Kodachrome 25 and the Lakes District

[dspeltz]

Starting this coming weekend I am photographing the Lakes District in England with my freezer full of Kodachrome 25 and my XPan. It is a walking project for about a week with a small tripod, my backpack, three XPan lenses and 20 rolls of K25. It may be a few weeks before I post the images, but I have been looking forward to this trip and shooting "analog" for more than a year. Stay tuned.

David Speltz
Portsmouth, NH USA

 

[dspeltz]

K64 vs K25, bracketing, your thoughts are needed

I ran 10 rolls of Kodachrome through my XPan the last few weeks to reacquaint myself with the film. The K25 was gorgeous. The K64 very good but the K25 is clearly a wonderful film. However, as I head to the UK today with my hiking shoes and with 30 rolls of K25, I reached the conclusion I am going to have to bracket. The film never really handled contrast as well as some digital sensors can and it shows in the results.

I don't have the time to run tests again. For those who bracket with the XPan, with transparency film, are you using 1/2 or a full stop of bracketing?

I also noticed that with my 30mm lens (density filter being used), it is more difficult to get it spot on than with the longer lenses.

Thoughts are welcome.

 

[polypal]

It is not the camera but the film that commands the interval with bracketing.
Knowing Kodachrome I would absolutely choose 1/2 stops.


Paul

 

[dspeltz]

Kodachrome Lakes project

14 rolls of Kodachrome 25 shot in pan mode on the Xpan last week as I walked 56 miles up hill and dale in overcast, cloudy and cool weather in the UK Lakes District. Of 8 days hiking with three lenses and the body in my back pack (and tripod) we had maybe 3 hours of sun. I have no idea what to expect in such flat light, but all have been sent to Dwayne's for processing. Guess I will have to return to see what the place looks like with the sun out.

 

[dspeltz]

Walking the fells with XPan, waiting for Dwayne's to return K25

Walking the fells with the XPan and Kodachrome 25. One of the few sunny hours.

 

[simonpg]

Dspeltz,
It's great to see a passionate XPan user at work!

I've just returned form our Australian outback in areas around the New South Wales and Queensland border - travelled 3,000kms.

Using a DSLR for the "need to take" travelogue shots as well as testing exposures before making the serious shots on the XPan and 503CW, I found it hard to let go of the XPan each time it was in my hands.

I shot Sensia 100 and Velvia 100F and expect to get the slides back in a day or 2.

When I bracket on the XPan (always with positive film), I use 1/2 stop too as Paul suggested. The exposure latitude of any positive film demands 1/2 a stop IMHO.

By the way as you may have found, taking exposure readings in panorama does demand some "studying of the scene and the varying light levels in it. But I have found by doing "samples" with the camera meter before I expose a frame, it has become second nature to find the best exposure reading and lock it before firing the shutter. I'm now rarely getting disappointed.

But I bet the 30mm requires even more learning!

I hope to post some images next week.

 

[dspeltz]

Hasselblad Club?

I spent time on my first scan yesterday (I use an Imacon) and the results are good. I needed to play with the vast sky area to deal with falloff from using the 30mm lens (in spite of the density filter). But not impossible, for sure.

I have about 70 images to scan (210/3 due to bracketing). It will be an interesting project.

Anyhow, what is the Hasselblad Club annotation under your name?

David

 

[simonpg]

Good luck David, you've a lot of work ahead of you, which will no doubt be worth every minute!

The annotation is to do with membership through this site, which Paul will no doubt explain. Certainly a buzz for me.

 

[polypal]

Hello David,

Hasselblad club under the name of a user means he or she supports this forum and receives extra facilities amongst which a larger upload capacity.
For club members the upload capacity is 1200x1200 pixels or 585 KB whatever comes first.

Membership is 25 euro p.a.

It helps the forum to cover costs for servers and other expenditure.
Member or not a member does not mean your posts are valued differently.
Other than upload and some other perks I do not remember right now there is no difference.

Want to know more? Just click Hasselblad club in the top blue bar.

Paul

 

[dspeltz]

Images posted

I have posted 10 Kodachrome 25 images using my XPan in the Landscape section of the forum.