Portrait Shoots with the Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm 2.8 adapted to Pentax 67

This is a turn up for the books! I haven’t written a single blog for this website in months and in the space of a few hours here I am writing my third!! When I started this blog all those many years ago, I had very little idea what I was doing (still don’t) and no idea who I was writing these blogs for - I just felt that I had something to say and blogging felt like a good medium to say it. All these years later and whilst there is an audience (demonstrated by the numbers of visitors) I think in lots of ways - I write this blog for me. And while I am very grateful that anyone at all might stumble upon it and find it possibly useful or mildly amusing or even in rare moments - inspiring. Even if no one saw these ramblings, I’d still write them. There is very much to be said for writing about something that you are passionate about. BUT. We are not here to elucidate on the vicissitudes brought about through blogging (swallowed a dictionary)?

We ARE here to talk about making space for creativity though - so maybe there’s a link to my thought process??! I wrote a while ago about my initial experience with the wonderfully sublime portrait lens the Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 180mm 2.8 lens that at the beginning of this year I obtained a copy that was adapted to Pentax 67 mount HERE I felt it was high time that I shared some images from a couple of Portrait shoots using this lens along with some rambling thoughts (as if I haven’t shared enough of those already).

The lens balances so well on the Pentax 67 it could easily have been a stock OEM set up! I loved this lens on the ARAX CM and you can read a little more about my experience HERE but it was unwieldy and tricky to focus - no such issues now! Image quality is exceptional! This Sonnar lens comes with a very great reputation which doesn’t always translate into a positive shooting experience in practice (lots of internet myth built up over years - another motive for starting a blog, dispelling that stuff)! I digress… yes a lens with a big reputation… but it delivers on that promise, punchy, contrasty, beautiful details rendered in the areas of focus, with a lovely drop off into smooth and creamy bokeh - yum.

The examples here were taken on different shoots and were developed and scanned by me using Bellini C41 chemistry, Epson V600 & Negative Lab Pro.

The two images above were shot with Fay on expired Portra 400. We’d originally intended an outdoor shoot but then it poured with rain and I wanted to try the P67 / Sonnar so before we went into the studio we used the landing at the top of the stairs to my studio and made the most of the natural light.

The images below are from a shoot with Becca, this time on expired Portra 800 - again on location at the studio but using the derelict Mill at the back of the building.

I really loved shooting with Fay and Becca - both amazing models to work with and we always get some great results! The Pentax 67 and Sonnar combination feels like it was meant to be - absolutely love using it, the results speak for themselves I think!

After spending so much time wrestling with the ARAX CM it’s a relief to shoot the Sonnar on a camera which makes it a much more enjoyable experience, focussing is easy on the bright P67 screen and I’ve already mentioned how well this combination handles.

The Sonnar holds its own alongside the wonderful stock Pentax 67 lenses too and I think it brings a different look and feel to the table, it’s equivalent to 100mm so a nice portrait focal length, the Sonnar remains one of the best Portrait lenses I think I’ve ever used - if you get the opportunity to pick one up whether its on a Kiev 60 / Kiev 88 / ARAX or adapted I would HIGHLY recommend!

Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm 2.5 lens adapted to Pentax 67

Ok, so last time I was banging on about my main reason for getting into the 4X5 large format Speed Graphic was so I could shoot with the legend that is the Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm 2.5 lens - I’ve waffled on about this mythical beast HERE and also possibly HERE but TLDR it’s a lens that was made to fit on US Air Force Bombers in World War 2, my copy was made in 1944 :D

So what?! I hear you cry! Well….. through the application of magic and science (and eBay) I have managed to combine this amazing beast of a lens to what is perhaps my all time most fave camera ever ever ever - that’s right it’s (drum roll please) THE PENTAX 67!!!

Oh I already wrote that in the title, bit of a give away I suppose…. and the photos… anyway! What a time to be alive eh?!!

I feel fortunate that I managed to get my greedy mits on the P67 a few years ago before prices went properly NUTS…more recently I was able to acquire a very special lens for it the Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180mm 2.8 which I waffle on about HERE and now friends, I can shoot the Kodak Aero Ektar in medium format!

I love the flexibility of having interchangeable kit - very useful!! In all honesty there have been times when I just cba to lug the speed graphic and tripod and all the other accoutrements of large format on a shoot, and on those occasions I can now add the Kodak Aero Ektar on to my list of options! Wahoo!

The magical device (which is literally just a tube of metal) with a P67 mount on one end and then a helicoid on the other - that’s a posh camera term for a threaded screw type thing that allows you to focus the lens by moving it along the length of the adapter.

I procured this marvel of modern engineering off of eBay, second hand for not a huge sum of money (what normal people might think was a bonkers amount of money, but for me that ship has sailed a looooong time ago) and voila…

In practice it’s HEAVY! I mean the P67 is no slouch on a good day but with the adapter and Aero Ektar attached you are very much aware of it’s presence (and possibly it’s gravitational field). Anxious to shoot a portrait with this set up I messaged my friend Ruth who not only is an amazing photographer but also a great model and seemingly ‘shoot ready’ within about ten mins of me messaging! :D

When shooting I found that the helicoid is ok for getting in the general area but for fine focussing I relied on my old trick of moving my body, leaning forward / back as required to nail focus as much as possible - one major benefit of this adapter over others that I’d seen out there on the market was the very long screw thread on the helicoid which meant that I can focus quite close, therefore making it great for portraits! Although the adapter is extended quite a lot to achieve this and it kinda looks a bit daft but hey - it’s about the results innit!

So let’s talk results…. wow! I don’t know what else to say really… all that preamble… all that scene setting and context…. but yeah WOW! Ok I’ll try and put some coherent thoughts together…. floaty and dreamy, slightly swirly bokeh, very thin DOF when working with this lens - I reckon I was probably shooting most of these at f4 but even then it felt like it was still a shallow depth of field….. I managed to get a couple of frames with the plane of focus just about where I wanted! Not always a given ;)

The fall off from sharpness to melty / floaty dreaminess is quite something - I am very much looking forward to exploring what this lens is capable of! I tried a few shots with direct sunlight in the scene which resulted in a bit of a mess really, I do have a lens hood for this so will bring that along next time and make the lens EVEN MORE LONGER-ER!

The film was slightly expired Portra 400 shot at 400 and developed in Bellini C41 chemistry - scanned on my Epson V700.

Studio Portraits with the Speed Graphic and Lomography Lomograflock

Tradition demands that I start this blog with an apology for my tardiness of late!! In my defence I have been busily building a business and all my energies have been focussed on that - and over recent months I’ve not had much time to shoot - but when I glanced at the blog page the other day I was mortified to see that the last published blog was in FEBRUARY!! I have definitely got some cool stuff to share with you since then so to make amends here’s the first in what I hope will be a little flurry of new activity!

Down to business then!

I bought the Speed Graphic camera as my first foray into 4X5 large format photography and ostensibly my motivation was to give me a platform that I can shoot the legendary Kodak Aero Ektar lens with - I’ve already blogged about that a million years ago HERE and HERE.

I flipping love shooting with this camera, it’s wonderful! I did have encounter an issue with my speed graphic with the shutter speeds being a bit erratic but since the camera is from about 1948 I think it’s fair enough!

