Back in February, I went for a walk on a sunny Sunday afternoon with my Husband and my dog, Daisy along Brighton beach. I decided to take my Hasselblad 500 c/m camera with me on this walk and the Metropolis film as I wanted to see if the film would still have that dark, steely edge when used in bright sunshine.
I shot the film at 400 ISO. Looking back, I think it would have been interesting to try a 100 or 200 ISO on such a sunny day so I may try that next time. There were clouds in the sky and I wonder if that is why I decided to shoot this film again on a 400 ISO.
It’s taken me a long time to post this blog as I put the film in for development with my local lab literally a few days before we went into lockdown in the UK and my local lab didn’t re-open until July.
Although I picked the film up several weeks ago, due to busy work commitments, I hadn’t got around to scanning the film on my Epson V600 scanner until now.
Here are the results:
Here are a couple I managed to take of my husband and Daisy:
I love these two photos of my husband and Daisy playing on the beach:
Here is one of Daisy:
During the winter months, my husband and I sometimes like to stop at this fish place along the beach for lunch and have a nice warm fish chowder soup with some bread.
One mistake I sometimes make with the Hasselblad is I wind the film on when I’m not ready to take my next photo. The camera then will face the floor when hung on the strap around my shoulder and what can happen is that the shutter will accidentally press against my leg when walking and go off. Here is a prime example of this happening and wasting a photo of my precious 12 roll film. I’m hoping I will stop doing this going forward! Here is the result of me doing that on this walk:
I still felt the photos had the gritty, street feel, even on a sunny day. It would definitely be interesting to use this film on some architecture. Perhaps I need to arrange another visit to the Barbican Centre and try out a roll of this film there. I’ve not yet been to London since COVID-19 happened and I don’t currently have any plans to visit anytime soon.
Yesterday I discovered via an online Hasselblad group I belong to, that a company called Escura had launched a campaign for an instax photo back that is compatible with the Hasselblad V-system cameras.
I was first aware of the company Escura when they launched their first Kickstarter campaign in 2018 for a 60s style Instant Camera (the Escura Instant60s). Whilst I found the camera interesting, I never backed it due to already owning my Leica Sofort Instant camera.
The new instant back they have designed for the Hasselblad will allow you to shoot Fuji Instax Mini instant formats which, they claim will help give complete control over exposure and framing allowed by the Hasselblad system.
For anybody that knows about Hasselblad and instant photo options currently on offer, there is a Polaroid film back that can be purchased second hand quite cheaply. When I first purchased my Hasselblad I nearly purchased a Polaroid back for around £60. However, the reason I didn’t in the end, was because the only film that these backs are compatible with is the Fuji FP 100-C which has since been discontinued.
I’m aware that a company called Supersense recently released an alternative Packfilm for the Polaroid 100 type back but, it is very expensive to purchase (around £24 for 6 x photos) in comparison to the Fuji Instax mini film (around £10 for 10 x photos) so I’m still in two minds about purchasing a vintage Polaroid back.
Since the Escura back will be compatible with the cheaper Fuji Instax mini film I was extremely excited about this new product!
They met their funding target within a couple of hours of the Kickstarter launch which, was great for them. Initially I thought I may back this Kickstarter Campaign immediately too but when I saw that the first early bird price was going to cost me approximately £171.00 (including postage to the UK), I thought I’d better do some further research before taking the plunge and backing it.
Thankfully there are a couple of YouTube videos that have been posted by photography bloggers who received a prototype of the product to test.
I eagerly watched both videos and was impressed with the photo images being produced. At this point I thought the whole process of having to put in a new viewfinder attachment before I could take a photo with the back may slightly annoy me if I’m out and about taking photos as I would most likely want to regularly change between the normal 120 film back and this one.
What I also noticed when watching the YouTube videos was that all photos were taken fairly close up (mainly of people and some pets) and I couldn’t see any landscape type photos.
