The Joy of Film Photography: Jupiter Lens and Black & White Film and Bokeh.

February 5, 2018

#229

Gentle reader,

My last article was the first in a series about what many consider dead and buried: Film photography. It can be seen here:

The Return of Analog: Film Photography is Returning from the Grave. 

Making images has been around since cave paintings were done by our ancient ancestors as a way to capture a moment so that it will not be lost to memory. With the proliferation of phones with cameras built-in, more photos are being made than all that were ever made in the past combined, many times over. If those that are selfies are removed, well, the number plummets. But that trend doesn't show any evidence of stopping. So many seem intent on leaving their mark from every activity of their lives to posterity. I myself, prefer to be behind the camera. A real camera, not a cell phone.

I will not go into the history of photography as that has been very well documented by others far more competent than I to do so. No, this article is a response to a question asked by a fellow FaceBook camera collector/user, "Do you have any photos made by the Jupiter lens on your Bessa?" 

This is Susan, my younger daughter.  She had gotten into digital photography by buying a Canon DSLR. We were wandering around a very old town in Virginia called Occoquan. It is perched upon a river of the same name and was founded in the 1700's. She prefers to be called Suzie and has a huge following on Flickr.

I had loaded my Voigtlander Bessa R camera with Kodak's BW400CN black and white film that is processed in regular C-41 chemicals. Many will say it is not "true" black and white film, but the evidence shows otherwise.

My wife bought me this camera when it first came out. Yes she has two sisters, but she is the youngest and most awesome. I have a bunch of M39 (some say L39) lenses for it. The first one I bought was for my Leica, a Leitz Summarit 50mm f1.5 lens.  Here is an image captured on film back then showing it mounted on the Bessa R.

Then I read that the Summarit, despite it's fast f1.5 speed was not a sharp lens. Those that are sharper that I could afford were the Soviet-made Jupiter lenses that were M39 adaptations of copies of Zeiss lenses made for the Kiev rangefinders. The Kievs being copies of  pre-WWII Contax cameras. Below is my Leica, a 1946 IIIC, that I recovered in sea-snake skin.

All these lenses, above and below are Jupiters with the exception of the Canon 100mm and Industar 50mm which is a copy of the Leitz Elmar f3.5 lens. Jupiter 3 50mm f1.5 in on the left.

Above are my two Jupiter 8 lenses. The black one is newer and I bought a Zorki 4K camera just to get the black lens. As you can see, the -8 is an f2.0 a little slower glass.

Back to black and white film. I have shot with T-Max and other traditional black and white films, but when I read about the then new C-41 process black and white, I decided to try it.

To shoot black and white film, one needs to look more at contrasts than colors. Since everything is rendered in shades of gray, one needs to imagine the scene in black and white. To not render the vertical shots too small, while composing this article, I chose to leave them full size and the horizontal shots as "Extra Large".

Being on the river, Occoquan is a boating town. This is a boat storage facility that has fallen on hard times.

Selective focus, as shown by focusing on the Texaco sign through the foliage is a fun thing to try and achieve. Were this in color, it would have a completely different feel.

Looks like they ran out of money before the roof was put on.

For those too young to know what a "snap shot" is, it is a nick name for paper photos. Before digital, the only way to view a film photo large was either pay a lot of money for a large print, or shoot slide film and project it. Most photos were printed 4" by 6" or smaller. Pre-digital and pre-smart phone, one looked at pictures either in hand or displayed in a photo album. On my 22" wide screen monitor, these "Extra Large" images are 6 1/2" wide.

Had I chosen a small aperture, say f22, which of course would have required a slow shutter speed, it would have resulted in everything from Susan's hair and outward being in focus.

I like the contrast of the different layers of bark on this tree. Much more interesting than a color photo in which the eyes might have been drawn to the river water instead.

The bridge has been around a long time and had recently been resurfaced with this decking. It connect Fairfax County to Prince William County. There is a nice park on the other side.

