Overcast/Soft light, 35mm handheld

[Juan Valdenebro]

Happy 2020 for everyone!
Here you have the last two questions I'll place in this thread: just like the thread was conceived from the beginning, these two questions complete what a street photographer think of, at least in my case and the way I was taught... Having a broader range of aspects in a single thread, but all of them related to a single format and a single type of photography and light, our opinions require more precision than those opinions on ultrasingle subject threads where most answers are right and wrong depending on too many different situations... I wouldn't be here if I thought there's nothing for me to learn, so thank you for your opinions... They're all important to me.
Question4. What gear (cameras, lenses) do you carry these days when you want to be able to act quickly while doing street photography? And a lot more important, why that/those camera(s) / lens(es) instead of others?
Question5. What films and developers do you use with that equipment, and why those precisely, instead of others?
Thank you very much.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

My answers:
Question1. Official manufacturers' recommendation for higher acutance, both for their standard fine grain developer and for their speed enhancing developer (ID-11 & Microphen) in the old FP4 Ilford booklet: "...to obtain the improvement in acutance the recommended agitation/inversion: agitation for the first ten seconds of development, and inversion once a minute for the remaining development time should be followed closely."
True... I find it real and repeatable with most films and developers.
Question2. Can that be useful for soft light, or just for high contrast?
I've used it for soft light too, and it helps too... Very useful for pushing...
What I stopped doing, is using Microphen as an everyday developer... Not the best option for well exposed film... Not even the best option for mild pushing...
Question3. How do you handle a sudden direct sunlight scene inside a soft light roll?
In general I prefer not to photograph under direct sunlight... When I do it, I do it inside a well exposed roll only (between box speed and half box speed), and in that case I trust a bit in film's latitude and give the shot half a stop more light to fill the shadows, and just don't care too much about that for the highlights... Light grays and whites are in place anyway...
Question4, Gear for street?
An R4M with a Leitz 35 stopped down inside my pants' pocket. Why that camera? All manual speeds up to 1/2000th, back door, I like it a lot more than the M2, I love using my 35 with its clean lines for 28: those make me stay a bit closer instead of constant empty negative borders when using the (too often!) conservative lines for 35. That's what I use for most of my photography, with great DOF for fast street shooting use. Why that lens? Very small, and others aren't better when equally stopped down, and this one has zero distortion.
Two other small RFs inside a very small bag. A T (external 1:1 finder) with the original 50 1.5 Sonnar, for the opposite work: selective focus... The T is very light and has the highest magnification RF for f/1.5 - f/2 use... The lens (being a RF Sonnar) was optimized for close focus at my request... The lens is light and small for what it offers... Registering skin often, it has a permanent 022 B+W yellow filter on... Inside my other pants' pocket, a B+W 3-stop ND for opening the lens in common overcast, and a B+W 6-stop ND for the same use under direct sunlight... The other camera inside the bag is an ultralight one with a wonderful 35 f/2 lens, and possibly the most interesting camera design ever, the Konica Hexar AF... I use my R4M for direct sun and seven stops of light below that... And then if I need slower than 1/60th, I switch to the Konica: it was designed by Leica users and lovers for fast shooting in low light, a lot faster than working with a manual focus lens. One camera/one lens forever? No... That's just for learning what a lens can do... When you've done it for many years, you can give good use to more than one lens...
Question5. What films and developers for that gear?
For stopping down the 35, HP5 & Tri-X, dilute ID-11, I like sharp grain. For background defocusing with the 50, FP4+, and dilute ID-11 again. For low light with the Konica, HP5 & Tri-X but 2 stops above my normal EI use for them in the R4M, now with Microphen...
What about you street photographers?