Thankfully upon reading the comments that people had posted on one of the YouTube videos, I noticed that somebody had asked if the instax film back can be shot at infinity and the answer was NO.
Upon looking at the Kickstarter campaign again, the penny finally dropped that the word ‘Portrait’ is noted in the title of the product. This therefore meant that the instax back is only really designed for portrait photography work and general close up shots.
For me, I don’t tend to shoot portraits often on my Hasselblad. I tend to use mine more for landscape work and the majority of the time I shoot at infinity.
I knew immediately that I could not justify the £171.00 cost for an instant back that I would rarely use.
I certainly wouldn’t take this camera out with me for social events to try and justify using the instant back since it’s too big plus, I have my gorgeous Leica Sofort instax camera which does a great job for parties anyway and has a built in flash.
I’m hoping that in the future there may be another instant back design for the Hasselblad that will work for infinity shots too as that would be something I would be very tempted to purchase.
I also noticed that some people had asked on various social platforms why they hadn’t designed a back for the Instax Square film since the Hasselblad is a 6×6 camera. Escura’s response was that the Instax mini is more popular than the square and mini size is apparently perfect for Portrait. Also Escura said that there is no Black and White square instax film and the cost of the back would be more expensive to purchase if they designed a square one.
Here is a video of the Kickstarter campaign for anybody who may be interested in purchasing one:
They plan to ship the first batch in July 2020 so the wait won’t be too long for anybody wanting to purchase this.
A couple of weeks ago I was sorting out one of my travel bags and I came across a roll of 120 film in one of the pockets that I would have taken with me on my holiday in June but must have missed this pocket when unpacking everything back on my return.
It was in a white plastic packet with no writing on it. I decided I wanted to use it up asap because I couldn’t remember what it was so I wouldn’t be able to add it to my film inventory for a particular plan of use.
It was a nice sunny morning the other Sunday and my dog, Daisy, needed a walk so I decided to take my Hasselblad with me over to the beach and use up this film.
I was hoping when I opened up the plastic packet that there may have been a label but all it said on the paper inside was a strange graphic of 100.
I decided to take this as being the ISO and took photos using that ISO for my exposure.
I also wasn’t sure if it was black and white or colour. When I took it to my local lab for processing, I decided to get it processed in black and white.
I figured if I was wrong and it was ruined, they were beach photos which I regularly take so it wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Thankfully it was a black and white film and the photos for the most part, came out fine.
It stated 100 pan on the processed negatives so I think it must have been a Rollei film I had taken with me on my trip to Turkey in June but never used.
Here are some photos of the beach:
Here are some photos I took of Daisy on the beach:
I can’t make up my mind whether I like this photo or not? I think I would have preferred it if I had put Daisy in focus and the people in the background had been out of focus:
This photo of Daisy has a sea mist feel about it as it seems slightly over exposed:
I had great fun that morning using my Hasselblad on the beach and I’m really pleased that I had guessed the film type for developing correctly.
I had been keen to try out the Hasselblad Red Filter that I purchased for my Camera as I wanted to make more contrast in some of my black and white photography.
My first attempt at using the Red Filter the other month was a complete disaster. I had looked at the filter guideline, which I understood as altering the exposure on the light meter by 2.5 stops.
The results ended up with some very under exposed shots that were pointless scanning.
I spoke about my results to the London Camera Museum (where I originally purchased my Hasselblad from) and they said to just expose as normal and ignore the 2.5 stop alteration.
I therefore exposed as per the light meter reading without any adjustments, using the Rollei RPX 100 film and I decided to take some photos of the fishing boats at Brighton Marina and here are the results:
These photos came out just as I’d hoped so I’m really happy. They have the contrast and gritty feel that I was hoping to capture of the fishing area at Brighton Marina.
On the same day, I also took photos of some white fluffy clouds in the sky using the red filter:
Here is a photo I took of the clouds with the cliffs underneath:
I particularly like this photo I took of Roedean School on the Cliffs with the clouds:
I used the 80mm lens for all the photos and will definitely be using the Red Filter again when I want some dramatic contrast in my black and white photography.