I had the camera service by a George Walsh in Liverpool who I HIGHLY recommend and its back in fully working order! The Speed Graphic and Aero Ektar are a good match because of that built in shutter - it means you can effectively stick any bit of glass that covers the film size on the front and shoot away! It does however mean that it’s not so good for studio work and that my friends is my very very long winded (and suspiciously self justifying) reason for buying another lens for my 4x5 camera - the Schneider 210mm f5.6 - it has a built in leaf shutter which means I can hook it up to some studio strobes!!

With the flick of a switch on the speed graphic I can disengage the built in focal plane shutter on the camera body and use the leaf shutter in the lens - lovely!! I got the lens for an absolute bargain price because the slower shutter speeds don’t work but I wasn’t bothered about that cos in the studio I’m really only going to be using the faster speed (everyone keeping track of all this? There’s a quiz at the end ya know)!

Any road, let’s talk about the shoot!

I wanted to use the Lomograflock back and shoot some instax film to see how it performed under studio conditions (I also shot some 4X5 sheet film but had a bit of a ‘mare with that).

My friend Becca was kind of enough to join me in the studio and help me test everything out and as you can see from the images - we got some really flipping cool shots!! I LOOOOOOVE shooting instant film, I mean REALLY love it! I bought the lomograflok out of curiosity but honestly it’s a really great way to shoot the speed graphic and you get that instant kick when you see the image appear!

Working with film in a studio situation is…. challenging, but in a fun way! I use my handheld meter initial to give me a ball park reading, now Instax film is 800 speed but in natural light I’ve tended to shoot it at 640, in the studio I was between 400 and 640 for most of these shots, the lens was wide open at 5.6 (which is actually quite fast for large format) and the shutter was generally at 1/400 which is as fast as it’ll go!

Right enough technobabble - I am embracing these new fangled ‘moving’ images so that I can show what went on during the shoot as well as the resulting images!!

I’ve mentioned previously the process of using the lomograflok back which has a few steps involved and when shooting portraits it’s vital that you communicate the need for your subject to hold as still as possible while you attach the film holders etc fortunately Becca was amazing at this and we got lots of nicely sharp shots!

I did manage to get one good 4X5 frame out of the shoot as well, but I did lose a sheet as well because I hadn’t quote loaded it properly and couldn't get the dark slide back in! oh well! thems the breaks as they say - I’ll share the large format shot in a future post! B

Huge thanks to Becca for being such a great model and creative collaborator and thanks to anyone who has read this far - well done!

Olympus Trip 35 & Elektra 100 25mm Film Review for Film Camera Store

Blogging has been a wonderful way to share my passion for film photography - on occasion I get contacted by brands or companies who want me to write a blog for them - usually these brands have almost nothing to do with film photography or are just totally random products so I tend to say no. But recently I was contacted by The Film Camera Store who asked me if they could send me some film and some film cameras to review - HECK YES was my response and this here blog represents the first of three reviews that I’ll be writing. Yay!

First up we have the Olympus Trip 35 - I’ve not tried one of these before although I did have it’s cousin the Olympus 35RC which I reviewed HERE it was a great camera especially for travel.

The Trip 35 is reminiscent of the 35RC although more automated / less control for the photographer which I think speak to it’s original purpose as an ideal travel camera (and yeah the name trip is a bit of a giveaway too). For example it’s a zone focus system - you set the lens to one of four distance settings (see pic below) rather than focusing it yourself, therefore the viewfinder isn’t coupled to the lens.

You can shoot in aperture priority mode by choosing the aperture yourself or you can set the camera to A which is fully auto. ISO is selected via a ring around the lens.

I’ve recently decided to make more time for photowalks and just shoot whatever happens to catch my attention so let’s see where the little Olympus Trip takes me. I’ll be shooting a roll of Flic Film Elektra 100 film which has also been supplied by Film Camera Store. I hadn’t heard of this stock before, a bit of internet research shows me that this is respooled Kodak Aerochrome IV film which is used for aerial photography, documenting landscapes and surveillance (eeek).

I loaded the camera and went on a walk along the canal that runs through Slaithwaite where I live…

The film cassette advised to load the film in low light due to it’s sensitivity and as a very thin film base it can be prone to light leaks on the first few frames but I seem to have avoided this - the negatives did look VERY thin once developed so I was interested to see how they came out - I scanned the negatives on the Epson V600 and processed the scans with the Negative Lab Pro plug in for Lightroom. I gave the images a little tweak here and there - mainly just adding a bit of warmth as the initial scans felt a bit cool (as in cold… you know what I mean)!

The film is interesting, I like the tones - it’s got some pleasing contrast. It is sharp and quite smooth although shadow areas have more noticeable grain which isn’t unpleasant - reminds me of Kodak Gold in that regard. It doesn’t seem to hang on to highlights all that well and can feel a little washed out, it was VERY bright sunshine so that maybe the Zuiko lens as much as the lens.

I shot the camera in auto mode and let it decide on the settings - it does have the ability to be shot in semi automatic / aperture priority mode too.

The lens and the film have done a pretty good job here - with strong sunlight washing across the scene and some lovely rays of light captured, there’s a slight drop in contrast as you’d expect but not much, I think the camera did a good job of metering the scene to get a good exposure too.

One of the tricky things with zone focus is not knowing exactly where your plane of focus is, which means there’s a little bit of trial and error involved - if I was to keep this camera I would definitley look up what exact distance the focussing indicators are set to and event take a tape measure out to check when shooting, but for these I just winged it - in the shot above I kind of missed focus.

In recent years people have been clearing the overgrown banks of the canal and carving out places to live - generally consisting of an assortment of barges, caravans, trucks and shelters. There is a definite pioneer / frontier vibe going on (Wild Wild West Yorkshire).

In bright sunlight the film is very clean and has a pleasing tonality if as mentioned previously a little washed out, I gave some of these images a little contrast boost in processing.

So there we have it - I really enjoyed shooting this Flic Film Elektra 100 with the Olympus Trip - it felt good to get out and just snap away - it makes a nice change of pace to just point and shoot!

If you’d like to try this set up for yourself then you can check out Film Camera Store and get an Olympus Trip 35 right HERE and a roll of Flic Film right HERE

Big thanks to Film Camera Store for lending me the Trip 35 and a roll of film to burn! I have another camera/film review I’ve done for them coming soon!

Choosing the 'right' film camera

Over the years of shooting film (and writing this blog) I’ve learned a few lessons (often times the hard way) about using different cameras.

I regularly get questions from people asking me what camera I think they should buy - whether they are just starting out or simply looking for something new in their collection. I wanted to pull together some thoughts and reflections on my experiences to date and offer up some suggestions on choosing the ‘right’ camera - or perhaps more accurately the camera that is ‘right for you’.

I will caveat the whole thing by saying that the trial and error process is something to be embraced!! I STRONGLY recommend getting out there and finding out for yourself about this or that camera or lens or film or whatever! There are far too many internet rumours circulated out there by self appointed ‘experts’ stating that you should / shouldn’t do this / that / the other…. sod that my friends!

Finding out for yourself and gaining first hand insights is a huge part of the journey. Rather than setting out any rules - I hope to offer you some starting points for your own exploration and adventure!!

