Category: Photography

The Nikon N80QD arrived at 11:50 this morning. I ordered a camera listed as “used” in Adorama’s inventory. I ordered the one with the best rating that I could find (a rating of “D” for demo). Even with the device being of “demo” grade, I was expecting to see some signs that it had been touched before, but I had difficulty finding any. The camera came in its original box, in its plastic bag, complete with undisturbed silica gel packets. The only sign of the camera being used at all was the removed proof of purchase UPC on the side of the box. Also, the manual was missing, which isn’t shocking, since it is worth a lot more away from the camera than it is with the camera.

My 35mm film SLR shipped from Adorama this afternoon, after a 24 hour delay (which has yet to be explained). I have decided to spend a little time today reading the manual for it. So far what I have noticed is that I am sending myself to a simpler time photographically. The Nikon N80QD is very similar to the Nikon D90’s direct predecessor the Nikon D80, but there are things that are obviously very different. The biggest thing I have noticed from reading the manual is that the highly customizable menus that exist on the D80 and D90 are present on the N80, with many of the same options (or their film equivalent), except for a major difference. Where I have been used to working with a full color menu with help options and a variety of other little conveniences, on the N80 I will have the menu options guide from the manual and the option to select 1 or 0 for each of the numbered options in the menu (just numbers, no names). When I first got the D90 I asked why the menus had numbers, since the D60’s menus do not have numbers, I suppose now I have my answer, because in that line of cameras there was an early history of using numbers to identify options instead of names. I suspect it will be a pain in the ass to learn all of the menu options, but I will give it my best shot and hopefully not spend the first few weeks with the camera learning its controls. Other than the main menu, all of the other controls are laid out just like the D80, which again, is nearly identical to the D90.

To get me started on the wonderful world of film photography, I have ordered the following:

 

SKU                  Brand Product                           Qty   Price      Total

-------------------- ---------------------------------------- --- ----------- -----------

DKG16

               Adorama One (1) Pint (500 Ml) Plastic Gr  1    $3.95        $3.95

DKFC4

               Adorama Stainless Steel Film Clips, Pack  1    $5.85        $5.85

CHISBP

              Adorama Indicator Stop Bath for Black &a  1    $4.99        $4.99

KKPF200P

            Kodak Photo-Flo 200 Photographic Wetting  1    $7.95        $7.95 

ILRF500

             Ilford Rapid Fixer 500 Milliliter Bottle  1    $6.95        $6.95

CHFD

                Adorama Film Developer for all Black &am  1    $5.99        $5.99

PAT135

              Paterson 35mm Tank and Reel               1    $25.95       $25.95

FJNP400365

          Fujifilm Neopan 400 Black &amp%3B White   1    $18.75       $18.75

US371316

            Nikon N80 Autofocus W/date Body W/box   D 1    $159.00      $159.00
----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- -----------

Subtotal: $239.38



 
I have assembled this little getting started kit from following the advice from http://chromogenic.net/develop. I hope this works out well. I am a little nervous about having to open a film canister and putting the film on to the reel for developing. I am not good at doing things in the dark. Once the film is in the tank, very little can go wrong, or so I'm told. 

I have decided this morning to make a fairly bold move in my consideration of working with film photography. I have purchased a Nikon N80D, 5 rolls of Fujifilm ISO 400 BW film, an developing tank and an assortment of chemicals required for the developing process (wetting agent, developer, stop bath, fixer). Before this morning it was pretty hypothetical, but I decided (in my sleep deprived state) that the thoughts of not doing it at all were irrational and that if I did that, I would regret it. I do not foresee doing a lot of film photography, but at least if I want to, the option is available to me. Normally my order from Adorama would have been packed today, but due to the Jewish holiday of Purim, the order will not ship until tomorrow morning at the earliest.

I am having buyer’s remorse already, but I think I will get over it once I spend some time with the camera. I will need to practice my dark room techniques as well as maybe spending some time trying to learn how to make impressive photographs with contrast, shadow and light.

A long time ago, I photographed on film. From the time I was 5 until about 2000 I worked exclusively with film, a combination of 110, 35mm and APS. In 2002 I made the transition to digital photography, and then finally in 2008 I moved to Digital SLR. I have seen numerous claims that digital cannot beat the clarity of film, but in recent times I have not done anything to compare to. Out of pure curiosity and perhaps a bit for a challenge, I am considering purchasing a film SLR camera. I have found quite a good deal on a used Nikon N80 from Adorama, and I think it would be worth pursuing. The N80 is fairly close in features to the D80 (the direct predecessor to the D90). I find myself worrying about the concept of developing and printing the film. Would I use a lab? If so, which lab? How hard would it be to transform a bathroom into a dark room? I have a film scanner, so it isn’t as though I would have to always get my images printed, but I would need to be able to develop the film to prevent deterioration. There seem to be only a few reasons to do film again, but yet, a few concerns and reasons to not. I feel like the biggest reason to obtain a film camera is for historical value. It is still common practice in art education programs to still use film to teach photography before digital because it forces the student to be more careful and take a more active role in the art, which is perhaps something that would be beneficial to me. There is also that feeling in the back of my mind like it’s something I should learn how to do, if for no other reason than just simply for the sake of being able to use both types of media.

Maybe it’s just an excuse for another toy, and that’s why I am still undecided.

I am still looking for the perfect camera bag, but I think I have accepted that it simply does not exist. Below is a diagram of what I really would love to have, even though I can’t seem to find it.

A – Laptop compartment (15.4″ capacity)

B – SLR Holster, about 9″ long, SLR+Long Zoom

C – Accessory pocket

D – “Sliplock” or something similar (nylon web straps with plastic buckles will work)

E – Shoulder straps, I want a backpack form factor.

This has been a bad week for me. I have not been actively shooting for project 365 for a variety of reasons, including personal depression, really sucky weather (it’s been gray for like the past 10 days) and academic interferences (exams, etc). As today is Sunday, and therefore a new week, I am getting back on the train for the week and will try to take a single image for each day. For the past week I will use a slightly different rule for the images. To make sure I pick back up and don’t spend time worrying about the missed days I am going to treat the entire week’s images as candidates for each day, therefore, even though I have no representatives of Tuesday, Thursday or Friday I can fill in using things from Wednesday and Saturday. I let myself slip majorly this week and as a result I feel as though I need to push myself harder next week. I do not want to screw up the progression of this project. I enjoy it too much to do that. So, starting today I am going to attempt to challenge myself and do only non-lame photos each day.

This week’s photos will be posted later tonight.

I have been doing pretty well at keeping up with his project so far, but my other project (lets just call it Project B) has fallen a few days behind. As a result, I am in an odd position as far as the way I organize things on Flickr. I have become dependent on the sort images function in Flickr because I sometimes forget to add images to the Project 365 set, until after others have been added. So, as a new rule, any image that is done as a makeup for another day shall be added to the end of the set, and blogged exactly in the order completed (thus, the makeup for Project B’s day 56 will appear after its day 59).

I have been fighting with Day 53’s image for a while today. I had “concerns” about it when I first downloaded it from the camera, but now I am not sure why. Here are the things I have tried (all are versions of 7750 that have been cropped to a left-aligned jock):
Original:

Monochrome Adjusted (Infrared filtered/Max Black):

Decolor Grass (isolating jock as the only color):

Recolor Grass (using color to highlight and not isolate):

Recolor Grass – Balanced and Subdued (Chris’ Suggestion):

So far, when asked, everyone seems to hate the monochrome version and at least partially like the original.