This one has just arrived from http://tripman.co.uk and can’t wait for film to be loaded! It’s an old Olympus Trip 35, produced in 1982 (according to the serial number) and fully restored by the guys from Tripman.
What I like about this camera is that you can use it in studio, push the film thanks to manual ISO setting (although, only up to 400) and, of course, its soft, 70-s style picture.
Tags: olympus, trip 35A couple of weeks ago I went to “Ethnomir” (Ethnoworld) – an artificial village featuring houses from various ethnicities, mostly Russian, built in some 100 km from Moscow. It’s not finished yet, but still definitely worth a visit.
There are Seqways for hire and hipsters for work.
The pictures are taken with Olympus Stylus Epic Dlx.
Last Friday I read a micro-lecture on photography at Moscow-based “Kapusta” (”Cabbage”) club (here’s the Facebook page in Russian). My theme was “Synthesis in photography”, because I think that this is what’s happening now and this is cool.
In 2009, there are as many photographers as cameras. One can’t often tell an amateur from a pro. And from this pool of people, equipment and ideas, something new is being brewed.
New Camera Standards: Micro 4/3
It’s official, as camera producers support this trend by merging products from different niches, creating new species. Like Micro 4/3, currently represented by Panasonic and Olympus:
At one hand, consumers who want to get pro’er, but are somehow scared by DSLR’s large size and the whole mess with professional gear, get an advanced camera allowing them to use interchangeable lenses to get better picture and learn more, still looking nice and shiny. At the other, professionals, tired of DSLR’s that don’t fit into their pockets or purses for everyday careless shooting, finally get a, well, point-and-shoot, or rather, “put on your favourite lens-point-and-shoot” camera.
“Everyday” Medium Format DSLR
Same thing happens in heavier weights with the upcoming arrival of Leica S2, a medium-format DSLR. Now we can have all those megapixels, too heavy to carry out from studio into everyday life before, to shoot our kitty on the sofa or our boy/girlfriend in front of Eiffel tower.
Photo+Video
One more thing I find significant: the photography and video synthesis.
If this photo by Greg Williams (click here for the hi-res version) were published on a glossy magazine spread, you’d never say that it was taken with a video camera. Yet, it is:
Red One, the first available on the range of Red cameras, is designed to shoot films, but more and more photographers use stills from Red footage as “normal” photographs. Another example is Bruce and Emma Willis photoshoot for W Magazine.
From the opposite side, DLSR’s with HD video feature have arrived, starting with Canon 5D Mark II.
Now tru photographers have a possibility to play with video, using their favourite L-lenses and therefore getting a better picture than on a regular HD video camera. A huge contribution to the rather new “long photo” genre. Well, not so brand new, as Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests have explored this territory already back in the 1960’s, but still without strict definition, what causes discussions like those on Flickr after they introduced the video feature.
Here’s a good example what I think a real long photo is:
Long Water from endico on Vimeo.
Genre Synthesis
As for the genre synthesis, I showed an example from my own work: a project called “Lomostudio“.
A couple of weeks ago I came back from my trip to England and Scotland, bringing with m not just a heap of photos and perfectlly toned legs (for the perfect shape I choose a 2-kg Hasselblad!), but also some ideas on what colour film I like, dislike and why.
Preface: I became a photographer from laziness, unwilling to put efforts into drawing after graduating from an arts school. When digital cameras came, I was happy with getting a result instantly. Now I’m switching to film for the same reason (well, plus some others). When you get to know different films’ characters, you realize which one you need for a particular case. When I shoot film, I do significantly less post-production, because the choice of film has become the pre-production stage.
I had a commissioned shoot soon after my return and did it, as usual, with my Canon 5D. I was kinda struck with how flat the digital picture was after getting used to the medium format film. Dear universe, I was a good girl, please, send me a Hasselblad (the one I used this time was borrowed).
So to the films.
The one used for the photo above is my absolute favourite. I mean, not the guy (less stable results), but the new Kodak Ektar 100. Love everything about it: the sharpness, the colour range, especially the bluish shadows, the pushability (here’s an example of Ektar 100 pushed by 2 stops up to 400).
Kodak E200 is the one I’ll never touch again. Is this what you call excellent pushability? It’s dull and characterless, period.
Kodak Portra VC 160/400 – my long-time favourite, especially for Olympus Stylus Epic Dlx (aka mju II) point-and-shoot. I love the way it gets me not just a colour-saturated picture, but makes it creatively vivid. basically, this film does half of my job, which is exactly what a lazy photographer like me needs.
On the contrary, Kodak Portra NC is so NC: absolute lack of character. However, I still believe that Portra NC can perform great on a particular subject; the problem is I haven’t found such subject yet.
Fuji Pro 400H – I haven’t understood it yet. If the greenish tones are all that differs this film from others, I’ll pass. But for the moment I hope there’s still some colour juice I can squeeze out of this one.
Fuji Pro 800z - the guy on the pic says it gives the picture some mystical shades, can you see them? Haven’t given up on this film, especially because of the ISO 800.
Fuji Provia 400X is a brightie and sharpie – but beware of its smaller colour range, typical for slides. Gives great results even on Olympus P&S. I’d call its look “glossy”.
Fuji Superia 1600 is a consumer film I used solely for its high ISO. No particular up- or downsides; plus, Olympus works good with it.
Fuji Reala 100 – pushable. Forgettable. There are other really great films, so why spending your life on ones like this?
These are all the colour films I have tried so far. As for black and white, my study is still in progress – I shoot significantly less BW.
Tags: comparison, hasselblad, medium format, mju, olympus, stylus epic dlx
