Inside Hong Kong MTR Train

Started off my new project weekend, to photograph the station names of every single MTR station in Hong Kong. I don’t know how long it will take to do them all, but 3 or 4 weekends may be just enough. The idea is simple, take a camera, one lens and stop at every single station and then move on to the next.

There has not been any over eager security guard asking me to stop photographing so far, and to keep things interesting, I’ve got 2 months of backlogged podcasts to keep me company while continuing the task. The only thing I learnt is that there is a limit to the time you can spend in the metro, once you pass the gates. Its about 2.5 hours. And I spent a little more than that, and the Customer Service office let me out without a penalty. Otherwise it would cost a little more than 20HKD. I believe it was 21HKD that they mentioned.

Chai Wan MTR Station

There’s no deadline to this project. It will be completed when its completed, and I will figure out then what to do with all the database of photos! Today I managed to shoot 512 NEF files!

So, in anticipation of a long trip to South America at the end of 2010, I decided to pick up a D3 to familiarize myself with its high ISO performance. My thoughts at that time was that a D3 for main body and D300 for that extra DX reach would be ideal for a long expedition. And just before I was going to ask my usual dealer for one, the D3s was released, and just as well.

Long story short, I now have a D3s. And in summary: while I’m not new to photography, nor digital photography, this camera does induce a bit of an extra learning curve.

First test as I shoot my first 1000 pictures: ISO performance. I don’t intend for this to be a review, hence I don’t plan to include sample pictures. The early feedback from the internet forums is that this camera performs about 1-1.3EV better in ISO compared to the previous high-ISO champion, the D3. As I do mostly landscape with this camera, I intend to test it only for that purpose.

I did 3 tests today, first was a landscape shot with camera focused at infinity in bright daylight, a second scene with an close-up object (confession: a pretty wartime Leica IIIc) with proper illumination, and third was a city scene from the top of a tower.

Results:

What I can say is that this camera’s ISO performance is amazing.

- ISO200-ISO1600: I will not hesitate to shoot with the D3s up to ISO 1600. I could not see any noise or loss of details on the NEF file all the way up to that level in Adobe Lightroom. For once, auto-ISO is an option in the field. (Of course, one should always shoot at base ISO if you can, with a tripod, but still, 1600 is something I will not shy away from. It is THAT good!)

- above ISO 1600 – ISO 6400: From ISO higher than 1600 onwards, I see some noise appearing in the shadow areas, but the well illuminated areas are fine. This goes on all the way up to ISO6400 easily. The noise is very much film-like chroma noise, which is bearable. Not noise-free, but not too much of a concern as details in the scene are all still there.

- up to ISO 12800:  The details held up all the way up to ISO 12800. I love this camera! At 12800 the noise is still very much chroma like with some tinge of colour noise creeping in.

- above ISO12800 – ISO102400 (HI 3): the detail performance starts to drop at ISO +1 to +3 EV, basically ISO 25k up to 102k. Basically the image gets smudgy and bands appear at the highest ISO. But if the difference is between taking a picture and no picture, I’d take the 102k ISO shot anytime over lost opportunity.

Next up: Movie mode at 720p. This is something I’ve used, but the camera seems to be adjusting most of the functions automatically. I will need to test it out to find out how it works.

No it didn’t. Light did REALLY get to the film. Processing was via 1+100 Rodinal on stand development in 27C water for 1 Hour. To my surprise (seriously, there was no big surprise!), the base was all dark, no frame marking at all, and there were just a small trace of image on it. First frame was 90% destroyed, and other than uneven fogging, some Photoshopping might recover some details.

And it did. Actually, the result is less Holga, and more wet plate collodion with a little age induced fogging. Possibly making some nice artistically inclined shots. Here they are…

First picture of the frame. No, its not god rays, but a ship under repair on a floating dry dock. Being the first frame in the roll, this one took the full brunt of the fogging.

All these rural places in China are full of these crude minotaur of a vehicle. The fogging is apparent, but there's also a little texture in it. This frame is in the first half of the roll, so I'm guessing this is the texture of the black backing paper, that somehow managed to transfer itself to the film during the fogging.

This one I like. Looks like the result from a lost world war 2 negative of some Japanese port. No, its Changxing Island circa 2009. And the texture is also here. This one is actually frame no.2.

Stacks of bricks. The actual shot of this is less interesting as the background is visible. The yard is not THAT big, but due to the fogging, it suggests an infinite storage area. On the contrary, but a nice surprise. This one is towards the middle of the roll.

This is a small river that cuts through the middle of Changxing Island. The fogging sets back the scene 100 years to the past. Nice!

Tractors here are all caked in some white alabaster thingy. No I didn't stick my fingers into it to confirm, but up till now I still don't know what it is for sure. This is one of the last frames in the roll.

Surprise, surprise! Now I’ve added another processing trick into my darkroom arsenal!

Profile Comparison. ULTRON on the right, AIS on the left.

A pancake lens is the name given to low profile lenses, normally around the 50mm focal length range. Up for this test are the two that I own. First up is a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AIS. Now there are many versions of this lens, and the 0.60m minimum focal length version is the one I have, which is noticeably shorter than the other models. The other lens I have been using quite a bit is a Voigtlander 40mm f2 SL ULTRON. Yes a mouthful, I’ll just call it AIS and ULTRON for the short version hereforth. They’re both manual lenses. And they only meter on Nikon’s semi pro bodies like the D300/D700 and up.

