Posts tagged "nikon"

Doors of Surabaya

One of my oldest friends in the world lives in Surabaya. I love visiting her. Not only is the food one of my favorite cuisines (East Java food is my favorite Indonesian regional food, and it can be hard to get abroad), the city is also a place I enjoy photographing. Eat, shoot, eat, shoot. That's basically all I do there.

This was my first time there with a film camera. I brought my trusty tiny Nikon FE with a 28mm f.28 lens, as well as a 50mm pancake f1.8 lens. That's really all I need on a vacation.

I even got the film sent off and developed at a local lab in Surabaya, which I was happy with.

Green.

Old.

Noodles.

No parking.

Rainbow.

I'm getting into the swing of things, shooting and developing film locally. Although I miss developing film since I'm so used to it, it's nice to see what services are available.

(All photos taken on Nikon FE with either 28mm or 50mm lens. All photos are Kodak Gold 200, dev and scan by Impossible Lab Surabaya)

Bencoolen Street

I lived in the Prinsep Street / Bencoolen neighbourhood in the early / mid 2000s. I've always enjoyed the vibrant street life. It is close to everything I love: Little India, Arab Street, Sim Lim Square, Sim Lim Tower, Burlington Square, and more. From early morning till late night, there's always something fun to do and see here.

On my first full day back in Singapore today, I walked from Whampoa to Bencoolen then to Orchard Road. It felt like I got to see some of the same places and people (popped in to many of the film photography stores I used to frequent). As with everything else about this place, everything has changed. But Bencoolen Street is still the place of temples, synagogues, churches and street life that I remember it to be.

I even got my film developed and scanned in 3 hours (shout out to Triple D Minilab)!

Windows.

Temples and trucks.

Deities.

Prayers.

Great coffee.

Cats, swans, rabbits.

Heritage.

Googly eyes.

Green.

Objectifs, a non-profit arts space dedicated to film and photography.

Taking the train during the rain

While my primary mode of transportation in San Francisco is my bike, I do find myself enjoying the varied modes of transit here as well. They are especially useful during the rain: it has been pouring, for days at a time, during the 'atmospheric rivers' that we are currently facing in California.

When that happens, I don't love being on my bike. Not only are roads slick, but drivers are also worse than they usually are (and they are usually awful).

The train I take the most is the N.

There are so many transit systems and agencies here that it took me a while to learn all of them. I wish someone had told me at the start, when I was a tourist, that the 'tram' is a 'train' (trains were only subways to me) or a 'streetcar', and that they all have letters; whereas Muni local buses have numbers, like 38, 49, 5.

View of an underground station from inside the N.

These days, I most frequently take the N to get to the Harvey Milk Photo Center.

The Harvey Milk Photo Center is a darkroom and photo center run by the city of San Francisco. It is also one of the largest darkrooms in the west coast of the United States. The darkroom has something like 30 different enlargers; they also have a cool set up where you can go in, as a member, to enlarge and develop prints, and they take care of the chemicals and wash for you. I took a few lessons there this past month, and love going there to learn and to spend time with like-minded photography enthusiasts.

Since this roll of film was also developed and scanned on my own, I feel like I have made some large leaps where film skills are concerned: going to HPMC has been a large part of that journey.

All photos taken on Olympus XA2, Tri-X 400, developed in D76 1:1, scanned with a Noritsu LS-600 and edited for dust and contrast.

Test roll: Nikon L35TWAD

As I previously mentioned, I've had my Nikon L35TWAD for some time but was not able to turn it on until now. I'm glad I managed to do that, because it's been such a joy to use! The idea that you can have two very good lenses: a wide and a telephoto one, in such a tiny package, is wonderful to me.

Here's a test shot at dusk with Fuji Superia 400 film, handheld: I like it a lot. I'm going to take it out for a few more rolls.

Nikon L35TWAD point and shoot camera, Fuji Superia 400, developed at Underdog Film Lab in Oakland.

What I’m Shooting: Nikon F3HP

I started out in film photography in 2003 using a little Nikon F-601, and to many people (including me) the pinnacle of SLRs in the Nikon world is the F3HP.

Built like a tank, this thing will outlive me, I’m sure of it.

The mirror slap of an SLR feels a bit anachronistic at this point. I simply haven’t used a camera with a mirror in years.

With a good old tank camera and a good lens (I love the 28mm f2.8), it’s like being reacquainted with an old friend. Or riding a bike for the first time in a long while. There’s something in muscle memory, and all the pleasures of the thing you loved come back quite quickly.

I’ve not had such a nice film SLR, though. Even as dated as it is today, it is a joy to use. Everything about it feels right.

More on this after I get back my first roll from this baby.