Back in July I visited the Rare and Traditional Breeds Show at the Weald & Downland Living Museum with my husband.
He has fond memories of visiting this show when he was a child with his Dad and hadn’t been for several years so was keen to go this year.
I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to take some black and white photos of some of the animals.
I decided to take my medium format camera (the Hasselblad) since I thought that would give me greater detail if I wanted to develop any of the photos in the darkroom.
I also had a roll of the Bergger Pancro 400 film in my film stash so thought I’d use this.
Here is a photo of one of the bulls being shown:
My main profession is a hand knitwear designer, so I was particularly drawn to the sheep breeds at the show which I found easier to photograph with the Hasselblad:
I was extremely impressed with the fleece detail on this breed of sheep in the following photographs and yet again, was pleased I had taken the photos using the Hasselblad:
I have a real fondness for the Southdown Sheep as they remind me of ‘little teddybears’ plus they’re bred in Sussex. However, as a knitwear designer, I’m frustrated that I can’t really knit with their fleece since it is very coarse when spun into yarn so isn’t very comfortable to wear for the ladies garments that I design which is a shame.
I couldn’t help but watch and take a couple of photos of the showing of them:
Although there is still a lot of room for improvement of my animal photography, there are actually a couple of photos of the sheep that I now want to develop in the Darkroom and get framed to put in my knitwear design studio which is an added bonus!
This is my final instalment of films I tried out in the Hasselblad whilst I was away in Turkey.
As previously mentioned with the other films, I thought this ISO 50 film would be great to try out in sunny Turkey.
The photos were again, taken during my visit to the Kaunos Ruins in Dalyan, Turkey:
This was the first time I had ever used this film and I was extremely impressed with the high contrast and tones. I also thought that the landscape and ruins worked well with this film.
It’s definitely a film I’d consider using again on a bright, sunny day for my landscape work.
Following on from my recent blog about a visit to the Kaunos Ruins in Dalyan, Turkey, there were many photo opportunities.
Since my Hasselblad only takes 12 shots per 120mm film, I was able to try out some other black and white films whilst at this location.
Next on my list to try was the Ilford Delta 100 Professional 120mm film.
Normally in the UK I wouldn’t necessarily be inclined to use this film in view of the low ISO so thought a bright, sunny day in Turkey would be a perfect time to try it out.
I took these photos on my walk back down to the river from the Kaunos Ruins.
I was really happy with the detail of the trees in this photo:
I wasn’t sure if the next two photos would actually come out because I took these photos of the Donkey in very dark shade and light metered it as best I could. I’m therefore happy that I did manage to get the photos even if they are a bit dark:
I’ve realised that I’ve much practice to do on perfecting my photos of animals. The next set of photos were taken in a field where I had to climb onto a fence to take the photos. This was slightly awkward with the Hasselblad since its a camera I tend to ‘shoot from the hip’. The first two photos were ruined by a cow stepping its ‘back end’ into the shots as I took the photos and I slightly missed the face off the cow in the third shot but I can see the funny side of it because they are so bad:
The next couple of photos are of the Mountainside as I was walking back down:
I really liked this film and was pleased with the tones of black and white it produced. Once again, I was also impressed with the amazing detail thanks to the Hasselblad lens. I would definitely use this film again on a very sunny day.
During my recent trip to Turkey, I decided to try out this film in my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera.
Since I take most of my photos in England, I don’t really tend to use low ISO films. However, Turkey was extremely bright and sunny and this film had been in my film stash for a while, so I thought it would be good to try it out.
