shooting analog

This is a community forum for the analog photography with film. Register for a free account before someone else takes your username.

Dies ist ein Community Forum für die analoge Fotografie. Registriere Dich jetzt kostenlos, bevor Dein bevorzugter Username vergeben ist.

Bonjour Messieurs-Dames :),

I was glad to receive the announcement of the creation of this new forum and am happy to participate.

I've been taking pictures since early 80s. Mostly architecture and landscapes. Though I was impressed to explore the possibilities of my Sony A7 with old glass, digital photography has never interested me so very much. Maybe I have seen too many digital "perfect" pictures every day, so I'm satiated with its specific esthetics.

Laon.jpg

(Cathedral of Laon in France - my favourite country to travel to -, early afternoon, 2023: Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 35-135mm, f/3.3-4.5, orange filter, Fomapan R100 slide film ISO 100/ 21°, Contax RTS II)

Fischelner_Bruch_30-10-1984.jpg

(November evening, 1984: Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4, my beloved Kodachrome 25 :daumenhoch-smilie:, Contax RTS II - sorry that it's blurred, I had no tripod handy)

During the 80s and 90s I also loved to take pictures at jazz concerts.

Avery Sharpe 1986.jpg

(Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm f/2.8, open aperture, Contax RTS II, Ilford HP5 ISO 3200/36°, Microphen developer: Avery Sharpe, bassist of the McCoy Tyner Trio in West Germany, 1986)

Another favourite topic of mine is available light photography. Recently I have begun to enjoy the characteristics of non-coated lenses. This one is a Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 50mm f/2 from 1937:

Nantes_Jeudi_soir.jpg

(Open aperture, without tripod [sorry that it's blurred], Fomapan R100 slide film, ISO 100/21°, Contax IIIa: Warm September evening in Nantes, France, 2023.)

After some years of bungling in the darkroom in 80s and early 90s I've switched over to take slides only, and only for projection in two Leitz Pradovits C2500 and RA150: I will always miss the wonderful Kodachrome 25 and the Ektachrome 400 also. At the moment I'm checking out Velvia 50, Ektachrome 100D and E100 and Provia 100 - and, right now, a bunch of old Ektachrome P1600X which I bought last year and have been keeping frozen since.

As a black-and-white slide film, Agfa Scala with professional developing was wonderful, but today it's too expensive for me. I've started to develop (by myself) the Fomapan R100 with encouraging results from the beginning - and it gets even better and better. Great pleasure.
Another beautiful slide film is Rollei Infrared 400 with a 720 nm filter - as you can see, I still have to improve my process of developing :oops: . But it's beautiful to see an infrared slide in the projector:

Stausee_Hautefage.jpg

(Barrage de Hautefage near Argentat-sur-Dordogne, Corrèze, France 2023, Rollei Infrared 400 slide, 720 nm filter, Carl Zeiss Distagon 25mm f/2.8, Contax RTS II)

As for my gear, I love to fumble around with it and I'd always recommend this stuff, according to its specific strengths...
  • Exakta Varex from the 50s: I used them from the 80s to early 90s and had two of them repaired and CLA'd recently - wonderful cameras, solid as a rock. The 50s waist level finder is the best of its kind on a 35mm camera I have seen so far. I'd like to check it out in street photography with a Biotar 58mm f/2.
  • Contax RTS II: my "working cams" since early 90s: I like their Zeiss lenses very much, and the RTS II itself is unbeatable as soon as it gets dark - with its bright viewfinder and its digital displays - or as soon as you got to be very fast - with its extremely fast shutter release button.
  • Canon New F-1: the "successors" of my Exaktas - wonderful professional workhorses especially in rain, cold and winter snow. I love its modular construction system, the different finders and measurement methods.
  • Contax RF: II, IIa and IIIa: Of course they are by far less up-to-date and overbread as the beautiful Leica M, but they're much much cheaper. Together with Biogon and Sonnar lenses 35-50-85-135 mm the're wonderful to travel with: lightweight yet versatile. And my post-war bodies' shutters are very very quiet (even more quiet than a friend's Leica M2).
  • Rollei 35 TE: a sweet small camera to carry around in any situation.
I'm looking forward to read a lot of interesting topics and posts in this new forum :daumenhoch-smilie:.

Michael
 
Wow, what a introduction! :daumenhoch:

:welcome-to-forum:
 
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