First bw’s with 35 Pancake II

Avotius, this is really great stuff. I was surprised as I scrolled down the page, and the images started to leap off the screen at me. Nice work.

I'm curious about your digitizing technique - do you do the scans yourself? They come across so nicely, I'm impressed that you can wring so much from an XP2 scan. I'd tried in the distant past, and kinda moved on to traditional B&W. Do you find that XP2 is better for scanning because of the lack of silver grains?

Again, thanks for the images. Keep 'em coming. (Nice lens, too, btw.)


Cheers,
--joe.
 
Thanks Avotius, I like your work a lot. I love street/slice of life photography in general. The photos are all lovely. cheers
 
planetjoe said:
Avotius, this is really great stuff. I was surprised as I scrolled down the page, and the images started to leap off the screen at me. Nice work.

I'm curious about your digitizing technique - do you do the scans yourself? They come across so nicely, I'm impressed that you can wring so much from an XP2 scan. I'd tried in the distant past, and kinda moved on to traditional B&W. Do you find that XP2 is better for scanning because of the lack of silver grains?

Again, thanks for the images. Keep 'em coming. (Nice lens, too, btw.)


Cheers,
--joe.
Click to expand...


I do the scans myself for the most part, I do them at a semi pro lab where I just happen to know everyone in there well enough that they will let me tweak the scans on their Fuji S2000 scanning station for their Frontier printing machine. These are simple 6 meg scans suitable for around 6 inch prints. If I need larger scans I just go in there and do the 40 meg scans. Its cheaper this way.
 
planetjoe said:
I'm impressed that you can wring so much from an XP2 scan. I'd tried in the distant past, and kinda moved on to traditional B&W. Do you find that XP2 is better for scanning because of the lack of silver grains?

Again, thanks for the images. Keep 'em coming. (Nice lens, too, btw.)


Cheers,
--joe.
Click to expand...


the message wouldnt post, for some reason the forum is being mean tonight and I have to post in two messages.

XP2 is a really good film, great highlights I think. I use it because chemicals are hard to come by here and its easy but in that I found that I really like the film, a lot better then the kodak stuff thats for sure...it just needs extra care to use the film, 1/3 over exposure and the whole look changes.
 
Avotius,

These are some very nice shots. My 35 PII should be arriving in the mail today or tomorrow. Nice to see what it's capable of, but of course your skill has made the most of it. As for your friend with the D70, could he have been confusing shallow depth of field for lack of focus? I have a D70, and when I first started using it after using lots of 35mm, I noticed immediately how the smaller sensor affects DOF.

Paul
 
Avotius: Once again, your images just dazzle me. And I know you're going to get a lot of mileage from that camera/lens (and film!) combo. XP2 is simply grand. (I take it your lab of choice does good C41.) Thanks for sharing these.


- Barrett
 
Avotius said:
XP2 is a really good film, great highlights I think. I use it because chemicals are hard to come by here and its easy but in that I found that I really like the film, a lot better then the kodak stuff thats for sure...it just needs extra care to use the film, 1/3 over exposure and the whole look changes.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the feeling that I'd better take another look at XP2; it might even help this "grain problem" I've been wrestling with lately.

For some reason, my early XP2 work was marked by heavy purple/high contrast negs, and the prints I had made at the time were off on the "punchy" side, not just high contrast, but almost...over-saturated, if you get my drift.

I'm not saying it wasn't my doing, but I think a lot of that came out of the lab.

Anyway, I'm also siding with Joe Brugger, in that you're one hell of a salesman for the PII. Might make me want to put my J12 aside for a while.

Thanks again, and keep shooting.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
planetjoe said:
... XP2; it might even help this "grain problem" I've been wrestling with lately.

For some reason, my early XP2 work was marked by heavy purple/high contrast negs, and the prints I had made at the time were off on the "punchy" side, not just high contrast, but almost...over-saturated, if you get my drift.

I'm not saying it wasn't my doing, but I think a lot of that came out of the lab.
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Heavy purple and high contrast sound like lab problems. My best XP2 negs are maybe faintly purplish, almost neutral like a conventional b&w neg. Some C-41 processors pay a lot more attention to their process than others. It will definitely solve your grain problem as long as you don't underexpose, and scans beautifully.
 
Joe Brugger said:
Heavy purple and high contrast sound like lab problems. My best XP2 negs are maybe faintly purplish, almost neutral like a conventional b&w neg. Some C-41 processors pay a lot more attention to their process than others. It will definitely solve your grain problem as long as you don't underexpose, and scans beautifully.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Joe. Folks have been saying such great things about XP2 lately, I was hoping my problems were out-of-the-ordinary.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
planetjoe said:
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the feeling that I'd better take another look at XP2; it might even help this "grain problem" I've been wrestling with lately.

For some reason, my early XP2 work was marked by heavy purple/high contrast negs, and the prints I had made at the time were off on the "punchy" side, not just high contrast, but almost...over-saturated, if you get my drift.

