Actually Using The Hasselblad 500C/M

[fmw]

You have a fine classic camera that has made legendary images. I hope you enjoy it.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

There are many labs across the US which are setup for mail-in/mail-out service. Richard's in Los Angeles get very high ratings. If you were in SoCal I would be happy to help out. Hell, you could develop and scan at my place and enjoy a glass of wine.

This may be reason enough to make a trip out from the east coast, I may wait until the weather here takes a turn for the cold . I have thought about shipping it out and I may end up trying a few places, Im going to give the other Philly lab a shot before I jump to any conclusions and I may even get the ball rolling on doing it at home.

You have a fine classic camera that has made legendary images. I hope you enjoy it.

Im doing my best to get out and use it!


The weather this weekend has been less than optimal so not much photography has ensued. The forecast has it clearing up tonight so I hope to get out tomorrow and finish off the color roll I have in there.

Regards
Dave

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The weather at the shore finally broke on Sunday and lead to a great day. I finished off the roll of Portra I had in the camera (a bit over exposed as suggested) and ran another roll of HP5+. Dropped it off at the new lab this morning and it should be ready by 3pm Wednesday so Ill post the shots when I get it back. Turns out the new lab is not only closer to my place but about 20% cheaper (for a roll of 120 dev,print,scan deal) which is nice.

Things I learned this weekend shooting in the wild with the camera,
- "Can you take a picture of us? That looks like a big camera you seem like you know what your doing" (asked by at least 3 beach goers, little did they know I dont really know what Im doing...)
- My girlfriend did not quite understand why I needed "such a big contraption to take a photo"
- The biggest difference I noticed was that when out shooting with my D3300 no one seems to think twice about jumping in a shot, walking in front of me or otherwise acting like I don't exist as they swing their selfie stick this way and that. Drop a tripod down on the beach with a "fancy" looking camera and people will actually ask you if they are in your shot or need to move for the shot. It was very interesting the way the interactions changed.

Regards
Dave

 

[Gary A.]

Respect ... it is all about respect. (See, size does matter.) Perfect weather this weekend, warm and dry (upper 70's, humidity under 50%).

 

[Dave Colangelo]

2 roll from the new lab (see roll 2 and roll 3)...

The color came out really nicely and I really cant complain about it so for the price they will be my go to C41 lab. My only quam is that they give you the scans on a CD and I have no computer with a CD drive anymore.

Now for the black and white, the light lines are back and they are worse than before. Now that I know what to look for I asked them about it when I picked my prints up as I was pretty upset. Unfortunately they did not seem very surprised at what happened which angered me even more. Apperently as a result of the machine they use and the way it pulls the film through added with the development time, black and white high iso film is prone to problems like this. So it looks like its time for me to order some the chemicals and start doing this at home (I have been slowly acquiring tanks, changing bag etc.). I was fairly furious yesterday but the lines only appear heavily on the last 4 images of the roll even though they were my favorite images.

This image has some of the worst

Still lots of things to learn as some of the images did not come out exactly as expected.

Regards
Dave

 

[jcdeboever]

Dwayne's photo wouldn't have that issue. Too bad. Those color are fantastic. Rich and sharp. Looks like a nice camera to say the least. Looks like the meter is sorted.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

Dwayne's photo wouldn't have that issue. Too bad. Those color are fantastic. Rich and sharp. Looks like a nice camera to say the least. Looks like the meter is sorted.

These 2 rolls (for all but 1 image) were metered with the new meter which looks like its working as it should. The new meter also has incident capability which the old one did not. This has helped me on some of the closer shots. I think I have also just been interpreting the meter readings better as well. I have been reading (and re reading) Ansels "the negative" as I go through this self imposed exercise.

Some thoughts on the camera so far,
- Yes the camera is very sharp and I have been very pleased with it so far.
- When paired with a meter that reads out EV's the camera is so simple to use its a delight.
- The depth of field indicators on the lenses are interesting and a new way of thinking about selecting shutter speed/aperture combos.
- The hot swappable film backs are really nice, I have been mainly using them to switch between color and black and white when I need to.


Regards
Dave

 

[terri]

Keep shooting. You've acquired some very good equipment; that Planar lens itself is the stuff of minor legends. You did good!

Since you've come this far, you really owe it to yourself to develop your own B&W. These two local labs are doing a terrible job. Honestly, the main hurdle to film developing is just getting comfortable loading the film onto the reel in total darkness. Once it's on the reel and safely in the tank, you can stand at the kitchen sink with all your chemistry lined up, with a timer and a good photographic thermometer, and develop in daylight. Don't skimp on your reels/tank; buy new if you can. Dedicate an old roll of 120 film and sit in front of a table and practice loading it while you can see what you're doing. Then, try it in the dark a few times until you have a reasonable comfort level. Go shoot some unimportant stuff just to burn a roll that can be sacrificed for your first development attempt, and give yourself time and space to walk through it. Once you're done and you see your images, you will have crossed the threshold and have that datapoint to proceed from. Stick with the same film/developer combination until you're completely comfortable with it and are getting consistently good results.