The waterfall is in fact freshly cleaned water from the sewage processing plant. A telephoto lens would have compressed the length of the bridge which is one of the fun things about them.

Walking back into the town, we found lots of interesting scenes to capture. 

Sailboats are so much more interesting to look at and an amazing way to travel on water.

This wooden ceiling under the 2nd story porch caught my eye. Black and white makes it more interesting. 

"What knockers!" "Sank you, Doctor." Anyone remember what movie those lines are from?

Occoquan is a tourist town, but people also live there. There has been a resurgence of building there especially on what is left undeveloped on the water. Fortunately, they are designed to compliment to original buildings such as these below.

How long ago must these steps have been built?

Virginia has a lot of stones in it's soil. We've seen stone walls bordering farms built like this that go on for MILES. I cannot image the time and effort involved in gathering, loading, transporting by horse and wagon, unloading, sorting and assembling involved. But people used what they had to do the job.

I can't recall the name of this large house atop a hill. It burned once and was rebuilt. Fortunately the stone walls are not flammable.

Isn't this an amazing window? Further down is a side view of it. Below show the "English Half-Timber" building style. Although other countries in the Old World used it too.

Another example of selective focus. Birdhouse above, people house below.

A large aperture nicely renders distracting background objects out of focus. How did they make this amazing window?

Bokeh is a word that describes the out-of-focus objects that appear as circles. Many strive to achieve this look.

Finally, another view of the magnificent stone house. I've always like the look of stone houses. There is one not too far from here that had been bought by a flipper. They removed all the stone and put up vinyl siding! Thus rendering an interesting house to just another plastic one.

I hope you enjoyed my brief look at black and white as a medium worth trying. Long before color film came out (and long after!) black and white, or sepia were the only choices.

Thanks for looking,

Scott       

February 5, 2018 

  

The Return of Analog: Film Photography is Returning from the Grave.

January 30, 2018

#228

Gentle reader,

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my humble blog. When I started this years ago, it was just something to do. Little did I think anyone would take an interest in my writing and photography. But you have. Page views are approaching 150,000! Your kind words are a great encouragement to continue. 

I joined two FaceBook groups devoted to not only collecting film cameras, but using them as they were intended to be used: Making photographs. Since joining those groups I have bought these six 35mm rangefinder cameras, plus a rangefinder 110: Kodak Pocket Instamatic 60 in black chrome. Plus, I've bought film, batteries and for some of these adapters to use modern non-Mercury batteries. While rangefinder cameras (except interchangeable lens models) are limited to the lens it came with, and one is not looking through the lens like an SLR, I prefer using them.

You may be thinking, "Can you even get film developed these days?" Oh, yes, indeed. The corner drugstore or grocery store no longer do so, but there are many labs all over the country and in other countries around the world, too, that still develop, print and if you wish, scan high resolution images onto CD-Rom or DVD-Rom discs too. I have 16 by 20 prints of photos I made framed and on my walls from the pre-digital days. One can even get posters made nowadays from your own photos.

An excellent book titled, The Revenge of Analog by David Sax takes a thorough look at how non-digital things and practices are not only returning, but thriving. LP records and cassette tapes, film cameras, board games, real books, notebooks and pens and more are examined with examples and locations of such places as game rooms where people wait in line outside for a table to play board games. Book stores are opening and thriving in many cities. Locally one called 2nd and Charles took over the old Borders Books stores and are a combination of books, records, CDs, DVDs & BluRay discs, comic books, musical instruments, video games and consoles, especially older ones and so much more. It's a fun place to visit. One can sell or trade their stuff too!

There are many professional and amateur photographers that never made the switch to digital cameras. They have embraced the necessity of the digital world by having their film scanned so they can show clients photos the way they expect to see them: on a screen. However, the actual prints will be made the way they have for a hundred years: in a darkroom.

