Wallace Koopmans Artlog

I’ve broken into my last remaining box of Polaroid Spectra.  I now have 19 frames left after which I might try some Impossible Project film.

Why would anyone choose to use this camera now when there are so many different options even just in the film world? No one needs to, I just did, you are welcome. If you must though the reasons are; the lens cover retracts like a pod bay door that’s cool’ish, at the wide end the lens is 28mm that’s wide’ish. Other than that it’s not that memorable a camera, although it does give decent results with 400ISO film. I wouldn’t use a film slower than this because at 75mm the maximum aperture is f8.9 so in low light the shutter speeds will be quite low. Enjoy your Freedom while it lasts.

First my own reflections. The impersonal hard reflections of the buildings, one against another couldn’t be a better metaphor for my first impression of Calgary. It seems as though in an effort to clean the city they stripped away more than the detritus, they removed the invisible fabric that allows humans to interact. While a week isn’t a long time it was immediately apparent that no amount of smiling or saying hello was enough to break through the invisible capsule Calgarians seem to have surrounding themselves. Now this is actually somewhat at odds with another part of my experience. As a pedestrian I noticed how courteous the drivers were towards me and each other. No one seemed to be in such a hurry that they would rather run you down than wait a second. As I said this was my first impression and it applies to the downtown where people mostly work and not live so it’s not enough to determine the true nature of the city.  As for the images, there were many opportunities to see one building reflected in another, and seaking them out was an enjoyable visual exercise.

These are some of the digital pictures I took while visiting Calgary Alberta. I was focused on using my film cameras but used my Pentax K-01 and Pentax Q as well.  There is some inevitable cross over between my film shots and digital images as I use both types concurrently.

The Olympus Stylus Epic (mju ii) is my go to pocketable film camera and there isn’t much more to say that hasn’t been said other than to re-iterate what a great camera this is. I used Kodak Ektar 100 film which I also think is a perfect pairing for this camera. Other posts from and about this camera can be seen here Olympus Stylus Epic

I’ve had some pretty bad luck with out of date APS film much of it producing thin negatives that did not scan well, so this time I used the exposure compensation feature of the Minolta Vectis S1 to dial in +1.5 EV of exposure compensation. The film was Kodak Advantix 400 so with the compensation the camera would have selected exposures as if the film was about 140 ISO. I can’t say for sure how much of a difference this made because I didn’t take any shots without the compensation but I did get better results than I have been recently.

More Minolta Vectis S1 here Feb 2013, Nov 2011, Expanded Vision Through Narrower Thinking

Calgary is nothing if not its buildings. Here are digital pictures of some the buildings around downtown Calgary taken over the course of a week during my recent visit.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first with the results I got from this film but it may have been more about my expectations than the film itself.   Adox describes it as having ‘Bursting Reds’ so I made sure that I shot a lot of red things.  They also suggest that to get the best results for reds to shoot at 200 ISO while I shot the film at 100 ISO which is what was on the film canister.  So to achieve closer to the result I was after I tweaked the reds in Lightroom as well as some other adjustments. This image demonstrates the difference.

And of course the grain is pretty extreme, as they say no one is going to mistake that for digital.   In the end though I got what I deserved 36 frames with a very different look.

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.