Minolta Zoom 8

I've been meaning to do some more studio/product (film) photography for my up-coming commercial portfolio, but I haven't really been motivated or inspired by much lately.

But I recently found this neat little vintage Super-8 video camera at a local antique store. It's corroded through-and-through and utterly nonfunctional, but it looked so neat I simply couldn't pass it up (especially for a price of just $4).

I may use it again, maybe a model/conceptual shoot (inspired by Hakanphotography's Diary Of A Serial Shooter series. But for now it's made a home for itself in the RCC photo props room.

Mamiya C220
Mamiya-Sekor 55mm f/4.5 lens
Fujichrome Velvia 50 120 film
Fujichrome Provia 100F 120 film
Broncolor Opus and Primo powerpacks
Cactus V2s wireless flash transmitter

Setup shot:


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A Tour Around Widner

This is Widner Creative, the studio where I am interning, on a quiet day between shoots.

Canon 5D
Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens

55mm f/4.5

Testing out my new wide-angle lens for my C220.

Mamiya C220
Mamiya 55mm f/4.5 lens
(expired) Kodak Portra 400BW 120 film
toning by way of not grayscaling.

Fisheye Fortepan

*

Nikon F2
Nikon Ai 16mm f/2.8 fisheye lens
Fortepan 400 35mm film

I've never used Fortepan black and white before. I picked it up from the expired film bin at Peace Camera out of curiosity (expired 2007). It's not a bad film, but nothing I'd go out of my way to acquire. I still know little about it, but it seemed to behave like any-other tradition B&W (T-Max-esque) film. The only difference: it required a 11.5 minute developing time in D-76 (at 20°C) for its defined ISO of 400. Though, on its developing instructions described this time as more appropriate for 200 ISO (huh?).

The fisheye lens I'm borrowing from Bryan, the photographer I'm currently interning with. I really enjoy wide angle lenses. I consider the Nikon Ai 20mm f/2.8, that I often check out from school, as my all-time favorite (full-frame) lens. But after shooting with the Nikon Ai 16mm f/2.8 lens, it kind of seems like too much. It's definitely a fun lens to play with, and maybe the roll of Scotchchrome I also shot while using it will reveal better results, but it just seemed difficult to control. There is nothing the lens doesn't see (180° FOV) but at the same time, everything not near the center is too distorted to see well. But mounted to my Rebel XT (using an F-to-EOS adapter) it becomes a nice, average wide angle, 25.5mm equivilent lens.

*ok, so that last one was actually Plus-X