Cheap Plastic Goodness

PX100UV+ Test Film

2012-01-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned how great this new test film is? Its really good stuff.

PX100UV+ Test Film and Polaroid SX-70 Sonar OneStep

Regular version is out. Go get some.

Sin in Flames

2012-01-11T21:00:00.001-08:00

Sin in Flames, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Expired Polaroid 600 film and SLR 680 camera.

Happy New Year

2012-01-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Just a quick post with some images shot on PX100UV+ TestFilm with a SX-70 Sonar OneStep.

This is really nice stuff! It develops very quickly compared to all the other Impossible films. The tones are a much truer black and white with a nice amount of detail/sharpness and handles gradation and skin tones wonderfully. Although it does seem to be a little fast speed wise. Depending on your cam you'll need to darken the exposure wheel slightly. It is noticeably more stable, temperature wise, or at least a greater range it seems. Still shifts to a warm tone if warm enough out and it does shift slightly over a few days or so to a more brown tone. Nice thing is since it develops so quickly you can scan it much sooner then later to preserve that initial black and white tone. Quite pleased with where Impossible has gotten this film. Great job guys. This test batch of film was released only a few weeks before the first public release went on sale, but it seems to be pretty close to the same. You can find it here.

/\

2011-11-15T20:39:00.001-08:00

/\, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Polaroid SLR 680 • PX600uv+ film

AquaSin

2011-10-15T18:19:00.001-07:00

AquaSin, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Polaroid SX-70 Sonar OneStep • PX70 FF ColorShade film.

Thank You Steve

2011-10-06T09:33:00.001-07:00

Thank you Steve, for your inspiring view of what the world can be, being a visionary and innovator and making some of the best technological products we never knew we would need or now cannot live without. I learned of your passing from my iPhone and breaking news app. Even this post is coming via a blog app on my iPad. My work, creative and personal life are surrounded by your products and have been for some time. From that very first PowerBook with a scroll ball pad I used back in 1994, I knew this was something truly different and just made sense. You have changed my life as well as millions around the world.

Rest in peace.

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." -SJ

I like that...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Echo Park Wander

2011-09-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Some images from a recent photo outing with my friend Julia around Echo Park, CA.

Overcast morning and things were quiet.

Polaroid Spectra SE, expired Softtone Edge Cut film & SX-70 Sonar OneStep, Impossible PX-70FF film.

Holga 120CFN, expired Konica Pro 120 160 color negative film.

Hot

2011-09-07T21:24:00.001-07:00

Beach Flag, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Summer is over, its still hot. That is all.

Holga 120CFN, expired Konica Pro 160 color negative film.

RoidWeek July 2011

2011-07-16T16:31:00.001-07:00

RoidWeek July 2011, a set on Flickr.

And this concludes Polaroid Week 2011. Lots of great, inspiring instant goodness. I always find myself impressed with the unique and many many different ways one can use instant film to express themselves. These were my 10 shots. I didn't get a chance to shoot during the week, but these are all from the past 6 weeks.

Wash

2011-07-03T22:49:00.001-07:00

Wash, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

A pack of PX100 FF from the Factory Outlet batch that was very light sensitive and grainy. Quite happy with it though. Nice washed out tones. I believe I chilled it briefly in a cold cold clip. Shot with a Polaroid SX-70 Sonar OneStep camera.

Olympus XA

2011-06-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Some sample shots from my recent $10 dollar yard sale find Olympus XA. So far I've run a roll of color neg and a roll of slide film that I had cross processed. Currently have a roll of b &w loaded.

Great little camera with a sharp lens. Still getting used to the rangefinder. Can be tricky to see in low light, the overlapping focus area. Also, the shutter button itself is very sensitive, good for grabbing that quick shot in low light. I'll post a more in depth review of the XA itself later on.

