Way back in 1963, in the early years of my photojournalism career, a German friend of mine who was about to emigrate to the US persuaded me to join him on a visit to his homeland in early February. ‘It’s the season of Der Fasching,’ he explained excitedly. ‘Everyone dresses up, there are big street […]
Tag: 2021 – March
A year in the life of a backyard cameramonger during a global pandemic: Building fast, automated devices for scanning film and mounted slides – the Mongoose and the BoopBoop Trigger
In this article I am going to talk about the journey that led me to build the Mongoose automated negative carrier, and my newest device, the BoopBoop Trigger for digitizing mounted slides. This won’t be so much a technical review or description as much as a meandering memoir for posterity about what I did with […]
5 Frames… Of 15 year expired Agfa Scala 200 on a King Regula Cita III (35mm Format / EI 200 / Tessar f/2.8 lens)
After twenty years hiatus from film photography, I sold all my digital gear and got back to my roots, and what better film than two fifteen-year-old expired rolls of Agfa Scala, to play with! The shots were taken in different lighting conditions most in natural light conditions or just normal room tungsten lights, I find […]
Less than the sum of its parts? The Nikon F3P, a press camera
Back in the day, the “stock” Nikon F3 was so popular amongst Japanese photojournalists that Nikon decided to make a “Press” or “Professional” version to the Japanese market. Apparently, only accredited photojournalists could get their hands on one of these babies, so only limited quantities were produced until… Nikon decided to make extra ones called […]
5 Frames… Of surreal colour with Lomography Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400 (35mm Format / EI 160 / Nikon F5 + Nikkor 50mm 1.4 G Af-S)
When I first bought a 5 pack of Lomography’s Lomochrome Purple XR 100-400 I wondered if the novelty might wear off after a roll or two and I fully expected to resell the rest. After a couple of rolls though, I realised there was something more to it than novelty and I couldn’t get enough. […]
Over the hill or here or there: My adventures getting started in a large format film photography wonderland
It’s mid-December 2020 and a bearded, touqued figure stands silently on the side of a frozen lake looking off towards the rising peak of a distant mountain as the sun begins to rise. A wooden camera stands atop a carbon fiber tripod waiting for the film holder to be slid home and its shutter to […]
5 Frames… Testing a Yashica MG-1 with Fujicolor C200 and new light seals (35mm Format / EI 200 / Yashinon 45mm f/2.8)
The story began around 5 years ago. In March 2016, my friend sent a message telling me she had discovered a film camera while spring cleaning her office. I went down to see her and have a look at the camera, a fixed lens range finder, the Yashica MG-1 with Yashinon 45mm f/2.8 lens. Upon […]
Foma Retropan 320 Soft: A valuable way of seeing
I recently wrote an article for 35mmc reacting to my inability to obtain one of my favorite films, Foma’s Retropan 320 Soft in 35mm format .In it, I touched briefly on why I shoot film and how Retropan has helped me understand that inclination more clearly. It has inspired me to consider this issue in greater […]
5 Frames… Of Santa RAE 1000 at Christmas in Berlin (35mm Format / EI 1000 / Nikon F3HP + Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S)
5 Frames… Of Santa RAE 1000 at Christmas in Berlin (35mm Format / EI 1000 / Nikon F3HP + Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 AI-S) – by Oleg Popelyaev December… The magical time in Germany. The time when the streets are starting to bloom again… Well not exactly to bloom in a natural way like the […]
5 Frames… Of Icelandic industrial edge on Fuji Pro 400H and a Mamiya 645 Pro (120 Format / EI 400 / Mamiya Sekor-C 80 mm f/2.8)
In between covid lockdowns, my girlfriend and I had the chance to visit Iceland. We went lightweight and camped everywhere. Lightweight except that I had brought my digital Pentax SLR in conjunction with two film bodies: the Mamiya C220 6×6 format TLR and my Mamiya 645 Pro 6×4.5 format SLR. Although I regretted the extra […]
The AgiPinFold Pinhole Conversion Part 3: A conclusion
I cannot believe that it was 2018 when I wrote the first two parts [1][2] of this series of articles documenting my conversion of a 1940s-era Agfa Agifold 6×6 medium format camera to shoot pinhole photography. The time has flown by. Granted, we have had a year of exceptional circumstances. A global pandemic and a […]
5 Frames… Of MASSIVE engineering on a tiny camera (Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 400 / 35mm / Minox 35 GT)
Last December I went on a trip to the area where my mother was born and where parts of my family still live. It’s an area close to Cologne which is marked by the brown coal industry. There are several power plants still contributing to Germany’s energy supply and brown coal has been mined and […]
5 Frames… At Sharjah’s Fossil Rock on ILFORD HP5 PLUS and a Leica M4 (35mm Format / EI 100 / Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm f/2.5 P II)
I have been using a 50mm lens almost exclusively for around two years, and I recently wanted to switch it up. The 35mm focal length has been on my radar for a few months, so when a good price for the Voigtlander Color-Skopar 35mm f/2.5 PII appeared online it caught my attention. Within the week […]
Shot on Super 8 film: A Portrait, Carlotta Beck Peccoz – Straight 8 2020’s Best 8
I remember hearing about the (now 20+ year) straight 8 competition when I was in film school and thinking “who are those maverick, brave, but especially crazy filmmakers?”
5 Frames… Around Hai Phong, Vietnam on my 1920 Graflex RB Tele 4×5 and ILFORD HP5 PLUS (4×5 Format / EI 400 / Voigtlander Heliar 210mm f/4.5 c.1920 lens)
I’m from Seattle, WA, US yet I have been overseas for the last 13 years, working, exploring, and experiencing what you see in travel vlogs. I’m now in Hai Phong, Vietnam, around 2 hours to the west of Hanoi on the coast near Ha Long Bay. I arrived from Birmingham, UK with previous stops in […]
5 Frames… Of macro photography on Fuji Velvia 50 (35mm / EI 50 / Nikon FM2 + Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AI-s Micro-Nikkor + Nikon Pk-3 extension tube)
With winter bearing down upon us, my family and I visited the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center in Providence, RI USA for a little weather respite. My family brought sketch pads and watercolor paints; I brought a roll of Fuji Velvia 50, a Nikon FM2, a Nikon 105mm f/2.8 AI-s Micro-Nikkor macro lens, and a […]
Nishika & The N8000: A seedy history of telephone scams, lawsuits and fake parts
Did you ever hear the tragedy of the Nishika N8000? If you haven’t you’re going to learn all about the seemingly seedy history of this camera; from fake LCD screens to telemarketing scams ahem, creativity…
Month in review: December 2020
These are the 31 days and 30 articles that made EMULSIVE in December 2020. There’s no fancy countdown here, just my usual recap for those of you who missed the goings-on. If you read the November 2020 update, I’m still very much in catch-up mode but definitely getting there. As ever, if you’ve got something […]
Around Europe with the Zorki 4K
I for the longest time fancied owning a completely mechanical rangefinder camera, but I always thought that they were out of my budget. That was until I, by utter chance, stumbled into the world of Fed and Zorki Ukrainian and Russian rangefinders. After doing a bit of research online, I decided on getting a Zorki […]
5 Frames… Testing a Canon AE-1 on Kodak Portra 400 (35mm Format / EI 125 / Canon AE-1 + FD 70-210mm f/4)
“Miss Kozun, you look fantastic! Love the outfit” … “Thanks! It was either this or I was going to be wearing a giraffe onesie all day!” Oh, 2020, what a strange year you have been! Thankfully with only a few days left, Kristi and I managed to squeeze in a little respite of normal and […]