Fuji Neopan 1600. This is the fastest film I’ve ever shot. I shot this in combination with my Canon SLR 500 and 50mm lens. Shooting wide open at 1.8 and 1600 film means I’m able to photograph in almost any dark situation. I don’t shoot too often in such dark circumstances so it’s usefulness to me is questionable.
These were shot all over Singapore
Kodak Black and White 400 Tmax. Shot with my Canon 500 and 50mm 1.8. A smooth grain black and white film. Not as much contrast as I am looking for in Black and White film, but easily remedied in any editing program.
Friend of mine
Thaipusam image I shot to finish this roll. Look for other thaipusam photos on the rest of my blog.
Peaches in concert in Singapore and yes thats an outfit made of breasts.
Outside at Clarke Quay.
My favorite image from the roll.
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Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 is a black and white film. According to comments online it is renowned for its fine grain. I tend to push the contrast so it may not be so apparent in the images I present.
All pictures were taken with a film Canon EOS 500 with a Canon 50mm 1.8 lens. All shot at f2.2
I tend to shoot a lot of pictures from the back. It is interesting how much somebody’s back can say.
Devotee right after getting his cheeks and tongue pierced. A long bare-footed walk in the hot Singaporean sun still awaits him.
I like how his walking staff divides the frame in two. Devotees with heavy kavadis or people wearing the wooden shoes with nails would use these nicely decorated walking canes.
I like this film. It has great tonality. As long as you expose correctly and don’t blow out your highlights you are able to get some great black and white images and with some post processing you can really achieve the look you are looking for. I do acknowledge I process in a heavier contrast than others may prefer.
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Every time someone tells me how sharp my photos are, I assume that it isn’t a very interesting photograph. If it was, they would have more to say. – Anonymous
When I use my film camera the EOS 500 with the nifty fifty I switch to manual focus. The autofocus doesn’t work well or at all on that camera so I have to work on my manual focus skills. And as you can see by the title of this article I am still not that great with it.
What makes it even more challenging is that I always shoot wide open and at 1.8 you have a very narrow focus depth to deal with. Often I miss and the results aren’t always bad. If I had the perfect focus it often meant another snapshot, but having a blurry subject often leads to something surprising and new.
Sharpness is a bourgeois concept. – Henri Cartier-Bresson
In the end by lacking perfection and having such an obvious flaw it makes these images interesting, challanging. We know the basic rules of photography and what makes an image “right” and by breaking such rules on purpose or by accident we create a reality that was there present at that moment that we may have not have seen, but cannot be denied.
Rookies seeks sharper image.
Pro’s seeks to make money.
Artist seeks light. – Anonymous
The Canon 50mm 1.8 one of my first lenses I ever purchased and one of the most recommended lenses for very good reasons. It’s a great portrait lens on a crop body and a great all around lens on a full frame body. I don’t have a full frame digital body, but I do have a film EOS body which I picked up cheaply a few years ago.
What’s great about it
Price, cheapest canon lens you can pick up for around a $100.
Very shallow depth of field you can achieve shooting wide open at 1.8. Also useful for shooting in low light situations.
Small and light, easy to throw in your camera bag. Make sure you have a good aim. Or have a floor made out of rubber. Or have the common sense to place an expensive and fragile piece of photography equipment in your bag rather than go going full out and knuckle-balling (baseball term for my non-American-continent readers) your precious thrifty-fifty into the nearest wall.
What’s not so great
Many people complain about the build quality. It is made of plastic, but I wonder what people do with lenses that that really matters. I have dropped my nifty fifty various times and it has always kept on ticking. The last time I dropped it, the front element glass popped out and I was holding two pieces of a former one-piece lens.
Immediately I turn to Google and find many other people who have done this. Everybody talks about how easy it was putting it back together even when some of the plastic inner pieces are broken. I like to think of myself of at least being equal to the average net-user and it takes me 15 minutes to put the lens back together which now functions perfectly.
The focus ring is hard to maneuver when handling it manually. This is especially the case when shooting video. But I can’t think of other lenses that handle this well, so it may be not a real piece of criticism.
When shooting wide open it is hard to keep the focus accurately. Focus-Recompose doesn’t always work well when dealing with such a narrow depth of field. But again this is more related to technique rather than characteristics of the lens itself.
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