If you ask any film photographer for a recommendation it is natural that they would start by suggesting the very cameras that they own themselves, after all it’s what they have experience with - it’s no different here either so I am going to point you in the direction of cameras that I am familiar with.

I’ve focussed on manual focus SLR cameras as I think they’re a good place to begin, generally easy to get hold of and were originally designed for a mass market (so there’s something for everyone).

I’ve put together four 35mm SLR cameras that I really enjoyed shooting with and represent a cross section within the SLR category - roughly speaking there’s a cheap option, a slightly more expensive one, an even more slightly expensive one and then what I consider to be the ultimate one (for me).

What they share in common is that they are all manual focus 35mm SLR’s and therefore represent a great place to begin if you’re just starting out and looking for your first camera (or if you’ve got millions of cameras already and just want to buy another one) The struggle is real! :D

A manual focus 35mm SLR with a 50mm lens will give you a wonderfully flexible set up with the creative control that can cover any situation - most of these cameras have some automatic features too (some more than others) and the manual focussing part is a great way to focus your full attention on your subject.

For all of these cameras the stock 50mm (or 55mm) lens that often comes with the body is the one to start with, you can fall down the rabbit hole of more exotic glass once you’ve found the body (and therefore lens mount) that works for you!

You don’t have to get hung up on the big name brands (unless you want to) but if you want to keep things low cost there’s a lot of really great kit available at a good price - especially if you’re open to shooting with some less well known brand names or models that were aimed at consumers rather than professional users back in the day. My top tip is to have a think about which lens mount/system you are drawn to, check out other people’s work to see some examples.

Ok enough waffle, allow me to present to you four 35mm SLR cameras that are worth closer inspection - click on the links below to visit the original blog post for each camera:

Chinon CE4S - a compact but fully featured camera that can be found at a bargain price.

Nikon FE - This was my gateway into the cult of Nikon / Nikkor! The original FE can still be found for a good price if you shop around.

Pentax Spotmatic - An M42 mount camera with superb build quality and access to a range of hundreds of different lenses, a great bargain option.

Nikon F2 - the only 35mm film camera you will ever need! This was Nikon’s flag ship professional camera from back in the day and it’s amazing!

So there we go - totally unscientific and entirely subjective suggestions (which are in keeping with everything else on this blog) I heartily recommend you give a 35mm SLR as a starting point for shooting with film - it will allow you to fully grasp the different aspects of photography and the creative control that you have as a photographer without breaking the bank.

It’s worth stating that of course I think all of these options are great - some do slightly different things than the others but in most respects they are very similar.

Because shooting a camera is such a tactile process (especially a vintage manual focus camera) it’s important to get hands on experience and see how it makes you feel - such an important part of the process, a camera should inspire you to pick it up and shoot.

I’ve had plenty of cameras that were a massive pain in the neck to work with and yet somehow they kept drawing me back, so it’s not a linear process we’re talking about, it’s much more in the realm of emotions - all that being said we cannot lose sight of the fact that a camera in and of itself is just a means to an end. It won’t make you a better or more creative photographer - but… if it inspires you to get out and shoot then it is enabling your creativity in some way.

Let me know what your top choice of camera would be?

Featured in Yorkshire Life Magazine - Event Photography for Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival

I have drawn together several different strands of my work under the banner of the Social Enterprise that I run called Our Creative Connection see HERE for more details.

In addition I am becoming more active with my commercial photography work, events in particular as these are now trading activities which support the social aims and objectives of Our Creative Connection.

A few years ago I was invited to take photographs of the Slaithwaite Moonraking Festival which takes place in the village where I live - of course I jumped at the chance and at the time I wrote a couple of blogs about the different aspects of the event that I photographed with two warm up events in preparation HERE and HERE and the main event HERE.

I was delighted when the festival got in touch recently and asked if they could use some of the photos I took back then in an article for Yorkshire Life Magazine to celebrate the return of the festival to an in person event.

Of course I said YES! It’s wonderful to see the photos in print and to know that they are helping the Moonraking festival to spread the word!

If you have an event you’re planning and are thinking about booking a photographer then please get in touch!

Featured in Silvergrain Classics Magazine!

It’s a sign of just how bonkers hectic things have been that I am only now sitting down to share that I was invited to write an article for Silvergrain Classics Magazine!!

It features some of the community based work that I do via Our Creative Connection you can visit HERE for more details of that in general.

It was wonderful to be invited by Silvergrain Classics magazine to share a project I was involved with last summer with TSL Kirklees’ Migration Team running Cyanotype Printing workshops with refugees and asylum seekers 💙
My work life can be a bit compartmentalised - but I have been working to bring the different strands together. Just in case you were wondering everything is done under the banner of Our Creative Connection the Social Enterprise that I founded in 2021. All of the commercial, portraits and event work and all of the darkroom and film photography workshops - they are all trading activities that support the social aims and objectives of Our Creative Connection which if you’re wondering what they are can be seen HERE.

Participatory photography doesn’t have to mean taking photos with cameras - I love the accessible nature of hands on traditional photographic techniques like Cyanotype, very simple to learn and lots of fun!

It’s a real kick to see this in print - huge thank you to everyone involved in the project and to Silvergrain Classics for the opportunity to share it with a wider audience.

Pentax 67 and the Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180 2.8 - a match made in Heaven (or more specifically Poland)

A few years ago I very foolishly dropped my beloved Pentax 67 - it was such a traumatic experience (for the camera as well as me) that I wrote a blog about it HERE. Ever since then my P67 has not been a happy bunny - frame spacing was out of whack and the film advance mechanism sounded like a bag of spanners…. I did get it repaired but this was just a patch up job and it was never the same after, I would regularly lose a frame or the advance mechanism would jam…. considering that the P67 is my absolute main battle camera (and responsible for 90% of my portfolio work) I am amazed that I managed to limp along with it in this sorry state for so long.

It had gotten to the point where I was avoiding using it and leaving the P67 in the camera bag makes no flipping sense so I decided to bite the bullet and get my beautiful Pentax 67 repaired and serviced. After a bit of research I opted to use ASAHI PHOTO for the repair work and I am very pleased to say that they did a fantastic job - the film advance mechanism was replaced and the camera also had a full CLA and service, they repaired the bottom plate which was cracked and replaced some of the leatherette which had come loose too - it feels so awesome to have my Pentax 67 in full working order!!

While it was away being repaired (it only took a couple of weeks) I made the decision to finally let go of my Soviet built Kiev 60 and lenses - I was really only keeping this camera because it gave me access to the absolutely AMAZING Carl Zeiss Sonnar 180 mm 2.8 lens and I decided that since I was getting the Pentax 67 repaired I might as well do something else that I’d had on my wish list - to have the Sonnar lens adapted from Pentacon 6 to Pentax 67 mount!!!

I’d heard of a place in Poland called Bokeh Factory who could do the conversion - when i contacted them I discovered that they were closing down!! eeek! Not only that but they had no more conversion kits and only a couple of lenses left!! So I decided to go for ANOTHER Sonnar lens and to sell my Pentacon 6 lens (are you still paying attention at the back)??!

Anyway loooooong story short - here we are!! What a combination this is!! The lens pairs beautifully with the Pentax and is a much more pleasing experience than using the big Sonnar lens on my long since sold ARAX CM or soon to be sold Kiev 60.