37/38

2011-05-14T23:28:00.001-07:00

37/38, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Yard Sale Loot

2011-05-14T15:39:00.001-07:00

Yard Sale Loot, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Via Flickr:
City of West Hollywood promoted a city wide yard sale event for the weekend to encourage some spring cleaning and make a little money instead of just throwing items away. Hit about a dozen or so sales. Combined cost for the items above, $27. Both the Polaroid Spectra and Olympus XA were $10 each, plus 4 shots of film left in the Spectra. The Nikon 5005 SLR was $5 and the Polaroid Spectra AF was $2. Supposedly everything works, the Olympus battery check doesn't seem to register anything yet the meter seems to work. I fired off a couple of shots from the Spectra, will post those shots later. The Spectra AF might have a bunch of shots left as well, so that would be a great bonus.

First Flush Bruch

2011-04-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

A few months back, Impossible had a very special promo deal. A limited supply of 10 packs of various films, deemed not fit quite right by the factory. A factory outlet bruch sale. I think it was $60 bucks with my Pioneer discount. My bag had 6 packs of PX100 FF, 2 PX100, 1 PX600 FF and a PX70 Push! So far I've shot through 4 packs of the PX100 FF. Its been a great learning opportunity to get a better handle on the film. Also just a chance to play a bit more (or destroy). The learning curve was higher with this film when it first came out. Now, a year later, I'm feeling like I know what I'm doing, more or less. Not thinking as much, but doing. One thing that has helped was the new light shielding tip that Impossible had posted to their blog about using a dark slide to run through the exit slot of the camera instead of taping to the front to prevent fogging. Also shooting with the film in the cooler temps of winter/spring really brought out some great, consistent results. More black and white and a little less sepia/warm with good contrast. I did scan these all at different times depending on the tone. Some I waited a few hours others a day or two. During the first 12 hours, you stand a good chance at getting a more neutral tone image, by the next day the yellow/sepia really kicks in. Now I'll need to try out some mobile cooling techniques this summer. As mentioned before, these were flawed factory outlet films so they have been messier due to loose edges of the films. This has also created some interesting side effects since it prevents the chemistry from spreading evenly thus sometimes creating odd unexposed areas at the top or the corners. I personally like it, adds another unique quality, although cleaning the rollers suck.

Impossible Color

2011-04-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

The Impossible Project held true to their commitment to bring a stable color film reminiscent of classic Polaroid 600 film. Coming soon to the line up, PX680 Color Shade. Better temperature range and more light safe. The secret film testers announced and posted their images via Flickr (this is the main PX680 group) and blogs. Lots of samples of beautiful, rich and colorful images. With this announcement came an opportunity for Impossible Pioneer card holders to purchase some of the beta 2 version of the film, of which I ordered two packs (knew I should have made it three). I believe the First Flush edition of this film will be out by early May (maybe sooner) with a Spectra version out in early Summer.

I have only shot through one pack of film so far. My first three shots were duds though. I use a ND filter over the lens of my SX-70 Sonar and what I discovered was that I think this film isn't quite as fast as 600 (or at least in beta form). I normally have to dial the exposure wheel all the way to dark, but when I did that the shots came out very underexposed. If I had been a little patient and waited to see the results I could have corrected instead of firing off another in excitement, oh well. Then at some point I took another, but forgot I had removed the ND filter and so it was way overexposed. Definitely some minor grumbling going on at first. However, what I did learn is that there is some room to play with the exposure which is a good thing to know now.

Once I quit screwing around and took some shots with good light I was pretty happy with the results. Has a little bit of a learning curve to it, but if you're good with the other flavors then this should be similar to get used to, if not easier. Other then giving it a brief cover on eject for the first 7-10 secs, the film holds up really well in shaded areas and indoors, so need to cover. Bright sun, then its advised to cover. Also gives you some creative control to flash the film as well. There is a definite warmth, almost golden quality to this film and fair amount of texture, detailed but still rough. Yellow creamy whites and more intensity in color, but muted just enough that it feels vintage still. The beta batch has some white speckles in the image area that is the result of the hand mixing process for the test film. The First Flush edition should remove most of that according to Impossible.

