A RECENT ACQUISITION IN HONG KONG - MINOLTA ALPHA 9

On a recent trip to Hong Kong this Minolta Alpha 9 35mm camera took my fancy. I have to admit knowing nothing about the camera before buying it. Once I picked it up it felt very easy to use, very comfortable to hold with a grip on the right side of the body, clear view finder (for someone with glasses) and auto focus too.
It came with a 50mm lens, but I ended up buying a 24mm lens as the streets of Hong Kong as so tightly packed together I wanted to capture as much as I could.

So I just shot a few rolls of Ilford Delta 100 and very happy with the results. I've attached a selection of images from my limited time doing some street photography.

I didn't use all the function of the camera, but I think to just to pick something up and shoot with it and not have to worry that my images were or weren't in focus or if I'd used correct aperture... was a lot fun and such a pleasure to use.

I look forward to taking some colour film with me the next time I use the camera.

Thanks for reading and hope you liked the blog…any questions, please feel free to drop an email

Peter

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MY FUJI G617

I'll be the first to admit that I've not been the best at adding to the OR&C blog or website this past 12 months, with a change of jobs and another change of countries it went down the list of things to do next. But I plan to change that...firstly by talking about a camera I bought a year ago.
The Fuji G617 with a fixed 105mm lens, it uses 120 roll film but only 4 image per roll! I first used it in a local forest one foggy morning (with a tripod), I shot both colour and black & white to see the type of images I might get from this massive panoramic camera.

So this was my set up and below are some of my results from using the camera for the first time.

So this was my set up and below are some of my results from using the camera for the first time.

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My next adventure with the camera was down by an old boat wreck near the shoreline.

My next adventure with the camera was down by an old boat wreck near the shoreline.

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Then I saw a trailer for Josef Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land, there I saw him with a Leica M series over one shoulder and a Fuji G617 over the other...and all hand held. This was the inspiration I needed as I was just wondering which camera to take with me on an upcoming trip to Iceland.
These are just a few of the photographs taken on that trip with my G617.

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Then later in the year I took it with me on a trip to Joshua Tree National Park, California.

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Yes, you can use the camera on a tripod...maybe when the light is low or if you find it too heavy to hold and carry around with you. But I loved it, I found it a great camera to shoot with. Be sure to take lot's of film with you'll as you'll be surprised how much film you go through. All the photography from Iceland and California were hand held and not a tripod in sight.

Thanks for reading and hope you liked the blog…any questions, please feel free to drop an email

Peter

This is me in Iceland with the Fuji G617, taken by my good friend Vish from @camerafilmphoto

This is me in Iceland with the Fuji G617, taken by my good friend Vish from @vsonili

SHOOTING WITH THE WRONG EXPOSURE SETTINGS

I shot these a few weeks ago in Portugal...it was early in the morning before the sun had risen and so was still a little misty. I was using Kodak Portra 400 with my Hasselblad 500cxi, but like an idiot I had forgotten to change the little cardboard tab on the back, so I was in fact shooting with Portra 100 not 400.
All of my light meter readings were wrong, and to add to my woes I forgot to wind the film on fully before opening up the back...this comes from shooting with two backs and wanting to catch the mist before the sun came through the clouds.

I have to learn to slow down and be more careful. I'll post these photos and wonder what could have been...and hope I get better at this photography thing.

Thanks for reading and hope you liked the blog…any questions, please feel free to drop an email

Peter

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The Mamiya 37mm Fisheye Lens

I took the first two photography somewhere on the road between Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon on our roadtrip in April.
It was my first attempt at trying out my newly acquired Mamiya 37mm Fisheye lens for the first time. I have a slight distortion in the first image, but the second one isn't as noticable (mainly in the foreground).

But you can really see the distortion here at a veiwing point at the Grand Canyon.

This is Gary at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, I seemed to have had a light leak on this roll of film.

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And finally an image taken at the Sequoia National Forest in California, I tried to catch the shaft of light hitting the trees. You can see how the trees either side of the main tree curve.

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So, overall impression would be that I liked the lens a lot, but I have to find the right subject matter to shoot. If I'm honest I didn't use the lens as much as I thought I would because of the distortion, I eventually sold the lens as I could never find a reason to shoot with that much distortion..

Thanks for reading and hope you liked the blog…any questions, please feel free to drop an email

Peter

FUJI INSTANT FILM ON THE ROAD TRIP

These are only a few of the test Polaroids and in no particular order. I shall be sending the film off next week to be developed...getting excited to see the results.

Films used on the trip by me (Peter) were as follows:

35mm Film
- Rollei RPX 100 x 7 rolls b/w
- Rollei RPX 400 x 2 rolls b/w
- Kodak 400TX x 6 rolls b/w
- FujiFilm Neopan 400 x 1 roll b/w
- FujiFilm Neopan 1600 x 1 roll b/w
- Unbranded 200 x 2 rolls colour
Total 19 rolls of film

120 Film
- Rollei RPX   25 x 1 roll b/w
- Rollei RPX 100 x 3 rolls b/w
- Rollei RPX 400 x 6 rolls b/w
- Kodak Portra 160 x 18 rolls colour
- Kodak Ektar 100 x 13 rolls colour
- Kodak Portra 400 x 3 rolls colour
- Kodak 400TX x 4 rolls b/w
- Kodak 400TX x 1 roll b/w (but shot at 160)
- FujiChrome 120 x 1 roll colour  
Total 50 rolls of film

220 Film
- Kodak Portra 400 x 9 rolls colour
- Kodak Portra 400 x 1 roll colour  (but needs +1)
- Kodak Portra 400 x 1 roll b/w  (but shot at 100)
- FujiChrome 100D x 1 roll colour  
- FujiChrome 100F x 1 roll colour  
Total 13 rolls of film

So a grand total of:
19 rolls of 35 (17 b/w and 2 colour)
63 Rolls of 120/200 (16 b/w and 47 colour)

Thanks for reading and hope you liked the blog…any questions, please feel free to drop an email

Peter

POST ROAD TRIP BLUES

Well, I'm back home now in Switzerland and have a lot of film to get developed 35, 120 and 220. I ended up using the Mamiya RZ67, Hasselblad 500c and the Hasselblad Xpan. Keeping my fingers crossed some of my photos will be okay as I didn't use my digital camera on the 10 day road trip or the other 2 weeks in the US.
Sadly I lost my little Voigtlander VC Meter, so I'm going to be looking for either another Voigtlander meter...or maybe it's time for something more accurate...any suggestions?

On a separate but related note, on my last day or so in Chicago I managed to find (and buy) a copy of 'Route 66' a photographic essay. Dated about 1988, with photos from it's peak to it's decline...but best of all, I found a signed copy of a limited edition Stephen Shore book called 'A Road Trip Journal'. My copy is numbered 1218 out of a total of 3300 produced.

Thanks for reading and hope you liked the blog…any questions, please feel free to drop an email

Peter