Yashica Mat 124G: 3 Rolls

Besides the digital photos I normally post, I also like to slow things down and shoot film. I purchased my first medium format camera, a Yashica Mat 124G, from Awesome Cameras. Joey has such a great collection of cameras up for sale, so go check out his site! The next step of course was finding someone I trusted to develop my negatives. I took my first test roll to Milford Photo and was not happy with the results of the scans, so I asked some film people who they used. These three rolls of film were developed and scanned by Old School Photolab. You order your developing/scanning online, print out a free shipping label, slap your film in an envelop and away they go. They have a free online gallery where you can download high res scans or you can have them burned onto a disc. They mail you back the negs in protective sleeves. They were a pleasure to work with and I plan to send all my film to them in the future. I shot three different types of film, some of them going back to February of this year, and Old School Photolab did a great job on all types.

Lomography Earl Grey Black and White, ISO 100

I really love the contrast and dark blacks this film produces.

Fuij Pro 400H Color Film

Double exposure fun time!

Ilford Delta 3200 Black & White

These came out a little light, but I remember I used to have this film pushed when I shot its 35mm counterpart, so I might try that next round.

A few of the photos have a sepia tone. This was a glitch when I uploaded them online with my watermark. I don't know why because they don't have this tint on the screen. Let's blame Blogger on that one.

As with any film camera I carry, people get really excited when they see me taking pictures with it. I'm still struggling with the image in the camera being reversed, but my manual focusing has improved a ton. My particular camera's light meter is broken, so I usually have a digital with me as a back up to meter. While it costs more than digital, film expenses and developing/scanning, it's always useful to slow myself down and really think about composition. Besides, you can't beat producing double exposures in camera.

Petzval Lens Testings

Last December, I preordered a Petzval lens from Lomography. It's an all brass lens with manual focus and aperture plates that you slip into the lens. It is know for it's swirling bokeh effect, i.e. the stuff in the background of a photo that's out of focus looks like it is being sucked into a really cool vortex. It definitely adds a unique effect to images, but it's not for every situation. I received the lens back in June and spent a couple of months playing with it. I've inlcuded some of my better results, but there have been plenty of times where it didn't quite work out.

What you'll notice right off the bat is the punch in color saturation. I did not add that in post processing. The lens produces some intense colors, which makes it really fun to use in nature photography. I've gotten much better with my manual focusing, but in some of my early examples, I'm slightly off. For the most part, I was using the two smallest aperture plates, to create the largest amount of bokeh. I prefer the second smallest number aperture plate because it allows the featured object to be fully in focus. The Petzval lens works best when there is a contrast in brightness and I've found that any type of green trees/grass works well for this.

My first test shots were with the smallest aperture plate number and effect is a bit too much for my liking.

As far as portraits go, I love this lens. 

With the second smallest aperture plate, it's not as overpowering.

I need to do some more tests with this crazy fabric, but my subject here was too close to the background to fully swirl.

When there isn't enough separation between the objects, you don't get the swirl bokeh, but it's still pretty interesting.

I brought the Petzval along with me to the Gathering of the Vibes for some portraits and it catches a lot of people's eye. I had several photographers ask me what the lens was. While I enjoy it for portraits and still life, it's not the greatest choice for concert photography and moving objects. Although I'm improving on my focus, I cannot get it sharp enough fast enough when working with a moving target.

In addition to the regular aperture plates, four shaped aperture plates were included. 

I used the star aperture plate on the Ferris Wheel at the Vibes to create this shot.

The Petval can be a lot of fun when used in the right situations. The biggest frustration I've found is that the aperture plates fall out of the lens constantly if you are using any kind of Black Rapid camera strap. People that see the lens become curious and excited, which is a great ice breaker. I plan on doing more tests in the fall with all the lovely New England foliage, but for now, the Petzval is a welcome addition to my arsenal.