More of my DC nightscapes- I was testing out the Fuji NPZ 800 that I had in my film inventory. A surprisingly good result from a film I’ve had sitting around again for the better part of a decade.
You can definitely see the grain in these images, but it’s nowhere near as pronounced as the grain in 400 speed 35mm film. It also handles mixed lighting pretty well, but it’s not Kodak Portra.
Oh, by the way, these were all hand-held. THAT’s why you shoot 800 speed film!
Make lemonade!
I was out running errands yesterday, and after a successful outing to Home Despot (yes, I know how I spelled it…) to get new paint for the bedroom (Martha Stewart Living colors if you must know, Azurite (dark blue, not quite Navy) for the accent wall and the entryway, and Etched Glass (very pale blue) for the main walls), I came home to find a football game in progress at the neighboring high school. The high school has about four parking spaces, all of which are currently demolished during renovations of the school, so anyone who drove to the game parked in the neighborhood. Meaning that I had to double-park to unload the paint, then drive around in circles for fifteen minutes before giving up.
This was actually the good thing – I gave up, and drove down to Chinatown (well, DC’s ersatz Chinatown wannabe – there’s maybe eight chinese restaurants, and the Chinatown Arch, and then to keep it looking “like Chinatown”, the CVS, the Irish Pub, Fuddruckers, and Hooters (yes there’s a Hooters in DC’s Chinatown) all have duplicate signage in Chinese characters). There’s plenty of colorful neon signs in Chinatown so I figured it would be a target-rich environment for doing some night photography. And lo-and-behold, what did I happen to have in the trunk of my car but my 5×7, pre-loaded with some Kodak Portra 160 from a previous outing that was fruitless.
This was particularly successful as it provided me with an opportunity to test out the lenses I just got back from being serviced. I had sent off the shutters to my Turner Reich 12/19/25 triple convertible, Kodak 12″ commercial Ektar and 14″ Commercial Ektar. I didn’t have the 14″ Commercial Ektar with me because it won’t fit on the 5×7’s front standard – it’s a big fat lens in a #5 Ilex shutter, and the Canham takes a Linhof Technika lensboard. Meaning the lensboard can’t take the 14″ Commercial Ektar in itself, and the lens is so heavy it might torque itself off the front standard if given half a chance. The 12″ Commercial Ektar though is in a #4 shutter, which is a fair sight smaller. What a difference two inches makes! I’ll have to take the film in to Dodge/Chrome on Monday after work.
So, long story short, the football game that kept me from parking got me out of the house and off my ass, and I had a productive evening shooting perhaps seven sheets of 5×7 color. Thank You Cardozo High football team!
Even MORE of my San Francisco images.
All of these were shot with my 240mm Voigtlander Heliar f4.5 lens. It is fast becoming one of my favorite lenses for its rendition of out-of-focus areas. I knew it was a legendary lens for black-and-white shooting, but was unsure how it would render color. As you can see here, it does a beautiful job with color, despite being uncoated. It does give a slightly vintage look to the color palette, but some of that might also be the film I’m using – Kodak Portra 160 NC.
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