Pre-Lockdown walk on Brighton Beach with the Hasselblad 500c/m and the Lomography Lomochrome Metropolis 120 film

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.

My first roll of LomoChrome Metropolis 120 film using my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

I had been really excited to use this film since receiving the 5 x 120 rolls from the Lomography Kickstarter campaign that I had backed.

On New Year’s day, I went on a photography walk with my friend Keiko along Brighton beach. Here are a couple of photos I took of her using the Metropolis film:

These were the first two photos I had taken and also scanned and I was quite impressed with the tones of the photos. It really did give that darker edge that I was hoping for from this film.

There were some people on Brighton beach new years day swimming etc and I took a couple of shots of the fun they were having:

Once again I really liked the tone of image this film produces. I had wanted it to look like a cold winter’s day on the beach and this film certainly achieved that look.

I was desperate to get a shot of the West Pier in Brighton as I thought that would look quite effective on this film and here is the result:

Although my Hasselblad only has 12 shots, I didn’t manage to use up the whole of the film on New Year’s Day.

Over the following week, I went to my local cemetery (where anybody who has followed my blog for a while, knows this is my favourite go to place when testing out new film/camera’s) and took the remainder of the photos there:

You’ll see from the cemetery photos that they were taken on a sunny day. However, the film has managed to retain the cool tones it is known for.

All of the photos were shot at ISO 400 and also developed at this ISO too.

Overall, I was very impressed with this film. It had the tones that I quite like and I can imagine this would look great when taking architectural shots or for street photography.

I’m really looking forward to trying out some more of this film in my Hasselblad and since I’ve really liked the photos it produces, I’m also going to purchase some 35mm format of this film to see how it works in my 35mm camera’s.

Shooting a mystery roll of film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera

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.

Using the Red Filter with my Hasselblad 500 C/M

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.

Another attempt at animal photography using my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera

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!

Shooting the Ilford Pan F 50 Plus film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M

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.

Ilford Delta 100 Pro 120mm Film

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.

Using the Cinestill 50D 120mm film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M camera

This was the only colour film I ended up using in my Hasselblad camera whilst I was away on holiday.

I had previously used this film in the 35mm format on my Olympus Pen FT Camera at a car show which I blogged about last year and was impressed with the results so was interested to try out the 120mm format in my Hasselblad.

It was one of the last films I used during my visit to Dalyan in Turkey so half of the film is of that. I used it during a visit to a hotel which had a beautiful enchanted garden where I ate a yummy local turkish breakfast and here are the photos I took:

Although I used a lens shade, there is unfortunately a slight red flare (from the sun) in a couple of the photos which I think makes it look like I’m using one of those experimental colour films. Also I’m not sure if there was a fault with this particular film? as there is a black line going through some of the photos on the left hand side.

Anyway faults aside, I really hope I managed to capture the magical feel of this place. I could easily have spent all day there but I was on an excursion for the day so this was only the first stop (to have our traditional turkish breakfast).

The second part of the film was used during a trip to Le Havre in France. I literally got back from Turkey, was home for one day before my husband and I set sail to Le Havre for my second holiday of the year.

It was thankfully a pleasant sail as the sea was nice and calm and it was also our first trip to France on our boat which was quite exciting.

I took some photos in the harbour that we moored at in Le Havre:

Overall, I wasn’t particularly impressed with the photos as I had previously been with the car show ones and I question whether I would have had better results if I’d used this film again at another car show.

However, I’m pleased I tried it out with a different subject matter but know in future if taking similar photos, I would most likely use a cheaper colour 120mm film which I think would have just as good (if not better) results.

The Washi S Black and White ISO 50 film with my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

I was pleased to see that Cool Film Club are now doing a monthly 120mm Film Subscription so I signed up to it to enable me to try out films that perhaps I’d never tried before.

I got my first box of 2 x 120mm films the other week from them and in the box was the Washi S 120mm 50 ISO black and white film.

I had been intrigued by this film in the past because it is an emulsion designed for sound recording and it appeared in the sample photos to have a high contrast which I quite like.

However, when I looked at purchasing this film in the past, it always appears to be sold out so I was really happy to get a roll of this in my subscription box.

I decided to try out the film in my local cemetery as I thought the film style would be suited to this style of photography.

Since it’s ISO 50, I went and shot the roll on a bright sunny day and used the sun shade attachment on my Hasselblad.

I wasn’t sure how the negatives would turn out since I felt this film is quite unusual.

I noticed that the film is packed in a recycled roll of 120mm film and this particular film had been repacked in what was originally a Tri-X 400 film roll. This actually turned out to be an issue when taking it to my local lab for processing because although I packed it in the plastic Washi Case which, clearly states 50 ISO, they processed it as the Tri-X 400 film so I’m not sure if this affected the way the negatives turned out.

I can completely understand how this confusion would have been caused and in some ways it was frustrating that a) I didn’t make it extremely clear to them that it wasn’t a Kodak Tri-X 400 film and that b) the Washi is packed in a recycled film package and they don’t have their own brand one which clearly states it’s an ISO 50 film. This makes me wonder if anybody else has encountered similar problems if relying on somebody else to process their film for them.

Thankfully the photos still appeared on all 12 negatives!

I scanned the negatives myself using my Epson V600 scanner and here are some of the photos I took:

The photos are quite high in contrast as I expected they would be. Where I’ve taken the photos in shaded areas they have come out quite dark. I’m unsure at this stage whether this is the traits of the film, the way I exposed the photos (i.e. not stopping up or down and shooting exactly as my light meter stated) or if the fact the film was processed by my lab as a Kodak Tri-X 400. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about the film developing process to know if that would actually make much difference?

I also couldn’t help but have a play with my new (to me) multi-prism filter:

I quite liked the results of the prism effect, especially the last photo. I just knew the statue may be quite an interesting one to try out with the prism filter and the contrast of the film has given it quite a cool, heavenly effect in my opinion.

I’m quite keen to see if any of these negatives will develop into nice prints in the darkroom or whether the high contrast will mean I will struggle.

Using the Multi-Prism Lens Filter with my Hasselblad 500 C/M Camera

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.