Arguably the worst time of day to take photographs, I definitely got a lesson in lighting 101…but it was also really the only time we (my girlfriend and I) could get downtown, so perhaps it was not the worst time to take photographs but indeed the best.
I brought with my my Spotmatic SP and my Nikon. This post will be featuring the shots with my new* 35mm Nikkor 1.8G DX lens. Since its a cropped sensor format camera(Nikon D3200), Apparently due to the APS-C sensor, you have to multiply the focal length by 1.4. So 35×1.4=49. So in reality, I was shooting a 50mm lens.
That equation in terms I actually understand: 35mm x technology / science = magic.
Which I am glad the guy at the camera store told me because I naively had the actual 50mm lens in my hand.
But anyways, it couldn’t have been a nicer March day by Canada’s standards, not a cloud in the sky, sun shinning bright, and not too cold! That presented a unique problem and one that I have started to read/learn about from other blogs. And this is the affect of shooting in direct sunlight at high noon. The features of of buildings become 2 dimensional, the colours and characteristics get washed out, in a fifty different shades of white. So I started shooting colour, quickly realized that everything was turning out terribly and switched to black and white. I was running 400 HP5 in my Spotmatic, so I am interested to see if those even turned out. Every shot was pretty much the smallest aperature setting and highest shutter speed and the light meter was at the upper end of “acceptable.” Nonetheless, it was great to get out and finally make some images, it has been way too long and also way to long since I’ve been on here! So on to the photos 🙂
We started on a path behind the Parliament buildings and moved around to the Chateau Laurier, on to the Byward Market, and finished at Parliament hill. I put the 35mm lens through a couple tests, landscapes, street photography, and close up (or macro I suppose). And I have to say I’m pretty happy with the results, it is definitely best when it is not maxed at either end of its aperture scale but for a budget* lens, it shoots pretty sharp!
Above are some of the better “street shots” I was able to snap.
Some of the “mainstream” sights downtown, aside from not being the optimal lighting conditions, I am pretty happy with how things turned out! But with all this black and white I think we need to add a little colour to end this post. I tried timing it so I could get the flags perfectly straight but was just a second off. And then of course the wind died down.
I hope you enjoyed my photography if you stopped by. It felt good to finally get downtown, even if its 6 months late. I’m working on a few more posts, I tried some long exposure filters at Niagara Falls, working on a 50 photos 1 room, and I’ve got a little build it yourself 35mm TLR from Amazon that needs to be looked at at some point as well!
Thanks for stopping by!
Chris
Chris' Photography Blog 
I like the one credited to Amanda, and the staircase and the locks are nice shots. The locks remind me of some Soviet pictures.
I look forward to see how the film shots turned out. If 400 ISO turns out a bit much for bright sun you could shoot it at 200 then decrease the developing time or tell the lab to pull by a stop. You might try filters, say a CPL or ND, maybe yellow for b/w film work to get more contrast.
For the first time in years I got around to shooting some colour and had it cheaply processed C41, just snaps in the snow to see how the processing turned out. The colours are wonderful, almost tangible. Pity they’re not making any more of that stock. The TLR sounds fun. I just picked up an old quarter plate focal plane camera, which might be fun once I’ve sorted out the sticky shutter mechanism.
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Thanks Kevin! I will also be sure to pass the kudos on to Amanda!
That’s interesting, I will have to try that on the next roll. I think I may get some filters for my Takumar lens. I have some for my Nikon but of course they’re not the same size unfortunately! Thank you for the advice!
That’s awesome, which film were you shooting? Was that the Agfa 200 or something I’ve seen a lot of talk about lately.
It should be an interesting project. I’ve still got a nice Yashica D model to do a little TLC on as it’s got a sticky shutter. You had mentioned a couple tricks a few posts back that I am going to give a try!
That sounds very cool, looking forward to hearing how the restoration turns out!
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If I’m not mistaken the Takumar filter thread size is 49mm, same as the Olympus, so you should be able to get a filter thread adapter cheap from China to use your existing 52mm Nikon filters. Yes it was Agfa Vista 200. What killed the cheap processing deal was the cost of postage to send it as the rip-off privatised Royal Mail here charges by package dimensions as well as by weight so they charge full parcel rate to post a single cassette of film. So you have to send five rolls to make it worthwhile.
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Yes they are 49mm, I’ll check that out too! Thanks Again! Ahh that’s too bad. Here it’s not so bad but it’s still around 20 Dollars Canadian to have a single roll out on a CD, and then every roll you add after that they give you a cheaper rate. So I’m trying to save up till I have 3-4 rolls
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Your black and whites are really nice 🙂
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Thanks Joshi! That means a lot! 🙂
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