The conversion process takes a little bit of length out of the barrel which helps, also because of the change to a 6X7 sized frame rather than 6X6 the effective focal length in 35mm terms is about 100mm so it’s a perfect portrait lens!

I decided that I couldn’t wait for a portrait shoot to take this new combo for a spin - I wanted to road test the P67 and the Sonnar together so I took a short walk around the block with a roll of Fomapan 100 and grabbed a few ‘nothing’ shots.

I shot the Fomapan 100 at box speed and developed in what is becoming my favourite developer 510 Pyro if you haven’t tried it out yet then I strongly suggest that you do, it’s lovely stuff, buy it from Zone Imaging HERE - the data sheet recommends rating Foma 100 at 80 but since I shot it at 100 I extended developing time by 90 seconds.

Please excuse the dust marks - I didnt have time to remove them! Anyway, what do you think? I am VERY happy to have my P67 in full working order and to have it matched with one of my favourite lenses the wonderful Car Zeiss Sonnar 180mm 2.8 - what a fantastic piece of glass!

As you can see in the images, the lens is capable of creamy and dreamy Bokeh, SUPER sharp where you want it too - the fall off between these two extremes create a wonderful 3D pop to the images too I cannot wait to bring this combination to my next Portrait shoot!

I tested how the lens handled strong back light with the sun just out of the frame top right - I am very impressed!! There’s a drop in contrast that you’d expect but it’s not unpleasant, in fact i like it!

It felt good just to get out and shoot whatever situations presented themselves to me, I used to do this kind of thing ALL.THE.TIME - note to self: more photowalks please!

Darkroom Printing Workshop

From basic darkroom skills for first time printers, to more advanced processes for seasoned practitioners the Darkroom Printing Workshop is the perfect way to make the most of your black and white film negatives and let them fulfil their photographic potential by making a proper Darkroom print!

I’ll guide you through each stage of the process from evaluating your negatives and choosing which one to print, how to use a photographic enlarger, making test strips and how develop and fix your final print.

Please bring your own developed black & white negatives in either 35mm or 120 formats and I’ll supply the photographic paper & chemicals.

The Darkroom Printing workshop lasts 3 hours and costs £75 per person either as a 1to1 or for a small group of up to 3 people.

Dates and times will be arranged with participants.

To book a workshop please email info@chrischinnockphotography.com or complete the form below.

Let's Shoot Film

This workshop will get you up and running when it comes to shooting with film - we’ll look at the different types of film stocks and how they affect your final image, the basics of making a good exposure, metering light, composition and all the other aspects of using a film camera.

Whatever your photographic interests - portraiture, landscape, still life or street photography - we’ll shoot a roll of film together before developing it in the darkroom and digitising your negatives too.

Film cameras are available for you to use including 35mm and 120 film formats or you are welcome to bring your own. The workshop includes the cost of film & chemicals.

The ‘Lets shoot film’ workshop lasts 3 hours and costs £75 per person either as a 1to1 or for a small group of up to 3 people.

Dates and times will be arranged with participants.

To book a workshop please email info@chrischinnockphotography.com or complete the form below.

Our first Shoot, Develop & Print Workshop

As I write these words it’s been a couple of weeks since our first ever workshop at the Adventures on Film Darkroom and I am STILL buzzing from the experience!

Three people took part in this workshop - all of whom had shot with film in the past but were looking to get back into it, brush up on their skills and learn some new ones too.

The format for the day was a location based portrait shoot with our wonderful model and long time creative collaborator Danni, after which we then went into the Darkroom to develop our film and create some prints.

You’ll have no doubt noticed the preponderance of video in this blog - yes friends I’ve recently rejoined Instagram after a long hiatus - I have been enjoying creating some video reels of our workshop shenanigans! Give us a follow HERE

A lot of work went in to getting the darkroom ready to welcome our first guests and we had a wonderful day together shooting portraits, developing the film and making some prints.

A huge thank you to Gary, Andrew and Damian for taking part and of course to Danni for being such an amazing model and to Jony Hunter for shooting the video and BTS shots of the day!

We’re going to be organising some regular workshops beginning in the new year covering so watch this space for details and if you’re interested in taking part then please see HERE for more details or get in touch via email info@chrischinnockphotography.com

Shoot, Develop & Print - Workshops in our Darkroom

This workshop covers the three main stages of shooting, developing and finally printing an image from film. We’ll look at how to get the best exposure from your negative, how to evaluate which negative to print and methods to create the best possible print from your film.

Whatever your photographic interests - portraiture, landscape, still life or street photography - you’ll learn how to create stunning images on black and white film.

You’ll then develop your film by hand before learning how to make a darkroom print of your work.

You will also receive digital scans of all your film shots.

Film cameras are available for you to use including 35mm and 120 film formats or you are welcome to bring your own. The workshop includes the cost of film, chemicals & paper.

The Shoot - Develop - Print workshop lasts 3 hours and costs £75 per person either as a 1to1 or for a small group of up to 3 people.

Dates and times will be arranged with participants.

To book a workshop please email info@chrischinnockphotography.com or complete the form below.

lomograflok- shooting instax wide film on the speed graphic

Having realised the long held dream of owning a Speed Graphic 4X5 camera and Kodak Aero Ektar lens I was understandably keen to get cracking - it came as no surprise that shooting 4X5 sheet film was going to be a different experience to my other camera formats and i really love it, however this particular set up has one more trick up it’s sleeve - I can also shoot instant film with it!

To make this possible you’ll need to get a Lomograflock film back and you’re good to go!

Primarily I wanted to share all the many things that I love about using this combination (and I really do love it) but I would be remiss if I didn’t report the issues too - my first Lomograflok failed after the first shoot (it just started ejecting the film all over the floor) apparently a common fault and it was replaced with no fuss but it has left me slightly doubtful over the build quality - if you’re listening lomography: I’d happily pay more to have something that will last!

Using the Lomograflok is fairly straight forward, it involves attaching the spacer which allows you to focus, then you cock the shutter, remove the spacer and the graflok back from your camera, attach the lomograflok, remove the darkslide and fire the shutter, then put the darkslide back in, remove the lomograflok and FINALLY eject your instax film…. then….. put is somewhere dark and let it develop for a few mins…. phew…. in practice once you get into the groove it’s possible to complete all of these steps in about a minute, but part of the joy of large format is to slow down a bit and take your time - ALSO - your subject has to hold their position once you’ve got focus so it’s very definitely not a fast process but I flipping love it!

Now, let’s turn to the good stuff - the results! I don’t know if it’s because my expectations weren’t that high or what but I am blown away - absolutely LOVE shooting instant film with my speed graphic! The images have a dreamlike quality to them thanks in part to the aero Ektar but also the instax film.

I have done my best to scan these on the Epson V600 - they still don’t quite show the detail and ‘magic’ of the real instant image but even still! I love the results!

In practice there are a few steps in the procedure, the kit comes with a spacer that allows you to get focus on the ground glass, you then remove both spacer and ground glass and attach the the Lomograflock to the camera, remove the dark slide and hit fire - it takes longer to explain than it does in practice and once you get into the swing of it you can knock out - ooh, one shot per minute or something…. Let’s be honest nothing about large format photography is about being ‘quick’

So in good sunlight Instax film absolutley SINGS!! Love the results from the shoot with Danni, now let’s take a look at some shots indoors on a shoot with Sophie.

