Wallace Koopmans Artlog

I thought it would be fun to try Ilfords XP2 400 disposable camera to see just what you might get.  I have to admit I have little experience with using disposable cameras and the results showed it.  I think where I failed was assuming that there was more latitude for exposure than there was.  Most of my images were terribly underexposed which makes sense in hindsight as the camera likely has a maximum aperture of somewhere around f8 and a shutter speed around 1/125 sec this combination would likely require an EV value around 13 where I shot most of my images at light levels far below that. In fact maybe a quarter of the images were not even scannable.  The lesson is that these cameras are only useful under limited conditions.  As for the flash I could have used it more if I had known but even then it wouldn’t have saved these shots.  You can also see that the lens is quite soft in the corners, it is disposable after all.

ACHTUNG And most importantly of all if you open these cameras to recover the film (Which is just in a regular film canister) when your done make sure you give it to someone else to get shocked.  Perhaps I should explain myself.  I brought the camera to the local camera store where I have my film sent out for developing and asked for the camera back.  Together the kind store employee, whose name I will change to protect their identity lets call them ‘Sparky’, and I  started to take the camera apart carefully so as not to break it.  When it was partially apart Sparky yelped and began shaking his hand like it had been stung by a bee or in this case a 300v 80µ farad capacitor.  Just as all humans are compelled to sniff the sour milk I too picked up the camera thinking that it would now be discharged and safe.  Whack!  Flash!  Drop! Bang!   Good thing I don’t have a pacemaker.  I’ve been shocked in this way before but it’s not something you get used to, every time is like the first time, the very first time, it ‘Feels Like the First Time’ (Foreigner 1977) Where was I?   Right, you can see the warning on the back of the camera  ACHTUNG Überspannung, Kamera Nicht ö ffnen Funny how it sounds more serious in German.

Anyway here is a picture of the bits so that you don’t need to feed your curiosity with a shocking flash of understanding.

And finally some pictures taken with it.

My week in Calgary involved long days inside with no opportunity for photography so I either woke early and went out or walked around in the fading light of the evening.  Limited as well to travelling on foot I primarily remained in the city’s core of towers.  The streets became mostly de-peopled after the work day was done.  These are some of the images I took during those times.

Adox’s Color implosion film is marketed as having ‘a modified color scheme’  from there website translated to english:

Place your camera to ISO 400/27 °. The color option of your memory film implodes and you get images with very little color and “Toxic Grain”.  This awaits you if you belichtest Color implosion with your Holga.

Now I don’t know what blichtest means but it doesn’t sound good and I don’t like anyone telling me I have to use a Holga.

So the second suggestion which might have been what I was after is.

Place your camera to ISO 200/24 °.  Now everything explodes red, while the others remain in the green-blue color.  “Toxic Grain” is red. 
  If you like share with your laboratory staff that you would like the movie “supercharge plus 1”. “Bursting Red” also in your Holga

Still I don’t want anything bursting in my Holga if I had one, so I went with the third option.

Place your camera to ISO 100/21 °.  Now makes Color implosion for you beautifully surreal 70s summer colors.  The “Toxic Grain” is now yellow and not as concise.

By the way this is what ‘Toxic Grain’  looks like

While I had hoped for the reds to really stand out, they ended up being quite muted, perhaps because of my choice to shoot at 100 ISO. I’ve set a few of those images aside for a future post where I show the difference between the raw scans and the edited files.  For those I boosted the red channel to more closely match my expectations.  But without further ado(x) here are the images I belichtested.

The Konica EE Matic doesn’t require a battery, that’s a good thing because I’m not sure it deserves one.  I guess if your intention is to take pictures that have the look of having been taken with a cheap 1960’s rangefinder nothing beats a cheap 1960’s rangefinder.  It has that in spades.  If it’s a quality image your after then there are better options.  The problem is the lens it has very bad coma distortion which results in the image being stretched the further it is from the center.  This distortion could be reduced by stopping the lens down but as the camera has completely automatic exposure that is not under your control.

On the other hand it has a nice bright viewfinder that also indicates the shutter speed and it won’t release the shutter if there isn’t enough light for a proper exposure, like when you leave the lens cap on, it happens.

I was just finishing some art related errands when I drove past a local Abbotsford historic house and museum called the Trethewey House. What caught my eye was the giant wrench strapped to the back of a tall fellow. I was curious enough to pull over and have a look. Fortunately I almost always have a camera on me, okay I always have a camera on me. By the time I arrived things were winding down at a gathering with Steam Punk related activities but I spoke to a few nice people dressed in fun attire and took a limited number of portraits with my Pentax K-01. I’ve edited them on my coal-fired iPad. I’m pretty sure coal was used at some stage in the manufacturing of my iPad.

Queen Victoria on her Birthday weekend

Note the previously mentioned giant wrench and also he may be on to something, I could carry more cameras with suspenders like that.

I shot another roll throught the Nikon L35AF this time without the silly lens adapters.  Thats better, it’s now as good as all the rest of the 35mm focal length autofocus point and shoots hardly anyone remembers.

Most of the images were taken with the Vivitar 28mm 1:2.0 Close Focus lens.  The extra stop of light you get with this lens compaired to using a Pentax 28mm 1:2.8 might be useful in low light but it’s the ability to focus down to 23cm (roughly 9 inches) is what is the best thing about it.  It is a heavy piece of glass and metal though and outways the Pentax 28mm to the point where its almost too heavy on my Pentax K-01.  Otherwise if you can spare the weight it will deliver unique results.

Everywhere you go downtown Calgary there is the Calgary Tower.  It may not be the tallest building anymore but it sure ends up in a lot of pictures.  I was in Calgary for a week and during my down time I walked around taking photographs. Here are 28 pictures I took in downtown Calgary that include the Tower so that you don’t have to.

If your from Alberta yes I am kidding I like Calgary there just were a few things that surprised me.  Things like the downtown Tim Hortons being closed on Saturday and how the city center was so dominated by glass and concrete, but I will cover that in another post.  Most of these images were taken with my new Pentax K-01 with a few from the Pentax Q, my film is out to the developers.

Released in 2000 the Canon Z90W (Autoboy Epo) has a 28-90mm f4.5-9.9 lens which is  slow at the telephoto end but the quality of the optical system overall is quite good.  Being from 2000 its just new enough to find internet reviews from the time the camera was released.  The best part of this camera is the large mode dial on the back, with 7 different positions, the most interesting to me being ‘Personal’ which lets me configure the flash to be off at all times.  This is done be selecting Personal on the dial and then pressing the mode button then using the zoom buttons to toggle through the available flash choices; Auto,Red eye,Flash on,Flash off,+1.5 exposure comp.,-1.5 exposure comp., and slow sync flash.

Of the point and shoot film cameras with zoom lenses that go down to 28mm this is the best.  Used at the 28mm wide end it compares well with fixed focal length film compacts.