Film Photography Podcast – Episode 129 – July 15, 2015
The internet radio show for people who love to shoot film! Color Infrared Tips! Super 8 Screening! Contax RTS3! Nikon FA! Alan Ross Workshops! Vinyl Records and more!
Listen to this episode now
[podbean type=audio-rectangle resource=”episode=gsmri-5763ca” skin=”1″ auto=”0″ height=100 ]
- Subscribe on iTunes
Link will immediately open iTunes. - Subscribe on Podbean
Link will immediately open PodBean.com. - Download hi-fi podcast
Large file in MP3 format - Download lo-fi podcast
Small file in MP3 format.
Show Notes
Film Photography Podcast – Episode 129 – July 15th, 2015
Show Notes By: Alex Luyckx
It’s the Internet radio show for everyone who loves to shoot film! Joining Michael Raso in studio today is Leslie Lazenby and Mat Marrash! On the table for this show (what show?) are tips for shooting colour infrared film, the Nikon FA and Contax RTS III, Photographic Workshops, and even a special surprise at the end of the show!
Summer is the best time to shoot infrared (IR) film both the Black & White and especially the FPP Infrachrome (picture posted above shot by Michael Raso)! The gang’s been getting a lot of letters about Infrachrome, a colour IR film available in the store (there’s about an 18-12 month stock left so get it now!) and how to best shoot the film. The first thing to know is that you need a non DX reading camera you also need a filter for the lens. What filter? Both Michael and Leslie agree that for best results a Yellow-8 or Yellow-12 filter is needed. Going to Orange or Red you’re getting into overkill territory. What you want to avoid are IR filters for Black & White film (like the Efke or Rollei stocks) those will be numbered R72, 099, 098. And finally the best place to get your infrachrome film developed….The Darkroom.com!
CONTAX RTS3 – Mat’s been showing up with a lot more 35mm gear of late and this show is no different, but today he has a beast of a camera. The Contax RTS III is a 35mm SLR camera released in 1990. This slick camera featured TTL metering, auto, aperture, shutter, and manual exposure modes and takes C/Y (Contax/Yashica) mount lenses. It’s really the lenses that sold Mat on the camera because many C/Y lenses are Carl Zeiss glass, same as what he uses on his Hasselblad. Of course the camera itself weighs about as much as his Hasselblad – it’s a brick according to Leslie. It does have a downside that it sucks through batteries like crazy, taking either six AA batteries or a single 2CR5 lithium. They are a bit harder to find on the used market and if you do find one you will pay premium price. If you do own one of these beautiful cameras and need repair/service you can send it off to Nippon Photo Clinic in New York City.
NIKON FA – Leslie is stepping up the Nikon content on the FPP with this unique little beauty, the Nikon FA. Introduced in 1983 and only having a production run of five years (short for Nikon) stands out as one of their more rare and popular cameras. What really makes this camera special is the metering system, the FA features the first Matrix metering system for Nikon that draws upon a library of different scenes to determine the exposure. The camera can also override your settings, making it, according to Leslie it is impossible to take a poorly exposed image with this camera. The metering system would eventually go on to be upgraded and included in the Nikon F4. But if you don’t like the camera doing most of the thinking for you it can be switched to simple center-weighted. The FA is also a manual focus camera and uses Nikon AI and AI-S lenses (including the autofocus D-Type and Series E Lenses), and was the last Nikon manual focus camera. The camera can also work with the MD-11, 12, and 15 motordrives, and if you’re using the MD-15 the camera will use the drive’s batteries rather than the in-camera battery. Because of this the camera still maintains its value costing close to 300$ on the used market, but worth every penny.
WORKSHOPS! Mat’s been selected for a very special honor. Alan Ross, former assistant to Ansel Adams has been using his knowledge from his time working with Adams and through his own work to teach other photographers through a series of workshops. Including one where to attend you have to send in an essay on why you would benefit from such a workshop. When Mat heard about this he tossed his own hat (or focusing cloth) into the ring, and was selected! So at the end of August Mat will be attending Alan’s workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico! Of course not everyone who enters is selected, but Mat does run one-on-one workshops of his own! Mostly in the Columbus, Ohio area, so if you’re interested you can get more details on Mat’s site or by emailing him at mat@mpex.com!
SUPER 8! That’s it for us until September, but in the mean time you can participate on our FPP forums or Flickr group. If you’re in the Dallas or Austin area in Texas area Michael will be screening his Super 8 horror feature the Basement at the end of July, you can find details on the FPP site. And if you got the itch to shoot Super 8, head over to the Movie Film Page at The FPP On-Line Store!
UPCOMING MEET UP! If you’re in the Ann Arbor area (or can get there) the FPP is hosting a one day meetup this October in the city that gave us the Argus Camera Co! More news soon! As always, we’d love to hear from you – shoot us an email: podcast@filmphotographyproject.com or you can send us a note by the postal service at: Film Photography Project, PO Box 152 Butler, NJ 07405, USA. Closing off the show is one of the latest singles from Ballard Pop! (Darren “Ballard” Riley pictured below!)
Vinyl Record Podcast Pilot! If you thought it was over…stick around for the pilot episode of the yet to be titled Vinyl Record Podcast with Michael Raso and John Fedele! Booya