Big thank you to Sophie and Danni my two creative collaborators for these images - amazing to work with you both as always!

I rated the film indoors at 640 ISO and outdoors between 400 and 640 ISO to make the most of it, it does blow out highlights easily whilst also having fairly low shadow detail so it’s a bit of a balancing act, but it all adds to the look, I love the texture and tone of this film!

The absolute joy of this though is that the film itself is so reasonably priced (comparatively) I can get a box of 50 instax shots for about £35 which elevates shooting the speed graphic from something I’d use rather sparingly to something I use ALL.THE.TIME!

The instax film is an interesting stock to work with, having very little latitude for highlights or shadows so you have to be quite careful with it, it’ll blow highlights very easily and shadows are really not up to much, but knowing these limitations you can either work around them or build them into your final outcome! I am obsessed with the results and the magic of being able to view the image almost ‘instantly’ (it takes a few mins to develop) never gets old.

At around £120 the Lomograflock should be in every large format shooters kit!

Something Old and Something New: Shooting Portraits with the Speed Graphic, Kodak Aero Ektar & Lomograflok instant film back

It’s fair to say that blogs have become somewhat sporadic over this last 12 months - there are some VERY good reasons for this and I am happy to report that I’ll now be making a concerted effort to post more regularly. I also have some VERY exciting news to share about opening up a darkroom & photo studio where I’ll be running workshops and events as well as using to create my own work too! I will share more details in a dedicated blog about all of that very soon - in the meantime check out the ‘workshops’ page for details HERE

Now let’s get down to business - whatever our passions and inspiration in life there are often things that we associate with that, maybe you’re a musician and you want to learn how to play a particular instrument, or perhaps you’re into football and you really want to erm…. kick a ball (this analogy is wearing thin) anyway I’m a film photographer and ever since I realised this about myself I have flipping well wanted to shoot Large Format - more precisely a Speed Graphic camera with a Kodak Aero Ektar lens and hey ,guess what? Now I have!!

I’m gonna say this now - there are SOOOOO many new elements, processes, fancy bits of kit and just god damned cool toys to play with that I will no doubt be writing further blogs just on this set up alone, consider this blog like a whirlwind run through the whole thing and to share my initial results - I’ll circle back to this theme and delve deeper into certain aspects very soon I am sure!

I first encountered this combination through the work of photographers like David Burnett who is one of my photographic heroes he has used large format cameras to cover major events such as the Olympics and even reporting on the Presidential election campaign trail in the US.

The Speed Graphic is a camera that many of you will know well, even folks not well acquainted with photography will recognise them from old movies - these were the quintessential press cameras of the 1940’s 50’s and into the 60’s.

Just a man in a cape with his camera

They are relatively rare over here in the UK but are readily available in the US where they were manufactured. It is a wonderfully designed and built piece of kit - I picked mine up which is a pacemaker version of the Speed Graphic for less than £150 on evilbay and was expecting to need to get it serviced before being able to shoot but once I had it in hand I realised it was good to go!! I believe that my copy dates from the late 50’s to the early 60’s although I am not 100% on that!

I’ll say more about the operation of the camera in another blog - now let’s also have a look at the business end of this set up - the Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm 2.5 lens.

This lens is a cult classic and for good reason, photographers such as Dave Burnett showcased what was possible with this glass and like me, once you’ve seen the images it can resolve then it becomes something that you just have to try out for yourself.

You might be surprised to learn that the Aero part of the name of this lens relates to the fact that it was originally designed to be mounted on to an American aircraft in WW2 to shoot reconnaissance photos! My particular copy was actually built in 1944! It boggles my mind what this lens may have seen during it’s life time! My copy is actually quite rough - cosmetically there is loads of paint chipping and optically there is a fair amount of fungus and possibly some delimitation of the elements and consequently I got it for a VERY good price. In my experience lenses can resolve great image quality even when suffering issues like this and having taken a punt on this one it seems to have been a good call

Obviously using a lens designed to be fitted into a warplane requires an adapter in order to mount properly - the lens is HUGE compared to what might be considered a ‘normal’ or ‘proper’ lens for the Speed Graphic - once fitted to the adapter the lens required a little bit of gentle persuasion to be mounted on to the camera but now it fits perfectly.

This pic was taken pre-the arrival of my adapter to mount the Aero Ektar - look at how tiny the standard lens would be compared to the beast like Aero!!

So once combined in this way we have what I would hand on heart say is the most exciting camera I have EVER had the opportunity to shoot with! Other things worth mentioning are that I absolutely NEEDED to add the following items to enable me to use this camera:

Tripod - an old Gitzo all metal affair, this is a thing of beauty all on it’s own! A very solid platform to work on and whilst its a bit on the heavy side it gives me confidence when shooting on location that my camera is safe!

Film Holders - at the time of shooting I had two film holders giving me a whole FOUR sheets of film to burn through! Being a trigger happy soul I have since added two more film holders to my set up.

Focussing Loupe - a must have item I reckon, this little device allows you to check critical focus on the HUGE focussing screen

Dark cloth - maybe not essential but when shooting in bright light you need ‘something’ to drape over your head and allow you to see properly, I figured I’d go all in on this and the bonus is you can wear it like a cape! :)

So you’re all set to shoot Large Format Chris! What’s the big hold up? Why am I not now just looking at loads of Large Format photos? Great questions!! Well the main reason is that I also got hold of a thoroughly modern piece of kit to compliment all of the above - the Lomography Lomograflock Instant Film back!! As I said before I will definitely be doing some individual blogs to go into further details about different aspects of this new shooting experience but for now its enough to know that this amazing bit of technology allows you to shoot Instax Wide instant film on the Speed Graphic!! WOW!

And so to the shoot itself - who else other than my long time creative collaborator Danni Shepherd to help me test this monster of a camera out. We met at Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds on a beautifully bright late summers day and shot a few packs of Instax colour film and FOUR sheets Fomapan 100 in 4X5. I have waffled on interminably for long enough - let’s see the results of the shoot.

OMG! Seriously I am just blown away by the results with the Lomograflok - what an amazing piece of kit!! Rest assured that a dedicated blog about this instant film back will be coming soon - but there are so many awesome new things I want to share and this blog is already MAHOOSIVE so let’s just agree that the Lomograflok is ACE and little more needs to be said, to whit: Let’s have a quick look at the 4X5 shots…

Or rather ‘shot’ as in singular - mainly cos at the time of writing I haven’t scanned any of the other three shots, but WOW!!! LOOK!!! AAARGH! This is just everything I dreamed of with this camera and lens combo and more besides - the original scan itself has an ENORMOUS level of detail and resolution, it’s super sharp where you want it to be and soft and dreamy where you need it too, the way that film format, micro contrast and focus fall off give you a proper 3D pop. I am stunned by this shot - especially on my first outing with the camera!