Here are some photos I took of the mountain areas in Dalyan, Turkey:
The next picture I took has some streaks on the negative but I actually quite like the old feel it seems to give the photo. It reminds me a bit of the Washi film and looks like the photo could have been taken a long time ago:
Whilst staying in Dalyan, I was keen to visit the Kaunos tombs which were on the other side of the Dalyan river. The easiest way for me to get to the tombs was to go across on a row boat that was rowed by a local lady which cost less than £1 for the ride. Once across, I then walked up the hill to the Tombs and the views were amazing:
Here are some photos of the ruins I visited in Kaunos:
Here is a photo I took at the ruin’s of my friend who visited Kaunos with me:
I was extremely impressed with the detail the Hasselblad lens gave me in these photos.
However, I don’t think I’ll be using this film again any time soon as there wasn’t as much contrast as I like in my black and white photos so there would be other films I would choose first over this one. Although I’m glad I tried out this film and I still feel that a bright, sunny day in Turkey was the best place for me to test it.
The negatives were scanned on my Epson V600 scanner so I will be interested to perhaps develop some of these photos into prints during one of my darkroom sessions to see how different they look. I will blog about this when I do it.
A couple of weeks ago, I found one of the multi-prism lens filters for the Hasselblad for sale on eBay in the UK with a buy it now price for around £20.
I knew this would be a fun accessory to have for my Hasselblad and experiment with and didn’t think it was too expensive compared to other lens accessories I’d seen for sale for the Hasselblad so purchased it.
Thanks to the Hasselblad booklets I own, I discovered that it was a bayonet 50 mount so it would fit my 80mm lens. The booklet also told me that I had purchased model number 50679 which has five prisms.
I also loved the fact that the booklet states ‘These multi-prism lenses have prisms producing multiple images on the film. A striking accessory for the advertising photographer and an interesting, creative tool for experiments.’
Although the lens filter didn’t come with the original box, it was in immaculate condition when it arrived and looked like it had hardly ever been used!
I was excited to try it out so headed to my beach opposite where I live.
I decided to use the Fujichrome Velvia 100 colour reversal film in the 120mm format as I was hoping if I got it processed in E-6, it would have a real pop of colour which I thought would be great for the prism effect.
I’m fortunate enough in Brighton to have a local lab called Colourstream who are able to process the film by hand in the E-6 chemicals for me.
I was very excited about this experiment because I had obviously never used this lens attachment before and also I had never had a film developed in E-6.
Here are the results:
I was able to twist the prism around on my lens so I could get different prism effects which I thought was fun.
Overall, I was really happy with the way the photos turned out and I really like the intense colour of the Fujichrome film.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the colours from the sky and beach did the film justice. I would definitely like to try this film out again with some more colours in the photos.
I also have some more creative ideas using the prism filter so am looking forward to trying them out and blogging about them in the future.
I recently bought the Rollei 120mm colour film, which was on sale at a reduced price whilst purchasing some silver gelatin paper.
I had read that the Rollei Chrome CR 200 is an E-6 colour slide film which has rich, warm colours and subtle contrasts. It can be cross developed (C-41 process).
I knew I wanted to test this film out in my Hasselblad. I’ve recently become quite addicted to black and white photography so this was the first colour film that I decided to try and I was very excited to see the results.
After doing some research on the film and looking at other people’s photos online who had used it, I decided that I preferred the warm tones and colours when the film is cross processed under C-41 so got my film developed this way.
Here are a couple of photos I took of my nephews:
I was really pleased with how the above photos turned out. I felt the film being cross processed gave a warm vintage feel to the photos. I feel the colours all blend in together in a nice subtle way. I also love the crisp detail of the trees that my camera has managed to capture.
I next took some photos of blossom trees:
Again, there is very much a warm tone to these photos and I particularly like the darkness of the tree against the bright blue sky. Also the blossom has a yellow tint to it.
Lastly, I took some photos on the beach with the waves and sky:
I love the water detail in these photos and was surprised to see that the clouds almost look like paintings.
I especially love the last photo which I feel has a real 1970s dreamy, advert feel to it.
Natalie Smart Film Photography 