26 Instax Packs - #17 - Rainbow Instax Mini Frame in Diana F+ with Lomography Instant Back. Just felt like loading up the Diana F+ and going for a walk around Hanover, PA on a sunny, hot Saturday morning while Brenda was working. Thankfully I had turned the air conditioning on before I left the house. I had also intended to use my Holga 120IB instant back, but I have not been able to get it to work properly pretty much from the time I've gotten it. The first five frames of Instax Monochrome I shot with the Holga 120IB came out fine, but I haven't been able to get it to work since then. Hopefully they will come out with a new version. Maybe I could try using the Diana F+ Lomography Instant back with the Holga.
26 Instax Packs - #16
26 Instax Packs - #16 - Fuji Instax Black Frame in Diana F+ with Lomography Instant Back. Shot around Lake Marburg and Downtown Hanover.
26 Instax Packs - #13
26 Instax Packs - #13 - Pikachu / Pokemon Instax Mini Frame in Lomo'Instant Automat camera. It was Father's Day, so Brenda and I picked up my stepfather to take him to breakfast and go for a ride in search of unexplored areas of the Gettysburg Battlefield. I've lived in Hanover since 1990 and visited Gettysburg numerous times over the years with my family and more recently photographing different parts of the landscape. I've always been drawn to the boulders strewn about the battlefield and surrounding areas, and there is a special tree at Devil's Den that I like to photograph and sketch. Every now and then, Brenda and I will discover a new part of Gettysburg on one of our drives. I recently saw photos from another photographer of the Rose Farm barn ruins, but I was not familiar with that area of the battlefield, so it was this that we sought out to discover on our Father's Day drive.
It was a much sunnier day than the last time I shot with this camera, so the outdoor photos turned out much brighter.
26 Instax Packs - #3
26 Instax Packs - #3 - Diana F+ with Instax Back using Fuji Instax Mini Monochrome at Gettysburg National Military Park in early evening. The exposure was a bit unpredictable and hard to get right, but there are interesting effects on the corners of some of the prints.
Lomo'Instant
Week 45 - Lomo'Instant Camera received as a Kickstarter reward two years ago. I decided to use the Lomo'instant this week in anticipation of receiving another Lomography Kickstarter camera in a few weeks, the Lomo'Instant Automat. I thought I could compare the new camera with this older model.
Last Saturday was a beautiful Autumn Saturday and I was eager to get out and shoot some instant film. I loaded my Lomo'Instant with expired Polaroid 300 film and headed over to Lake Marburg at Codorus State Park. The trees were in full fall color and the temperature was just slightly cool.
I want to really love the Lomo'Instant and when the photos come out right, I really love them. The results from the camera are quite unpredictable, but then maybe I need to use this camera a lot more to really get the settings down. Today, the photos were coming out really well. I find the best results with the camera are when shooting in sunny weather using the minus 1 or minus 2 exposure adjustment. There's so many things that can be done with this camera with the different settings that it has. There's two focusing distances - 0.4m to 0.9m and 1.0m to infinity. It has a bulb setting, unlimited multiple exposure capability, selfie mirror, exposure compensation, flash and the ability to turn off the flash, color flash gels, a wide angle 27mm 1:8 lens with attachable portrait, fisheye, and close-up lenses. There is also a tripod mount and threaded socket for a cable release for long exposures. I just haven't been able to fully explore all the different creative possibilities available with this camera. If only I had more hours in the day for film shooting (and of course an endless supply of instant film!)
Today, I was mainly focusing on capturing the fall color in the changing leaves of the trees at the park. I was looking for good framing and the right exposure. I tried a couple of multiple exposures and a selfie as well. Later in the evening, I took a portrait of Brenda with the attachable portrait lens using the automatic flash setting. I also grabbed two flash photos of our cats, but they were both overexposed, possibly because of their very light fur color. Brenda's flash photo came out fine, but the same settings with our cats, not so well. That's what I mean about this camera - I think that I've got it figured out, but then something throws it off.
Overall though, I am pleased with the way the photos came out, most of which have a little vignetting in the corners, an effect that I like with the Lomo'Instant photos. I'm really looking forward to the new Lomo'Instant Automat, hopeful that it will be much improved over the original Lomo'Instant. I'm also eagerly awaiting my order of Fuji Instax Mini Monochrome film from B&H Photo. I ordered a few packs with the intention of using it with the new Lomo'Instant Automat.
Pentax Auto 110 - 52 Cameras, 52 Weeks
Week 30 camera - Pentax Auto 110 purchased from Ebay. I originally purchased a body, 3 lenses and a flash, but the body and flash were not functional much to my disappointment. I thought I could still use the lenses on my mirrorless Pentax Q10 camera, but a couple of weeks later, I was able to pick up a working body for $9.00 with free shipping from ebay. I've been wanting to pick up this particular little 110 SLR camera since I first heard about it a few years ago, but the prices were more than I wanted to spend. I have a soft spot for Pentax cameras, as my very first SLR was a Pentax K1000 that I bought for my photography class in college over thirty years ago.
This camera is so small, and the interchangeable lenses are even smaller, its adorably cute. The three lenses that I have - 18mm, 24mm, and 50mm, easily fit in a pocket with the camera body. I mostly used the 24mm, which is the standard lens, while the 18mm is wide angle and the 50mm closeup. The Auto 110 has an automatic shutter, but you still have to manually focus the f2.8 lenses (the only aperture). The first roll I put in was expired Kodak Gold, but unfortunately it was ruined by my expired C-41 chemicals while developing. I was greatly disappointed but luckily I had just gotten my order of Lomography Orca 110 BW film.
I packed a new fishing vest I just bought to use as a photographer's vest and headed out in my car. (it was unbearably hot and humid) I think the vest will be quite useful when I have just a couple of cameras and don't want to carry a bag - it held 3 small cameras, lenses, pocket watercolors, small sketchbook, snack, and water. Photos were shot around Baltimore County, Maryland and the Mary Ann Furnace Trail observation deck by Lake Marburg.
Processing was with Kodak D-76, 1+1 for 7 minutes using the new Yankee Clipper II tank that I just purchased (it was the only currently available tank system that I knew of that had a 110 film reel). Negatives were scanned using a 110 film adapter purchased from Negative Solutions on ebay that was made for Epson V500 Photo scanners.