Pushing Arista Premium (Kodak Tri-x) 400 to 1600
One of my goals for my photography is to present a more objective image rather than a subjective image. To my mind, b&w photography does that for me. I also want to be able to shoot candids in low light without the use of flash. Film to my eye has many more subtle gradations between black and white than digital. It has the look I’m trying to capture. But iso 400 isn’t fast enough to allow me to do the photography that I want in low light.
So I’ve started on a mission to find the right combination of camera, film and developing to give me the results I want in a small, easy-to-carry package. And I think I have the right film and developer now. Here’s a shot of a couple of friends in a dimly-lit restaurant. I used my Nikon N80 and a 50mm f=1.8 AF-D lens loaded with Arista Premium 400 pushed to 1600.
I developed the film in Kodak D-76 diluted 1+1 for 13:15 at 21 degrees. I’ve got good details, smooth gradations and the grain is under control. This is as dark as I would normally want to shoot and this combination has delivered the goods.
I love my N80, its compact, lightweight and has a ton of modern features that help me get the shots I want. I can select spot, matrix or center-weighted metering with my thumb without having to look away from the viewfinder. I can select any of 5 different focus points and the spot meter will meter off that point. In shooting candids in low light, a spot meter is your best bet because there are bound to be a lot of bright lights in the background trying to fool a meter.
Another great feature of the N80 is the 1/4000th shutter speed. Most of my old manual cameras have either a 1/500th or 1/1000th shutter speed. If I rate my film at 1600, that means I need to have at least a 1/2000th shutter speed to shoot that speed outdoors. The N80 gives me some flexibility to do just that.
I’ve started a gallery with sample shots of Arista Premium pushed to 1600, you can see all the shots here.
Read MoreMotorcycle Ice Racing
Went to the ice races on Saturday and took my new (used) Mamiya NC1000. The Mamiya is a compact 35mm SLR. It is not much bigger than a Canon Canonet rangefinder. It fits easily in my jacket pocket. It also has very big, bright viewfinder. I find that this is the easiest manually focused camera to use. It has a diagonal split prism that makes it easy to focus off a horizontal or vertical line. I love the size of rangefinders, but I have a difficult time getting them focused. My eyes are too old. SLRs are usually too bulky to take everywhere, but this Mamiya is very compact and lightweight.
Not only was I shooting a new camera, but I was also shooting a new film, Arista Premium 400, which is supposed to be Kodak Tri-X 400 repackaged and sold much cheaper than Kodak. I bought it from Freestyle Photo for $2.20 a roll. I shot it at 1600 asa to see if I could replace the now discontinued Fuji Neopan 1600.
And not only was I shooting a new film with a new camera, I decided to develop the film myself. Holy Cow! Talk about lot’s of opportunities for failure. Anyway, I managed to stave off disaster and ended up with real images on my film. I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out. Very gritty and vintage looking.
You can see all the pix here. I’ll have more on the Mamiya coming up.
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