I once again used my go to Pentax Z1p camera loading it with Fuji Superia film. I’ve included the picture of the lift truck despite the fact that I miss focused it, I was using the Vivitar 28mm close focus f2.0 lens. That just goes to show how difficult it is to focus manually in low light with a camera built for autofocus I thought I had it but clearly I did not.
Just this week the Canadian government has transferred the responsibility of evaluating the impact a pipeline would have on fish and habitat from the department of fisheries to the National Energy Board. In addition Kinder Morgan has made application to the NEB ,on the same day, to expand the Trans Mountain pipeline. It seems to me they were waiting for this change before submitting their application.
The full size of this image is 60cm x 60cm. It’s a confusing mix of information as is the entire fossil fuel chain from extraction to consumption. There is also a very complicated relationship between Washington, Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta when it comes to energy. Many people drive across the Canada U.S. border to buy gas that may have originated in Alberta and crossed the border at Sumas via pipeline or in one of the 700 giant tankers that plied the BC coast from Alaska. Oil from Alberta is refined in Washington state and trucked back into Canada to fuel jets at YVR. Many things can be said for and against fossil fuels one thing I don’t understand though is the apparent drive to burn it all in one generation for profit.
You get twelve shots on a roll of 120 film with the Rolleiflex and here they are.
That last one with the grass and the sun was actually a mistake I meant to take that with my Olympus OM-1 for some double exposures I am doing but forgot for a moment and took it with the Rolleiflex.
I performed a little impromptu test between my new Pentax K-3 APSc DSLR and my Rolleiflex 2.8 Medium Format TLR. I used the DA 35 macro LTD on the K-3 to match the field of view of the 80mm Schneider Xenotar lens on the Rollei.
I wasn’t surprised by the results having used the K-3 for nearly a month now but it is interesting to see that I was able to capture more detail with the K-3 than with the Rollie despite taking great care with both. It does leave me wondering what more could be wanted from a camera and reaffirms for me that my attention should move away from the camera gear itself and back to making images, although I’m sure I will do a little more as I work with my new camera.
In each of the following images the Pentax K-3 image is on the left and the Rolleiflex on the right
To be fair with the image above the plane of focus is clearly different making the Rolleiflex shot the prefered one in my eyes. That is not the cameras though that is all me.
I scanned the film at 3200 DPI which created 5200 x 5200 27Mpixel files against the K-3’s 6000 x 4000 24Mpixels but even cropping the K-3 down to a square 4000 x 4000 16Mpixel it still was a more detailed image although shooting square format natively has its advantages with some compositions.
When all is said and done though I still have an affinity for the look of film and often find that I prefer those images over the digital.
If you want a stripped down photographic experience the Minolta A5 gives it. The aperture, shutter and focus are all controlled at the lens using finely machined dials. The Citizen shutter has speeds from 1 second to 1/500 as well as bulb, each one selected with a satisfying click. The focus is silky smooth and easy to see in the viewfinder with its sharp edged focus patch. As with most rangefinders it is excellent for focusing in dim light. The lens is a 45mm 1:2.8 Rokkor built from 4 elements. While a simple design it works very well. With no exposure meter you need to use some other method of determining what settings to use but with that done you can just concentrate on taking pictures.
What does imprinting the date on a film picture have to do with taking pictures with cell phones you may ask and I just assumed you would? Well it illustrates in an orange numerical glow that taking and having a photo means different things to different people. Some might recoil from the notion that their image of a beautiful flower was marred by something so intrusive while another might think didn’t the flowers look nice that year. It’s the same with cell phone pictures some might think why would I want to use an inferior medium to record this moment where someone else might think I’m just glad to have a fragment of this moment that I can remember and share. As technology moves forward the quality of the captured image (I’m not talking art here) has been improving so that there becomes less and less of a compromise in choosing to use a cell phone to record moments. It is after all the camera that many already have with them. Most pictures are taken with the intent of sharing an experience or affirming our existence not to create some deep meaning image that will alter the world, so go ahead and turn the date stamp on that old film camera and add that Instagram filter to that shot, you know you want to.
This is the second part of a single outing where I shot with my new Pentax K-3 giving it a good challenging test in subdued light. The first part can be found here K-3 Sample photos
My mistake its the Big Mini, a great little camera that fits neatly into a camera bag owing to its flat sides without any protuberances when turned off (I had to add that last part when I realized the picture I took of it had it’s lens sticking out). And it’s that lens that makes this camera one to have. I haven’t been disappointed yet when using this camera the exposures have been right on and the image quality great. More Konica Big Mini
This painting has been sitting waiting to be finished for far longer than I care to admit. Now that its done I want to move on to something new and what currently interests me. I have the canvas, I have the paint and I have the image in my mind, time is what I need.
This particular painting is part of an ongoing series of images of cameras and film that I have been doing. It began with “Made in Occupied Japan” which was included in the first Fraser Valley Biennale and from time to time since I have done a painting that fits in the series. Yes I realize in posting these, I am photographing paintings of things that relate to taking photographs that I sometimes use for paintings, but thank you for pointing that out.
