Another lurker from Southern Ontario

[Martytoof]

Hi everyone!

I've been dabbling in photography for the past five or so years. I started off digitally and then added a Mamiya 645 to the mix along with a few Pentax ME cameras. I eventually sold the Mamiya to concentrate on my Digital shooting so the film cameras sat on my shelf, unused. Lately, however, I felt the urge to go back to film. I realized that I love the entire process of film, from the moment I pop the plastic container to load the film to the moment where I pull the wet negatives out of the tank to see my (hopefully) exposed shots. Compounding the desire to go back to film was my latest outing with my D200, which was a photo walk around Toronto. I really felt the weight of the gripped D200 and 24-70 2.8 and it felt like a brick in my hands. I decided the cheapest way for me to remedy this AND get back to shooting film was to pick up a small, lightweight rangefinder. To that end I bought a few Russian Leica knockoffs and settled down with my new favourite: the Zorki 6.

I have nothing against digital. I plan to buy a small NEX-5N at some point to augment the Zorki, but there's nothing quite like shooting a film camera using only your wits and Sunny/16 to make you feel like the image you capture is truly YOURS

Also just picked up a bulk loader and 100' of kentmere 400 from freestyle. Can't wait to be make a few 10 shot rolls so I can focus less on blowing through a whole roll of 36 images before I can adjust what ISO I push to.

Anyway, hope to be around for a while. Definitely looking forward to reading up on other people's workflows

 

[clogz]

Welcome to Apug!

 

[Jeff Kubach]

Hello and a warm welcome to APUG. Within tme you gonna love film!

Jeff

 

[cowanw]

Welcome to film, in Steeltown (or what's left of it).

 

[fotch]

Hello and welcome to APUG.

 

[heterolysis]

A third Hamiltonian here.

I bought Kentmere 100 this summer and have had some trouble with the speed of the film. Good luck nailing down the 400!

 

[Martytoof]

Thanks everyone!

My experience in film is mostly with AP400 and HP5+ in both 35mm and 120, but for some reason when I put in my order with Freestyle this time I decided to be cheap and only spend $35 on film instead of $45. The Kentmere 400 looked pretty decent and somewhat similar to HP5+ characteristically so I'm hoping it's not too far off what I'm used to.

I figure if worst comes to worst I'll relegate it to "practice" film and buy a roll of Arista Premium 400. I've got a bunch of 35mm cameras that I still have to test light seals and lenses on, so one way or another this film will get used

As for Hamilton, I'm a little disappointed in that it doesn't seem to be a very photogenic city. There's a few nice spots, but for the most part it's either cookie-cutter suburbs, run-down downtown, or waterfalls. I'm not much of a run-down downtown shooter since (to be blunt) Toronto offers more interesting sights in all respects, and I kind of feel like if you've seen one photo of a waterfall you've seen them all. I tend to make all my photo outings in Toronto since it's much easier to get a variety of subjects and settings within walking distance. I'm primarily a street shooter so this factors in in a big way

 

[Martytoof]

Film also offers someone who loves to fiddle with gadgets a lot of leeway for DIY projects. Right now I'm building a DIY film-drying cabinet to keep the dust down on my negs, as well as a light table for absolutely no reason other than I can

 

[rjhelms]

Welcome from another Ontarian! I'm floored by how many Canadians there are here.

I shoot a lot with Kentmere 400: it and Kentmere 100 are the only B&W films I can reliably get in Peterborough, so if I run out and am waiting on an online order I'll pick up a few rolls. I've been able to push it to EI 1600 no problem. I've done it at 3200, but it gets very grainy very quickly and my gut feeling is that it never actually gets that fast. (At least in ID-11, which is the only developer I've tried it in thus far.)

EI 800:



EI 1600:



And this is EI 3200:



Welcome to APUG, this is a great community with tons of good people and good information.