Last day in Dusseldorf. A contre jour shot from the restaurant taken with my iPhone 4s. Straight no edit.
Good Morning Dusseldorf
Views from my hotel windows
Patrick (M9-P)
For the sake of balance . Here’s my Son Patrick. Resident Geek and Nice guy. Shooting wide open really makes for great bokeh. The slight sepia tone and the frame I added in Silver Efex Pro 2.
Emily (M9-P)
My daughter and son are usually my first subjects when I get a new camera or lens.Here’s Emily tired and full of freckles after a day of sunshine. Taken at f/1.4 in the evening when the sun was going down. I’ve added a slight sepia finish to the shot via Silver Efex Pro II
What’s in the Bag?
So I’ve eaten my words and gone back on what I have said before “I thought a digital Leica wasn’t for me. Too expensive and, what’s more digital.
Well this past Friday I ate my words. Let me explain.
One glaring omission from this “My Gear” list is my Nikon D800. You who have followed me for some time will have seen many pictures taken with it. However here’s the thing. I don’t like carrying it around with me. I purchased a big 24-70 F/2.8 and the combo with flash is huge and hurts my shoulder after a day out. So I now mostly shoot it with a 50mm f/1.8 D lens, which I use for my Nikon F4. It works for most jobs. The Nikon D800 is a fantastic tool for many other things where I don’t have to lug it too far. I got to thinking “I’ll sell the whole lot.
However I’ve laid down a good deal of money in my Nikon gear so selling it all would tear at my heartstrings and wallet. So, what to do?
Well I got around to putting the whole lot up for sale. I did sell my 16-35 F/4.0 for an amicable price. But nothing else. I then spotted on my dealers website that they had a Leica M9-P Demo model for sale and a price I could afford and would be able to keep my, now smaller D800 kit.
Originally I wanted to buy the M9-P when it came out as I have three Leica lenses
Summilux 35 mm F/1.4 Ashperical
Summilux 50mm F/1.4 ASHP
Summicron 90mm F/2.0 APO ASPH
and they, to be honest are under-used. All that fantastic glass just lying around.
However the price of a new M9-P went up and I got cold feet and ploughed my cash into Nikon gear instead.
It rather feels that I’ve come full circle and I’m back where I was a couple of years ago. Anyway I have my digital Leica (You remember the one I said I’d never buy) and I get to keep my Nikon D800 which I love also.
You’ll realize that this is in no way a review it’s more my rationale for using my savings.
I hope you’ll enjoy the shots I’ll be sharing with you
Oh, Shit!!!
What have I been, and gone, and done now?
Dandelion II
Here is another Dandelion. Because of the breeze I found one low to the ground and used my prone body as a windbreak. I must say that Adox CMS 20 is worth the effort. The negatives are practically grainless. I must say that my ASA dial on my Hasselblad has never been to such a low value before. In fact it’s the slowest film I’ve ever used. Other than that it’s just a normal process with a couple of things that are different.
1. I had to use a proper stop solution (Ilfostop).
2. You fix the film for only 30 seconds. I felt like I just poured in my T-max fixer and poured it out again.
Other than that everything else was the same as usual. I think that given an even better scanner than my V700 I could squeeze even more from these negs. But you have to use what you have. I have printed this shot for framing and it looks great so all in all I’m very pleased with this film. There will be other shots using this film very soon. But until then you can enjoy this one and the last two.
Dandelion and Friend
Taraxacum officinale, or the common dandelion to us less proficient in Latin. Here with a visiting insect.
Hasselblad 203 FE
Carl Zeiss 80mm F/2.8 FE on E56 extension tube
Adox CMS 20 at 12 ASA.
Developed in Adotech II for 8.5 mins at 20˙C Stopped with Ilfostop and fixed with T-max fixer for 30 seconds.
Scanned with Epson V700
Silverfast SW.
Wild Strawberry
A little change of pace:
Adox CMS 20 first try. 120 roll film exposed at 12 ASA. This exposure was 1.5 seconds. Taken on my Hasselblad 203 FE with a Carl Zeiss 80mm FE on E56 extension tube.
Developed in Adotech II mixed at 1+29 = 500ml=17+483 ml for 8.5 mins at 20˙C .
Stopped with Ilfostop for 1 min and fixed with T-max fixer for 30 seconds.Wash as normal 10 mins.
Scanned using my V700 and betterscanning.com holder and Silverfast SW
After the parade .
a moment in time. 1/125th of a second
My Photographic World 