Street Art, on Film With Leica IIIC and Summaron 3.5cm f3.5 Lens

Street Art, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIC, Summaron 3.5 cm f3.5 Lens

Fuji iso 100 Color Print Film

 

Man, do I love to shoot my old Barnack cameras. On this particular day, I chose to carry only this camera and lens to photograph "Chalk Fest" in Reston, VA.

 

When I started shooting in the late morning, the light was bright and harsh. The shade was fine, though. I ended up coming back later in the evening to finish up, when the light was much more agreeable. I'll have more to share from this event later.

 

The tiny little Barnack camera and lens, topped with a Russian 35mm viewfinder, caused little or no distraction amongst people at the festival. It is small, quiet, non-threatening. I can see why Barnack's little camera was able to transform photojournalism back in the day.

 

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A Shot That's Close to My Heart - From Leica IIIC

Intensity, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIC, Leica Summitar 50mm f2 Lens

 

I recently picked up a nice Leica IIIC for an amazing low price. Knowing that it had been purchased from Leica repairman extraordinaire, Youxin Ye, I could be confident that it would work well. It does.

 

Here's a shot from my first roll through the IIIC. I shot it at a music festival, where my daughter did me the pleasure of accompanying me. That's asking a lot of a twelve year old. But, we're still buddies, and always will be.

 

This is the online scan provided by The Darkroom, who processes my film. (Click Here) to visit The Darkroom for excellent, fast, cost-effective processing of your film.

 

I absolutely love shooting the old Barnack screwmount cameras, like this IIIC. Prices on these cameras have dropped, so you can own and shoot a piece of Leica history for a very reasonable price these days. This new IIIC has the special sharkskin covering, which was only used for a short period in Leica production. I'm happy to have it in my collection.

 

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Black and White Film for C-41 (Drugstore) Processing - And How To Best Shoot It

 

Chinese New Year Spectator, by Reed A. George

Leica CL, Voigtlander Heliar 75mm f2.5 Lens

 
I love to shoot film. I have found that over time, my choice of film has become easier. Rather than worry about color balance, contrast level, etc., I just go for a low contrast film, and adjust everything in Lightroom, after scanning. The reason I go for low contrast film is that you can always add contrast; you can't take it away. Fuji Reala 100 is (was) an incredibly good film for scanning. Now, I generally just buy inexpensive Fuji film of the speed I need. Actually, in retail stores, that's typically reduced to iso 200 and 400 only.
 
Anyway, I also normally use color film, even when I'm planning to have the final image live in black and white (b&w). Black and white conversion is so easy, good, and flexible in Lightroom that I rarely think about shooting black and white film anymore. When I did shoot b&w film, many times I would choose the films that could be developed in the ubiquitous C-41 process. This allowed me to just drop the film off at the local drugstore and get it back in an hour.
 
Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer has posted a piece on Ilford XP2 Super, which is a C-41 b&w film, and how to best use it. The C-41 b&w films, in addition to being convenient for quick processing, are also known to be very flexible in exposure latitude. That means that if you don't get the exposure just right, it's okay. Many people use this to push the film's native speed of iso400 to 800, or even higher. However, Mike suggests against that.
 
(Click Here) to read Mike's article on The Online Photographer.
 
Mike takes advantage of XP2 Super's characteristics to maximize the effect of the film's low grain in bright areas by typically overexposing, by shooting it at lower iso settings than the nominal 400. Here are his guidelines for iso settings with XP2:
 

• In normal lighting situations, shoot at iso 200.
• In very bright situations, shoot at iso 100.
• In dim lighting, shoot at iso 400, never over 800.

The neat thing is, unlike normal b&w films, you don't have to adjust the processing conditions at all. So, you can still just drop it at the drugstore for processing, even if you shot at iso 100.
 
Go grab yourself a roll and try it out. And remember, to get the best out of XP2 Super, overexpose rather than underexpose it.
 
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