mfunnell
Shaken, so blurred
A while ago, I saw Joe's challenge:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124138
Normally (if I'd been around RFF, at least) I'd have just said "I'm in" and then done it. But I found myself away from home, likely to remain away for some time, with only digital SLRs available to me. I suppose I could participate on that basis, but it seems "off" somehow. Not in the RFF spirit. A digital SLR? I don't think so.
Despite Joe starting that thread with:
Nonetheless, I've decided to have a go at it. I ordered an OM-2SP and a couple of Zuiko lenses I've always wanted. After all, this seemed a perfectly good opportunity for a GAS attack. 😱 I ordered those from Adorama, which did have what I wanted, but couldn't ship them quickly because of religious holidays. Nonetheless I went ahead because they had what I wanted at a price I felt like paying (nothing 2nd-hand in Melbourne seems to).
While not RF gear, OM equipment gets a bit of an RFF special dispensation, from what I can tell.
While waiting on the camera, I managed to assemble most of the rest of what I need: a processing tank, changing bag, developer, fixer, measuring/mixing containers and a thermometer:
(Oh, I know, I could shoot colour or C-41 B&W, but somehow that didn't seem to fit what I want to do. And these days getting C-41 developed isn't all that convenient.)
That was all surprisingly hard to do, as it happens, without going way off my beaten track. (For those who know Melbourne, Michaels had one last bottle of LC29 - I didn't want to mess about mixing D76 or ID11; Teds had some rapid fixer; film came from Michaels, Teds and Camera House; the mixing gear and thermometer came from a pharmacy.)
I did want to test my whole process before shooting "for real" as it were. It seemed difficult to shoot film without a camera. But Peninsula Camera in Frankston gives cameras away, for free, to anyone who orders a 3-pack of film. I got this with a 3-pack of FP4+
I shot a test roll with that, developed it over the weekend (the negatives looked pretty good) and just today scanned it in with a dinky little stand-alone 35mm film scanner I ordered along with the OM-2SP. It's a Wolverine F2D-14 scanner which is small, powered from USB (via computer or power adapter), records to an SD card and does a surprisingly good job. Here's what the scanner looks like:
And here's an example of it's output (using the closest approximation I could find to a standard cat ):
[Olympus Superzoom 105G; Ilford FP4+; LC29 1+29 for 12 minutes; scanned Wolverine F2D-14]
Not too shabby in my view, especially for a fairly cheap and supposedly "consumer grade" scanner.
Along with the scanner, this arrived:
(and a Zuiko 24mm/f2.8 as well).
So I should be primed and ready. I just hope I haven't exhausted my inventiveness assembling all of that. I have an idea for a subject. Sure, my photos for the challenge will likely end up being sh1te, but at least I'll be giving it a go.
...Mike
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124138
Normally (if I'd been around RFF, at least) I'd have just said "I'm in" and then done it. But I found myself away from home, likely to remain away for some time, with only digital SLRs available to me. I suppose I could participate on that basis, but it seems "off" somehow. Not in the RFF spirit. A digital SLR? I don't think so.
Despite Joe starting that thread with:
I kind of had to think of gear if I was to avoid using a DSLR. Using an RF was out. I can't go to Sydney, where I have many an RF camera (giving me big dose of separation anxiety). There's nothing to buy locally in Melbourne (except for buying brand new). Ordering one in did occur to me, except that there aren't any RF cameras I care to afford that I actually want (given the cameras I already have, though not with me). Anyway, ordering from e-Bay is out given that I'm decidedly not at any registered PayPal address.
Nonetheless, I've decided to have a go at it. I ordered an OM-2SP and a couple of Zuiko lenses I've always wanted. After all, this seemed a perfectly good opportunity for a GAS attack. 😱 I ordered those from Adorama, which did have what I wanted, but couldn't ship them quickly because of religious holidays. Nonetheless I went ahead because they had what I wanted at a price I felt like paying (nothing 2nd-hand in Melbourne seems to).
While not RF gear, OM equipment gets a bit of an RFF special dispensation, from what I can tell.
While waiting on the camera, I managed to assemble most of the rest of what I need: a processing tank, changing bag, developer, fixer, measuring/mixing containers and a thermometer:
(Oh, I know, I could shoot colour or C-41 B&W, but somehow that didn't seem to fit what I want to do. And these days getting C-41 developed isn't all that convenient.)
That was all surprisingly hard to do, as it happens, without going way off my beaten track. (For those who know Melbourne, Michaels had one last bottle of LC29 - I didn't want to mess about mixing D76 or ID11; Teds had some rapid fixer; film came from Michaels, Teds and Camera House; the mixing gear and thermometer came from a pharmacy.)
I did want to test my whole process before shooting "for real" as it were. It seemed difficult to shoot film without a camera. But Peninsula Camera in Frankston gives cameras away, for free, to anyone who orders a 3-pack of film. I got this with a 3-pack of FP4+
I shot a test roll with that, developed it over the weekend (the negatives looked pretty good) and just today scanned it in with a dinky little stand-alone 35mm film scanner I ordered along with the OM-2SP. It's a Wolverine F2D-14 scanner which is small, powered from USB (via computer or power adapter), records to an SD card and does a surprisingly good job. Here's what the scanner looks like:
And here's an example of it's output (using the closest approximation I could find to a standard cat ):
[Olympus Superzoom 105G; Ilford FP4+; LC29 1+29 for 12 minutes; scanned Wolverine F2D-14]
Not too shabby in my view, especially for a fairly cheap and supposedly "consumer grade" scanner.
Along with the scanner, this arrived:
(and a Zuiko 24mm/f2.8 as well).
So I should be primed and ready. I just hope I haven't exhausted my inventiveness assembling all of that. I have an idea for a subject. Sure, my photos for the challenge will likely end up being sh1te, but at least I'll be giving it a go.
...Mike
