Hassi ready for Gotham City

Hassi ready for Gotham City, originally uploaded by topfloor.

A first time for me - shooting a medium format Hasselblad with waistlevel finder. And big luck to be able shot shoot it in Manhattan while here on a business trip. The camera is a 503cw, rented from Adorama Rental Company ARC in midtwon. I use it with A12 backs (3) and a 80 mm CFE lens, which is roughly the same as a 50 mm lens in 35 mm format.

The picture is left - right reversed, which takes some time to get used to (I turn the cam to the wrong side when recomposing). Shooting low downs is a breeze with this kind of finder. Metering is done with a separate lightmeter (Gossen digisix). Cool feature - the digisix gives you the Exposure Values as well. These are also on the 80 mm lens, so I can find the appropriate shitterspeed / aperture combos quickly :-)

Loading film in the A12 magaqzines is easy - once you know which mistakes to avoid. A youtube video (just search for loading film Hasselblad) helped a lot.

Put 5 rolls of film through (Kodak new Portra 400 and TRIX 400) the camera today while walking the Intrepid / Times Square / Flatiron and SoHo, will collect the developed and scanned film from Luster tomorrow evening.

Shooting a larger medium format camera like this is asthonishingly easy, handling etc. seemd quite easy for a beginner.

Have fun,
Carsten

Unbelievable - blogging in 30.000 feet

FRA, originally uploaded by topfloor.

I am just traveling from Frankfurt to New York in a Lufthansa Airbus. Lufthansa is offering WiFi for free, so I can. Surf the Net, write a few Mails and Write this blogpost. A first time for me, I was analog bevor, just reading books and magazines on flighttime. I enjoy the freedom to roam, and wanted to share my anxiety for my NY trip.
This trip is for business purpose, but in spare time I'll shoot some Rolls of film. My M7 and some medium format gear look forward to be put to use. May the analog power be with me :-)
Have fun.

Strange Selfie - Lomo Spinner 360

IcMe, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This is an example of a easy done, but strange Selfie- The Lomo Spinner 360 takes a (more than) 360 degrees pano shot, so I was on the pic two times.

The camera really is of low quality, mine failed after only 15 films (and was replaced without problems by the Lomo shop Vienna).

The Museum Quarter in Vienna where the pic was taken is a place really worth more than one visit, a place to see, talk, chill and relax.

Happy shooting,
Carsten

Vintage Camera - Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 101

Shell Building - the wave, originally uploaded by topfloor.

A few weeks ago, I was wandering through Berlin with an PLC 101, loaded with Fuji 100C film. This is the Shell building in Berlin at Lützowufer near my hotel, an eyecatcher. It's nice to rediscover well known places with another camera / film combo that just adds an edge to things.

This type of film required me to check temperature and to tear the two sheets apart after just the right time to get a proper developed picture - no big deal though. The rich colors and sharp contrasts surprised me in a nice way.

Get inspired, get shooting :-)
Carsten

blue hour or golden hour?

blue hour or golden hour?, originally uploaded by topfloor.

who cares? Light as seen in the shot makes me wake up early, pull out a sturdy tripd and expose myself to the cilly winds at the north sea ;-)

This is only a 'trial' shot for my film shots with a medium format camera.

I enjoyed my time at List harbour this morning, also because there was nobody around.

Happy shooting,
Carsten

Shooting Travelphotography with a foldable Medium Format camera

cobbelstone, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This is an example of the first ten 120-format films I shot, self-developed and scanned. There is quite a lot to learn, so I am far from good at this.

An Ilford Delta 3200 ISO film was used for this shot of a street in Dresden in the evening, the Voigtländer Bessa III was my camera of choice. Besides giving you only 12 shots per roll of film, this camera is beautiful. The coupled rangefinder makes focussing easy, the central shutter (built into the lens) makes nearly no sound at all, and when it's folded together, the camera is very portable on a vacation.

Due to the big film format, shots with shallow depth of field can easily be obtained, and I look forward to my future experiences with this rare film / camera combo.

Voitgländer Camera

Ilford Film

Happy shooting,
Carsten

Manual focus versus Autofocus - funny YouTube video

she knows what he wants, originally uploaded by topfloor.

This is a very funny, yet technical interesting YouTube video about focusing techniques. The funny guys from Digital Rev compare a Canon V Mk II with an Olympus EP-1 and a Leica M9.



or the tiny link . . . http://tinyurl.com/2vft9my

Have a look and a laugh :-)

Carsten