Monday, January 24, 2011

Wedding on film

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

What was it like for wedding photographers in the 80s? Before the digital age, all they had were a few rolls of film. Imagine what the pressure would be. You only have a limited number of chances ( 36 per roll). You wouldn't be able to see what your photos looked like: dark or bright, clear or blurry. The answer would only come when the day was over and you came back from the lab. All you have is your eyes and your quick judgment of what the right setting for the scene should be. Make no mistake. Because when you finally realized it, the moments would have gone forever.

Recently, Analox became more and more fond of shooting in film. He loves the tonality, the retro look, and the total awareness when shooting film. Last Sunday, Analox felt like experiencing this feeling of wedding photographers in the old days so he put a roll of Lucky SuperNew 200 to his beloved OM1 and headed to the wedding of Joycelyn and Kenneth.

Here's what it turned out.

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Kenneth & Joycelyn Wedding Day

Admiré

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Full-frame and Crop-frame: A step back to the Advanced Photo System

If you think that the war between crop-frame and full-frame only starts in the digital age, you are simply wrong :)

PenF is a half frame SLR camera introduced by Olympus (this guy loves crop frame!) in 1963. The camera works on the frame of half size of the 35mm. It simply means that on PenF, a roll of 35mm film can be used to capture 72 exposures instead of 36. Later in 1996, Kodak introduced APS film (Advanced Photo System) with even smaller size (the crop factor is about 1.25x, still bigger than the digital APS-C, APS-H sensor). It comes with more advance features like recording aspect ratio, the date and time that the photograph was taken, exposure data such as shutter speed and aperture setting, more or less like EXIF in digital files.

None of these formats is still popular nowadays (if you still consider 35mm film as popular :D), mainly because of economic reasons. In fact, I wouldn't know about APS film if not for the Canon ELPH LT I got from my Dad. It is a toy-like Point-n-Shoot (PnS) camera using APS film, very small size
  • Non-zoom lens of 35mm field of view
  • Fixed focus (no autofocus or manual focus)
  • Program meter (no Aperture/Shutter priority or Manual)
So, you will literally point and shoot. Simple as that!


Enough words, here are some pictures I got from a roll of Fujifilm Nexia 400 (25 exposures) on this camera. Even the person in Grace photo lab was surprised to see the film and told me that they haven't developed APS film for a long time.

Clouds

Kite

Geylang by Night

.

It seems that the 35mm film format has won over crop-frame. Do you think that it will happen again - digitally?
Analox

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

I missed a chance to visit Cameron Highlands five years ago. It could be one of the reasons that I was quite excited for our new-year trip to the land. Cameron Highlands is one of the most extensive hill stations in Malaysia, well-known for its beautiful tea plantation and mossy forests that possess quite a number of natural trails for trekking.

I brought with me just a film camera (Olympus OM1) with 2 lenses (50mm and 28mm), all in one small bag. As the purpose is to go for a relaxing vacation, in the end only one roll of 36 frames was exposed (honestly, I should mention the other 5 frames in the Canon PnS using APS film). I bought a roll of 35mm Kodak ColorPlus 200 (ISO 200) in Vietnam few months ago, without knowing that it is not really a good film (maybe not as good as the Kodak Gold 200). To my eyes, the film is not very sharp and low contrast, plus the colors are not quite saturated. However, coupled it with the misty scenes and cloudy sky we had in Cameron Highlands due to the rainy season this month, this is not a bad combination indeed.

Tea Plantation: the green carpet.
Since no one worked on the New Year holidays, the place rested in its tranquil state.

Tea Plantation

BOH Tea Plantation

BOH Tea Plantation

BOH Tea Plantation

Mossy Forest: there was a small rain when we entered the forest. The extreme moisture condition prevented us from taking photos (one should bring the PnS camera in this case). Got wet and mud all over.

Mossy Forest

Mossy Forest

Through the car's window

Mount Brinchang: highest peak of the highland, blanketed in a cloud of cool mist. After climbing some staircases here, we were at 6666ft above the sea level. Again, no pic was taken due to the extreme condition that only iPhone's camera can be used :D

Mount Brinchang

Cabbage Farm: we actually came here to witness the sunrise. However, the weather was not on our side. Instead of the usual colorful scene, we saw the transition from dark gray to light gray. Quite happy with the misty and peaceful scene though.

Cabbage Farm

Cabbage Farm

Vegetables Farm (Cameron apple): there are many farms here, from vegetables to flowers (rose, chrysanthemum) and strawberry farms.

Admiré @ Cameron Highlands

Chrysanthemum Farm

Farms @ Cameron Highlands

Admiré @ Cameron Highlands

Strawberry Farm

Admiré @ Cameron Highlands

"Was it an enjoyable trip?" - "Yes, it was!!!"
"Will you plan to come back?" - "Hmm, may be, for the cold weather. But as long as we can avoid 9 or 10 hours on bus from the highland back to Singapore :D"
Analox