Nikon Lite Touch Zoom AF

The Nikon Lite Touch Zoom is a pocketable, good looking zoom lens point & shoot with several nice features and a few drawbacks. I've had the Lite Touch for several years and have taken it out often. The image quality is good, the lens is sharp and the zoom provides flexibility. 

Based on my experience here are the camera's advantages / nice features and drawbacks.

Advantages:

• Sharp zoom lens - 35-70mm f/3.5-6.5 zoom
• Panorama and normal mode
• Adequate flash with multiple modes
• Zoom lens only extends 1-1/4"
• Readily available CR123A battery
• Quick focus
• DX coding (ISO 100 - 1000)

Disadvantages:

• Very small viewfinder
• All buttons are small, rubberized and surprisingly hard to push. The shutter release button (at least on my camera) has to be pushed quite hard to activate.
• No lens cap or cover
• Unable to manually set ISO
• Zoom lens is "stopless" (doesn't stop at 35, 50, etc.). It can be stopped anywhere between 35 thru 70mm. However, except at 35mm or 70mm you don't know what the zoom is set at.

One weird feature of the camera is that the film is loaded "backwards". Looking at the back the film door opens R to L. The film is also loaded "upside down" compared to most cameras. 

Overall, a nice camera for everyday snapshots, street photography or vacation / traveling. Here are a few shots using a roll of Ultrafine Warehouse Finesse 400 developed with Kodak D-76.

  

Nikon F2 & Kodak Portra 160NC

I wanted a Nikon F2 for some time. It's a classic SLR built like a tank. Well, I took the plunge and bought an F2 body from Used Photo Pro at Roberts Camera for $139 after talking it over and testing it with the used camera rep. It was classified as Very Good so the price was reasonable in my book. If the F2 didn't work out UPP has an automatic 90 day warranty so I could always take it back.

While I was shopping that day at Roberts I noticed they had expired Kodak Portra 160NC (NC for "natural color") for $3 per roll. I bought 6 rolls. Had too. I REALLY wanted to try the camera out ASAP, so I mounted it with a Nikkor-S F/2.8 35mm lens from my inventory. I normally use SLRs with a 50mm lens. However, I was going to do some landscape to test the camera so decided to go with a wider lens.

One potential pilot error warning....it's normally not a good idea to test a used camera with expired film. If the film comes out blank or of poor quality then you don't know if it's because the film was expired and not well stored or the camera was trash. I crossed my fingers this time.

I took the camera out a few times in some of the Indiana farmland and also downtown Indianapolis. It worked! The film quality is very consistent with expired color film (some unusual color shifts), but overall I'm very happy with the camera. The simple light meter worked and seemed true. All the moving parts worked. Happy camper. I'll want to run a few rolls of fresh B&W ASAP. I'm certain this will become my favorite Nikon SLR that I own.

Some photos from the first roll. 

Nikon FM + Kodak TRI-X Pan Expired 1986

My Dad's last SLR was a Nikon FM.  It's a basic 35mm SLR.  I've used it a few times previously. The camera is heavily used so brassing is considerable.  The film advance lever is a bit sticky and the back film door needs to be jiggled to close properly.  Other than that it works perfecto, but it's been well used.  The light meter is still solid, although I've used Sunny 16 or confirm the settings with an external light meter.

For a recent shoot I used 2 rolls of expired Kodak Tri-X Pan 35mm film. My dad had a 100' roll which expired on 9/1986.  About 1/2 of the roll was left.  I hand rolled the balance in DX coded cartridges.  I previously used 1 roll that was professionally developed.  The photos came out very muted with minimal contrast.

This time I decided to shoot the film +2 stops.  I also used a yellow filter on a 35mm lens.  The goal was use both the increased stops and the filter to increase contrast.  

I photographed the film on a sunny day with lots of natural contrast.  I metered each light change and then added 2 aperture stops.  Several times I took the same shot 2 times and added another stop. Why?  Why not.  

Finally, I developed both rolls immediately using Adox Rodinal mixed 1+25 at 68F for 7 minutes.  

Bottomline, both rolls and all images came out.  I had a few light leaks due to the back door gap, but that's kind of cool.  The 2 added stops greatly improved the contrast on the film.  Next time I might go without the yellow filter to see if the contrast is still solid.  

The main problem is that the grain is almost completely broken down. The grain is highly pixelated in digital terms.  This makes the photos almost unusable if cropped or blown up at all.  I scanned at 1200 DPI, so these are low res.  I might use Ilfosol 3 or Kodak D-76 to develop the 7-8 rolls I have left after I shoot them. 

Bottomline, it's fun to use because of the camera and film's legacy.  However, any other time I'd use contemporary film stock.  Some examples (unedited):

NYC Street Photography

I'm in NYC attending to some family matters, and guess what?  I have all day Saturday free.  Hmm, what to do? What to do?  I know, street photography.  I came prepared.  I'm primarily going to shoot film, but am bringing digital too.