This is not meant to be a full on test, so I will not bother to perform an exhaustive test on it. On the question of bokeh, I have noticed that the ULTRON has this harsh donut shaped bokeh, perhaps because of the Aspherical element in the lens. But I’m not a bokeh freak so it is not an issue for me.

Physical attributes:

ULTRON mounted on a D300 body

The ULTRON feels a lot better built than the AIS. The sample I have is the first version. Later Voigtlander came out with the SLII, which is almost the same except for the rubberized focus grooves. It has a nice well dampened focus feel to it, something missing in modern lenses. Don’t be fooled by it. This is a modern lens. The aperture clicks has a nice feel to it, and the sure clicks in half stop marks from f2.8 all the way to f8 gives it just that bit more flexibility for those using aperture priority. Personally, I feel half clicks are quite useless in practice, but nice to have. Minimum aperture is f16. There are 9 aperture blades on the ULTRON.

AIS mounted on a D300 body

AIS, however was a surprise when I first received my sample. I was expecting it to be a little bigger, but to my surprise it is the same length as the ULTRON. It is lighter though, and the construction doesn’t seem as heavy duty as the ULTRON, but still a lot better than any modern consumer lens out there. The aperture ring on the AIS starts at f1.8 and goes all the way to f22 in full stop increments. No half stop here. Both lenses have depth of field marks and the AIS has infrared focus marking on it as well. Very useful for those that loves to take photo the old fashioned way. There are 7 aperture blades on the AIS.

And this is where pancake lenses really shine: mounted on a D2 body! Yeah baby!!

The ULTRON in action on a Nikon D2H body...

... and compared to the Nikkor AIS on a pro body.

Center performance at infinity:

Full D300 output file shot with the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AIS and crop area

Full view of the ULTRON showing the difference on 40mm compared to 50mm of the AIS.

Lens Performance Comparison

This test was done on a Nikkor D300, mounted on a Gitzo 1227 mkII tripod via an L plate from Kirk Enterprise. I would keep the focus at infinity and camera set to aperture priority while I turn the aperture ring on the lens.

I know the edges has to be tested as well, but it takes time and most of my shooting only makes use of the center. For landscape shooting, you would be crazy not to use f8-f11 range, and at that range, all lenses are fine edge to edge.

Looking at the AIS, wide open it has the same soft look on most prime lenses. The only prime I have that performs well wide open is the new Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH, but then again the price is also out of this world. Details are there on the AIS, but looks cloudy soft. Nothing to worry about there. Contrasts start to improve when stopped down, and f4 onwards the AIS starts to show what it can really do. Performance seems to peak at f4 or f5.6 and holds its own up to f11. From f16 onwards effect of diffraction starts to soften the image, but still usable of course! At f22, it fares worse than wide open.

On the ULTRON, performance across the aperture is not too different from one to another. The shot at f4 seems to be softer than f2.8 in my test, I would attribute that to a slight camera shake. This is a lens that I would not hesitate to use at all apertures. Sure, the performance at the peak is not as good as the AIS, which seems to render much better small details and better contrast. I used to bring the UTRON with me on the D2H, and mainly for the mechanical feel of Voigtlander’s manual focus lens.

Comparing the two pancakes, the performance is definitely more than enough, though the AIS is able to squeeze out more detail at its sweetspot apertures above f4.

There is a more pancakey lens, the Nikkor 45mm f2.8P, which unfortunately I do not have at this moment. Have heard that it performs slightly better than the ULTRON, but it costs more. This would have to be a test for later then…

*end of post*

ERA100 Flatenned Film Packaging

I have been quite adventurous with film. For serious shooting, I’m sticking to Tri-X and just recently 125PX but every once in a while, as I now live in Shanghai, I would try out a Chinese film or two to see how they perform. The first thing that would catch my eye would be the cost of one roll of these local film. ERA 100 costs 10 RMB, or right about $1.5 USD. I have heard a lot about this film from local shooters. The other popular Chinese film is Lucky SHD100, but the only problem I find with it is that it is good for flat scenes, but once you have plenty of contrasts, you’ll find that the chemical tends to leak or diffuse across the border, giving the “glow” look of older RF lenses. 

This was the first roll of film I shot this new year, and over the long weekend I took a long walk around Shanghai Puxi area with my Leica M3 and 50mm f2 Summicron loaded with ERA100 for some street shootout. First thing I noticed was that the film base seems a little thicker than Lucky films, which is a good thing. Lucky has been known to have very thin film, sometimes breaking when the rewind motors are strong.

Developing was not that difficult. Digital Truth  has the right timing for HC110B which I am using nowadays. With the tap water adjusted to 20C, 7:00 minutes would do the trick. However, the result of the dried negatives were not too encouraging. Other than allowing for a little metering issue (Since I dont use meter) the exposures and timing seems accurate enough, but I did see some cracks all over the emulsion layer. I have seen this before during my shooting in Macau, and this is most likely due to thermal shock when transfering the film from one bath to another. I’m guessing during the stopbath to fixer phase, I must have turned on the tap water too hot. It is impossible to use cold tap water now in winter as the water temperature is below 10C, again resulting in thermal shock, but not wise for it to be too high either. 

I did find that the result of the scans were quite soft as well. Only one thing to do… I did some setting up this morning, on a Gitzo tripod and cable release and used up a whole roll of ERA100 to test the characteristics of the film. The result is still hanging in the washroom, so I will update my findings after this. 

So far my experience with this film has been mixed. I will need to see my control roll before I know if it was a user problem with the first rolls or something wrong with the film. Still 50/50 on it.