What a scientific title this time! For the lay person, I had a bottle of Kodak HC110 photo developer sitting in my storage box for the last 1 year, bought it while I was in Paris in 2006, and this time I thought I’ll try it out on 2 rolls of Tri-X (400TX) film that was taken in the last 1 month. HC110 is one viscous fluid… reminds me of concentrated cough syrup that looks like beer in colour. Doesn’t smell that bad, actually I didn’t notice any smell at all. You first do a 1:3 ratio from the concentrate syrup into what they call the stock solution. I store 1 litre of it in a mineral water bottle. Then from there, you mix to generate the working solution. For this case I use solution B (1:7 ratio with water) and used it on the 2 rolls.
Continue reading '400TX Swimming in HC110 Solution B'»
Leica M6 photos are included now…
Agenda for this weekend started with another attempted trip to Nanjing. The last time, the bad weather stopped the trip, and this time I didn’t want to risk the lack of return ticket coming back. At least here in Shanghai they dont have seats on the train back till Monday! Two days! I’m sure there are more stock of tickets in Nanjing itself or I could take a bus back. But the weather is great today and Suzhou it is. Its a quarter of the way to Nanjing anyway.
Taking train number N482 with standing room ticket in hand, its time for another travel report in China (probably the cheapest ticket at 15RMB to Suzhou). The particular train I’m in, 7:45am to Nanjing stopping by plenty of stops on the way, was packed to the brim, passengers standing from the front of the carriage to the back. You could get a seat ticket, but you will have plenty of natives standing against your shoulder staring at what you are doing. Its amazing in this condition you can still get the tidbit carts working! Amazing. This train will eventually end up in Nanjing, but trip to Suzhou is only around an hour and 90km away, which is not really that bad to be standing. But still, maybe the long distance bus would have been a better idea since I’m guaranteed a seat. So, apparently a train that starts with a N is the normal train, T is for the fast express train (not T for Turbo for sure), and D is the new bullet train that goes up to 200km/h.
On the equipment front, will be going relatively light today. In my Think Tank Speed Demon waist pack I have a D2H set on RAW as always with voigtlander’s 40mm ULTRON f2 lens attached, and a second camera, the Leica M6 with a Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH with no hood for portability since the two camera has to stick into the Speed Demon. And its pretty snug. Was tempted to bring a 105mm AIS but will take the risk. The M6 currently has an expired Provia 100F loaded, should be ok since it has been sitting in the freezer all these while. In a standard Eastpak backpack, I have 1 Provia 400F (RDPIII), and 2 rolls of Kodak 400TX ready.Usually I shoot 1 roll per day but those were just precaution in case there are more things to shoot than planned. And as usual, blogging live with the Nokia E61.
So on to Suzhou…
Continue reading 'Saturday in Suzhou'»
First of all, no, I still did some shopping in Tokyo. But the good news is that the value seems to have gone down. What I have bought so far since arriving this Sunday afternoon: 2 Printfile binders to store my negative sleeves, 1 Artisans & Artists camera strap for my Leica (ACAM-102), 2 rolls of Kodak Portra 160 VC film and finally a leather mousepad, since I think I need one at home before I get some problem with my wrist!
If I had unlimited budget today, I would have bought the white colour Nikkor 28-70mm f2.8… Its just rare to see a white colour Nikon lens. Ok, some call it gray. Was tempted also to buy a pack of Kodak D76 developer in powder form. Didn’t do it at the end, as I still have a litre of HC110 I have not used yet.
Shopping aside, been a nice day in Tokyo, whatever was left of it. When I got to the hotel the sun was about to set, and mostly spent the whole day wandering around Ginza, Nakano and Shinjuku all in the dark. I already know where I was going to go, so I could easily do all in 3 hours. Helps to have a Suica metro/JR card and a rough idea which direction I was going to go since I dont have a railway map with me. Didn’t get lost so I guess I was lucky this time. I was also lucky not so spend more than 10,000 yen this time! But then again, I still have 4 more days to go.
My first roll with the M6 and Summicron ASPH 35mm came out of the developing tank this week, and after scanning, here are 3 from the roll of 36. The first shot was totally out of focused. Like I said, the viewfinder is always in focus on a Rangefinder camera, so since I’m used to SLRs, I just took the shot thinking it was ok.
This first shot above of the alleyway near my apartment actually looks much better after scanning on the 5mb JPEG file. I had to compress it quite a bit before uploading, so the so called ‘Leica Look’ is more or less lost. In the actual scan, you could see that the third bicycle was sharp while the rest were slightly blurred. You can’t see it in the picture above, but its there in the large version.
And this next one was my first take on ‘shooting off the hip’. The edge of the pipes are clearly in focus while the rest slowly fades into blur. Somehow I like this shot, although clearly the original intention was to shoot was was inside the shop! Focus was way off, but exposure was ok. I got to go practice my focusing.
This is another bicycle shot. Original shot much clearer and the bicycle really stands out. Can’t tell from this slimed down version.
Overall, I’m quite happy with this roll. Got to practice, practice, practice. I dont think I can get to people close enough without them noticing. When you lift your camera to the eye, they will notice. But its true that with a rangefinder, when you snap, usually its so quiet no one will notice that their picture has been taken.
The price of fear. Fear of not being able to find Kodak’s tri-x film in Shanghai. The last time I looked, it was impossible to find Tri-X. They do sell them here in Hong Kong today, saw ample stock at Man Shing at Mongkok, only problem was that its 10hkd more per roll than the last time I bought it in Singapore a couple of years ago. Maybe its because things in Hong Kong has gone up in price. Maybe Kodak has increased the price of a roll of black and white film by 25%. But instead of finishing my ready stock in Shanghai, bit the bullet and bought 10 rolls at a premium of 100hkd from what I was originally hoping. Ok, its just 7 metro trips from Mongkok to Quarry Bay. Maybe its not that bad after all. Anyway, Kodak Tri-X costs 35hkd per roll today in Hong Kong.
Went over to the photo street in Taipei this weekend and stumbled across a shop that sells Think Tank Photo gears. After negotiating for a little below the list price on the Think Tank website, bought a Urban Disguise 10 and a Speed Demon bag. Nice!
Came back from Tokyo with me first serious camera. Serious here means a minimalist rangefinder, slightly more than minimalist since strictly speaking it has a built in metering. I’m talking about the Leica M6 here, and I guess with the only RF lens I will ever probably need… A Summicron 35mm ASPH.
First thing first. And the first roll in today is an Ilford FP4+ since the sunlight is out in full today in Shanghai.
After a couple of shots, its not that easy to remember that what you see through the viewfinder is not what the film will capture. You have to remember to take off the lens cap before taking the photo. Focusing with triangulation is not something that is second nature. Although possible, I’m still not capturing the moment, still taking as though I am using an SLR. It’s a problem since my style has always been candid street, and with SLRs i need to lift the camera, focus quickly with my eye (no autofocus) and snap. With a rangefinder, when you look through the finder, everything looks sharp so my brain would be trying to compute this apparent phenomenon. I guess it will take practice to get used to it.
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