Sunday, November 13, 2016

Yashica 44 - A Mini TLR



I was given this really cool Yashica-44 earlier in the year.  I looked in pretty good shape.  All the moving parts moved, the shutter seemed to be smooth and the glass clear.  The only issue was that the film advance and focus dials are very loose.  Not fall off loose, but not tight.  No problems.  I was happy to add it to my collection.  The only challenge...yep, it shoots an odd sized film, 127.  While the film is still available, it's somewhat hit or miss to find and kind of pricey.

About a month ago I tried to figure out how to shoot 35mm spockets with it, so at least I could give it a go.  No joy, couldn't figure out how to get it set up.

OK, I decided to break down and buy a couple of Rera Pan 100-127 rolls from Freestyle Photo in LA. Each roll was $12, so I bought 2.   I hadn't shot the camera before, so I wasn't sure if it was going to work or a dud.  For this reason I decided to only shoot one roll, have it developed and see if it worked.  If it didn't then I'd have a spare roll of 127 to shoot in any other camera I came upon that needed it.

A few weeks ago I was NYC so I decided to give it a try.  Guess what, it worked!!  Easy to load, and everything seemed to go smoothly.  I metered the camera using a Luma-Pro that I had.  Loading was straight forward, just like any TLR.  

I'll definitely use it again, and this time I'm going to also investigate how / if I can roll my own 127 film.  A few of the shots in NYC.  I love the old-skoolie look of the film, the massive amount of grain and the soft focus.




Friday, November 4, 2016

Model Photos with a Yashica EZS Zoom 70


I picked up this Yashica EZS Zoom 70 at a Goodwill store.  A fairly straight forward, limited feature 35mm film point & shoot.  It's got a cool look and fits easily into my hand.  A bit bulky for my taste for a point & shoot, but I wanted to give it a go.  I've always had good luck with Yashicas.

The camera was super clean when I got it.  Battery compartment completely clean, lens clean and operated smoothly.  I probably paid less than $3.

I decided to take it to a recent model test studio shoot.  I've gotten into the habit of bringing a film camera during my test, fashion and model shoots and popping off a few frames.  I've started a series on my Facebook page called "Girls On Film".  Get it, the Duran Duran song...??

Anyway, I shot about 1/2 roll of Ilford XP2 Super 400 film during my shoot with model Anastasiya Finogenova with LModelz Model Management.  I just had her pose casually against various backgrounds.  In all cases the flash fired (set to auto) which gave it a somewhat blown-out look which was cool.

I developed the film myself and scanned it using my cheapo Epsom V370 scanner.  I REALLY like the results.  Totally surprised at the quality and vibe from the film camera.  I'll definitely use it again (this weekend maybe??).

A couple of photos of Anastasiya...just cropped in Lightroom and a touch of Clarity added.