I developed and scanned the film myself, this is something I am now going to be doing more often as I have my own darkroom and workspace too :)

I have to say that shooting with the Speed Graphic is a wonderful experience - the process has a number of steps but once you get into the rhythm it becomes very natural. I’ve read so many other photographers talk about having random members of the public ask them about their old film cameras - I’ve never had that before until now!! Pretty much everyone who walks past wants to know more about it so that’s definitely something to be aware of, you can’t be low key with this kind of camera!

A huge thank you to Danni for being absolutely amazing on this shoot, we always have a lot of fun and always create some stunning photos together too. I think this is really the beginning of a new phase of my work - not just the camera but the darkroom and workshops coming soon too, so much to tell you all about!

Just with this set up and the results of one shoot I think I’ve got at least two or maybe three blogs to write up just to go into some details - and on top of that I need to share what’s been happening with the new Darkroom and workshops and there’s another business that’s going now too…. yikes… Thanks for making it this far if you did!! I’ll see you again real soon!

More is More: Medium Format and 35mm Portraits on Black and white film: Part 1

There is a school of thought which advocates only shooting one camera and one lens in order to fully focus on your creative process which in the case of portraiture is about connecting with your subject. I have subscribed to this view for a long time - minimise your kit and maximise your attention on being present rather than spending time deciding which lens/camera to use next. Makes good sense and it absolutely works!

But during COVID as the restrictions meant that opportunities to shoot became fewer and farther between ( I also realised just how important to my mental health shooting is) my mindset shifted towards one of ‘this might be the only shoot I have for X months, why not bring some more stuff’.

I’m not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t be doing because this is all down to personal preference - for me (for now) I’m adopting the ‘more is more’ approach. Like any new practice I went overboard at first and brought too much stuff which did kind of get in my way but now I feel I’ve found a balance that works for me.

So let’s get down to business shall we? I’ve decided to split this into a two part series of blog posts about the same shoot (this is all about maximising right)? The shoot in question took place recently with a wonderful model Fae Rose someone I haven’t shot with before but absolutely will be working with again! Thank you Fae!

First up we’ve got some images from the ARAX CM using the stunning Carl Zeiss Jen Sonnar 180mm 2.8 lens.

Yikes this lens is so sharp!! Skin glows and backgrounds melt into a creamy dreamy blur. yum! I reckon this is the best portrait lens EVER made! It’s only downside is it’s size / weight - its a bit of a beast and it’s certainly not one for people who like to go unnoticed… people will think your toting a rocket launcher carrying this thing around! KABOOM!

A few words about the film stock too - I have a few rolls of Fuji Acros 100 on ice which I picked up very cheaply, WOW! I am only really now appreciating this film, its beautiful stuff… I’ll be searching out more and also checking out the new version too!

And now some 35mm shots from the Nikon F3 with the Nikkor 50mm 1.2 loaded with Rollei Retro 80S.

Yikes again!! Loving the results on 35mm film too - I only recently got the 50mm 1.2 and it is a stunner! I’ve shot Rollei Retro 80S before and again it does not disappoint - it has a very crisp, punchy contrasty look which is unique.

I am over the moon with how shots from both cameras came out - it’s given me two quite different look and feel with the different formats, social lengths and film stocks.

Ironically I decided not to swap lenses on either camera on this shoot (but I was glad to have the option to do so)

So what the heck was all that about then? Well, on one level I think it’s purely about 'what the hell is the point in owning all this stuff if you’re not shooting with it’ and on another level it’s about the final vision - offering different creative possibilities.

I am not advocating just taking LOADS of camera gear, throwing the kitchen sink at your concept and seeing what happens, I am however suggesting that if you put some thought into your shoots upfront you can select some kit that will help you realise your vision.

In part 2 of this series I’ll share two more sets of images from two different film stocks on this same shoot!

By Jupiter! Portrait shoot on ADOX Color Mission 200 film

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What a time to be alive! A BRAND NEW film stock just released by ADOX called Color Mission 200. I was very fortunate to be able to grab two rolls via someone on a fb group I’m part of who had the great foresight to buy a whole stack of these and then sell them on at cost price to fellow film addicts! Thank you kind sir! Without your quick thinking (and bulk purchasing) I’d have missed out on this film stock - which if you can’t be bothered to read any further I flipping LOVE! What a surprise - a film stock that he loves, shock horror, stop press etc etc.

It’s been a while since I blogged as I’ve been super busy with other things but I’ve got a ton of stuff to share with you all and what better way to kick things off than taking ADOX Color Mission 200 film for a spin. A big thank you to Danni for modelling on this shoot - it’s always great fun shooting together!

A few words about the kit before diving into the images - I’ve been shooting loads with my Nikon F2 recently so I decided it was high time that my Pentax Spotmatic F come out to play. I took my ARAX CM along too but that’s a blog for another day!

The Spotmatic is such a great camera- I highly recommend them to anyone looking for a reasonably priced and solidly built M42 camera. Lenswise it was an all Jupiter affair (see what I did with the title eh? By Jupiter I said….By Jupiter…oh forget it).

I only took the silver spotmatic F on the shoot but you can see the lenses mounted side by side below - the Jupiter 9 is really compact almost the size of a 50mm and the 135 is likewise quite a compact design.

Spot the multi coated lens or what?!! :)

The Jupiter 9 85mm f2 is a lens which I’ve owned for a while now but only shot with once (as it happens on another shoot with Danni HERE) I also took along a brand new to me Jupiter 11 135mm f4. I’ll share the images in the order I shot them - Jupiter 9 first then the Jupiter 11.

I was really keen to shoot the Jupiter 9 wide open at f2 - not something I often do TBH, but with these old soviet lenses that’s often where there unique characteristics are most pronounced.

I love the dreamy glow that the Jupiter 9 creates in the shot above, it’s the single coated version and handled the backlighting really well (always use a lens hood peeps)!

Love the wide open soft dreamy effect of this lens! Well chat about the film at the end but so far so great I reckon! Now let’s take a look at some of the Jupiter 11 shots.

I really love the Jupiter 11 too - it’s an f4 max aperture and I shot this wide open too. Being an f4 lens gives you enough depth of field to ensure a sharp portrait and look at those blurry backgrounds too - lovely!

OK so let’s take a totally subjective and unscientific approach to thinking about the film: my first flush response was that it really reminds me of Kodak Pro Image 100 which I’ve shot before with Danni (again) a couple of years ago HERE I think the texture and tonality are very similar, colour wise ADOX tends a little more towards the red where as Pro Image is more towards green so that’s something to keep in mind.

This shoot had lots and lots of natural sunlight as you can see - I love the contrast and just overall feel of the images, really lovely stuff. Part of me would be tempted to over expose my next roll (yes I have another) at 100 and see how it performs but I like the punchy colours and contrast of this roll so much that I’m not sure, maybe I’ll just shoot it at 200.

Big thanks to Exposure Film Lab my go to people for colour film dev and scanning!

This film has bags of character and a lovely classic feel to it - absolutely love the results and it’s so exciting to see a brand new film coming to market! Well done to the folks at ADOX!

Going for Gold!! Kodak Gold 200 Review

A quick note before we begin: The majority of the text here was written back in August 2021 but the blog was languishing in the ‘draft’ folder since then and I’ve been so busy with other things that I am only now (December 2021) getting round to completing it!

