Tag Archives: Ilford FP4+

CCR Review 63 – Ricoh 500 G

May 16, 2017Classic Camera Revivalbelieveinfilm, camera, CCR, classic camera revival, filmisalive, filmisnotdead, FP4Party, gear, Honeymoon, ilford, Ilford FP4+, New York, new york city, nyc, review, Ricoh, Ricoh 500 G, Rikenon, SPUR HRXAlex

I have and always will have a soft spot for compact fixed lens rangefinders since my first camera was one such camera. The Minolta Hi-Matic 7s. But the Ricoh 500 G is not a Hi-Matic, released at the end of the craze of that style of camera; it is an underdog for its time going up against the cult classic Canon QL17 GIII. And while the 500 G does not share the same spotlight at its Canon counterpart, the 500 G is a strong camera that fills the role of compact rangefinder that packs a punch but won’t break the bank. Special thanks to Mike Bitaxi for loaning this beauty out.

The Dirt

Make: Ricoh
Model: 500 G
Type: Rangefinder
Format: 135 (35mm), 36×24
Len: Fixed, Rikenon Lens f=40mm 1:2.8
Year of Manufacture: 1972

The Good
If you’re into compact rangefinders, this camera is certainly worth a second glance. This camera is small; I mean tiny. Easily fits in your pocket but I wouldn’t recommend it. When it comes to using the camera, it’s a natural fit for anyone with any experience with Minolta, Olympus, or Canon cameras of the same style. Good layout, short throw on the film advance, and an aperture priority meter to boot. But you don’t need to power this camera to get it to work and runs well as a mechanical camera, but I would still stick to aperture priority, set your aperture and run the shutter speed around it. I’ll go into that more in the next section. Optically the camera stands well on its own with the Rikenon Lens pulling off sharp images that suit the focal length perfectly. Add to this the compact size of the camera you have very little in the way of parallax error when composing your images, out of my whole roll shot I only missed the composition on one image and it was out of focus also so it was not a big deal.

The Bad
The main issue I had with this camera is that all the controls along the lens barrel are too close together! The aperture control is narrow and tight to the body, and you need two hands to control it. The shutter speed dial is a little better but feels too much like the focus control with the extra grips. The focusing is smooth, but again you’d think it was the shutter speed control at first as it lacks the usual grip pieces. As an automatic aperture priority camera, it wouldn’t be so bad, but I did not have the proper battery for the camera, so I was running it full manual, as you guessed it the camera uses a mercury cell to operate. And finally, there’s the issue of light seals. The entire back door of the camera is one big light seal, every square centimeter of it is covered. Thankfully it’s easy to replace with craft foam, but it makes for a very messy job.

The Lowdown
If you’re looking for a camera to work as a compact low-profile street photography camera but don’t want to spend the cash on a camera give the 500 G a solid look. If you find one in good condition, you’ll be laughing. While I’m one to stick with cult cameras, it seems odd that this camera didn’t acquire one. It’s a real sleeper like the Minolta Hi-Matics, and they often don’t command a higher price like Canon or Olympus but quickly give you the same performance of the well known shooters.

All Photos taken in New York, New York
Ricoh 500 G – Rikenon Lens f=40mm 1:2.8 – Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 – SPUR HRX (1+20) 9:30 @ 20C

Toronto Film Shooters Meetup – Winter ’17

March 1, 2017Photographyamsterdam brewhouse, believeinfilm, Bergger BRF400+, Canada, Contax IIIa, facebook, film photography, filmisalive, filmisnotdead, Ilford FP4+, lake ontario, lakeshore, Nikon F2, ontario, queen's quey, TFS, tfsm, Toronto, Toronto Film Shooters, toronto film shooters meetup, WinterAlex

I never thought that this little idea of mine would catch on. I never believe that my little social ideas would go over. And yet they usually do in some form or another. For example, the Toronto Film Shooters Meetup, now starting on its the fourth year. TFSM, a quarterly gathering of photographers in the Southern Ontario region who loves to shoot traditional film based cameras is an idea I floated back in 2013. I was still an active member of the Analog Photography User Group (APUG), and in the Toronto Sub-Forum, someone was complaining that there was not enough photo walks in the Greater Toronto Region specifically for film photographers.

