A touch of snow

[Mr Badger]

One from last Sunday in south Cheshire taken with a 1950 Ensign Selfix 820 medium format folding camera on Fuji 400H Pro. The snow had just started to fall again, hence the flat light, grey sky and hazy background, which gave an almost monochrome look.

Snowy track by J White, on Flickr

 

[Stumpy]

Yes it is a bit "Monochromey", but so sharpe! Does the 820 refere to the film size?

 

[Kodiak Qc]

Yes it is a bit "Monochromey"

Yes, as it is often the case when luminance overwhelms
chrominance values… I like these situations where colours
are sooooo discrete!

I would suggest, though, to retrieve some highlights.

 

[Mr Badger]

Yes it is a bit "Monochromey", but so sharpe! Does the 820 refere to the film size?

No, the film size is 120 (medium format roll film), 820 is the camera model name, probably as it takes 8 shots on a roll of 120. The Ensign Selfix 820 was made in England around the early 1950s and this one is fitted with a Ross Xpres 105mm f/3.8 lens. I have two of these cameras but the lens on the one I used to take the above photo does seem a particularly sharp example. It seems a little softer in the extreme corners but I don't think this is bad for a camera that's almost 70 years old and a lens that was designed and made without the aid of computer technology! Here's another photo taken with this camera that shows the level of detail it captures (taken on Ilford XP2 400 film) - click on the image to open it in Flickr and zoom in to see it larger.

img643 by J White, on Flickr

I've just had this camera serviced to get the slow shutter speeds working again (a common fault with them due to age, dust and the oil on the mechanism drying out) and I plan to use it regularly in 2018. I find it makes a nice change to use a fully manual and mechanical camera without a built in light meter and only a single, non-changeable, prime lens. Modern digital SLRs and pro-quality zoom lenses are amazing, but sometimes I feel that they make things a bit too easy, so I like to set myself a challenge and work harder for my photos every now and then. I find it's all the more rewarding when I get a nice result.

 

[Mr Badger]

Snip:

I would suggest, though, to retrieve some highlights.

Thanks for the comment and suggestion Mr K. The highlight detail is there when I view this photo on my computer screen but I have to look carefully to see it. I didn't want to risk making the snow look grey or 'muddy', also I don't think the flat light and falling fine snow (like frozen drizzle) was helping matters, but I probably just need to learn how to use Lightroom and/or Photoshop Elements a bit better!

 

[Kodiak Qc]

probably just need to learn how to use Lightroom and/or Photoshop Elements a bit better!

You hardly risk muddy snow if you keep it around
235, 240/255. If you shot RAW, that is reasonable
and Lr should do that I think… without pixel editor!

 

[Mr Badger]

You hardly risk muddy snow if you keep it around
235, 240/255. If you shot RAW, that is reasonable
and Lr should do that I think… without pixel editor!

The shot was taken on film and scanned from a negative using a flatbed home film scanner (Epson V600), so no RAW camera setting option. The truth is that I need to learn how to use Lightroom, I will have to make time this winter to watch some YouTube instruction videos. The problem for me will be remembering what to do!

 

[Kodiak Qc]

The shot was taken on film…

Use a loupe to see if the film is burnt at places. If it is,
not much can be done but healing in a pixel editor. If
it isn't, then a re-scan to compensate… this will have
a similar effect to RAW shooting.

 

[Stumpy]

Re the caravan shot; WOW, just wow!



But then it's not just what you've got, but how well you use it.

 

[FishyFish]

I've just had this camera serviced to get the slow shutter speeds working again (a common fault with them due to age, dust and the oil on the mechanism drying out) and I plan to use it regularly in 2018. I find it makes a nice change to use a fully manual and mechanical camera without a built in light meter and only a single, non-changeable, prime lens. Modern digital SLRs and pro-quality zoom lenses are amazing, but sometimes I feel that they make things a bit too easy, so I like to set myself a challenge and work harder for my photos every now and then. I find it's all the more rewarding when I get a nice result.

Where did you get it serviced? Miles Whithead, or somewhere else? And how much did it cost for the service, if you do t mind me asking?

I’m thinking of getting my Zeiss Mess-Ikonta 524/16 CLA’d - it too has slow / sticky shutter speeds at the slower end, so I only use it at 100sec or 300sec speeds to avoid camera shake. The lens is very sharp though, and it’s compact size makes it a great portable medium format camera to use when I don’t want to take the Yashica Mat out with me.

 

[Mr Badger]

Yes, it was Miles and the shutter is in full working order again.

 

[dmb]

One from last Sunday in south Cheshire taken with a 1950 Ensign Selfix 820 medium format folding camera on Fuji 400H Pro. The snow had just started to fall again, hence the flat light, grey sky and hazy background, which gave an almost monochrome look.

Snowy track by J White, on Flickr

Had to look close for the colour. Excellent, must pull out my 820 to give it a check over and exercise, I suspect the slow speeds on mine could do with a check. That scene looks mighty familiar......