There is no escaping the fact that film seems to be getting more expensive - price rises across the board from Fuji, Kodak and Ilford. This has prompted a bit of a rethink in terms of my ‘go to’ films. In fact it’s also driven me partially back into the arms of digital (the horror) but more of that another time…

I’ve spent a couple of years shooting almost nothing other than Portra 400 and I love how consistently awesome it is especially when it comes to shooting in low light. But recently I’ve refrained from shooting it in any other conditions - the price rises (and hey - more are on their way) mean Portra has become a specialty film stock for me, one which only gets used when I absolutely require that level of flexibility.

I’m a glass half full kinda guy so I’m viewing this as an opportunity to start looking at alternatives and as it turns out there are some amazing film stocks available at a lower price point which do brilliantly when you have lots of lovely light to play with! During what passed for summer here in the UK I took some of these films out for a spin!

In today’s blog we’ll be looking at Kodak Gold 200 which is a classic ‘consumer’ film that has been around in one form or another for a long time.If you bought 35mm Kodak film from the chemists in the 80’s/90’s there’s a fair chance it was this stuff that you bought! I’ve shot Kodak Gold a few times before - usually for street and travel stuff but I’d never used it on a portrait shoot until HERE. I was really pleased with how it turned out and keen to really get a feel for what it can do.

These photos were taken on a beautifully sun drenched late afternoon in the picturesque town of Saltaire with the wonderful Lauren who as well as channelling some retro 60s/70s vibes with her outfit also brought along her classic mini which she restored herself - when Lauren commits to a look, she goes all in!!

Kit wise as you can see in the inset picture I was using the Nikon F3 for 35mm duties - these shots were either on the 85mm 1.4 or 50mm 1.4 AIS lenses. I’ll share photos from the Pentax 67 in another blog at some point (in the next decade at this rate)!

I think the images can speak for themselves (but rest assured I’ll waffle on a bit about what I think too…)

Yikes!! Contrast: Check. Tones: Check. Grain: Yummy, check! Detail: erm… Check. Not much to complain about here, I shot these at box speed 200 as I wanted to see how it looked and I am very happy!! The grain structure is very much present and personally I LOVE it! If you’re one of those ‘I don’t like grain people’ then get the fuck out of here… no sorry! I’m joking! come back! :)

The classic film look really suits the style and look for this shoot - I feel like we’re shooting the cover of vogue circa 1971 or some marketing materials for British Leyland!! (I think these are good things)!

In this shot above we can see how the film (and the glass) handles backlit/direct sunlight which was just cresting the trees in the background - I really like playing around with positioning the light in my frame to affect contrast and tones, it gives a whole other look and is another part of why I love film - you can make your editing choices in the moment using the natural resources that you have to hand!

A huge thank you to Lauren for an amazing shoot! We couldn't have asked for better weather, a better location or a better film stock to suit this style.

In conclusion then - Kodak Gold 200 is fucking brilliant! If you have lots of golden sunlight then you can’t go wrong! I’m not sure how well it will push or handle under exposure but perhaps that’s a blog for another day!

Fomapan 400 Review - Street Portrait Shoot

Back again after a little break - life has been WAAAAY too busy of late! In a good way though so I have no complaints, except that my blog has had to take the back seat for which I apologise! I have been managing to get a few shoots in though and I’ve been trying out a bunch of new (to me) film stocks - prompted in no small part because of financial considerations, but also because, well… there are still loads of film stocks out there to shoot so why not take them for a spin?! Today we’ll be looking at Fomapan 400 in medium format.

I am no stranger to Fomapan film having shot quite a lot of 200 HERE and I figured it was high time that I took their faster speed 400 film for a spin and it did not dissapoint! After a bit of research online I decided to rate the film at 200 and I love the results!!

I really enjoyed shooting with KC on this one as we had a walk around Bradford City Centre making the most of the urban landscape. Fomapan 400 in medium format gives lovely clean and crisp results - I’d be interested to se how it performs in 35mm, i suspect a bit more gritty / grainy which would be no bad thing!

I really like the tonality and texture of this film, shot in good light and over exposed two stops is certainly a good starting point, I think I’d like to experiment with shooting at box speed too as I feel it might add some more charachter / contrast.

I love shooting with the Pentax 67 - it’s a wonderful camera, so easy to shoot with and with the 105mm Takumar lens mounted it’s pretty much perfect! Dreamy and creamy bokeh and razor sharp where you want it, this lens gets a lot of HYPE but I think it’s well deserved, my only gripe with the P67 is that some idiot (me) dropped it a couple of years back and it needed to be repaired but ever since it’s not been the same and I’ll often lose a frame or two from a roll as they overlap, not good when you only have ten shots per roll to start with! And it is almost always some of the better shots which end up being ruined - as in this case :(

I’ll have to send it off for another repair I think, but at least we got some more good shots! Really enjoyed this shoot and it felt good to try out a new and relatively cheap film, prices are going up and up so Fomapan is really viable option for me

In this final shot we snuck into the National Film Museum and I grabbed this reflection shot of KC - I was surprised at how well it came out since I think I metered the scene as 400 and then held my nerve with the Pentax 67 at about 1/30 of a second at f2.4 - lots of punchy contrast in this due to under exposure, I like!

Helios 40-2N Review or Digital Photography: A Slight Return...

I don’t know about you but I’ve found myself struggling for inspiration lately, not feeling motivated to get out and shoot - in part because I have been SUPER busy starting a new business AND a new job but also just generally not feeling ‘IT’. Have you been feeling that way too? I know many of my friends have - I mean look at the world around us right now, it’s been one heck of an 18 months hasn’t it? I’ve often found that inspiration/creativity/the muse has ebbed and flowed like the tide - one thing I’ve learned is that you have to work for inspiration. It’s no good sitting around waiting for creativity to strike KABOOM! It doesnt work that way - you have to change it up, try something new, or try something old, whatever… just try… to whit: this latest blog.

I have to thank my friend Sophie for giving me the much needed creative kick up the backside to just get out and shoot - and since I was feeling in a mood to change it up I decided to take a DIGITAL camera with me!! GASP! SHOCK! HORROR!! please keep reading though… don’t run away! :D I have in my posession a Nikon D700 camera which I’ve just bought for a commercial project and I figured what the heck - why not shoot some digital as a way of changing things up. It’s been a good few years now since I sold all digital gear and pledged allegiance to the gods of FILM but let’s not beat about the bush film is getting EXPENSIVE now especially in these uncertain times so expect to see some more digital offerings here…. but fear not I haven’t abandoned film all together! I shot a couple of rolls of medium format and they are off at the lab being developed as I type these words to you - I guess I’m saying I’m going back to shooting both digital and film.

Its not just economic reasons, I’ve kind of been feeling a little bit restricted by the self applied ‘I only shoot film’ and I want to make sure that I’m not missing out on something creatively by cutting myself off from digital photography - so it’s coming back into my practice. HOWEVER. There’s no denying that I do find digital images a bit too ‘clean’ if you know what I mean so I’m very interested in combining digital with vintage lenses to add some character - and this brings me FINALLY around to introduce todays offering: The Helios 40-2N. I’ve written about it before HERE sharing some shots from a film only portrait shoot.

