A walk in the park with my new Rollei

[EthanFrank]

Canada Post knocked on my door on a lovely snowy morning this past Thursday...I thought a walk would be a good idea! I just finished developing them.

While these are just a few fun shots, I'd love some critique on my metering/exposure and framing...I tend to shoot street, and these shots are a touch out of my comfort zone. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

For the film guys, this is Ilford HP5+, metered at ISO 200, developed in HC-110 for 4 minutes with gentle agitation.



A few landscapes and the like:


20120201-g ross049-Edit-2.jpg by -eth-, on Flickr


20120201-g ross053-Edit.jpg by -eth-, on Flickr


20120201-g ross046-Edit.jpg by -eth-, on Flickr



And a couple portraits:


20120131-g ross048-Edit.jpg by -eth-, on Flickr


20120131-g ross042-Edit.jpg by -eth-, on Flickr

 

[mfunnell]

Very nice indeed! You must be pleased with the camera, given the quality of the photos. (Not so sure about the quality of the weather, though, from my perspective in summer down here in Oz.) You've reminded me that I really should take my Rolleicord for a walk some day soon.

Some quick technical questions: what dilution were you using for the HC-110? And was that continuous agitation for the 4 minutes? I'm thinking of trying some HP5+, as an alternative to Tri-X - then if I can get that dialled in with HC-110, trying it with Ilfotec HC (recent events being a good motivator).

...Mike

 

[lynnb]

Congratulations on these. I'm mainly digital, from my perspective these look great - you have retained texture in the snow, and also, shadow detail. I like the framing on #2, #3 and #5 best. With #1 I would like to see how it looks cropped to 4:5, removing the bottom. Just my opinion. I prefer #5 over #4 because I like to see a bit more environment in a portrait - but again, that's just my personal preference.
I'll be interested to read what more informed voices around here have to say.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[EthanFrank]

Very nice indeed! You must be pleased with the camera, given the quality of the photos. (Not so sure about the quality of the weather, though, from my perspective in summer down here in Oz.) You've reminded me that I really should take my Rolleicord for a walk some day soon.

Some quick technical questions: what dilution were you using for the HC-110? And was that continuous agitation for the 4 minutes? I'm thinking of trying some HP5+, as an alternative to Tri-X - then if I can get that dialled in with HC-110, trying it with Ilfotec HC (recent events being a good motivator).

...Mike

Mike,

Thank you!

As for the technical stuff, I agitated for the first 30 seconds, and then 3 gentle agitations a minute. HC-110 dilution B, by the way. If I had metered it at ISO 400, I would have done 5 minutes.

I think I've been agitating my film too much, so I backpedaled by quite a bit. I probably could have agitated a bit more, but I'm relatively happy with the results. I also like the extra shadow detail by over-exposing and under-developing.

 

[kknox]

Great photos, nice work. I too use HC-110 w/HP5+, since Neopan 400 in 120 is gone its my new film for 35 & 120 formats. It also works great @1600 for 11min. What Rollei do you have?

 

[EthanFrank]

Great photos, nice work. I too use HC-110 w/HP5+, since Neopan 400 in 120 is gone its my new film for 35 & 120 formats. It also works great @1600 for 11min. What Rollei do you have?

A 2.8D that someone converted to take a prism. I love it to death.

Such a shame there's no Neopan 400 in 120. I use it for 35mm and love it, though I haven't had much luck pushing it to 1600. You say you develop it for 11 minutes...dilution B? I've been doing like 14 minutes, maybe that's my issue...

 

[kknox]

Yes dilution B, I only agitate the first 30 seconds, then about 4 seconds or so every min after that. I find if you agitate every 30 for 11 min you get lots of grain. I watch the temps on everything. I got the 11 min off the HP5+ box for HC-110, 14 min might be to long @1600.

 

[Vics]

Just beautiful! The composition, exposures and development look good. Now you just need to get out in your town and document the local life. Carry it with you everywhere.It's the Rollei way!

 

[EthanFrank]

Just beautiful! The composition, exposures and development look good. Now you just need to get out in your town and document the local life. Carry it with you everywhere.It's the Rollei way!

Thanks so much. I plan on bringing it everywhere I can. That was the plan for the M6, but I've really fallen for 120 lately.

 

[canetsbe]

Nice photos! You did a great job controlling the contrast in those conditions. Isn't easy in snow. Keep it up and shoot some street with it, would love to see what you can do.