I'm not saying it wasn't my doing, but I think a lot of that came out of the lab.

Anyway, I'm also siding with Joe Brugger, in that you're one hell of a salesman for the PII. Might make me want to put my J12 aside for a while.

Thanks again, and keep shooting.


Cheers,
--joe.
Click to expand...



XP2 is a punchy film, compared to the likes of TRIX or HP5 which I found to be pretty mellow. If you are looking for less punch per say I suggest overexposing it a hair. Half a stop will do from box speed. I shoot at box speed because I like that punchy look ala the attached picture which I shot with my yashica gsn and XP2 at box speed.

As for purple negatives I noticed that its slightly different then HP5 and Delta 100 (shot at 400) which I used to shoot until chemicals all disappeared (my poor LC29.....) When I get back from lunch im going to get a XP2 negative and something else and shoot them side by side to show the color difference.
 

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Back to the lens for a moment. The CV 35/2.5 classic is often dissed as being "too contrasty." But its optics are the same as those of the P II (if I read the new bartender's description correctly), and the contrast in the shots you posted don't look too contrasty IMO. Go figure. I especially liked the first two, and the one of the two girls w/ Mickey M. Outstanding work! Please post more!
 
My scans really suck compared to yours! I keep on using a Kodak shop in my "office" bldg. Otherwise it's a long trip to Seoul and back by bus or subway. FINE work in a very target-rich environment.

Korea has developed too much I guess for these kinds of shots. The equivalent here would be some "princesses" showing off their latest designer label clothes and accessories in an upscale mall.
 
Avotius said:
XP2 is a punchy film, compared to the likes of TRIX or HP5 which I found to be pretty mellow. If you are looking for less punch per say I suggest overexposing it a hair. Half a stop will do from box speed. I shoot at box speed because I like that punchy look ala the attached picture which I shot with my yashica gsn and XP2 at box speed.
Click to expand...

Wow, I like that image too. Nicely exposed.

Thanks for the advice on XP2. As it turns out, I like the "punchy look", too; I think I've been working with Trix for so long (and Delta3200, too, mmm) that I'd gotten used to a generally flatter presentation - not to mention different exposure mechanics. Not that those films are "flat", per se - well, you catch my drift.

I wish I had scans of the XP2 prints I'm talking about. Your image is definitely what I would have liked from a contrasty neg; I definitely think there was something screwy with the machine print. Someday I'll get around to scanning the negs, and then we'll see.

To Bill58: I'd love to shoot in urban Korea. I bet street scenes in Seoul just kick butt. Although, I suppose I could just stroll Wishire Boulevard for a few blocks in LA's Koreatown and call it a day. But then, I'm kidding.


Cheers,
--joe.
 
Bingley said:
Back to the lens for a moment. The CV 35/2.5 classic is often dissed as being "too contrasty." But its optics are the same as those of the P II (if I read the new bartender's description correctly), and the contrast in the shots you posted don't look too contrasty IMO. Go figure. I especially liked the first two, and the one of the two girls w/ Mickey M. Outstanding work! Please post more!
Click to expand...


Note to toot my own horn here but I see a lot of people on here talking about their photos and overexposing so many stops to get shadow detail and what not and I keep thinking....why? Yes it exposes shadows but if you scan the film right you dont have to do this...

A lot of the photos here suffer from bad scanning im sorry to say, and I know scanning at the shops can be expensive for really good scans. I was at a shop in Tacoma and the guy said a pro scan of a 35mm negative at max size (45 megs) was 120 dollars. Here its about 80 cents (40 megs). Digitizing photos shouldnt be this expensive....

As for me im going to be gone for a day or two, going out on a shooting trip, might have some more stuff to show afterwords.
 
planetjoe said:
Wow, I like that image too. Nicely exposed.

Thanks for the advice on XP2. As it turns out, I like the "punchy look", too; I think I've been working with Trix for so long (and Delta3200, too, mmm) that I'd gotten used to a generally flatter presentation - not to mention different exposure mechanics. Not that those films are "flat", per se - well, you catch my drift.

I wish I had scans of the XP2 prints I'm talking about. Your image is definitely what I would have liked from a contrasty neg; I definitely think there was something screwy with the machine print. Someday I'll get around to scanning the negs, and then we'll see.

To Bill58: I'd love to shoot in urban Korea. I bet street scenes in Seoul just kick butt. Although, I suppose I could just stroll Wishire Boulevard for a few blocks in LA's Koreatown and call it a day. But then, I'm kidding.


Cheers,
--joe.
Click to expand...


Yes-Rural Korea would be a little like China, but unfortunately I stand out like a sore thumb being a foreigner and some (particularly the poor) Koreans really object to being photographed. My G/F who is Korean says they consider it a "put-down" (disgrace). Somehow they think it means you are better off than they are.
 
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