Fun with Nikon Film SLR - the Venerable FM

My Nikon film SLR collection is nearly complete, I've had my eye out for one I didn't have - the original FM. I finally found one in essentially mint condition, used, on Amazon. I took the chance and was rewarded with this great little camera. One of the best things about the FM is that it can mount and use both AI and non-AI lenses, making it the perfect film companion to my digital Nikon Df.

 

Here are some shots from the test roll of Ilford HP5 that I put through the FM.

 

 

Saying that I'm pleased is an understatement.

 

By the way, I scanned these on a new dedicated film scanner, the Pacific Image XA. While all of the autoloading on this scanner is a bit oversold, the image quality is outstanding. I can actually see film grain in my scans, something that has been elusive on flatbed scanners, even the Epson V750. If you're serious about scanning 35mm films, I suggest you give the XA a try.

 

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Some Shots with the Pre-AI Nikkor 55mm f1.2

I took my old 55mm f1.2 Nikkor out, mated to my Nikon F2SB body, loaded with HP5, to Washington, DC. Here's what resulted:

 

 

Tough to focus (manually), lots of misses, but hey, what's a f1.2 lens for if not shooting in the dark? Fun stuff.

 

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Some Ultrawide (12mm) Film Shots of Parkour

I recently shared a slideshow of parkour images, made with the Nikon Df. (Click Here) to see that post.

 

Today, I'll post some images I made at the same event, but these were all shot on the Zeiss SW film camera, with the Voigtlander 12mm f5.6 (LTM) ultra wide angle lens. These were all shot on Ilford HP5+ black and white film. I processed them myself.

 

I loved shooting parkour with this oddball lens. I have also done some fisheye shooting with parkour. (Click Here) to see that. In both cases, the wide angle of view is great for including a lot of the context for the sport. But, it also means that I have to get very close. So close, in fact, that there's a risk of interfering with the practitioner's concentration. That did happen once; thankfully, he thought it was funny. The last thing I want to do is interfere.

 

I think what I'm learning about shooting parkour is that variety is key. These wide angle shots tell a lot about the setting, but have relatively little detail of what the person is putting into the effort.

 

Approaching this with the standard photojournalistic search for a combination of wide, normal, and close up detail shots seems to be in order. I'm about to get a great opportunity to pull together a group of parkour practitioners, specifically to photograph them. My plan will be to get that variety, and to experiment with some ideas with flash, showing motion, etc. I've got some thinking to do.

 

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Finding Space in the Big City of Tokyo - with Leica IIIG

 

Urban Space, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIG, Ilford HP5 Film

 

This gentleman on left was out early in the morning at the Tomioka Hachiman shrine in Tokyo. The lesser shrines are always a good place to go for some space and relaxation. The big ones, like Meiji Shrine, are frequently very crowded. The secret in either case is to be out early.

 

I find this to be true in almost any big city. New York City, Barcelona, Tokyo, they're all pretty quiet in the early mornings.

 

Here's another shot from the shrine. I focused on the cherry blossoms, rendering the fountain slightly out of focus with shallow depth of field. There was no one else in sight when I shot this.

Quiet Morning, by Reed A. George

Leica IIIG, Ilford HP5 Film

 

So, if the crowds in the big city get to you, simply get up early! Jet lag sure helped with that while I was in Tokyo.

 

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More Parkour, Again With the Nikon F2SB

Here are my favorites from the second roll of HP5 that I shot of Juan, Garrett, and David practicing parkour in DC:

 

 

As with the first roll, these were all shot with my Nikon F2SB. This could become a habit for me...

 

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Going Out in the Weather for Chinese New Year

The weather outside is horrible. Yesterday, we got several inches of snow, followed by some freezing rain. Today, it's warming up, but the roads are still questionable.

 

But, I have cabin fever. With a new DMC-LX100 having arrived, I'm packing it up, along with my trusty Leica IIIG (loaded with black and white HP5+ film), and meeting my friend Charlie for the drive into DC. We'll attend the Chinese New Year celebration there. Here's a shot I made there last year:

 

(Click Here) to read a post on the Leica blog about this subject. The images embedded in the text aren't much to look at, but the gallery at the top of the post, especially those images by Su Li, are.

 

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Obscured

I made this shot recently at work. I was shooting my Leica CL and Rokkor 40mm f2 lens, one of my all-time favorite combinations.

Obscured, by Reed A. George

Leica CL, Minolta Rokkor 40mm f2 Lens

Ilford HP5+ Film, Developed in Kodak D-76

 

I've recently gotten back into bulk loading 35mm film, with a couple of my friends. It's weird, but at current prices, Kodak's products cost the same per exposure in bulk (100' rolls) as they do packaged into single rolls. So, there's no advantage to bulk loading Kodak at the moment. Ilford's products are still priced so as to make bulk loading economical. At $54 per 100' roll of Ilford HP5+ (Adorama), I'm paying $3 per roll of 36 exposures. You get 18 rolls of 36 exposures from a bulk roll.

 

I'm also back to processing my own black and white film. I figure that with the relatively little time I have available for shooting, bulk loading will force me to focus on shooting black and white for a while, which is a good thing. So, I'll take the much cheaper route of processing my own film, since it will be mostly black and white anyway. To be honest, I really enjoy the hands-on processing of my film, anyway. It's good to smell the fixer once in a while.

 

The fact that my friend Dennis gave me 20 rolls of Gekko 100 black and white film, and a 100' roll of Agfa black and white 400 speed film only adds to my rationale.

 

So, get ready for a lot of black and white film shots from me! Hope you enjoy.

 

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About to Try Ilford HP5 (35mm B&W Film) for a While

Image Source: http://filmphotographyproject.com/store/ilford-hp5-plus-bw-35mm-x-305m-100-ft

 

My friend Charlie has a couple of bulk film loaders. Since a small group of us have been regularly meeting and shooting film for a while now, we decided to start bulk loading our 35mm cassettes. It's actually interesting what's happening with film prices today. Charlie's a Tri-X shooter, so that's where we looked first. We were unable to locate a 100' roll of Tri-X anywhere at a price that would result in any savings over buying by the 36 exposure roll (savings is about the only reason to bulk load, unless you want to tailor the number of exposures you get per roll). HP5 is still reasonably economical.

 

(Click Here) to buy your film from the Film Photography Project.

 

So, we're just about ready to roll (pardon the weak pun).

 

In the past, I've played with pushing Kodak Tmax 400 to 1600. (Click Here) to see how that worked out.

 

I also found a post on the very interesting blog "35 MMC." (Click Here) to read about shooting HP5 at iso 3200. That's a three-stop push, but sure seems to work well.

 

I don't have any experience with HP5, but will soon!

 

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