Pretty happy and amazed with the quality of the film. If its looking and behaving this well already, then the next editions will be fantastic. I'm looking forward to the next batch and just in time for Summer. Congrats to the Impossible team for making it happen.

Auto 100 - Its New To Me!

2011-03-06T16:29:00.001-08:00

Auto 100, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Got some new gear and upgrades recently. My 340 is having both under exposure issues and a droopy bellow thing starting to happen. I figured instead of paying for repairs (I might give it a try myself) I decided to put my resources toward a new camera. I have a pristine 450, but lacks a portrait or close-up kit, I did recently battery mod it though to take 2xAAA batteries. I already have a portrait kit for the 340, so when I came across a good deal for an Auto 100 I went for it. In the process I also picked up a 192 Self Timer and a 583 Close-Up Kit.

The Auto 100 is similar to the 230, 240, 340, 440 models except it has the metal body. The other metal bodied models 250, 350, 360 and 450 have the nicer Zeiss viewfinders instead. Like all the ones I mentioned above, it has scene selectors for indoors/outdoors and film speeds for 75, 150, 300 and 3000.

The camera was in pretty good shape, rollers needed some cleaning as did the viewfinder. Swapped the battery from my 340 and seems to meter ok. The few test shots I've done with a pack of chocolate film shows the exposure is a little off, maybe need to compensate 1 or 2 clicks of the dial to over expose, at least in lower light. The camera also came with the original leather strap with development timer attached. The self timer is pretty neat, it sort of snaps on and is held there by friction. You rotate the dial to any position between 5-20 seconds and the activation and release is long enough to account for longer exposures. Plus there is something really great about the machined metal quality of it.

I tried a couple of shots with the close up kit, which lets you focus 9-15 inches and found it pretty tricky to focus and compose with due the parallax correction. I've read else where that good light really helps as does a tripod. The parallax correction is pretty good as far as composing goes, but the focus part is askew to what you see in the viewfinder.

The shot of the apples for example, I thought I was focused more on the middle of the front one, not just the back one. With the exposure I can't tell if its the camera or the film. I did this one 2 clicks into brighten on the camera, thought it would have been a little brighter then this. I do like the quality of it though, and I'm sure with a little practice I'll have the hang of the it in no time.

Most people seem to go for the 250 due to having the bigger Zeiss viewfinder, but this is a great solid alternative to it. So far I'm happy with it.

Cold and Wet

2011-02-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Its been a strange winter weather wise here in Southern California.
We've had some wonderful summer like days in the middle of January,
but plenty of wet and cold to counter it. I was curious to see how cross
processing the film would translate with dark, wet and dreary days.

All images shot with a Holga 120CFN with Fuji Provia X400/RXP chrome film,

cross process C-41 and scanned from negatives.

Polaroid ColorPack II and Polaroid Blue

2011-02-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

Recently rescued a few vintage cameras from my mother's house. One of the useable ones is a ColorPack II model that takes type 100 film. The ColorPack II has the following specs.

Lens: 114mm, f/9.2 3-element glass or plastic.
Shutter: Electronic; range about 10 sec. - 1/500
Flash: Built-in flashcube socket; flashcube automatically rotates after each exposure
Automatic exposure system similar to the folding pack cameras.
Settings for 75 and 3000 speed films. (fixed aperture for each)
Has simple "face sizer" focusing aid for 5ft. setting only.
Has metal "spreader bars" instead of rollers.

specs taken from rwhirled.com/landlist.

I always thought of these hard plastic models as being a cheap, inferior, bulky versions of the range finder pack cameras (250 for example). I found it to be surprisingly light (it is plastic after all) to carry. The exposures seemed to be pretty accurate as well. The lens seems pretty sharp, I think this one has the glass lens. Focusing is a bit difficult since you have to guestimate with a scene selector, but with a little practice I think it would be easy. I would definitely bring this along instead of a regular bellows pack cam for any kind of camping/hiking purpose since its so light weight and simple to operate or for questionable weather conditions.

