m e g a p e r l s

CAMERANATION by Dirk Rösler.

Picture madness at Tokyo illumination in Marunouchi.

I have never seen so many people, taking so many photos of an event, and each other, so vigourously.

I shot two rolls - of them.

Dining table at Christmas - there is something for everyone. Oh wait, there is a another Leica! Yeah, I just could not resist when this M6 TTL came up for a good price. I had always been a little envious about the 0.58 viewfinder magnification of Higashimori’s Leica, so I jumped. Besides, since the funds generated by the webshop are all in US$, it does not present a exchange rate problem.

Took it out for a quick spin on Sunday. Very surprised to get back on the rangefinder after 2-3 months of Canon DSLR. The feel remains just exactly what I am comfortable with. I am still not sure whether I like the rangefinder properties over the SLR properties, or whether it is an issue of digital versus film. I suppose it is a combination of things.

Some observations:

So there you have it, my state of mind on cameras for now.

Oh, and the other one will probably have to go. Any takers?

Not new, but worthwhile piece on Alex Majoli, a photojournalist who uses digital point-and-shoots for his work, including war zones.

Most what he says in terms of technique should not surprise anyone, except cookie-cutter professional press photographers, apparently.

It’s funny how different the working style with SLRs and compact (should really be “rangefinder”) can be for some, perhaps including myself.

Via photoethnography.com

Merry Christmas!

As you can see I am already preparing for the new year with a slightly changed site. I grew a little tired of Movable Type, never bothered upgrading to version 3, so I thought I should try switching altogether. So far so good, it was very easy to switch it over, just need to work on the looks of it now.

Meanwhile, it is time and there is time for some film processing at Christmas. As I have mentioned before, I bought a Jobo 2500 series drum for processing sheet film a while back. When I got it, they included two Duo Set 2502 reels for 35mm and 120 size film. The whole drum takes five reels in 35mm setting, but in Japan these reels are prohibitively expensive (about ¥6000 ea.). So while in Germany I managed to buy three more of them and I will try for the first time processing with this setup. I have never tried processing 35mm in a rotary processor, so let’s see how it goes. With five at a time, I may be able to clear my backlog soon - if it all works out.

First contact printing without enlarger from 4×5 negatives. Tedious, but some good prints as a reward. Got to get a light bulb with lower wattage, times are just too short. Been a while since I printed in the darkroom, not sure if I am too keen on it.

Megaperls Webshop was mentioned by the venerable Mike Johnston, whose writings on photography I recommend to those interested in those things.