Category: Photography

After collecting a bunch of filters all these while I’ve decided to get a cokin P series filter holder. The difference between this and the usual screw on filters is that you get to slip in a piece of plastic into the holder.
The cokin filters don’t excite me too much, as the optical quality is so-so, but what is interesting is when I get my hands on the next purchase, that’s a bunch of graduated ND filters from one of the more specialized filter companies. Singh-Ray is one of them, but the prices of one of their ND filters are quiet high for something you don’t use for most photographic occassions.

Before my next assignment out of Malaysia, I’m now in Singapore making a last minute top up of photographic accessories. I’ve almost ran out of Kodak TriX films after the trip to Vietnam where I used up 6 rolls in 7 days.
Loaded my film store with an additional 10 rolls of 135 Kodak TriX, 5 rolls of Ilford HP5+ and another 5 rolls of Ilford LP4+ film. HP5+ is supposed to be the same as TriX but cheaper. And goes well pushed to EI1600, we’ll find that out soon enough. Was thinking of loading a few rolls of Ilford PanF but the ISO 50 just bugs me out. I’m not likely to do any photoshoot of the bright sunlighted outdoors, and will most probably do indoor shots with fast lens, so EI50 is just too slow. LP4+ at ISO125 might be a better option.
Continue reading “Film Reloaded…”

Finished my first bottle of 757ml Kodak TMAX developer and lets see what we have developed with this…
Kodak 100 TMAX = 1 Roll
Kodak 400 TMAX = 1 Roll
Kodak 400TX = 10 Rolls

Not bad. Total of 12 rolls of 35mm film processed with a bottle of TMAX developer. I think I’ll try Rodinal next time since I Can dilute it more rather than the 1+4 with the TMAX developer.

I started developing my B&W negatives from the Vietnam trip and I happen to have 2 rolls rated at EI800. In the Kodak documentation (Kodak F-4017) for the new Tri-X film, we’re supposed to develop at the same time for EI800 as for EI400, because of “the films’ exposure lattitude… Prints will show a slight loss in detail”.
So with this in mind, I started developing with Kodak’s TMAX Developer at 21C at 1+4 dilution for 5 3/4 mins as in the spec sheet for EI400.
Continue reading “Developing Kodak 400TX pushed to EI800”

Went on a daytime assault in Hong Kong, looking for the best place to buy camera related items in less than 3 hours before I had to catch a flight back to KL.
Started looking around at the shops in Mongkok but didn’t find anything interesting about the prices of shops there. Most of them are either a con or they fixed their prices. Saw a lot of tourists there, and although they had a reasonable stock over there (mostly at Sheung Wing), they had a general range, point and shoots, some professional photo stuff. But hey, if you want to just look at the pro Nikon D2 bodies or Canon 1D, then that’s the place to go.
Continue reading “Filter Shopping in Hong Kong”

Developed my first roll of B&W film today. The process was ok except for some workflow problem, I didn’t mix the chemicals before I start with the developer, thinking I’ll have enough time, but at the end finding myself rushing to mix the right proportion of chemicals. THe negatives are drying and there seems to be some scratch marks around the first few frames becuase of the film picker. I tried to get the film out but the picker just doesn’t work. Finally had to pry the film canister open to get the film out.
The film I developed was a Kodak 400TX rated at EI400. Tomorrow I will develop another roll at EI1600 with all the tips I’ve learnt today.

The shop was out of wetting agent so I expect to see a lot of watermarks in the film when its dry. Ah well, can’t have it all.

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.