I hope you try it soon! You're working too hard to turn them over to these poor labs. Good luck!

 

[Dave Colangelo]

Keep shooting. You've acquired some very good equipment; that Planar lens itself is the stuff of minor legends. You did good!

Since you've come this far, you really owe it to yourself to develop your own B&W. These two local labs are doing a terrible job. Honestly, the main hurdle to film developing is just getting comfortable loading the film onto the reel in total darkness. Once it's on the reel and safely in the tank, you can stand at the kitchen sink with all your chemistry lined up, with a timer and a good photographic thermometer, and develop in daylight. Don't skimp on your reels/tank; buy new if you can. Dedicate an old roll of 120 film and sit in front of a table and practice loading it while you can see what you're doing. Then, try it in the dark a few times until you have a reasonable comfort level. Go shoot some unimportant stuff just to burn a roll that can be sacrificed for your first development attempt, and give yourself time and space to walk through it. Once you're done and you see your images, you will have crossed the threshold and have that datapoint to proceed from. Stick with the same film/developer combination until you're completely comfortable with it and are getting consistently good results.

I hope you try it soon! You're working too hard to turn them over to these poor labs. Good luck!

Thank you for the encouragement! My B&H cart is currently full of chemicals I got some used tanks on Ebay which are in fairly decent shape (both Paterson auto loading style as well as the metal real kind). I have a changing bag and an old roll I have been practicing with and hope to run a roll soon. My understanding of it so far is that the most important chemical choice is the developer and the fixer and stopper have less of an impact on the outcome. I am leaning to using all Illford chemistry (the documentation seems really good and easy to find) then messing around with some other stuff. Adox has also caught my eye as of recently. I still need to get some graduates to measure everything out but other than that I have a fair idea of what to do (lots of reading still to go). One of my biggest concerns right now is the water in Philadelphia. Unfortunately Philly has very hard water and since I live in an apartment I have limited control over putting filters in. I may use some distilled water to solve the problem but that gives me less thermal control.

Regards
Dave

 

[Gary A.]

Good for you and sticking with film. With B&W film it is all about grain and contrast. Different developers will give you different results per grain and contrast. Different films will give you different results per grain and contrast. Different temps and agitation will also affect grain and contrast. Much of what you learn from Adams and exposure will actually help you with digital.

 

[terri]

Unfortunately Philly has very hard water and since I live in an apartment I have limited control over putting filters in. I may use some distilled water to solve the problem but that gives me less thermal control.

Well, half the battle is knowing these kinds of things in advance, so you're already ahead. Yeah, just get a few jugs of distilled water and eliminate that variable. Again: get a good photo thermometer so you're aware of your temps. You can fill a photo tray (or any plastic rectangular tray) with ice water and set your graduates in there once you've mixed your chemistry - that cools it down quickly. 20'C is 68'F, which a good default temp to start with and not hard to achieve. Warming it up can be done with 5-10 second zaps in the microwave, just use caution. Either way, play with it and rely on your thermometer to tell you when you're good to go.

Don't worry about stop bath with film, after you've finished with your development and dumped it, a cool rinse in your tap water for about a minute will suffice, and you already know you will have your fixer standing by next, mixed in distilled water. You might want to also use a product like LFN or Photo Flo for a final rinse (avoid home-brew rinse agents, it's tempting but seriously, the stuff is cheap and made to certain specs and will help you).

 

[Dave Colangelo]

Another roll came back from the lab today (Ecktar 100) they did a solid job with it but I have not had any issue with color yet so I was not that worried. This roll has some of my best shots so far and the first one that I have considered blowing up and actually framing.

Things I learned this go round.

- A half an EV of over exposure works really nicely with the Ecktar 100. since the Hasselblad EV locked lens' can step by a half an EV its nice and easy.
- The best pictures come to those who go find them.
- Sunrise will reveal colors I have never seen before.

This coming weekend is busy with some family stuff so I most likely wont be out shooting.

Regards
Dave

 

[jcdeboever]

Wonderful color rendering.

 

[Dave Colangelo]

The DNC has been making Philly the pace to be this week. I decided to go out and photograph what was happening since its a pretty neat event and I had a feeling there would be some photo worthy stuff. My office is pretty close to city hall so I headed down there on my lunch break to see what all the fuss was about. Ended up with Two Rolls on Monday and another today. You can check them out here and here in all their glory. The two rolls were shot on Illford 100 Professional and processed by the same lab that messed up the last roll. All things considered they did a MUCH better job with these rolls and Im loving the look of the film. The lunch break rounded out with a nice conversation with a photographer that shot Hasselbalds for many years which was cool. I learned a lot about being fast with the meter and even faster setting the EV on the camera. Ill admit that in my haste some pics were shot at aperture/speed combos I may not have intended on. A few were out of focus in my haste as well but most came out quite nicely.

here are my two favorite shots from the day,

Regards
Dave

 

[Gary A.]

Nice. Practice and repetition will greatly increase your speed and exposure accuracy.