Old School Geekery

Been doing Medium format film photography for some time now I have always had this thing in the back of my head to reopen a for me long gone closed chapter that is 35mm film. Been shooting Mamiya RZ67 II, FujiFilm 6x4.5 Rangefinder, Rolliflex and then finally Hasselblad 503CW. On the professional level I never looked back really after getting busy with digital image making. I sold all but one of my work horses, the Canon 1V and just got going full throttle with digital stuff. Due to clients, due to costs and out of pure convenience and speed that digital after all possess.

My last ProBox of 35mm PROVIA100F have been sitting in the fridge since February 2007 (expire date Oct 2008). Then all of a sudden I dusted of my 1V, rooted out the film way back behind natto and tsukemono and popped in a roll and fresh batteries. The fact that certain people I have had the pleasure to hang with since I moved back home to Tokyo after 3 years in South East Asia had a certain influence on my new found interest played a big role as well. Lets see what expired film will look like after 6.5 years. Test roll coming up, stayed tuned!

Been shooting with this 1V along with a 1N as backup/wingman for many years before switching to digital. Before Canon I used Minolta Alpha 9 as main body but sold all and got Canon when Minolta becom KonikaMinolta (now SONY). This camera has been used in Acid rain (yes, really!), the Gobi desert, The Himalaya, The tropics, snow&ice, been banged around in all possible and impossible ways. Never failed me, A true workhorse. Love it!

Expire date : 2008.10

Still smelled like they should. That's good!

Frame 1…coming up!

9 days later….

…man, turned out just perfect. The old look of Provia 100f is there even, a tad "under", just the way I remember my work back then and the result I always have been aiming at. Cool, meaning ai have 19 rolls to go through before I ever have to buy a new color transparent film again. Was shooting with a 35mm f/1.4 this whole roll, all in one sunny afternoon in the dark heart of Tokyo.  

snafu

Micro Four Thirds System

Been on the lookout for a proper MFT camera for some time now but living in Thailands backwater hasn't given me too man chances to get my hands on one. Well, going back home to Tokyo in a week and will do daily visits to my local ashram (Yodabashi Camera in West Shinjuku, must be the best camera store world wide. NYC B&H treated me like an Al Qaeda operative).

Almost made a final decision on an Olympus E-P2 but glad I didn't now when some whistleblower came out with the down fall of the company due to insider corruption and money laundering with the Japanese yakuza (hate the bullies), fuck 'em...going with the Lumix GF-1 or GX-1 instead. So my question to you my fellow photographers is ; Does anyone of you have any experience working/shooting with this system or cameras? Worth to haul around on a daily basis and will it be able to take some heavy duty blue collar treatment like I have found out a Canon system will be able to handle? My trusted sidearm Canon G9 is on the mend and will have to go through the hands of the geek wizards at Canon Center (also this in West Shinjuku)for a small fee. Plan to sell of one of my 5D's to a good friend in need and keep the other. Will do a proper check up first of 'em both at Canon center.

Pro's & Con's much appreciated.

Thanks and "Hold Fast"

Canon…stay true (Love me back or…)!

Talking cameras, a love/hate topic since I don't really like the whole technical aspect of photography at all.  I am and have been a Canon user for many years now. Lenses, flashes, camera bodies, printers, scanners...you name it. Two 5D bodies, one 1V (sold my backup 1N) 35mm film body, lens ranges from 15mm to 200mm (f2,8 lenses) and a complete Mamiya RZ Pro II medium format system with a 50mm and 90mm lenses. Back in the days, when I started I was learning the basics on an old Pentax my dad got as payment for fixing up a car for someone, he used it for years and years and I took it over after him. Then upped to Minolta 35mm (Alpha 7 and 9), and loved the 9 body with its superb grip and manual large setting knobs . I sold off my Minolta gear when they merged with Konica and stopped making "pro" stuff (they are now under the SONY flag). I choose Canon in front of Nikon due to it's ruggedness, handling and its more straight forward way of getting what I needed with the least fuckups. Never regretted this and always loved working with Canon gear. I carry a G9 "pocket" camera when the bulkier SLR's are just overkill. The G9 might not be what the G10 is but I've come to like this system and rely on it as a small but powerful backup/insurance.
I have almost stopped (almost…) looking for new gear the last couple of years due to what I have is just what I need. The occasional service and cleaning visit at Canon service center in Tokyo (superb safety net for someone like me who are shooting in far from ideal environments) is all. On the computer side I use Mac computers, same here, easy to use and they work!

However... Ran into this OLYMPUS E-P2 system the other day. And could tell from the brief encounter that this system "looks" pretty useful. Is there any one out there that have any feedback to give me on this camera? Changeable lenses, proper viewfinder, RAW setting, M/A/S modes, 12+ MP...worth checking out?








My e-mail address :


mwcpjapan@gmail.com

5D Mirror failure

Was shooting for an upcoming photo exhibition last night when the cameras shutter gave me this wrong sound and all went black. The mirror fell out when I took the lens off, broke when it hit the floor. I have heard that this happens to the new 5D Mark II frequently but since I never had any problems at all (ever!!!) with any of my 5D's I got pretty surprised when this happened. Guess that I have been taking good care of the gear during the years I have used them. I've been shooting with these bodies in places not too suitable for precision instrument (acid rain on Mijake Is, Sand storm in Arizona, Extreme heat in Western china, extreme cold in the Himalayas, extreme dampness in the rainforests in Northern Thailand, banging it around in backpacks and bicycle rides etc...you name it!) like these but have never had a reason to complain so far. This mirror thing bound to happen and I was just lucky that it was for a shooting I can come back and do later and not one for a magazine in a remote area somewhere. I always carry 2 bodies in case of emergency as well as a larger range of lens angles. Canon center, here we come!

Hate to say "I told you so"....

After 3 hours in Canon service centers care and ¥12075 from my pocket the G9 mystery problem got solved. Was told it was some data reader in the camera that was broke and got replaced with a new unit. A friend of mine was sure it was a curse from a road-kill cat I was shooting a couple of month back, and he told me that the service people at Canon just did a simple exorcism and dragged the evil spirit (in this case a pissed-off stray cat!?) out and that it shouldn't have been so expensive. Well, I'm back in the pocket camera world and glad it all got solved, demon or not!