Some GSN photos from China

[Avotius]

Here are some more photos from my second Aba trip into Sichuan China. Note that my 20D stopped working because of the cold and high altitude but my GSN had zero problems 🙄

btw. the piles of nikon d70's and 20/30D's that stopped working up there was so funny, it was a class trip, about 30 people, everyone has one of those two cameras, guess who was the only one who brought two film cameras, and was able to take pictures where everyone else was just sitting around watching...even the teachers venerable 1ds mk2 died a battery death :angel: and they laugh at me for still using film! hahahaha....

Anyway the film used was provia 100, that and this lens make a nice low contrast image, maybe a touch too low for my taste in some cases where in post processing I had to up the contrast on some. These looks great blown up to 15x10 inches and for a 13 dollar camera really holds its own, especially when it was the only thing on the mountain that could take photos still.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

outstanding work!

 

[Keith]

Those photos have made my day ... I agree ... outstanding! 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

[Solinar]

Excellent work with the GSN - Especially the compositions.

 

[tedwhite]

Wonderful stuff. Gives us a glimpse of China one rarely sees.

Now, why did I sell my GSN....

Ted

 

[Trius]

Oh my, oh my, oh my ... outstanding, Avotius. I especially like #2, 7, 10, and the last one. Forget about the M8. You might encounter static elctricity.

 

[samdj1210]

One word, Amazing.

 

[Avotius]

thanks a lot for the comments everyone

...Forget about the M8. You might encounter static elctricity.

Yeah I know, digital and all that but I must say, here in chonqging where I live, there is NO where that properly does film so I have to mail my film to another city to be done and they do a much better job with it, but it has to be said, my negatives come back dusty and dirty, which is as good as I can get it. Anyway It takes about an hour to clean all the dirt off a pro scan of a negative and I did like 14 negative prints....

 

[dingadingdang]

excellent pics!

 

[jan normandale]

I love this thread. The images of course are outstanding and you might consider a couple for Jon Flanders thread... http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4392

 

[Trius]

Avotius: Not that it's digital, but it needs its kinks worked out. And with your track record with the R-D1... sorry! 🙁

But yeah, the difficulty you have in getting good local film processing is a real bummer. Reminds me how fortunate I am to have more than one good local source. If you had the means, doing your own processing would make sense.

 

[Avotius]

Avotius: Not that it's digital, but it needs its kinks worked out. And with your track record with the R-D1... sorry! 🙁

But yeah, the difficulty you have in getting good local film processing is a real bummer. Reminds me how fortunate I am to have more than one good local source. If you had the means, doing your own processing would make sense.

it would make sense but I dont know how to do color and I shoot slides, which I know for a fact is a pain in the arse to develop. Also I do shoot bw but the water here in cq is even worse then the place I send my film off too, my father suggested I distill water and try it that way but think of all the water I would need to distill to develop one roll of film....yikes.

Yes the m8 needs to be worked out, I didnt have an rd1, it was an ikon that gave me the grief. Still....if they can get it right or zeiss comes out with something, im all ears. I dont want the rd1 because its a step backwards from my 20D I think. One day...

 

[kathytoth.ca]

These are phenomenal, wow.

 

[Don Parsons]

How cold was it?

That's why I always have 1 film camera with me, even if it's a P&S.

 

[Trius]

Oh yeah, it was the ZI ... my bad!

Distilling water isn't necessary. Filtering will do. I use water from my dehumidifier (close to distilled) but that's because the water is handy. I use a Brita filter, (though it doesn't look like they are available in China) to filter out any grit, etc.

And it really doesn't take that much water to do film, esp. b&w. I can't remember how much water I needed to wash E6, but I am pretty sure you could do it easily.

I found only my first roll of E6 to be terrifying. After that one, I had discovered how easy it was. 😀

 

[Avotius]

Oh yeah, it was the ZI ... my bad!

Distilling water isn't necessary. Filtering will do. I use water from my dehumidifier (close to distilled) but that's because the water is handy. I use a Brita filter, (though it doesn't look like they are available in China) to filter out any grit, etc.

And it really doesn't take that much water to do film, esp. b&w. I can't remember how much water I needed to wash E6, but I am pretty sure you could do it easily.

I found only my first roll of E6 to be terrifying. After that one, I had discovered how easy it was. 😀

hm....ill have to take a closer look into it, thanks! Brita water filters are no where around here but there are alternatives, that said, no one here drinks water that doesnt come out or a bottle or a red hot pot. When I was in photography class in the states and over here they said you should wash you negatives for at least 30 minutes in a pan with the water running inside. What do you do?

 

[Avotius]

How cold was it?

That's why I always have 1 film camera with me, even if it's a P&S.

in the morning it was about -5 C which isnt so cold, but with the wind it was significantly colder, I would say closer to about -15 C with the wind. In direct sun it was ok, about 3-5 C. Plus the altitude which varied from 3500-5000 meters does bad things to batteries.

 

[Trius]

Avotius: For b&w film, the Ilford method I use is:

"Alternatively, fill the spiral tank with water at the
same temperature, +/– 5ºC (9ºF), as the
processing solutions and invert it five times. Drain
the water away and refill. Invert the tank ten times.
Once more drain the water away and refill.
Finally, invert the tank twenty times and drain the
water away."

I would also like to experiment with letting the film sit in a few changes of water; I read somewhere that fixer will leach out as it stands in water. But as I say, I'd have to do some controlled experiments to see if letting film simply stand in a couple of changes would work.

I don't recall the washing regime for E6, but I don't imagine it would be much different.

Yes, I'm sure you can find other suitable filters. Boiling and then filtering should work.

 

[Avotius]

I used ilford lc29 for a long while to do my bw. Kind of the same as you but I added the solution in and did the turning key thing to agitate, pored out the solution and did the water to rinse twice then fixed, then dump that out and stick the film in a pan and let it rinse for about 30 minutes. Never had problems with the developing part, just need to find a way to deal witht he water. In fact I turned to using ilford xp2 because it didnt mater, all of my negatives were dirty either way, and because of time and space, after I moved developing became a problem.

 

[Keith]

I have just had to rush off and take some pics with my GSN ... and stare in awe at the lens of this low budget marvel.

Avotius's eye would be nice too though! 😛