It’s a tricky lens to handle because its quite heavy, it has a pre-set aperture control and being an f1.5 lens if you want to shoot wide open that is some thing DOF you are dealing with, also did I mention that it’s quite heavy….BUT I absolutely adore what this beast of a lens does with light…. it can be contrasty, super sharp and crispwith really punchy colours or if you shoot with a light source in your frame suddenly you get blurry, glowy, dreamy low contrast images instead.

The Helios 40-2N is an old Soviet design which is often only talked about for one thing: Swirly Bokeh and it sure does do that but I think this lens has much more to offer the thoughtful photographer than swirly bokeh - it is definitely NOT a one trick pony! Its manual focus of course despite being a native F Mount lens and this definitely suits me anyway, I can’t shake the feeling that AF is just cheating :D nothing slows you down more than trying to manually focus a lens at f1.5!

I am hugely grateful to Sophie for a lovely portrait shoot and for giving me the opportunity to get creative again! Anyway enough ramble from me - suffice it to say that I am really enjoying shooting a mix of film and digital and I guess that’s all that matters right?

Helios Dreams - Shooting Portraits with the Helios 40-2N

There really aren’t that many lenses left on my “flipping heck I really really really want to own that” list - I am fortunate to have owned / sold on some pretty amazing glass in my time! That being said there is one that I have finally managed to tick off the list - the Helios 40-2! I’ve had one in my sights for a few years now - just casually waiting for the opportunity to bag it at a price that made sense - and that time has arrived my friends! Behold the Helios 40-2N 85mm 1.5!

You will probably have heard about the Helios 44 series of lenses, they are small, cheap and plentiful - easy to obtain and every photographer should own (at least) one! I’ve written about these sovet era lenses previously HERE and HERE But the Helios 40-2? This is a different beast all together! It’s big, heavy, relatively rare and unless you get very lucky they can be quite expensive too.

The eagle eyed among you will note that it is mounted on to my Nikon F2 - that’s right, this ‘N’ in the name Helios 40-2N stands for Nikon - although strangely enough it won’t quite make infinity focus…. I haven’t seen any othe reviews mention this but it definitely doesn’t focus to infinity, nearly but not quite. The good news is that this first and foremost a portrait lens and in that role it’s not often you’ll want infinity focus, but even still. Anyway with that minor gripe out of the way let’s dive into some lens geekery shall we?

I could quite easily write a whole blog post about the history of post world war two lens design and manufacture in the USSR and fellow eastern bloc/satellite country the DDR (but I won’t)!

Suffice it to say that this lens is based on a 1930’s German Carl Zeiss design and then WWII happened and long story short it didn’t end well for Germany in lots of ways, one of which was having large swathes of their industrial and technological knowledge taken as reparations - optics and lens design being one these technologies. And so not long after that the Soviets started churning out lenses that were strangely similar to those 1930’s German designs…. any who…enough with the history lesson because while there is certainly a long heritage to this lens’ design, my version is actually my most modern lens (by quite some margin) using the serial number to date it this Zenit Helios 40-2N was built in 2016! Yep that’s right - they still make them in Russia to this very day! This late version has a redesigned housing (and IMHO a more user friendly lay out) than the older versions - its also cheaper to buy than the classic versions.

Some folks like to shoot the older style perhaps because this has an aesthetic appeal or it complements their other camera gear, but me I’m a shooter first and foremost and I love this more modern looking lens, not just that but the handling is very good, the focus ring is smooth as silk - some of those older versions are more than 50 years old so it’s a bit of pot luck whether you’ll have a nice smooth focussing action after all that time!

The Helios 40-2 is well known for creating wonderfully swirly bokeh and heck yeah - it certainly does do that well, but it’s more than a one trick pony, I think there are several stand out features which make this lens a must for your camera bag.

I took it for a spin on a portrait shoot with the lovely Danni and the Nikon F2 - I shot two rolls of 35mm film that these first images are from a roll of expired Konica Pro 160 which I have to say I like VERY much, it being expired at least 10 years ago I gave it an extra bit of light and rated it as 100. In an unusual move for me I tried my best to shoot all of these wide open at 1.5 or very occasionally stopped down to f2 - reasons for this are that those wider apertures play to the dreamy charachteristics of this lens and I wanted to make the most of them.

The image above was the very last frame on the roll and it’s probably my favourite of the whole shoot! Shooting wide open - especially with a manual focus camera like the F2 presents a challenge and even though the depth of field isn’t quite even across both of Danni’s eyes - I actually don’t care! I am coming more and more to the idea that critical sharpness is not that important when it comes to overall image quality, and yet some folks obsess over it! I’m much more into the overall look and feel of an image, what kind of textures are at play - you can see that the Helios 40-2 is capable of critical sharpness but as with many great portrait lenses it isn’t so sharp as to be unflattering. Things dissolve into a lovely dreamy mush out towards the edge of the frame - again this is perfect for framing your subject in the centre and giving them a little more POP!

The trees lined up in the distance caught my eye for this composition and I really love how this shot came out - the out of focus areas have a painterly feel, plants in the bottom right corner doing that melty/dreamy thing again and there’s a bit of refined swirl going on in the background. I’ve read that you need to have the correct distance between you, your subject and the background to really make the swirls appear - I’ll definitely be trying it out again next time!

Again more melty/dreamy bokeh and a hint of the swirly stuff in the background - there’s some motion blur and a bit of glow around Danni framed in the centre which is another nice effect of this lens, some people might say that these features of the lens are weaknesses but to me this is all part of the point. The Helios 40-2 is like an art lens - sure when you photograph test charts wide open it’s not the best performer but where’s the fun in that? I love how the lens resolves light!

Now let’s take a look at some of my faves from the 2nd roll, this was Kodak Gold 200 - technically expired but it’s been on ice since fresh - I shot these at 100 too as I find Kodak Gold really does respond well to a bit of over exposure.

Dreamy dreamy dreamy dreamy…. love it!! I would have loved to have nailed critical focus on Danni’s eyes for the shot above but that’s the joy of film over digital innit! No instant replay - you just gotta do your best to nail it right there and then! I still really like this shot - you can get pretty close up with the Helios!

These two shots are among my faves too - I love the tones and the grain, that melty/dreamy background is doing it’s thing again and on these two occasions I even managed good focus on Danni’s eyes - whatever next?!

I like the overall look and feel of the shot below although I’d have liked (and was aiming for) good focus but it wasn’t to be….I’m including it here to demonstrate a couple of things, first: look at those bokeh balls of light in the background! Yum! Secondly: This was shooting pretty much directly into the light - the lens handled it with aplomb! Another reason in my view to go for the more modern lens as it has modern coating

Is this lens technically perfect? No. Is it the sharper than a really sharp thing? No. Do I love it anyway? YES! One of the many things I love about shooting film is that so many of your creative decisions are made up front - choice of film, lens and then of course exposure, composition and use of light, you have to commit to that moment and work with what you have at hand. Digital invites you to spend more time after the fact bringing your creative vision to life - and sitting at a the computer moving sliders around in lightroom just isn’t my idea of fun! I’ve said this before many times in these blog posts but it bares repeating as this lens really does illustrate the point - the Helios 40-2 is a creative tool, it can add a dash of dreamy, swirly, melty goodness to your shoot and that my friends is worth the price of entry!