Author: bt

Stocked up on films this weekend while roaming in Peninsular Plaza in Singapore… bought some Kodak 400TX ($5/each at RUby’s) and Fujifilm’s RVP ($10/each) + RDP ($9/each) from Cathay. Will need them for the next holiday, in case the stocks run out. At least for the RDP Provia there might not be any problems, but for RVP (Velvia 50) its quite scary. THe last trip I made to singapore there were no more stock of RVP.

Got 2 rolls of film processed today. The first was the NPC160, and although the output was ok, I was disappointed with the quality. Didn’t notice too much difference between the NPC and other consumer level film.
The Velvia 50 was different though. The colour was as saturaturated as Velvias are known to be, and the sharpness, at least on a 10x loupe it looks real clean. There were what look like scratches on the slide I got back from Applied Imaging in TTDI, not too sure, that was a underexposed shot anyways.

Now I have a Kodak 400TX B&W film in the body to be pushed to ISO1600… nice to shoot with this ISO level when you’re indoors without a flash. Just can’t wait to see the grain on this film.

Finished my first roll of Velvia 50 film today. Most of the 36 shots were used on sunrise shots, the way the sky turns reddish in the morning just before the sun is out.
At the same time, I’ve just sent in my first roll of Fuji NPC 160 negative for processing yesterday at my standard processing centre in Taman Tun. Asking for the prints to be made in 4R with white borders, like I always like them to be made.

The Velvia slides should go in for processing next weekend. Until then, I think I should have tested almost all the features on the F4s and will get to know if its working properly when I get the film processed.

Otherwise, everything is ok, except the battery seems to run down rather faster than the other SLRs I’ve had so far. I think that’s got to do with NiMH batteries being used and the switch in the battery compartment being set to LR6 (alkaline) and the resulting voltage difference. I’ve set the switch to NiCD already and we’ll see with time if this solves the problem.

Did something unheard off today… at least for me. I woke up at 5:30am and at 6am I was already out on the road with my F801s and F4s, driving towards Kuala Selangor, about 1 hour drive away from Kuala Lumpur. That’s the part next to the Straits of Melacca.
The aim was to arrive there about 7am to catch the run rising over KL and having a backdrop that’s a mangrove swamp and fishing village doesn’t hurt. The photoshoot was quite standard, till at one moment of time, I managed to catch the sun breaking through the clouds with rays of light diffusing all over the sky. Too bad there were too many manmade objects like a bridge and visible streetlamps to make it look natural (at least I can’t crop it out with my 200mm lens). Finished the shoot at 8am… lets see what the outcome is.

Shot 1 roll of Fuji NPC 160 and half roll of Fuji Velvia 50.

Bought a third hand used Nikon F4s today from a nice gentleman in Pasir Ris part of Singapore today.
Although the price is not that low compared to what I could get here in Malaysia for a battered F4s or even lower for an F4 without the MB21 battery pack, the winning bid in this case has an MF23 back attached to the F4. This turns the F4 into a machine that has a built in intervalometer, and you can do a lot of time related functions with it. Best of all, most special camera back can print dates and other stuff in the frame but the MF23 can print them BETWEEN frames. This way you dont get a time mark or date mark ruining the printed picture. Nice eh?
Continue reading “Nikon F4s is mine!!!!”

Was at the Camera Workshop in Peninsular Plaza Singapore today fooling with 3 Nikon F4s body. Quite a nice camera to hold, with the right heft, and a nice sound made by the shutter. The serial ranges from a 21XXXX to a 24XXXX and a 25XXXX and you can basically tell what the changes are comparing the 3 different generations of the F4. Tested it out with AFS lens and its true that there is forward compatibility built into the F4 (first introduced in the late 80s).

Its my first day here in Singapore for the Chinese New Year and I’ve already bought almost all the stuff I need for developing my own B&W film. Cathay in Peninsular ran out of developnig tanks and they told me that they don’t expect to have anymore coming in anytime soon, maybe never. Managed to get a cheaper plastic tank at Ruby Photo across the road, and some Kodak TMax developing liquid and assortment of other stop bath, fixers. Generally, I’ll say that the setup I’ll use is rather amateurish, but that’s ok with me. Still doing it for the first time. Continue reading “Peninsular Plaza Singapore”