I've only shot some Polaroid Blue film through it so far. I initially got the Blue as part of the Triple Dip deal from Impossible, one Chocolate, one Blue and one Sepia. I'd been curious about the Blue film for some time and having a now empty and available camera to use it with I loaded it up. The film seems like its missing the yellow portion of color spectrum, but even though its a wonderful blue color (and a nice range at that), other colors due come thru depending on the color balance. Red's come thru as do some greens and skin tones. One of the other unique things about this film is that it has a silk textured surface to it. A blue version of the 125i silk perhaps. Sometimes I really like the look and texture of silk films and other times it really bothers me. Appears to work really well with the blue. Polaroid always seems to have done blue really well. Has a lot of potential, stylized options with it depending on the subject matter. Since this is a expired film and limited, it may soon be difficult to find this film. The Impossible store still has some in stock, but supplies were looking low. I say check it out while you can!

And We're Back!

2011-01-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

Not that I was really gone, just been busy and therefore neglected some overdue blogging.

Upcoming blog posts: Instant Blues, Sepia and Chocolate, Instant Slide films, wet/winter Holga images, Instax Goodness, Impossible Factory Outlet Bruch films plus some B&W Yashica Electro 35 images. I'd also love to hear more from you! What would you like to see and read more about? Any interest in tutorials or how to's? Like it just the way it is or something new? Appreciate the input/feedback.

Neither Cheap Nor Plastic

2010-12-19T18:16:00.001-08:00

Charlie, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Been a little while since I ran a roll of film through my Hasselblad. I was having some problems with the lens shutter sticking at slower speeds since it had been sitting. Managed to loosen it up by leaving the camera in a warm part of the house and rotating the various f-stops and speeds on the lens everyday and it eventually started working again. Definitely need to get it properly cleaned and overhauled.

Most of the shots from this roll were a bit on the underexposed side, but it seemed like more then enough information was there to pull out an image. Strange thing though, a weird texture of some kind is on the film. I don't know if something happened at the lab or if it was just something peculiar about this expired roll. Basically makes it near impossible to save the image, at least with my scanner. This shot was my favorite anyways and was better exposed. If anyone has any clues as to what would cause the texture I'd love to hear about it.

Hasselblad 500C/M, expired Ilford FP4 film. Processed normal, scanned from negative.

Xpro Urban & Nature

2010-12-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

Always amazed at how some cross processing can yield crazy results and other times it seems to barely shift. The sky/wires image looks fairly normal, while the duck pond almost looks like its on fire, and they are both from the same roll. This particular film seems to hold together pretty well for being cross processed. Maybe its not expired enough.

Holga 120CFN, expired Fuji RXP 400 chrome film, cross processed C-41, scanned from negative.

Oakwood

2010-11-20T22:02:00.001-08:00

Oakwood, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Overcast days with some xpro.

Holga 120CFN, expired Fuji Provia RXP400 chrome film, cross processed, scanned from negative.

Lomo Does The Getty

2010-11-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Polaroid Mio, Fuji Instax Mini film.

The Lomography Store here in West Hollywood have started to do what they call "Lomo Adventures" instead of a workshop at the store, they head out with some sort of theme in mind, this one was to The Getty Center Museum. It costs a little bit more then the workshops, but for $25 not to bad. Pretty sure this was their first one (they've done a couple of others since, a double decker bus touring L.A. and also an outing to Día de los Muertos festival at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery). Just had to be at the store at noon (return by 4pm). Got a choice of a Lomo loaner camera and a roll of film (I went with the Lubitel 166+ with 35mm mod), plus chartered bus to and from The Getty. Also, there would be a special surprise waiting for us and another loaner camera, which turned out to be a scavenger hunt! Off everyone went with Diana cams with Instax film backs to capture the items on the list. Had to track down various sculptures and garden items that were printed on the list. Had fun ~~running~~ walking quickly around the beautiful grounds at The Getty. The regular visitors seemed to not notice us much and the hunt itself was harder then I thought it would be i.e. didn't win...it was fun though.