Zeiss Ikon Contax IIIa – Zeiss Opton Sonnar 1:1,5 f=50mm – Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 – SPUR HRX (1+20) 9:30 @ 20C

So I, a young, mid-twenty some-odd kid, piped up. I’ll organize a quarterly photo walk one for each season. So on a bright summer day in 2013, I launched the Toronto Film Shooters Meetup or TFSM. It’s had varied success over the four years; there was even an event where I was the only one in attendance. The winter ones are usually the least attended walks mostly because the weather can be rather terrible, or just plain cold. But the walk a couple of weeks back it was a bit gray, but the weather was okay.

Zeiss Ikon Contax IIIa – Zeiss Opton Sonnar 1:1,5 f=50mm – Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 – SPUR HRX (1+20) 9:30 @ 20C

The six brave souls who attended took in an icy view along Toronto’s lakeshore, which during the summer is fairly active, but not so much in the winter. And yet there was still lots to photograph along the way. Earlier in the day, I had taken my Contax IIIa through the downtown core to give the beauty of a camera a bit of a workout. A stop at Downtown Camera to stock up one some film, and even got my hands on a box of RPX400 in 4×5.

Nikon F2 Photomic – AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 – Bergger BRF400+ @ ASA-400 – Kodak HC-110 Dil. B 7:00 @ 20C

I’m surprised as for how well all my photos came out. Usually, I don’t post much in the way of volume from these meets. But making a choice to bring only two cameras and only actively shooting one at any given time probably helped. And I was using several new-to-me items this time around. The Nikon F2 was loaded up with Bergger BRF 400+ and an AI-S 35mm lens, while the Contax IIIa had an old favourite FP4+ but this time around I developed with SPUR HRX, a new developer that I got introduced to by Mike.

Nikon F2 Photomic – AI-S Nikkor 35mm 1:2.8 – Bergger BRF400+ @ ASA-400 – Kodak HC-110 Dil. B 7:00 @ 20C

If you’re in the Toronto area or even beyond, we have regular attendees from Peterborough, feel free to join us on Facebook to hear about all the madness that is the Toronto Film Shooters group!

SPUR of the Moment

February 15, 2017Photographybelieveinfilm, buildings, Canada, city, Contax IIIa, downtown, filmisalive, filmisnotdead, ilford, Ilford FP4+, ontario, random, SPUR, SPUR HRX, street, TFS, tfsm, Toronto, Toronto Film Shooters, toronto film shooters meetup, urban, Winter, Zeiss Ikon, Zeiss-OptonAlex

There are plenty of developers out there that I have yet to try, some because they just aren’t made anymore and others because I just cannot get them in Canada. Plus I can be a creature of habit and stick to what I know and can get the results I want. So when a fellow photographer and CCR co-host Mike Bitaxi, started talking about this new developer he was working with my interest oddly enough grabbed especially after seeing the results.

The developer in question is SPUR HRX. SPUR, or Speed Photography, Ultra Resolution, is a company out of Germany that I had never heard of before. HRX, despite the name, is the latest developer in the HRX line, the predecessor being HRX-3, and is designed to deliver fine grain and sharpness. To me, that sounds a lot like Pyro based developers like my favorite Pyrocat-HD.

There is one catch to this developer, it comes in two parts, but you don’t mix it like you would Pyrocat HD because unlike Pyro developers there is just a single dilution ratio for developing. That’s right; you have to do a lot more math with it. But let’s break it down using a natural dilution. For Ilford FP4+ at ASA/ISO-100, you use a 1:20 dilution, so when using 500mL of developer you need 24mL of developer and 476mL of water. Taking that 24mL of developer and divide in half so 12mL of Part A and 12mL of Part B. It’s when you start getting into prime numbers like 1:17 that you’re going to run into trouble. But a plastic syringe with .5mL markings will make your life easier.

