Canonet RF at the beach

[Chris Dodkin]

After my in-house light-leak fix, I took the Canonet QL17 with me to run another test roll of Ilford Pan-F through it.

94% success - just 2/36 frames had light leakage, so I know that I'm on the right track, and can beef-up the door light seal to make it 100% tight.

Very happy with the camera, it's focus seems accurate, and the built-in meter is doing a good job, even with the non original hood I've fitted. I'll take some product shots shortly, and do a full write up.

Any way - Here are a few shots from the roll:

First from Signal Hill - After Brian had posted some images, I took a few minutes to stop by between meetings in LA.

Bruce

Bruce and his mate, Derrick?


The rest are at North Ponto Beach - Carlsbad

Cold lady and the lifeguard station (More traditional view for Pete)

Dying seal

Under the coast road

My beach (I wish!)

Echos of Mulberry

Return to Mulberry (Thank you Thomas Dolby)

Driftwood

Mackerel sky

Shark Fisherman

The fisherman was odd - I asked him if I could take a picture with him in it - I figured I'd be polite

Being that it was a public beach, I was well within my rights.

As soon as I asked, he started getting very defensive - wanted to know who I was, where the shots were being used, why I was taking them - must have been skiving from work I reckon!

I showed him the 'vintage camera' - said I was an old camera nut, and he reluctantly agreed

 

[Davie Hudson]

Beautiful tone again chris, something I've come to expect from your work

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks Davie - mostly due to the Ilford Pan-F in this case, which matches my ideal for B&W tone at the moment.

It just comes out like that (With a tweak or three for black level, exposure etc)

Really enjoying it

 

[Brian Moore]

Lovely set, Chris. I really like what you've done with Bruce and "Derrick" (). You have a very different aesthetic to your work. I see your stuff and I say "Shite! I want to be able to take pictures like that!" Very nice indeed.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Brian - thank you - without your inspiring posts I'd never even have found the place, or even knew it existed

 

[adrian jordin]

Bruce and "Derrick" is definitely my favourite out of these..
Nice set though...

 

[Pete Askew]

What can I add. A great series there Chris and some super compositions. Tonality just right. I think Derrick is my favourite and I had to look twice to see the cold lady - excellent. I used to use Pan F a lot but haven't shot any for years. I think I might have to go back and re-visit it.

 

[Kev Pugh]

I think I am going to have to give the Pan F a play with, I really like the tones and it really does suit your style Chris, which I also like. Good set of images and DoF and Comp on Driftwood

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks chaps - I loved the detail in the oil well worker sculpture, so wanted to get in close to show it and at the same time try and isolate them from their modern surroundings.

Pete/Kev - I'm clearly addicted to Pan-F at this point, as it delivers 'that look' out of the camera for me every time - now that may also be the D&P and scanning I'm using, not sure - but I have to believe it's the inherent qualities of the film. Note, I have a 2K yellow filter on at all times, so that also has an effect on the final tonality. Maybe I'll buy and try an orange filter next.

When I import the scans into Photoshop, at the standard setting they are pure B&W - when I select AUTO white balance, I get the warm-toned look - magic!

I am having to adjust black level, exposure and sometimes fill light to suit my final visualization - the scanner at the lab doesn't have any pure blacks or whites in the image file (as you'd expect).

I'm also having to do some dust removal, and minor damage repair - but really that's no different to removing dust spots on digital - the healing brush in PS takes care of 99.9% of it, and the clone-tool covers the tricky ones.

 

[Thomas brookes]

Chris awesome set... Yet Again. love all the beach shots I like cold lady especially. Poor seal.........

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Chris awesome set... Yet Again. love all the beach shots I like cold lady especially. Poor seal.........

I called the Seaworld seal rescue line, and told them where he was - but they never called back

Walked past the same spot yesterday and he was still there, either very asleep or....

 

[Hamish Gill]

Chris, these are stunning!
You can see why there are people in the world who swear blind that film far out strips digital in terms of tonality!

I've bought a couple of rolls of pan f since seeing your shots ... I'm going to do a little experiment!
I want to see how well I can replicate its tonality with my d3
Same shots, same lens ... Pan f and F3 vs D3
When I have some time that is!
I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on comparison between these results and what you can do in digital pp from a digital image
Do you believe that film has the capacity to be better in this respect?
Or would you be able to replicate the effect in pp?

I have got into fairly big arguments with people about this before ... Mainly film "snobs" who feel that digital has no place in "real" photography and it is always the "tonality" that they come back to as the thing that gives film the edge...

It's been my view for a while now that film can actually be less "real" than digital and the it gives a "coloration" (to use a hifi type term) to an image that is appealing ... It is this "coloration" that people seek and enjoy... Whereas digital is too real, looks to much like reality to be interesting ...
I'm trying to find out how well founded that view is ...
Of course I know that film can be very accurate and "real" .. But you never see that touted as justification for it being better than digital, people use to say its shaper and has more detail etc but that doesn't seem to come up much these days ...
Like I say, these days it's always tonality, size of light gathering set face/cost ratio or the "look" ...
It's a subject I like to explore between us all if your interested?

 

[Brian Moore]

It's been my view for a while now that film can actually be less "real" than digital and the it gives a "coloration" (to use a hifi type term) to an image that is appealing ... It is this "coloration" that people seek and enjoy... Whereas digital is too real, looks to much like reality to be interesting ...

I was having a discussion with a friend yesterday who was showing me some portraits that he had made,...some with digital and some with film. All of them were really good. But during the discussion I mentioned that sometimes it's the relative imperfections in film images that make them so appealing. Perhaps this is related to your hifi term "coloration", Hamish.

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Your certainly getting to grips with this camera. Well in mate! Really nice!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Thanks chaps

Hamish - I think the look out of the can is great, it's very pleasing and better than any B&W I remember using back in the day.

That may be the Pan-F, or the scanning (rather than dunk and dip prints) - or both.

I think digital can replicate the look - it's not a straight B&W conversion, more of a series of actions I'd guess, to replicated the tonal effects built-in to the film.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on with the comparison.

BTW, you may want to try a yellow filter on these shots - on the film it has that immediate effect - on the digital, process the RAW as daylight so you get the full yellow effect, and then convert that yellow image to B&W.

Ilford have this to say on the subject, for those who want additional info on B&W filters:

A yellow filter has always been the “classic” first choice filter for the user of black and white film. It gives an excellent balance between photographic effect and ease of use.

Many photographers use a yellow filter to “bring out the clouds”. It does this by darkening the blue of the sky, hence there is much greater visual separation between the darkened sky and the white clouds on the final print. A yellow filter will also give improved penetration of haze and fog.

Although a yellow filter darkens blue, it reproduces green, yellow, orange and red in lighter shades. This gives more differentiation between different colours of foliage and flesh tones have a more natural look.
Overall a yellow filter is a very useful and versatile choice.

A typical yellow filter will have a filter factor of 2; the manufacturer will supply the exact factor with the filter. Most cameras with TTL metering will correct automatically for the filter factor but check the camera instruction book.

ILFORD PHOTO - Filters for Black & White