My only real complaint was that I didn't get a chance to check out any of the exhibits. We left late from the store since a few people were running behind, the scavenger hunt itself lasted longer then I think they had planned for and then in the process having a roll of film that I needed to get thru at the end meant no casual time to wander in the nice comfortable galleries (it was warm out). Then again, I guess if I had won something then I'd have nothing to gripe about. ; ) All I'm saying is that it would have been nice to still have the time to appreciate the art and wander around in addition to the surprise scavenger hunt, it just didn't work out that way for me (I think a few people opted to just wander). Did get to meet some cool people that day and got to spend a nice afternoon in a beautiful location with great views and most importantly, took some photos. There are some iPhone Hipstamatic shots on my flickr page that I took as well.

As for the loaner camera, I found the Lubitel 166+ to be a really great camera. Offers a lot of precision control for what's supposed to be a plastic camera. A full range of F-stops and shutter speeds. You can double expose as well since you have to cock the shutter on the lens, which is quite sharp by the way. The 35mm mod was cool to use. Has a screen in place with the 35mm marks in the viewfinder so you can properly frame it. Since you get the normal width of what would be medium format 6x6 film and sprockets you get less shots per roll. For a 24 exp roll of 35mm film it worked out to 12 shots. One nice thing about it being plastic was that it didn't feel like you were lugging a heavy metal camera like a Mamiya C330 even though it looks like one and performed great. Adding another camera to the want list.

Lubitel 166+ with 35mm mod, Klick color negative film, processed normal C-41.

Check out their site for a schedule of upcoming events. I know there are a couple of Diana F+ workshops coming up plus they're doing a closing night party on Nov 14th. The parties are pretty fun. They have a band play, plus snacks and a open beer bar. Good times.

Polaroid Week Fall 2010

2010-11-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would post my shots from Polaroid week which just concluded on 11/5. I shot mostly Impossible's new film PX600UV since I had just received the 4 packs I won the week before (yah, perfect timing!). I did also shoot some PZ and some ATZ edge cut. I went into it with the intent of posting new recent shots as well as trying to get some new shots during the week itself, which I was able to do. I managed to challenge myself a bit in the process as well.

I've only shot one pack so far of the PX600UV film and had a variety of results. In some ways it seemed more like a first flush pack, had a lot of shots with artifacts and weird splotches, not sure if it was just a funky pack or something to do with the cold clip during processing (or maybe a little bit of both). Most people seem to have very positive results though. At the same time, I got some fantastic, deep black and white tones in some and others were very sepia or charcoal like. I don't have a 680 camera, so I had to use a ND filter on the lens of my SX-70 and tried to remember to keep the exposure wheel dialed dark.

The PZ600 film keeps coming back as a fave of mine of the monochrome films. They seem to have a found a good balance of quality and stability. I'm also finding that I'm enjoying shooting with the Spectra SE camera more and more as well.

I really love the quality of the ATZ edge cut film. Just beautiful tones and colors. I only have a a few shots left and then one more pack...

Day 1. ATZ edge cut

Day 1. PZ600

Day 2. PX600UV

Day 3. PX600UV

Day 4. PX600UV

Day 5. ATZ edge cut

One of the nice things about Polaroid Week is how much positive attention it brings to everyone. So many people participating and sharing. Finding lots of new and talented photographers/artists and in general, just being inspired by so much great imagery. Already looking forward to next Spring!

Diana F+ Pinhole Fun

2010-10-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

An afternoon with friends, taking a stroll around West Hollywood during a recent Lomography pinhole workshop (really inexpensive by the way). Made for a fun afternoon. Next time I use a Diana pinhole, I'll attempt some better hand holding techniques!

Diana F+ pinhole, expired Fuji Pro 400H, developed normal C-41, scanned from negative.