 

[canetsbe]

Also- what do you scan with?

 

[EthanFrank]

Also- what do you scan with?

The humble Epson v500 - stock software and the bloody stock neg holder. I almost smashed it a few times 🙂

 

[mfunnell]

I probably could have agitated a bit more, but I'm relatively happy with the results.

Thanks for those details, they're helpful. I'd say, whatever you're doing, keep doing it! The results speak for themselves.

...Mike

 

[canetsbe]

The humble Epson v500 - stock software and the bloody stock neg holder. I almost smashed it a few times 🙂

I'm running the same rig. Pisses me off something fierce at times... I'm scanning some b/w currently as we speak. 35mm though. It handles MF far better. What settings do you use? I'm at gamma 2.2 with no other adjustments and then adjust levels in lightroom.. seems to work fairly well for small viewing sizes.

 

[EthanFrank]

I'm running the same rig. Pisses me off something fierce at times... I'm scanning some b/w currently as we speak. 35mm though. It handles MF far better. What settings do you use? I'm at gamma 2.2 with no other adjustments and then adjust levels in lightroom.. seems to work fairly well for small viewing sizes.

Gamma is one of those concepts that is lost on little old analog me. I used gamma to calibrate my monitor by eye when I bought it...that's the extent of my knowledge. I adjust levels in Lightroom and fine tune in Silver Efex.

 

[back alley]

great shooting ethan!!

it's kinda funny...people around quibble over what lens, what sensor, when really...if you want to instantly 'improve' they just need to shoot 120.

i had the mamiya 6 for a few years...wind up shooting delta 3200 most of the time...shot at 1000 and developed in ddx...i loved the look!

 

[sparrow6224]

Ethan --
Beautiful. Funny when I saw the first shot, the trees, I said: Silver Efex. And then way down the thread there it is. Compositionally a few suggestions, just my sensibility, not rules obvioulsy. Shot 1 has the tree base in the middle but it should be down, there is, as someone said, too much bottom. You wanted the trees occupying a full 2/3 of the vertical frame. #2 I would have taken a step forward to get that tree on the far left out of the frame. It's fine to have something in the foreground jutting out of the frame but you would have wanted more of it if you decided to keep it in. The logs are perfect. The portrait of your lady friend -- unless you just met walking in the woods? very cool -- is close to perfect. I would have moved about half a meter to the left or less to get that tree on the far right closer to the edge and to get more of the large tree into the picture, presumably tapering upward to give you more sky on the left and a bit less on the right. The picture of you you're not responsible for but it's nice the way that branch arcs along the crown of your hat. On the other hand in a portrait you generally want the head and particularly the eyes up near the top third of the photo -- the eyes at roughly a third and always well above the midpoint is a good rule, though, as in your pic of the young lady, sometimes you should break it. You wouldn't want to lose the lovely break in curve in her silhouette -- her waist, in other words. You might even have dropped it a bit more; but not very much.

That's my take on the compositions. I would add that whoever is seeing details in the snow (mentioned above) in the first two pictures has a far far better eye and monitor than I do. I wonder whether HC-110 is your best bet for snowy pictures: I have some, though I haven't tried it, but I've read that it compresses the higher "zones" or the highlights, that you lose details in the highlights with it, and I'd say that's what I'm seeing in 1 and 2 and somewhat in the others as well.

This is nitpicking. But you axed. (That's how we say it in New York City, where it's going to be 60 degrees F tomorrow (15C?) on Feb 1. We're turning Mediterranean.

 

[seakayaker1]

The photographs are wonderful Ethan!

I picked up a Rolieiflex 3.5F Planar (Type 4) 12/24 with Meter TLR at the beginning of the year and only have had time to run through 2 rolls of film so far.

Thanks for sharing the photographs, it certainly is a motivation for me to get out with the Rolleiflex more often.

 

[canetsbe]

Gamma is one of those concepts that is lost on little old analog me. I used gamma to calibrate my monitor by eye when I bought it...that's the extent of my knowledge. I adjust levels in Lightroom and fine tune in Silver Efex.

I don't really know what it means either, other than it seems to give me a flatter scan to work with in post.

 

[Ronald M]

Tough to do with a new camera, but wait for better light.

Composition and other aspects fine. This sort of thing is my comfort zone,, but I am normally at the mercy of weather.