What you get from the developer is a classic black and white image, good blacks and whites and beautiful wide mid-tones. While the pictures are sharp, the grain is nicely reduced making the film easily scannable. Now I used a film that already has a pleasing grain structure and is relatively fine-grained by its nature. Does the developer behave like Pyro? I’m not sure of that yet; I have several boxes of 4×5 film to pit head-to-head using HRX and Pyrocat-HD for a later post. But for now, I’m enjoying HRX. If you want to give the developer a try, you can pick it up from either Argentix.ca (not at the moment) or Freestyle Photographic!

All Photos Taken in Toronto, Ontario Canada
Zeiss Ikon Contax IIIa – Zeiss Opton Sonnar 1:1,5 f=50mm – Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-100 – Spur HRX (1+20) 9:30 @ 20C

CCR Review 30 – Olympus Stylus Epic DLX

February 3, 2016Classic Camera RevivalBalaclava, Bancroft, believeinfilm, blazinal, Burleigh Falls, camera, Canada, CCR, Central Ontario, classic camera revival, Epic, filmisalive, filmisnotdead, gear, Highway 28, ilford, Ilford FP4+, mju-II, Olympus, Olympus Stylus Epic DLX, ontario, review, stylusAlex

It’s yet another winner from the wonderful folks at Olympus! This is probably my favourite modern point & shoot camera, no fuss, no muss. If I want to just go out and shoot and not have to worry about carrying bags of additional gear, or at a wedding when you don’t want to pull out the SLR and don’t want to fiddle with an XA. Small, compact, with amazing results.

The Dirt
Make: Olympus
Model: Stylus Epic DLX (µ[mju:]-II)
Type: Point and Shoot
Format: 35mm, 35x24mm
Lens: Fixed, Olympus Lens 35mm 1:2.8
Year of Manufacture: 1997

The Good
Probably the best part about this camera is the size, it’s small, sleek and fits in almost every pocket, simple to operate, just slide the plate open and you’re ready to shoot! And shoot you can, this has a fixed 35mm lens and at f/2.8 wide open it works great even without flash in low light. And the lens is sharp, while not branded with the traditional Zuiko that many Olympus cameras have it certainly stands up to the Olympus tradition of great optics. And these cameras are cheap and plentiful! And you don’t need to go with the Stylus Epic (DLX) to get great results even an original Stylus stands out as a fantastic camera that is basically the same camera. Also of note the camera is known as the mju-II which was sold in the Japanese market.

The Bad
So there are a couple of bad points on the camera, the first is the flash, it’s always on, you can turn it off. But as soon as you turn off the camera and turn it back on you have to again turn off the flash. Which isn’t a bad thing but it is a minor annoyance. The second point is the battery, the CR123 isn’t exactly the cheapest battery out there, but it can be a bit hard to find outside of a camera store or a dedicated electronics/battery shop, and certainly not in the middle of nowhere. That said the camera is pretty good on batteries and you can’t accidentally turn it on in your pocket or bag.

The Lowdown
This camera really isn’t for everyone, but for those who love to shoot Olympus and want a camera that will give good results with minimal involvement from you, then this would be a solid choice. Or for a film photographer who wants to keep a low profile at a party or wedding and still shoot with film. They’re cheap, they’re plentiful and there’s a good chance you can even find one in your local thrift store!

All photos taken through Central Ontario including Balaclava, Bancroft, and Burleigh Falls
Olympus Stylus Epic DLX – Olympus Lens 35mm 1:2.8 – Ilford FP4+ @ ASA-125 – Blazinal (1+25) 9:00 @ 20C

alex luyckx | blog

Explorer, Photographer, Wanderer

Tag Archives: Ilford FP4+

CCR Review 63 – Ricoh 500 G

Toronto Film Shooters Meetup – Winter ’17

SPUR of the Moment

CCR Review 30 – Olympus Stylus Epic DLX