Olympus Infinity Stylus - Southern Tier Bike Trek

I recently completed a bucket list item! I rode a bicycle across the entire USA following the Adventure Cycle Association Southern Tier route from St. Augustine, FL to San Diego, CA. OF COURSE, I took a couple of cameras. One digital, a Panasonic Lumix G7 and a film point & shoot, Olympus Infinity Stylus.

The Stylus was the perfect choice for the trip. Not only is it reliable and delivers fairly good quality, but it has the following:

• Very good flash that can be overridden
• Sliding film cover that turns the camera on and off
• Excellent battery life (easy to obtain, 123A size)
• 35mm f/3.5 lens
• Very compact and stealthy

I shot about 25 rolls over the 55 day trek. I took all my color film I had in inventory and purchased a couple of packs along the way. I shot Fujicolor 200 & 400, Kodak Portra 160, 400 & 800, Kodak 200 and several B&W rolls. I also brought one roll of Dubblefilm Jelly.

My plan was just to take snapshots. Just capture scenes along the route versus doing any specific genre like street photography, landscapes, etc. Essentially, I took photos of anything that caught my fancy when I was on a break or when finished riding for the day.

I'm just now starting to home develop the film so will be posting images over the next few posts. Here are some images from the 1st 3 developed rolls.

Bottomline, I'm really happy with my choice to bring the Stylus as my film camera option (and trust me I have lots of cameras to choose from).

Florida - Fujicolor 200

Florida - Fujicolor 200

Florida - Fujicolor 200

Florida - Kodak 200

Florida - Kodak 200

Florida - Kodak 200

Florida - Kodak 200

El Paso, TX - Dubblefilm Jelly

El Paso, TX - Dubblefilm Jelly

El Paso, TX - Dubblefilm Jelly

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. 

Kodak Portra 400 Side-By-Side with Fujicolor PRO400H

When using COLOR 35mm film in the studio or street photography I primarily use Kodak Portra 400. I sometimes use Kodak Gold or Fujicolor Superia X-tra 400 when I want a more affordable option, but I prefer Portra (both 160 & 400).

I recently used several rolls during a street photography photoshoot in New York City. After I returned several people commented about trying Fujicolor PRO400H. I investigated the film as I had never used it.

Following up I bought 2 rolls of the PRO400H at Roberts Camera and decided to give it a go. However, first a head-to-head comparison with the same camera I used in NYC. I used an Olympus MJU-1 in NYC with the rolls of Portra 400, and it just so happens I have 2 of them. I went out the other day and loaded one MJU-1 with Portra 400 & one with PRO400H.

I shot every scene with both cameras back-to-back. I developed the film at the same time using Unicolor C-41 in the same tank. The film dried side-by-side. Finally, I scanned the negatives on the same scanner, an Epson V800 Photo with the same settings.  I imported the images into Adobe Lightroom and only cropped, removed dust spots and slighting increased contrast on all of the photos equally.

Here are the results side by side

My non-scientific thoughts from 1 roll each on a somewhat overcast afternoon:

• Kodak Portra 400 dries fairly flat but Fujicolor PRO400H curled (corkscrewed) a moderate amount. Since I develop / scan film myself the curling is an issue.

• My observation is Portra 400 is a bit “richer”. Shadows and blacks seem darker. There appears to be a bit more depth on some of the Portra images. Some of the Fujicolor PRO400H images appear a bit “flatter”. I don’t think I would notice this if I wasn’t looking side-by-sides.  
• Portra appears warmer & PRO400H cooler. There is more yellow in the shadows and midtones on Portra & more blue / green on the PRO400H
• Concrete, aluminum & metals appear more accurate with the PRO400H. These textures on the Portra images have a slight yellow hue.
• PRO400H has a bit of blue in the reds and Kodak has yellow.  This was obvious in the photo of the caution cones.

Overall, I prefer the Kodak Portra 400. This is mainly because when using film in studio I’m photographing fashion models and the yellow tones are closer to true skin color.  Also, I tend to like warmer tones overall.  HOWEVER, I think for street photography without a focus on people Fujicolor PRO400H would be better. I think the cooler tones compliment the color pallet in street photography. 

Bottomline, in my opinion both films are nice, however, the curling of the PRO400H is an issue for me & I prefer a warmer image.  Therefore, I prefer Kodak Portra 400. Obviously, your results and tastes may vary.

Lomography Sprocket Rocket is Groovy

Ever wanted to do something different with film? Want to shoot sprockets? There are many ways of hacking a medium format camera or several DIY methods to get sprockets. Or, you can go easy and buy a Lomography Sprocket Rocket!

