Leica is a funny camera brand. For many reasons. But one of the reasons is the company’s vehement refusal to make significant changes to their products in any conventional amount of time. Often, no matter how much people complain or demand change, Leica model after Leica model remain nearly identical to the previous, sporting only […]
Read more "Leica and the Big Shutter Speed Dial Reversal"If you’re okay with giving inconceivable amounts and forms of personal information to Big Data, you may as well use your smart voice assistant to help you process your film too! And while there are no consumer AI’s that have hands yet, they are still willing to help film photographers the best that they can. […]
Read more "“Alexa, Process My Film!”"It’s what we call a photograph that appears to be made with little consideration for the tenants of imaging and principles of design. Voigtländer has a lens named after it. It’s usually proceeded by the word “quick.” What is really meant when we call something a “snapshot?” I started thinking about this because, when I […]
Read more "What is a Snapshot?"I touched on this topic a little bit in a previous blog about hoods for various LTM lenses entitled Throwing Shade, but I wanted to drill down on lens hood options for the Leitz 50mm f2 Summitar. As previously stated, I think that earlier Leitz lenses require a hood in many circumstances to perform their […]
Read more "Lens Hoods for the Leica Summitar"If your New Year’s resolution is to start processing your own b&w film at home, or you’re just interested in comparing notes, I thought it would be handy for me to share my darkroom grocery list. Disclaimer – I am not a chemist! I’m just a photographer who has found some products and methods that […]
Read more "Johnny Martyr’s B&W Darkroom Grocery List"It bears repeating: International Center of Photography shooter James Mignogna once told me that a good photographer matches their light, lens, film and developer. Nowhere do I think these decisions are more critical than portraits in dim lighting. That was the intro I used in my previous entry: Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits […]
Read more "Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits – EI 3200 ISO"You’ve probably heard by now that Fuji have discontinued what was for many shooters, their go-to, general purpose color film, Pro 400H. For anyone who’s been shooting film for more than a few years, we know this rodeo all to well. Fuji or Kodak announce a discontinuation (notice that Ilford never does). The bloggers pick […]
Read more "On Fuji Pro 400H and Any Discontinued Stock"International Center of Photography shooter James Mignogna once told me that a good photographer matches their light, lens, film and developer. Nowhere do I think these decisions are more critical than portraits in dim lighting. With all of us spending so much time at home lately, I have gotten a number of emails asking for […]
Read more "Rating + Processing for Available Light Portraits – EI 1600 ISO"If you currently own or are interesting in buying a Nikon FM2n, you’ll want to know about the three common issues that I’ve found with these cameras. As previously noted, I’m a big fan of the Nikon FM2n. I’ve owned five and have whittled down to just two black FM2n’s. I’ve been shooting on them […]
Read more "Three Common Issues with the Nikon FM2n"*photos and text depict July 2019 There they were, a continuous, almost organized line of middle-aged men in various stages of unfolding tripods, mounting massive DSLR’s on them, carefully aiming long lenses at indeterminate points in the darkening late evening sky. The LCD’s lit their faces with a soft glow as they took test shots […]
Read more "Photographing Fireworks with a 90 Year Old Leica"
Johnny Martyr 