"film photography"

Finally uploaded the images, all taken with the trusty Olympus XA, around Wolsingham in County Durham, in occasion of the welcome visit from Mike and Sara.

As usual, the images are copyrighted and all rights reserved. Visit www.istockphoto.com/marcoventuriniautieri for purchase.

I have updated the Durham in B&W gallery and created a brand-new ass-kicking The windows of Durham photo gallery. Enjoy!

Southampton, shot with the Nikkor 35-135 AF - All rights reserved - (C) Marco Venturini Autieri 2010 - also available on iStock

Having just received my second Contax 139 (to replace my beloved original one that I got when I was 16), I reckon this is the right time to summarise my photographic equipment.

I am not a collector. I own cameras and lenses because I use them, with the only exception of the first in the list below:

• Zenit 12XP with the screw-mount Helios 58/2: I still keep it because it was my first serious camera (I was 14), and I shot many pictures with it. My father, of course, would always pay for the development and print, without objecting to their inherent non-art.
• Contax 139 Quartz: two bodies, since the first one is almost dead for the lens-hit-with-the-mirror syndrome.
• Carl Zeiss Contax/Yashica Sonnar 135/2.8: mechanically, I love it, it’s a jewel. Optically, it is good, which is a disappointment, because with such a name, a lens should be excellent. I often think of selling it.
• I used to own a Carl Zeiss Contax/Yashica Planar 50/1.7, but my aforementioned father damaged it while trying to un-mount it from my 139 as if it were a Nikkor lens, so I sold it.
• Carl Zeiss Contax/Yashica Tessar 45/2.8: just lovely, optically excellent and compact. Probably in conbination with the 139 is the most compact SLR solution ever.
• Tamron SP 90/2.5 Adaptall macro 1:2: I can use this on my Fuji S3 as well as on my Contax and Nikon. Supersharp and contrasty, I could easily live with this one and sell the Sonnar.
• Olympus XA: could well be my only camera need, but the lens vignettes too much (at all apertures). Fantastic otherwise. I have pictures shot with it accepted into iStock Vetta and Alamy!
• Nikon FM2n: I never doubt it will work. I bought it after watching Blowup (yes, I know the camera in the movie is not the same) and I mostly use it today with the Ilford Delta 3200.
• Nikkor AF-D 50/1.4: optically fantastic from f/2, but flimsy and ugly plastic otherwise. I also had an AI 50/1.4 but, unwisely, I sold it.
• I had a Nikkor AF 35-135 3.5-4.5  zoom (see pic in the post), that I soon sold because it was really, really bad, optically.
• Wide-angles: a fantastic Nikkor AI UD 20/3.5 that today replaces the wide-angle lenses I owned in the past, all sold: a Vivitar 24/2.8 screw-mount, a Nikkor AI 24/2.8, a Tamron SP 17/3.5
• Nikkor AF-S 24-120 VR: optically bad, my first experiment in terms of VR, that works great.
• Bronica SQ-A, with a Zenzanon PS 80/2.8 (great!) and a Zenzanon PS 150/4 (great!). I bought it to replace my Mamiya C220 with 80/2.8 that was fantastic but, unfortunately, defective.
• Fuji S3: my only digital camera. Great sensor (great dynamic range and great colours, bad resolution), very slow, small and dim viewfinder, heavy and bulky.

It’s time for another camera bag.

There are many ways to look at Durham

There aren’t many things to see in Durham, but those few things are keen on being watched and watched again.

I updated some of my photo galleries (People in the picture and Graham Sports Centre).

The picture above was shot on Ektar 100 with an Olympus XA.

Grazie a Marco Raco per la visita, e per avermi fatto notare questo bella scenetta!

One of the easiest things to do with a Twin Lens Reflex (”biottica”) is looking down (in the viewfinder) and high (with the lens). I did the same, a few years ago, in Canary Wharf.

It often happen today that, instead of choosing digital imagery for what it has good to offer – that is cleanliness -, “filters” to add digital film grain are popular. I, for once, believe that shooting with an Ilford Delta 3200 not only is great fun, but also yields great results in terms of tones and (if the scanner is a good scanner, like the Coolscan, capable of rendering a nice fine grain) nice and real grain.

Just like the example above (an air vent shot in the beautiful Bow Lane in Durham), I have several other pretty examples of images shot in B&W film on iStock, here.

Durham is one of those towns that work better in Black and White.

Some time ago I proposed it would not be difficult to improve on the quality of the current photos of Durham found on the web.

I photographed the Cathedral and… well, what would the Cathedral be without the potent lighting equipment that surrounds it?

Here it is.

Bronica SQ-A

Fuji S3

By the way, my iStock  collection of Durham pictures is growing.

If you live in New Eltham… well, first, you should not live there and, anyway, if you do, you would be not reading my post, because you’d be wasting your time commuting. Anyway, if you really happen to live there, you should definitely look around and see that, just a couple of miles away, Chislehurst High Street is much nicer to walk around.

A few shots taken during the same day (as I said, if you happen to live there, you don’t have much more than one day free) with the Bronica SQ-A.

Grainy images bring the memory backwards – as if grainy films were only something from the past: they are not, and indeed Ilford Delta 3200 is all but vintage – and past celebrations, Christmas on top of the list, bring memories up too (unless it’s Christmas now, that is).

A nice grain scanned in a bad scanner results in a fuzzy mess. The Coolscan makes justice of grain.

Grainywise, another scan of mine from Delta has been just accepted into the Vetta collection!