The Sprocket Rocket is a classic "toy" camera that is super simple to use. It's basically a point & shoot camera. Here it is:

There are plenty of technical reviews & how-to-load videos and write-ups so I won't go into this on blog. However, once you get the hang of it (which takes about 10 seconds) it's super easy.  I find the edges of the images are soft and there tends to be vignetting on some images...which is actually very cool and toy camera-like. 

Each image is a panorama exposing the entire piece of film. Therefore, the sprocket holes show up on the picture as black rectangles.  Each image on the negative is just over 3" about equivalent to approximately 2 normal 35mm frames. Therefore, a 24-count roll of 35mm film will give you approximately 12 images. I've found you get less than 1/2 of the number of images because the leader is a bit longer than with a normal 35mm camera.

There is a simple sunny / cloudy switch on the bottom of the lens, 2 distances to focus (0.6-1m & 1m-infinity). There is a switch for N (1/100 second) & B (bulb).  Once you get the hang of using the film advance indicator on top you are good to go. That's it. Like I said, point & shoot.  Oh yes, there is a hotshoe on the camera, but I've never used mine.

I use 100 speed film on bright days and 400 speed film on overcast.  That's the only variable I introduce.  

One tip, if possible develop & scan the film yourself if you have this flexibility.  Just makes things easier. I have NOT sent sprocket film out for developing at a lab, so honestly I don't know how well they do it. I'm sure you need to be very specific with the lab that it's panorama & with sprockets.

So if you've wanted to try sprockets, play with a toy camera, or do something different give a Sprocket Rocket a try.  I bought mine at the NYC Lomography store location while doing a street photography shoot. They cost about $90. They are also available online.

Here are some shots from mine.

Model Madeline with Kodak Portra 160

Red Building with Kodak Ektar 100

Downtown Indianapolis with Kodak Ektar 100

Indiana Corn with Kodak Ektar 100

Model Kristen with Film Ferrania P30

Picking A Film Stock - Decisions, Decisions

A decision has been made!

I jumped back into film photography about 3 years ago after focusing almost exclusively on digital for ... well, since digital took over. I don't recall the exact reason I jumped back in but it now sits comfortably next to my digital photography work. I like to say digital professionally, but film for fun. Today most of my casual photography and probably 75% of my street photography is film. However, 100% of my professional studio work remains digital.

After jumping back in I was shooting just about any film stock I could find.  Didn't matter if it was Kodak, Fujifilm, Ektar, HP5, XP2, super expired, fresh, purchased online, found in a expired film bin...no matter, I shot it. I would shoot, send it out - rinse and repeat.

One variable changed over the past year.  I started developing and scanning my own film, so I could lower the cost, increase my flexibility and speed my workflow. I'm starting to take film photography more seriously.

One thing became obvious.  The different film stocks and ages meant I had no consistency or reliability in my work.  Some films fit the mood, some didn't.  Some worked great, some were a disaster. Some curled so bad when drying I couldn't use it, some were flat as glass. One roll had rich colors some were flat.

Therefore, I've decided once I work my way through my current stock I'm limiting my film selection for most of my work.  4 film stocks will be "go to".  My decision is not based on deep study or sound technical review. It may not be a final decision. Many will disagree, but for me it's a start. Here is what I'll use.

• B&W - Ilford HP5+ 400, rolled from bulk - primarily street photography film
• B&W - Ilford XP2 Super 400, rolled from bulk - when I want deeper blacks and want to use C-41 chemistry
• Color - Kodak Portra 400 - everyday use and street photography when color is needed
• Color - Kodak Ektar 100 - studio work when I use my studio strobes and bright days when I want punchy colors

These are my planned go to films.  I am using all 4 today, but they are mixed in with other stocks.

However, I'll still shoot other film stocks for creative or special uses.  For lower light situations where color is needed I'll use Kodak Portra 800 (box speed or pushed).  Ilford Delta 3200 for B&W low light situations.  When the creative urge kicks in I'll use REVOLOG specialty films, CineStill, and some of the Lomography colored films. 

One note, I'm testing a couple of B&W films, JCH Street Pan 400, Bergger Pancro 400 &Arista EDU. Based on the results I might add it to the list or replace XP2 on the list.

An upside to this decision should be more consistent processing & scanning and more confidence in the end results.  

Let's see if I can stick to this plan, or slip back into my film "look a squirrel" mode that I'm currently enjoying. Time & results will tell!