I was going to take a small kit, but I decided to bring 4 cameras.  Here's what I brought.  One note, I did switch out one camera from the photo at the last minute.  The kit

• Nikon D810 with a Nikon MB-D14 vertical battery grip
• Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 & Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 lenses or the D810
• A bunch of 32GB memory cards
• Olympus MJU-1 point & shoot film camera
• Pentax K1000 film camera (I was originally going to bring my Yashica Electro 35 GSN but wanted an SLR without a light meter (my K1000 meter is dead)
• Yashica 44 TLR
• Luna-Pro light meter (for the K1000)
• 2 rolls of Rera Pan 100 127 film for the Yashica 44
• 9 rolls of various Ilford B&W film including 1 roll of Lomography 400 color film

I know it's a lot.  Most people will bring only one camera / one lens, but I wanted to play with film with an SLR, a point & shoot and a TLR.  I also wanted to bring a workhorse digital camera (that I use in the studio)

I plan to spend about 10 hours just walking through the city.  Once I run out of film, I'll switch to digital....

Here we go!  I'll report back with pictures.

Nikon N8008 And A Fashion Shoot

I did an editorial photoshoot for a fashion magazine recently.  During the photoshoot I decided to shoot a roll of 35mm film with my Nikon N8008 (F-801 outside of the USA) mounted with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 lens between looks.  BTW, the Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 is an awesome manual lens I got from my Dad’s estate, but is still made…and pricey.

The Nikon N8008 is a cool camera that is super simple to use.  It can be set from full manual all the way through full automatic.  This is a perfect camera for beginners who want a film SLR and want full functionality.  A benefit is that they can be found online for less than $50 with lens.  On a Nikon film SLR timeline on Wikipedia under “Nikon SLR cameras” lists it as a late 80’s “high-end” camera. 

I don’t need to go into the specs for the camera because manuals, videos and reviews are readily available online.  Here are a couple:

• Technical specs
• Full manual 

I shot the N8008 in manual mode, aperture priority and full automatic.  In manual mode I set it just like I do my digital camera.  I used an Elinchrom Skyport trigger and metered my studio lights to f/9 and the film 400 ASA.  Next, I shot a few shots in full daylight in aperture priority and finally several shots outside in full automatic.  Bottomline, all worked perfectly and the camera is easy to set & shoot.  I didn’t use an automatic setting for this shoot, but I have previously and it works super.

Oh yes, one other thing I did on this roll of Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400, I developed it myself using a C-41 chemistry kit from the Film Photography Podcast store.  This was my first developing attempt and I’m sure this impacted the quality of the images.  Also my scanner isn’t quite up to contemporary standards…so there’s that.

So if you want a solid film SLR that can be used in all modes and easy to use, then take a look at a Nikon N8008. 

A few shots from the shoot.

Sometimes You Have To Sweet Talk Your Camera

I've got this super clean looking Nikon film N2020.  Not 100% sure where I got it, but I "think" someone gave it to me.  Anyhoo, as I said it looks clean.  I ran it through it's no film paces and except for a wonky AF motor it looked good to go.

I put a trusty Nikkor 50mm f/2 lens on it, and was ready to rock & roll.  I loaded a roll of Fujifilm 400 Color, closed the back, pushed the release button and the film advance.  So nice.

I started to take a few pictures, and nothing.  I mean nothing.  I played around with the settings, checked the batteries, reseated the batteries, remounted the lens, smacked it a few times...you know, just to show it who's boss.   Nothing.  Oh well, a brick.  Since this is more of an automatic camera there is no way to shoot it without the electronics being up to snuff.  So I put it down and said, scrap heap for you.

Anyway last night I picked it back up and pulled out the film.  No way was I going to waste the full roll.  I closed the back and pushed the shutter release.  It suddenly came alive.  WTH?  I reloaded the film I just took out, and it seems to be working.  OK, this is strange.

I'll let you know if it decides to die on my again, or play nice.  Honestly, I should stick to my digital kit.

Nikon MD-11 DOA

My dad was an avid photographer.  One of the last film SLR's he had was a Nikon FM.  A compact, but rugged SLR.  After he passed away, my sister gave me a box of camera equipment she was holding.  In it was all sorts of camera / darkroom equipment.  One item included was a Nikon MD-11 power winder.  

Cool, it was an exact match to my dad's Nikon FM which I had been given earlier.  I was excited to give it a try because I've never had a power winder on any of my Nikons.  It mounted perfectly.  I loaded it with 8 batteries, but alas it doesn't work.  All the terminals are clean & the batteries are new, so I suspect there is something wrong with the internals.

Anyway it looked cool on the camera.  Not to worry the camera still works fine without it.

Street Photography - Various Film Cameras

OK, for fun I shoot street photography.  Most of this work is with film cameras.  Here are photos with various film cameras.

Canon A35F - In Los Angeles

Nikon FN - Plainfield, IN

Olympus MJU-1 - Indianapolis, IN

Olympus XA - Paris

Prinz Alternative - Plainfield, IN

Vivitar PZ3090 - Indianapolis

Yashica Mat124G - Cincinnati, OH

It's super fun to shoot street photography with film.  I forces you to slow down and think about your shot.