Tag Archives: fujinon

Henry and Wendy Portrait Shoot

During a recent visit of Henry and Wendy in SF, I invited them to have their portraits done in large format.  Setup of the day was my 91-year-old Kodak 2D 8×10 camera with Fujinon A 240mm f9 lens and Kodak Ektascan x-ray film.  The strobes, I used two light sources, one direct light above the camera and a reflective light from the left of the subject.   The dark background is a big piece of black cloth that is about 2.5 feet behind the subject.

Here is a collage of photo of me in action, courtesy of Henry and Wendy.

Portrait session
Portrait session

The film is developed with Kodak D76 1+1 for 10-12 minutes at 19C with rollers and scanned with Epson Perfection V700.  Scanning this time I was faced with a lot of Newton ring issues.   I have an AN glass but that only prevented newton rings from one side of the light.  I have to scan the negatives with emulsion down on the scanner glass, then I put the AN glass on top of the negative.  This way I was able to get rid of most of the newton rings.  I guess I probably need another piece of AN glass and hopefully this issue will go away.

The first photo is that of Henry.  It was shot at f11, 1/30 sec and turned out quite nicely.

Portrait of Henry
Portrait of Henry

Wendy here featured in the second photo, also shot at f11, 1/30sec.  I have asked her to look into the left (her right) reflective light.

Portrait of Wendy
Portrait of Wendy

The final shot is of them together, shot at f16 1/4 sec.  I had cranked up the strobes to be the highest level.  The init negative is dark and about a click off.  I need to double up on the flash to get more light next time.  I have focused on Wendy’s eyes and even at f16, the depth of field is so narrow that Henry’s eyes were very slightly off focus.  I need to add more light sources and try at f22 or even f32 next time for group portraits.

Portrait of Henry and Wendy
Portrait of Henry and Wendy

Overall another fun shoot that yield some fantastic portraits.

Basil the Westie

Basil the westie is a happy and friendly dog and always bring joy to me whenever I see him.  After a recent dinner gathering with his owner Natasha Hsieh, we decided to head back to our home studio and take some portraits.  Basil was a superb model and here are some highlights of that shoot.

I was trying to teach Basil how to operate the  Kodak 2D and he got the hang of it quite quickly.  Photo below entitled: “His master’s visage”.

Canon 5D3, Sigma 35mm f1.4
Taken with: Canon 5D3, Sigma 35mm f1.4

 

Canon 5D3, Sigma 35mm f1.4
Canon 5D3, Sigma 35mm f1.4

 

Basil checking out my work.
Basil checking out my work.

Rick Portrait Shoot

Finally took my umbrellas out of their boxes and setup some lights at home.  Rick was visiting and took the chance for a portrait sitting.  I tried several setups and ended up with two lights.  One from the left back with diffuser at 45deg and one in the front with diffuser at about 45deg from the left.  A reflector is also placed around waist level.  Here is one from the shoot.

Portrait of Rick
Portrait of Rick

 

Shot with Burke & James Grover 8×10, Fujinon 400mm f8 lens, Kodak Ektascan B/RA film.  Developed in Kodak d76.  Scanned with Epson Perfection V700.  Even though the Fujinon 400mm lens was meant to be used with 5×7, as seen here, at f8, the image circle is big enough for use with 8×10.  The lights used are a pair of Yongnuo YN565EXII and a pair of YN622 and YN622TX triggers.

 

Expired Tetenal C41 Kit meets Expired Kodak Portra 400

While cleaning up my photo gears, I see a box of Tetenal C41 kit that I got and opened a couple of years ago in Shanghai.  Since then, it made its way to Hong Kong and to San Francisco.  On arrival to SF, I discovered that one bottle of the Blix solution actually bursted and was leaking all over the box.  All these items were stored in a storage that was certainly quite hot (30C+) for months before making its way to the US.

I also found a few 4×5 film boxes of Kodak Portra 400 that I loaded about two years ago.  This is when expired chemicals meet expired film, a combination that has the word “disaster” written all over it.

Expired Tetenal C41
Expired Tetenal C41

I got my Paterson Auto Colortherm machine from Toronto some time back.  I refitted it so that I can use the roller for my jobo tank.  I mixed the chemicals into its three parts and noticed a few things.  First, the clear blix mixture has a lot of residue at the bottom and was stuck.  I warmed it out, it helped a bit but there are still chunks of it at the bottom.  Second, the stabilizer bottle have merely 50mL left.  1L mixture required 100mL, what the heck, just mix it.

I took my Graflex SG with a Fujinon 400mm f8 lens on my roof for the test shots in one late afternoon.

