Category Archives: 135 Format

SF Zoo

A chance to shoot some birds and animals in the SF Zoo was a great opportunity to use my Canon 2x extender which is basically collecting dust.  The setup is a simply a Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender ii.

Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender

Great weather and here are the photos shot that day.

SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender
SF Zoo + Canon 5dmiii + 70-200mm f2.8 + 2x extender

 

Day 4 Self Portrait Challenge

I was nominated by Joyce Peng to do a 7-day self-portrait challenge: 7 days, 7 self-portraits, and 7 nominations to keep this going with other artists/photographers.  I invite Erik Mathy to take the time to extend the fun.

I put a small twist to this challenge as well.  I will be composing self-portraits through the viewfinders of different cameras.

Today, I am viewing through my 1970s Canon QL17 GIII camera.  It was the most sold rangefinder with over 1.2 million copies over twenty years.  Int this day and age, we will be lucky if a camera last more than 20 months!  The viewfinder is super clean and the yellow rangefinder patch is bright and easy to focus.  The aperture priority marker on the right is also bright and clear.   In the photo, I am holding another legendary rangefinder, the Revue 400SE.  Both of these cameras feature super fast and sharp lens.

Photo taken with Sony RX100II.

Viewing through Canon QL17 GIII
Viewing through Canon QL17 GIII

Day 2 – Black and white photo challenge

Day 2 of 5 of black and white photo challenge.  Each day I am trying to post a photo that is taken from a different camera and a different medium.  Today I picked a 135mm shot I did in Kyoto, Japan last year.  Amy and my mom were walking in front of me and the shadow was perfect when I took this shot.  Photo taken with Canon QL17 on Kodak TriX.  Film developed in Kodak D76 1+1 and Kodak Rapid Fix, scanned with Epson Perfection V700.  Today I nominate Michael Ho to accept my black and white photo challenge.

Amy and my mom in Kyoto
Amy and my mom in Kyoto, Japan

Revue 400 SE Test Photos

A couple of months ago, I opened up my Revue 400 SE to try to fix the light meter again as it was two clicks off.  Finally developed the test roll I did a couple of months ago.  It looks like the problem is fixed!  Kodak Tri-X 400, developed in Kodak d76, fixed in Kodak Rapid Fix, scanned with Epson Perfection V700.

Here is the facebook post regarding the fix:

Operating on the two Revue 400 SE cameras that I got a while back. One of the unit’s lightmeter is 2 clicks off! The photoresistor is old and way off. The radio shack replacement Cds resistors didn’t work. Maxing out the bias variable resistors inside and pushing the supply battery to 1.5V (instead of 1.35V) corrected only one click. So if I use iso 400 film, i just need to dial the iso setting to 800 and now the light meter is spot on!

Fixing the light meter in Revue 400 SE
Fixing the light meter in Revue 400 SE

I am quite happy with the result, looks like the meter is fixed!

This is electric line pole that is over 100 years old!
This is electric line pole that is over 100 years old
Chusan Liegh
Chusan Liegh
drying clothes
drying clothes
Concrete roof shingles
Concrete roof shingles
Different chairs
Different chairs

First Shot at Stand Development

A recent discussion with Kirk Lau with the boiling water temperature of our taps converged on the topic of stand development.  Basically stand development involves throwing away everything that I have learned so far about film processing.  Stand development is simply develop your film in diluted developer and after initial agitation, leave it to develop for (almost) infinite time.  You rely on the amount of chemical to natural develop your film, rather through agitation.

I still have six rolls of Tri-X 400 that I snapped in Japan back in June that still need to be developed.  I haven’t done so not because I am lazy but recently in the development with HC110 dilution H, the grain size appears to be large.  I suspect the culprit is the water temperature.  Both the tap water in Hong Kong and Shanghai measured to be well above 28C.  Even though I have compensated that with less development time but the grain size seems larger than before.  I am holding onto these rolls until I figure out what’s wrong.

I attended Herbert and Elaine’s wedding ceremony recently and prepared to shoot the event with my Canon QL17, my Canolite D flash and a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400.  The idea of stand development came back to me after the shoot and I figured I will give it a shot.  I developed the Kodak Tri-X with Kodak HC110 (1:100) dilution.  I did initial agitation of front, back, left, right, each 10 times, then gave the tank a good tap on the ground to avoid any possible bubbles.  I then left it to develop in 25C room temperature for 60 mins, followed by a 5 mins water bath.  Then I fixed it in Kodak Rapid Fix for 4.5 mins before rinsed in water again and wrapped it up with Kodak Photoflo.

The result was mostly successful.  The film developed fine except again for the large grain size.  I blame it on the tap water temperature again.  I need to put in ice and prepare the developer and rinse water to be around 20C next time! Nevertheless, the shots at the wedding ceremony was super loto and turned out super classic!  Totally reminded me of the ones in the dusty wedding albums of my parents.

Super classic!
Super loto, super classic!

Sunday Afternoon Tea with Cailey

A relaxing Sunday afternoon with baby Cailey.

All photos taken with Canon QL17 GIII, Kodak Tri-X 400, self-developed, Kodak HC110 dilution H (5 minutes at 28C), Kodak RapidFix (4 minutes), water stop and Kodak Photoflo.  Scanned with Epson Perfection V700.

Cailey: My father is crazy. (with Gordon)
Cailey: “My father is crazy” (with Gordon)
Cailey: "I am eating again?"
Cailey: “I am eating again?”
Cailey: "What's going on here?"
Cailey: “What’s going on here?”
Cailey and Mama Vicky.
Cailey and Mama Vicky.