400Iso.com
Title
400iso.com - Rangefinder photography
Description
Excerpted from the website:
- Passion for photography came very late to me. It synched up with the arrival of my baby girl, Manon, for whom I wanted to capture sweet moment of her early childhood. As a kid, I was always fascinated by the hundred of pictures my parents took and I always cherished all the hours I spent looking at them. I wanted to offer the same kind of memory to my little girl. I learned the basics with a digital (Canon G2) and while I was able to achieve very acceptable results,I wanted to move to something with more manual control. The Digital revolution was already engaged but the price of the Digital SLR were more than what I wanted to spend so I ended up with a nice Elan 7E with 50mm and 85mm lenses. My goal was to be able to capture picture with any light condition hence my choice for large aperture fix focal lenses. Looking back, this was the best decision (versus a zoom) as it really taught me to think more before shooting and to move around my subject. I was shooting mainly Fuji Reala 100 and Ilford XP2 at the time and was developing the film at the local walgreens. As I became more comfortable with the camera, I’ve moved to better developing technique and was sending my films to A&I (pro lab in Los Angeles). I was extremely please with the result but the turn around of almost 10 days was driving me crazy. In late 2003, I wanted to understand the whole ‘Leica concept’. I’ve always thought of these camera as the Hermes bag of photography for snobbish people with too much money to spend. So I rented a M6 at my local store with a 50mm Summicron. As soon as I laid my hand on it, I knew there was no turning back. The feel of the camera was something I had never experienced before. An exquisite tool which feel just right and solid. The viewfinder was the second shock. So clear compare to my Canon and I could see beyond the frame !! I could actually observe the world and wait for the right moment for all the elements to come in place. Wow. Such an eye opening experience. I can’t say that the quality of the lens was better than my Canon Lenses but I was not expecting better result. It was not about the results but about the experience. I was hooked. I bought my first Leica from a local fellow photo.net member in early 2004 with a 50mm summicron and brought it with me everywhere. It was so much more convenient than my Elan 7e. Much smaller ! With a baby, it’s the perfect small kit. Then I became interested in other Rangefinder, mainly Bessa R2 but couldn’t really enjoy using them as their craftsmanship was so much lower than Leica. I bought my second Leica M3 from the same local fellow photo.net member in 2005 as I wanted to experience a high magnified viewfinder. I’m not disappointed one bit even if I had some trouble getting use to this non-meterted camera (currently using a VC II meter on the hot shoe). I’m also using a Canonet QL17 and a Bessa L with a VC 15mm (perfect kit for wide angle fun). I don’t shoot color anymore as I can’t get good result from any local lab and the turn around time from A&I is just too much for me. I began developing my own black and white in my kitchen about 1 year ago and I scan my negatives with a Epson Perfection scanner (which is acceptable for now) I shoot primarily Neopan 400 and Kodak Tri-X. I develop in Rodinal and HC-110. Why 400iso.com ?
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English
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