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07
Dec 10

My kitchen Dark Room

Dark Room anyone?I just finished setting up the final part of my dark room. The enlarger I just bought. It is a rather old Russian one marked with ΥΠΑ-514. I could not find anything for it and the manual is written in Russian, so I guess I will have to work it by experience.

The timer and the security light seem to work fine. Unfortunately I managed to break the lamp as I was cleaning it, so no actual tests today. However, I managed to play around with it a bit.

First impression is that it really needs some work. I need to light proof the head a bit, put some sort of seal around the glass on the filter tray and get a new lens, since the one on it is a rather crappy plastic one.

Hopefully, it does not have any mechanical problems, and from what I have seen the focus seemed to work ok (although I will have to buy a grain focuser). I will try to buy a lamp tomorrow and hopefully I will have my first prints as well…

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On Assignment — 1 comment
01
Dec 10

Dimitris – Leica Diaries – Dark Room

Dimitris from Leica Diaries - Dark RoomAs promised, I have developed the film from Dimitris’ dark room…

Shot with the Leica M4 on a tripod using Fuji Superia @1600.

Don’ t be fooled by the yellow security light. This is actually Dimitris’ dark room. I know I know… I didn t know security lights can come in a color other than red either…
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29
Nov 10

Thessaloniki – Fuji Superia 1600

Thessaloniki - Leica M4 - Superia 1600During my last visit to Thessaloniki, I had the chance to try a Fuji Superia at 1600 ASA.

I was really curious and nervous on how the film would end up, especially since I had never done any real world testing on the M4 and the film costs 9 euros a roll…

Anyway, I finally got the negatives back from the lab today. The film seems to be really dense, nearly as if it is not actually rated at 1600.

It is however really tricky to scan properly.

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Film Day — 1 comment
22
Nov 10

My first home developed film

Plain lightFinally after a few months of sharing a dark room with Dimitris from Leica Diaries, I managed to set-up my own in my kitchen.

Sorry for the boring subject, but it was a nice opportunity to also check the speeds on my M4, so I mostly shot some standard IKEA paper light blobs.

The first attempt was with a Tri-X 400 film, shot and developed at 400 ASA using 1+7 T-Max developer. The development included a 8:30 developement, with 1:10 initial agitation and then 10s every 30s (that is why the film appeared contrasty and grainy, even if it is Tri-X).

The film was scanned using an Epson V600 and Silverfast.

I like the result very much, especially for a first attempt. And I have completely underestimated Tri-X, especially after seeing what Dimitris got pushing it to 1600. I think T-Max will be the stardard film for 400-800 and Tri-X for 1600.

I am also expecting some Fuji Superia to be developed with something like a semi-documentary of today’s session on Dimitris’ dark room.

Hopefully within the week, I will have my own magnifier to start getting some prints :)

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News — No comments
15
Nov 10

My first interview

A few days ago I met an old friend from the University. We did not manage to do much catching up yet, but as it seems, it was a nice opportunty for me to get my first interview taken :)

The subject was film and in what ways it is still surviving today. I know I am no expert in the subject, but I have some experience from my early photographic days, and today I am quickly catching up. It turned out to be an interesting experience.

I will soon provide a full translation of the text. For the Greek speaking friends, you can click on the image to the left for a photo of the original printed page. The text can also be found in the newspaper’s page (unfortunately without my photo attached).

Thanks Eleni :) I owe you one…

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Film Day — 3 comments
29
Oct 10

My new Toy….

My new toyI know I know… I ve been slacking keeping the blog up to date, but I’ ve been a bit busy…

But I have to share this :) My new (or not so new…) toy… A Leica M4 paired with an Elmar 50mm f/2.8 collapsible which I absolutely love. I have no samples yet, but hopefully tomorrow I will.

Of course this does not mean that I will forget my precious D700, but this is really something else. Photography at its best… I hope I’m up for the challenge…

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Audio Day — No comments
23
Oct 10

Audio Day – HIFi Exhibition 2010

It was that time of the year again. The annual High Fidelity Exhibition held at Athens Imperial Hotel.

Not much artistic interest in there, but still some of those machines were masterpieces on their own right…

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20
Oct 10

Free walk in Exarheia – Tmax 400 @1600

Tmax 400 @1600 - ExarheiaI haven’t written much in a few weeks now, so I figured I would post some photos taken during one of our walks in Exarheia with Dimitris from Leica Diaries.

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22
Sep 10

Provia 100 – Slides @Halandri

Well that was my first attempt to shoot a slides film. Everyone is talking about Kodachrome, but until I manage to get my hands on one, a Fuji Provia will have to be enough :)

I was really curious about the color. Thankfully, it turned out to be really nice.

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18
Sep 10

Audio Day – A view to a Kill, or James Bond hi-jacking my turntable

I just received a package on my mail with a few of the singles I have recently bought. One of them was a rather old one, released back on 1985. It’ s “A view to a kill” by Duran Duran.

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