Return of the sprocket rocket loaded with some bright Fuji Superia film. It was Halloween in Guayaquil, Ecuador so what else to do? Go online, find a party on couchsurfing, throw on some freshly purchased wigs, bring along local rum and party on.
Tag "sprocket"
We managed to visit the animal market of Otavalo twice. I liked it. The chaos, the animals, the sounds, smells and crazy volcanoes in the background. I was never sure if the animals were bought for food, pets or calculating abilities. Highly recommended for those who find themselves in Otavalo. Note the market is only on Saturdays and starts early and ends by noon. So get there on time and bargain hard if you are in the market for some cows.
The following are random shots in Otavalo and Cuenca. Just imagine any interesting yet funny anecdote to go along with the photos. The last three taken with some Kodak Gold film.
The mighty sprocket rocket in Ecuador packed with some fresh Kodak Portra 160 film. Unlike Superia the sprockets have no cool color or patterns but its still a great film. Especially when you have enough light.
View over the capital of Quito.
Near the equator. Llama or alpaca or vicuña. Sad I forgot how to look for the differences. I guess I would wiki it, but that would require actual effort.
Fun buggy. A bit scary when big trucks and busses pass you, plus the sound system wasn’t great. Lack of bass.
Valley of waterfalls near Banos. Great drive in our mini buggy.
It helps to throw on a flash on the sprocket rocket. There often isn’t enough light for close up portraits. Also remember to change the focus settings. Well if you care about things being in focus and all, I’m not judging.
The start of the rainforests in Ecuador.
View of the lovely Banos. (too lazy to look up to put the squiggly line on top of the “n” of banos) The city in South America we probably spent the most time in. Also once we found this great restaurant, we never ate anywhere else. Pretty amazing place.
This was the last roll of film I shot in my Holga. It’s been almost a year now. The Sprocket Rocket has fulfilled my sprocket needs. The Holga was fun, but especially this last roll shows the deficiencies of the Holga. The amount of light leaks was pretty crazy despite all the miles of tape I had used. It was my first time shooting with the not-so-cheap Lomo Xpro 100 film and seeing the result overwhelmed with orange/red light leaks wasn’t exactly ideal. So here are the last shots from my Holga. At one point in time I will pick it back up again, but not any time soon.
The only outdoor park escalator I have ever seen. At Fort Canning.
My sprocket rocket roaming Singapore.
Some long-exposure action probably around 3/4 second. Same as below
Vertical photos in the Rocket can work well. It just doesn’t feel instinctually “right”.
Lomo Xpro 100 photos with my sprocket rocket. The Xpro so far has given me very strong contrast images without colorshift. Somehow though a lot of these pictures were underexposed. I don’t know if it was because if it was often cloudy or it was just the particular way they were scanned at the Lab. In the end I wasn’t too happy about the results.
I felt like sharing some sprocket rocket photos. Very quickly this camera has become my go-to toy camera. It has replaced my Holga for my sprocket needs. I love the sharpness and wide angle view. I love the fact I don’t have to fumble around with tape and foam to get a roll of film in or out. Below shots were made during a Holi celebration in Singapore. Holi is when you put colored powered on other people. Well it is actually way more then that but you gotta google it if you want to know more.
Accoring to Wikipedia Cross processing (sometimes abbreviated to Xpro) is the procedure of deliberately processing photographic film in a chemical solution intended for a different type of film.
This normally means taking slidefilm (E-6) film and developing it as if it was regular negative film. This results in shifted colors and stronger contrast.
So why would any sane person do this?
1) It’s fun and unpredictable. You never truly know what you will get. Especially if you throw expired film into the mix
2) Developing as slidefilm is more expensive, so its actually cheaper to develop as slide film is you are able to find a lab
The following photo’s were taken with my Holga and Kodak Ektachrome E100S. This was then crossprocessed and scanned to show the sprockets. And the results are uh, well uh, green. Kermit-the-frog-exploded-in-my-camera-green. In my past experience the green shift has never been this strong with Ektachrome, but in this case it went all the way.
On the left is hotel I stay at for business in New Jersey and on the right is an abandoned housing complex in Singapore now used by the military for practice urban warefare.
Flying over Chicago after the midwest.
Read MoreI went out on a hot hot Saturday to fill up some lingering rolls of film. At this Hindu Temple in Chinatown I shot with 3 different camera’s from across the street. As you can see I have horrible orientation with regards to a straight horizon.
What immediately jumps out is the extreme wideness of the Sprocket Rocket, I’m sure I could have included my dirty sneakers if I wanted to. When you put on a 30mm lens on a panoramic camera lens you get a 106 degrees of view. According to Wikipedia the human vision span is 120 degrees and most of that is peripheral vision. So as soon as I’m able to stuff some film in my brain, I’m ready to upgrade. Probably some Kodak Ektar.
Looking at the Holga plus wideangle adapter also gives you a wider view, but a considerable drop off in sharpness everywhere except the very center of the image. I know sharpness isn’t something that is emphasized when shooting with a toy camera with a plastic lens but it something to note.
At lastly there is the Lubitel 2, the only camera with a glass lens out of the three. A much more narrower field of vision and also more sharper result. No drop off in sharpness quality around the edges of the image. Pretty solid.
There you go, a quick and dirty comparison of 3 camera’s.
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