50mm |

one roll in california

Posted on November 16, 2015 by shootfilmnotguns

Recently I’ve been looking at how my pictures relate to one another. The flow/sequence photos can have or the similarity between photos taken without the intention of being used together.

2 rolls that I had in my fridge were recently developed. Both had many images in the same roll that related to each other. Right now I have a photo book in the works and the little amount of editing necessary for these rolls was greatly appreciated. One of these rolls was over a year old and has an interesting story, unfortunately it can’t be used in the aforementioned book so I’ll post it here instead.

When I was coming back to the states my layover was in LA. I decided to stay a few days and meet up with a good friend of mine. At the time I was just getting into film photography (see http://shootfilmnotguns.net/2015/04/29/how-i-started-to-shoot-film/) so I shot one roll in California. It was a roll of ilford sfx 200. This roll was purchased in Japan (summer 2014) and flew to California (through xray machines). Shot in California and then flew again only to sit in my fridge for a year. I’m surprised that pictures actually came out!

First film shot in America! I remember liking the lighting on the tree. ~~After the photo I went to Panera bread in the background~~ There will be a lot of car pictures in this roll!

New and old black and white. The car scene in California seems great hopefully I can go back to take more car pictures someday.

Since I was in the area I had to check out illest (http://illestbrand.com/). I love cars and taking pictures of them, if you want to see more of my car pictures check out http://rave33.tumblr.com/ or rave33clothes on instagram, or keep scrolling…

Some more snaps

California roads also seem great for taking a drive in one of the many nice cars you see around.

I stayed in the Irvine area and it was really nice, the scenery was something I hadn’t seen too much of before.

I think this roll tells the story of my layover in California. Some of the pictures don’t work as stand alone pictures but paired up its a nice little set. Rather than showing a few individually I’d prefer them to be seen in this order. Editing a project can be really difficult but this was a fun ~~and easy~~ project if you can call it that.

Taken with pentax p-30 50mm 1.7 in and around Irvine California, Ilford 200 sfx film that had seen better days. Scanned with the pakonf135 that helped make the images usable.

50mm Leica lens impressions

Posted on May 5, 2015 by shootfilmnotguns

I tried out 3 50mm leica lenses today; the f/1 noctilux (not sure which version), the f/1.4 summilux asph and the f/2 summicron-m ver.4/5 (non asph apo).

All 3 are amazing any of them would be a great 50, maybe the only 50 you would ever need. I’ve been in pursuit of “the one” 50mm lens for a while now. Thought I should share my experiences with these lenses.

50mm summicron-m f/2.0

The smallest and lightest of the 3, but this does not affect performance at all! At f/2 it appears to be the sharpest. I really like the way that the summicron renders images. The colors, sharpness contrast everything is great. The pull out hood is nice too, but it does not lock like the summilux. There is no focus tab but I feel like it’s not necessary for this lens. The focus ring is really fast smooth and accurate, but still a focus tab would have been nice. The aperture ring is my favorite of the 3, a little more firm. The small size also makes it great for street or travel. I think f/2 is perfect, it won’t let you go too crazy with DOF and is good enough for low light(with modern digital cameras at least). The size, weight and feeling of this lens is also great! Also its the cheapest!!

50mm summilux asph f/1.4

This is really the all in one 50, it sits in the middle of the summicron and noctilux. Not as big as the noctilux but bigger than the summicron. Also price wise is in the middle. Build and appearance are similar to the summicron-m but with a focus tab and longer/bigger. Strikes the right balance and probably the best one lens setup for anything. Not as sharp as the cron but wide open it looks amazing! Would be a great portrait lens as well, bokeh is beautiful. If you can shoot street at 1.4 you would get amazing shots but id go with the cron for street. This is really the jack of all trades 50mm. I really like the focus tab,but the aperture ring is a little too smooth. It won’t move out of place, it’s just too smooth for my taste. Over all great lens, would love to have one!

50mm noctilux f/1

Largest of the 3 lenses but also the fastest. “Fastest” as far as aperture but the focus is not as fast as the cron nor the lux. The closest focus distance is also a bit farther. Not the best for street photography for sure. This would be a great portrait lens but is not as versatile as the other 2. It is a specialty lens for sure. Not as sharp as the cron and probably matches the lux at some apertures, but we all know this lens is all about being shot wide open! Haven’t shot this at night but I’m sure its great, I could hardly shoot at f/1 iso 160 during the day. Not available new but certainly a great lens that holds its own next to the new cron and lux.

Conclusion:

For me the summircon was the best. The size weight price and fast aperture (f/2 is still fast!) really make it an appealing do anything 50. Would have loved a focus tab but it doesn’t really need it. In general a good choice. The summilux is great too if you need f/1.4. Sharp enough light enough it would make a great single lens set up for travel. The noctilux is too specialized for me. The images you get from it at f/1 can’t be replicated by the other 2 but it’s not as practice as the others.

samples shot on an m9 not wide open, these were the only pictures of the same subject with all 3 lenses.