Category Archives: Personal

{64T} GA645i

May 24, 2015 9:20 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

Last year, I bought a few rolls of Kodak Ektachrome 64T that expired in 1997. It’s a slide film, and the “T” means the film is balanced for tungsten lighting. I bought the 64T with the express purpose in mind of having it cross-processed. I had only shot one roll of the 64t so far, and it had been in my Yashica-Mat (there are a couple from that same roll in an epilogue-ish post on my Amanda Goes to England blog.) I’d been itching to shoot another roll of this, but, as I mentioned, this particular 64T expired in 1997. Film can some of its light sensitivity powers as it ages, so I shot this (and the previous roll) at 50 instead of 64. That meant I needed plenty of light to get proper exposures. Which is why I waited around until spring before I gave another roll of 64T a try! This time, though, it HAD to be in my lovely GA645i. HAD to be!

I knew this would be the most perfect cross-processed 64T shot I’d ever taken. And it is.

Springy

The rope that’s been photographed on almost every roll I’ve taken this year…

The focus isn’t where I’d intended it to be on this one, but there’s something I love about it anyway.

Wyatt’s haunches

I love the lattice design at the bottom of my sister’s porch

I’ve photographed Wyatt quite a bit lately…

Fuji GA645i • Kodak Ektachrome 64T, expired in 1997, cross-processed, shot at 50 ISO

Posted in: film photography, personal ⋅ Tagged: cross-processed, film photography, Fuji GA645i, Kodak Ektachrome 64T, medium format

{Inked} 2.0

May 5, 2015 9:00 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

Last year, I shared photos I’d taken to document the process of my mother getting a tattoo. A year and a half after getting inked for the first time, my little mother decided it was time to get a second tattoo! So once again, we made a trip to No Regrets Tattoo Emporium in Memphis, consulted with Joe Stamp (who’d done her first tattoo,) and made the appointment.

Mom’s first tattoo was a Celtic cross on her wrist. This time, she’d chosen a particular style of a Star of Bethlehem to be placed on top of her forearm. Joe did a wonderful job translating the artwork mom had chosen, and we think the tattoo came out beautifully! I wish I had done a better job documenting our time with Joe doing the tattoo, but maybe I’ll do better next time one of us goes in for some work 😉

No Regrets • Fuji GA645i • Kodak Pro 400MC , expired 1996

The finished product, on Easter (three days after the tattoo was done)

Nikon N80 • Sigma Super Wide II 24mm f/2.8 lens • Kodak High Definition 400, expired 2011

Posted in: family, film photography, personal ⋅ Tagged: film photography, Fuji GA645i, Joe Stamp, memphis, mom, tattoo

{Praktica MTL 5}

April 29, 2015 1:29 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

My first SLR was a Ricoh Singlex TLS, which wasn’t a proper name brand, but it took a very common lens mount called m42. I have had various m42-mount cameras over the years, but since I have been using Nikon film cameras the last several years, my m42 cameras and lenses have fallen into disuse. I had a mind to change that here of late, so I started looking at m42 cameras again. There are so many brands with that lens mount, you’re actually spoiled for choice if you decide to buy one! I have a Praktica that I like but which needs a new focusing screen (I kind of tried cleaning the one it had and things went very wrong…) Rather than investing in a new screen for my existing Praktica, I happened upon a different model for a steal! I seriously got this camera body for $7.50. Isn’t that crazy! I didn’t need to buy a lens with the camera because I already have numerous ones.

Photo of the Praktica MTL 5, taken with an Olympus Stylus Epic

The Praktica MTL 5 is pretty basic. It will run without batteries, but it does have a built-in meter that needs a mercury battery that is no longer legal in most places. I initially tried to adapt a smaller battery (of the proper voltage) to fit in the camera, but the meter needle was jumpy (meaning I didn’t know if its readings would be accurate.) I eventually bought a battery called a WeinCell that is actually meant as a replacement for the outlawed mercury one that the MTL 5 needs. Unfortunately, the meter needle was still pretty jumpy. Compared to meters in cameras that I knew gave accurate readings, the Praktica seemed to be about a stop too fast (meaning it would underexpose the photos if I shot film at the “box speed.”) I decided to just go ahead and shoot a test roll to see how well the meter was working anyway. Because I was worried the photos would be underexposed, I shot most of the roll at 50 instead of the film’s actual ISO of 100 to compensate for the meter’s inaccurate readings.

One of my frequent camera test subjects lately ^^^

My sister’s kitchen decor

My sister’s dining room table

The rope: another frequent test subject

David recommended I read Jaws *eep!*

Scanning prints for blogs which I have since published (Olympus Stylus Epic, Fuji Mini 90)

^^^my sister’s life philosophy

Cookies and cream cake I made at work

Afternoon spent alternating between crocheting and reading, whilst drinking tea

First signs of spring

Super charged

Wyatt!

“This is what a strawberry tastes like!” after having subpar strawberries for so long, I had forgotten what they should really taste like.
(taken with a my shortest macro extension tube attached to the lens.)

Praktica MTL 5 • Fujinon 55mm/1.8 lens • Lomography Color Negative 100 film

Conclusion:

Well, the thing that makes photos good or bad is usually the lens. The lens I used for these Praktica test photos is one of my favorites, and it certainly proved itself worthy of being held in high regard by me! The MTL 5 though? I can tell that a lot of the photos were a little overexposed, so I probably should have stuck with shooting the film’s actual ISO. And, yes, the exposures were pretty good, but the meter needle still didn’t give me a very confident feeling that it was giving me accurate readouts. I mostly had to use my intuition/experience to decide whether or not I trusted what the meter was telling me at any given time. Because I didn’t feel comfortable with the meter, I actually ordered another m42 before I got this film back. Perhaps I shouldn’t have jumped the gun, since these photos were not wildly under or over exposed. However, if I’m out shooting with a camera, I don’t want to feel iffy about the exposures the meter is indicating, and buying a second camera made sense to me (especially at such low prices!) I won’t be tossing the MTL 5 by the wayside though, I’m sure. I liked using it a lot!