Churchside

Well I’ve had the first roll of film developed and I must say that the majority of the photos have turned out quite well. A few were over exposed but considering that I didn’t have a meter that’s to be expected.

For the first of the test shots I used the meter in my Canon PowerShot S50 to give me a rough guide. The last half of the roll I just set the Prefekt to f/8 and 1/20 the same fixed aperture and shutter speed of the Kompakt. Since then I’ve bought a little light meter so with any luck the next roll will be better.

Wildings developed this first roll. At £3.99 I didn’t think that it was too much to pay, but they did slice through the first image thinking that it was just taken with a standard 35mm camera. Those just took a week. Jessops, who are going to tackle the next roll, are going to take two weeks to develop the film. Lets hope they slice it correctly.

I did think that I should just tell them not to cut the negatives into strips. My scanner could scan 6 of these panoramic exposures at a time but with this first roll they were were cut into twos to fit into the plastic wallet. I have also considered developing the film my self. It can’t be all that difficult can it? I’m sure when I used to read photography magazines you could develop film without a dark room. Now that would be fun!

Related Links
Macclesfield - a photoset on Flickr
Unboxed - a photoset on Flickr

Horizon Perfekt

After many hours reading about Horizon Kompakt and Perfekt panoramic cameras I’ve finally ordered one.

If you want to know the reason why then read my review of Jeff Bridges book that is simply called Pictures. I was looking at recent photographs on his web-site a couple of days ago and became inspired… again.

This is going to be a whole new experience for me. The Halina, that I’ve previously used for panoramic photographs, was just a fixed focus, fixed shutter speed and fixed aperture camera. Whereas the Horizon does have shutter and aperture controls which allows for more creativity, or allows for more wasted film because the exposure wasn’t right. Now I’ve read that I could use the Sunny 16 rule to judge the aperture based on the shutter speed being equal, or approximately equal, to the ISO of the film. But I would rather not risk it, so I have my eye on a few light meters that are up for sale on ebay. I’ve already purchased some Ilford HP5 400 film from a photographic shop on ebay and I noticed that they sell it in bulk reels… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Developing the film should be quite easy if I can find somewhere to just process the negative. I don’t even need them to cut the roll into strips as I can do that before I scan it in. Scanning the negatives will be the first time that I’ll see the fruits of my labour as I can’t see the point of finding somewhere to develop and print them. That and the additional cost involved.

After reading posts on the two flickr groups that I’ve found (Horizon Kompakt & Perfekt and Horizon Perfekt Around the World) as well as looking at the photos that people have taken I’m quite excited about trying it out.

Of course I was going to order the Kompakt from the Lomography web-site but I read that you can buy them cheaper on ebay. So I ended up buying the more expensive Perfekt for about the same price. The shop I’m buying it from is simply called moscowStore (moscowphoto - cameras and lenses from Russia). Part of the description of the camera is :-

Whisper-Quiet Clockwork Mechanics
If you’ve ever shot the old-school Horizon 202, then you may have heard its buzzy “little engine that could” clockwork engine each time a long exposure was selected. If that sound charmed your heart, then you’re in for a disappointment with the Perfekt, as its motor is silky smooth and dead-quiet. That yields subtle operation when you need it such as in museums, graduation ceremonies, poetry slams, funerals, and chicken mummification rituals.

“Chicken mummification rituals”, who says the Russians don’t have a sense of humour! If you don’t believe me, and frankly why should you, check for yourself.

Fisheye

When I used to take photographs with my Pentax SF7 I always fancied using a fisheye lens. I think at the time the good ones used to cost upwards of £300. But they had such a huge range that you had to be careful not to get your fringe (not that I had one) or your feet in the shot. Lenses with more than 180° were not uncommon. I could have bought a fisheye adapter but the pictures just didn’t look the same.

A few weeks ago I found the Lomographic web-site. I’m sure that I had seen it before. I can’t quite recall what train of thought, if any, led me to it. Possibly because they sell cheaper versions of the Widelux camera that Jeff Bridges uses.

Anyway, they sell two kinds of camera that take fisheye photos. Of course, being the decisive person that I am, I kept looking at them on the site, at the photos, at the spec and the price etc etc. This went on for a couple of weeks. Did I really want to go back to film, having to get it developed and printed?

They come in two versions, the Fisheye Camera being £27, the Fisheye Camera 2 being £47. I found a brand new Fisheye Camera, unopened, on eBay and won it for £20.50 including postage. So I was quite pleased.

The camera is above and beyond basic by all other standards. You have to manually wind on and rewind the film. Rewinding is more fun as you have to use the little pop-up handle. The flash will switch on but doesn’t seem to switch off. The only way around this is to flip the battery cover before the flash starts charging again. Even the web-site admits that the viewfinder is next to useless. To me this is something of a culture shock because I miss using the viewfinder on my digital camera.

Using it is fun, I have to admit. You don’t have to focus or worry about getting everything in the frame. Anything that is more than four inches in front of the lens will be in focus and captured on film. The spec says the lens has a 170° view. I don’t know if it’s that much but it is pretty damn close.

The only downside is going back to film after getting used to the immediacy of digital photography. It’s always going to be exciting to look at the photos for the first time when they come back from the developers. But then you really have to scan them in if you want to share, or store them, electronically. And that’s a pain. Even my Canon scanner, that will scan 12 negatives really easily, seems to have a mind of it’s own. Photos that I’ve had put on a CD by the developers in the past look as if they’ve been scanned in from the photos and not the negatives.

Maybe I’ll try to develop the film myself. I’m sure I’ve seen developing tanks that don’t require a darkroom.

Of the 24 photos that I took I think that most of them turned out quite well. Time to try another roll of 24 before the novelty wears off.