Graflex speed graphic with fujinon 400mm f8
Graflex speed graphic with fujinon 400mm f8

I shot the Kodak Porta 400 at ISO 200.  I developed the sheets slightly longer than the recommended times.  Developed 3:30min, Blix 5min.  When I opened the Jobo tank, I see images, solid images.  I scanned the negatives with my Epson Perfection V700.  The unedited result is shown here.

Expired Kodak Portra 400
Expired Kodak Portra 400
Expired Kodak Portra 400
Expired Kodak Portra 400

All the details are there.  The edges showed some funky chemical gradient that made the image looked like something out of a roll of lomography film.  The overall look of it is vintage and reminded me of a postcard from the 60s.

Overall, I am happy with the result and I guess I will develop many more sheets with the Tetenal kit before it runs out.

 

First 8×10 Portraits

Six months ago, I did some test shots with my Burke & James Grover 8×10.  I finally got them developed and scanned recently.  With a couple of flashes and remote (without any diffusion), I shot a few portraits when my friends Norris and Fiona were visiting.  Here is the result.

Burke & James Grover 8x10 Portrait
Burke & James Grover 8×10 Portrait

I used Kodak Ektascan B/RA x-ray film metered at ISO50.  Burke & James Grover 8×10 with Fujinon 250mm f6.3 lens.  Lighting setup with two Yongnuo YN560II flashes on two YN622C  and a YN622C-TX.  Developed with Kodak D76 1+1 20C for 10 minutes.  Scanned with Epson Perfection V700.

Lighting is harsh, this is due to the lack of deflectors (they were still being shipped from Asia at the time).  The harsh lighting reminded me a bit of a prom shoot would of looked like in the 1960-70s.  Nevertheless a decent shot for first trials.

 

Kodak Ektascan B/RA Reciprocity Test

I never shot Kodak Ektascan B/RA xray film at night.  There were also no information online regarding the reciprocity of this film.  This film is normally used for health x-ray applications and there is no need to worry about long exposure.  I decided to do a test shot.  Shanghai and TriX has terrible reciprocity characteristics.  For 1 minute exposure, I generally compensate it by 8x and it worked well.  I know Ektascan is probably equivalent if not worse, so I decided to try a 12x compensation for 1 minute metered exposure.

Here is the result.  Burke & James Grover 8×10, Fujinon 250mm f6.3 lens, developed in Kodak D76 1+1 10 mins and scanned with Epson Perfection V700.

12x compensation for 1 minute metered exposure
12x compensation for 1 minute metered exposure

It looks like a working combination.  I think it might be slightly over-exposed, perhaps I need to try one with 10x compensation.

Day 4 – Black and white photo challenge

Day 4 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 am back on large format but with a different lens and film from day 1.  This was shot at the Bund in Shanghai, China.  Photo taken with Graflex Speed Graphic + Fujinon 65mm f5.6 lens + Shanghai GP3 film.  Developed with Guan long d76 + Guan long F5 Fix, scanned with Epson Perfection V700. Today i nominate Pouya Ash for the BW photo challenge, in which to post one BW photo per day for 5 days and also nominate someone each day because it’s fun.

The Bund, Shanghai, China
The Bund, Shanghai, China

Day 1 – Black & White photo challenge

Thanks for Cheung Billy Ka Ming, I accepted the BW photo challenge.  I will be posting one BW photo a day for five days and will nominate someone each day just for fun.  Here is a photo I have taken from a maternity shoot I did not long ago.  The lovely couple is Catherine Wong and Denis Ng.  This photo was taken in Hong Kong with Graflex Speed Graphic + Fujinon A 240mm f9 lens + Fuji Acros.  Film developed in Kodak d76 1+1, Kodak Rapid Fix and scanned with Epson Perfection V700.  This is one of the first photos I took with the newly acquired A 240mm f9 lens and I have to say it’s absolutely the sharpest lens I own.  The lens is extremely light and what’s amazing is that it can even cover 8×10!  Today I would like to nominate Kirk Lau to accept my BW photo challenge.

Catherine and Dennis looking lovely in this photo.
Catherine and Dennis looking lovely in this photo.

Large format shoot at the Bund

After a weekend of crappy weather, Monday was a complete opposite.  Kirk Lau and I couldn’t resist on the amazing weather and took our Grapflex Speed Graphics to the Shanghai Bund for some night photography.  Knowing how bad the reciprocity of the Shanghai 4×5 film, we decided to give it a go away.  I was armed with only two lenses, the Fujinon 65mm f5.6 SWD and a Leica Dimaron 150mm f2.8.  I only took 4 slides of Shanghai 100iso 4×5 film in two film holders.  Here is a shot taken with my RX100 II on my shot.

Large format photo session at the Shanghai bund.
Large format photo session at the Shanghai bund.

Let’s see how the photo will do.  I am stand developing them with Kodak HC110.