’s quite special.

Film developed by Silverpan Film Lab.

Silbersalz35 - an update!

As all you millions who read this will know, I’ve been quite excited with using Silbersalz35 film over the past few months. It is bloody awesome.

But my favourite emulsion from my early tests was the 50D. And Silbersalz recommend overexposing by a stop. Which makes that a 25ISO film. Eeek.

Now, I like my history when it comes to photography (in fact, anything creative - I didn’t spend all those years at art school for nowt) and know that the old masters didn’t have the luxury of our modern high speed films, but those long exposure times do leave me a little bit nervous. I dont mind a bit of motion blur but…. I’m exposing at 25ISO!!!

I don’t tend to use tripods so a slow speed film means I’m wanting good light. This is why I’ve held out on using the 50D film properly until the summer…. but who can rely on the weather, eh?

Anyway, I thought getting a batch of four 50D films for my holiday in Spain would be a good plan.

I decided to use this batch of Silbersalz in my Yashica Electro 35GT. I’m still getting to grips with this camera so was unsure about how experimenting with film and camera at the same time would work but…. I shoudn’t have been worried.. It worked out bloody awesome! And it’s been a good learning experience for both camera and film…

The film is gorgeous. I’ve never seen a film with so little grain. And with the exposure latitude it has, I can do whatever I want with it and it still doesn’t get grainy. It obviously helps with Silbersalz making such good high res scans - they are exceptional, but the film itself is second to none.

As far as the camera goes… well, this is the first proper test for the Electro 35. I’ve used it here and there since I got it a few months ago but decided to dedicate it to the Silbersalz this time. And it looks great. I played around with precise focussing and zone focussing and this camera is just awesome. I might have to write a proper review when I get time, but for now…… the Yashica Electro 35 is a great camera and everyone should have one!

Anyway…. Silbersalz35 50D with a fantastic camera. I shall leave you with some results…

Scanning, holidays, and new films

For quite some time I've felt the need to have more control of what is going on with my film scans. I've used several labs over the years for processing and scanning, and whilst none of them have done a bad job, I've never been 100% sure if it could be better or not. It seems to be adding a variable into the process which I have no control over - is the exposure wrong because of me or is the scanner not set up properly? The same goes for the focus - is the lab's scanner out? Or am I just not getting things right when shooting?

So, I needed my own scanner. By doing it myself, I can not only be more sure of any variables, but I can also tweak each shot if I want. Because I know what I was shooting and what the scene looked like.

I'm a bit tight on space at home, which meant a flatbed scanner was out; which was a shame as a flatbed would do various formats. So I went for a Plustek Opticfilm 8100 35mm scanner.

I'd heard that there was quite a steep learning curve to the Silverfast software which comes with it. The first few scans I wasn't particularly pleased with at all - it was all looking a bit grungey. After looking at some tutorials, I then found what some of the tools were doing in the software and was on top of it pretty quickly.

It has multi exposure on it, which means I can do two scan passes. I'm scanning fairly flat without bumping up any contrast. So the resulting TIFF files are a bit washed out. However, when putting them through Lightroom then they really come to life. I've started saving presets for each one to speed up the post process.

The first scans I made where from a short break in Cornwall. I was trying out some Kodak ProImage 100, a film that is not readily available but is apparently being marketed more in Europe now. Which is a good thing, because I rather like it! It's very much like Kodak Portra - natural colours, nice saturation and renders skin tones nicely. It also has quite a bit of flexibility - I could push certain colours a bit if I wished. The film was apparently first released in 1997 and not been updated since; mixing that with my OM10 and old Zuiko glass gives it a feel of my youth in the 80s/90s.

The next film which I'd not used before was Fomapan 400. I'd used Foma 100 and 200 before (see earlier journal entries) and liked the results - particularly the 200. So I thought I'd give the 400 a shot. I'd read that it wasn't quite as good and I think I'd have to agree. Tonally I found it quite flat and stubbornly didn't want to be pushed anywhere. Too much exposure made it break up quickly, too much shadow just crushed the blacks. I like a bit of grain with my black and white film, but the grain I found a bit crude. Unlike Foma 200, I don't think it will be high on my shopping list in the future....

Next up was Ilford's Pan 400. And this was completely different - nice tight grain, a wide range of greys in the tone allowing me to play with it to my heart's content, and a gorgeous look which has an almost 1960s documentary look to it. I've got another roll in my camera at the moment and already excited to see how it turns out - really love this one!

One thing that I didn't expect from using my own scanner was seeing the difference straight away between different emulsions. I could see a massive difference between Foma 400 and Pan 400  just by seeing the initial scans before I even put them into Lightroom. Even the physicality of the film is different - the Foma more prone to being damaged than the Ilford.

I have to say, the Plustek scanner is great. I've got scans from it that are just as good as I've been getting from pro labs. And I'll be tweaking the settings more to see what else I can get out of it.

And Kodak ProImage and Ilford Pan 400: big thumbs up! Now, I wonder what Pan 100 is like...!?

All shot on my Olympus OM10.
Kodak ProImage 100 rated at 80asa.
Fomapan 400 rated at 200asa.
Ilford Pan 400 rated at 200asa.