My first camera as a child in the 1960's was a green plastic and used #620 roll film. It had no controls over exposure. Just a shutter button and the knob to roll the film for the next picture. It was one of these:

Many of my pictures turned out just fine, as did millions of other pictures made with box cameras, folding cameras, and countless other cameras which the owners used over 100 + years of use. There are photographers that still use the ancient glass plate cameras such as were used in the late 19th Century. Why? Because they can.

This must be my forth or fifth Aires 35 IIIC camera. Each time I hope to get one that works. It resembles a Leica M3 until you see a M3, then it does not. The seller stated that it seemed to work. I bought it for $50 which included the working light meter and it came in the original box. Plus, I sold my non-working one for the same amount. Well, the shutter does work after I cleaned the mechanism. Sadly, the shutter does it's thing AS the lever is returning to it's rest position! Technically I can make photos, just would have to use a tripod and hope for the best. Sigh. Perhaps YOU can tell me how to fit it?

M3 or not, still an attractive camera.

I longed for one of these 1st generation Yamato PAX cameras. Because it looks like a small Leica! Most sell for hundreds of dollars, but I snagged this one for $20. The shutter works, as does the aperture. But the focusing is stuck just as they all seem to be. The lube the factory used turns to glue over the decades.

Here it is next to a Zorki (Leica II Soviet copy). Very similar in many ways.

I do not know why it appears the lens on the Zorki appears to be leaning to the right (below). It is not doing so. Wide angle distortion perhaps.

Since I'm comparing Leica-likes, here is the Aires and Zorki (with a Jupiter 3 50mm f1.5 lens) side-by-side.

The second camera I bought was this PAX M3 (left). Nothing works on it which is why it was only $5.00. Like the Leica M3 radically departed from the looks of the earlier models, this M3 also looks and works differently. Note the red dot? A nod to Leica's red dot. Bigger rectangular rangefinder/viewfinder windows, lever wind rather than knob, etc.

Single eyepiece on the back and only two windows on the front.

The M3's lens is not flange mounted like the 1st model.

Kuribayashi Petri cameras are often in collector's clutches. I've had a number. I wanted a "RACER" because it's a cool name and good looking camera. I specifically wanted one with the faster f1.8 lens. Sadly, the shutter will not fire. It winds fine, though.

Mr/Mrs A. Benson paid for engraving their name on it, rather than scratching it in.

All-black cameras were often attributed to professionals with the chrome and black ones belonging to amateurs. However, that is a myth. I scored this pristine Yashica Electro 35 GT (I love GT part) also for $50. It was stored in the case so all the paint is still there. It even had a Mercury battery in it that still held a charge! Not for long, though. My adapter to use a smaller battery is sitting in front of me, however.

The first camera I bought to shoot with was this Rollei XF 35. I chose it for the Sonnar lens which are very sharp. Plus, like the GT, it is Tactical black. It works fine as does the GT.

Very minor brass showing on the Rollei.

Close-up digital photos always show every speck of dust!

IF Rollei built the same cameras in Germany and Singapore, the former are preferred. Snobbery or some legitimate reason?

The Electro 35 series are Aperture priority only. No adjustment for shutter speed. The lights are duplicated in the viewfinder showing you which way to rotate the shutter speed dial for best results.

With the exception of getting a working Pentax 110 SLR (mine is inoperative) and possibly a Canon 110 ED camera. I believe I am set for shooting film. Below shows all of the new (7) cameras squeezed in with the rest.

I also plan to use my Voigtlander Bessa R (not shown, stored with all it's lenses in a case) and Olympus IS-3DLX, plus my Nikon N90S and several others shown above. Oh! And of course my real Leica IIIC, shown with the red sea-snakeskin.


The joy of film photography compared to the instant gratification of digital is the anticipation of seeing the photos and how they turned out. I remember being surprised with how well some photos turned out. I almost ran to the car with pictures envelopes I just picked up, the excitement of sitting in the car and going through them one-by-one. The convenience of locally dropping them off and picking them up the next day may be gone, but the excitement is not.

Thanks for looking,

Scott

January 30, 2018