Tag Archives: Mamiya 7

An irrigation ditch at Twin Lakes

 Near the Avery brewery in Boulder county is an open space named Twin Lakes. Along the eastern side of the one of the reservoirs is an old irrigation ditch. We thought the flowing water and the dense vegetation made for an interesting photograph.  This image was made sometime this last summer. We plan to head back and capture the same scene with snow and bare trees sometime this winter.

This image was made with a Mamiya 7 and Kodak Portra film.

Through The Glass: Ongoing Treatments

“Do you know where you’re going to?

Do you like the life the world is showing you?

Where are you going to?

Do you know?”

Mahogany (1975 film)

This is my favorite song quote from the 1975 Diana Ross film Mahogany. It says a lot about my current situation.

As you can see I’m still using a walker. And as it turns out, I will soon be having surgery on my right knee; a total knee replacement. Hopefully my recent fall on my left knee will not require additional surgery.

Sorry that I missed my August posting, I’ve been very distracted due to my continuing health issues. I also have an update on my vision. I am now legally blind, but with my husband’s help I am able to continue to blog. The proton beam radiation treatment for my tumor has damaged my optic nerves, leaving partial degraded vision in the right side and no vision in the left. As you can guess, this has made photography challenging, but not impossible. I persevere! I have even heard of blind photographers. I will have to investigate their work.

Expect to see an update in a couple of weeks.

Organ Mountains, New Mexico

I remember first seeing these Mountains 30 years ago. On a recent trip through New Mexico we decided to stop by Las Cruces to see the Organ Mountains:

I’ll have more views of the Mountains coming soon. For more information on the Ogan Mountains CLICK HERE.

IR Sensitive Films: Retro 400S

I thought about writing a summary of the origin and significance of the Retro IR Sensitive films as an aerial mapping film. But then I found an excellent history/summary by My Favorite Lens reviewing the Retro 400S. So check it out…………

Now we take up Part II of our IR Sensitive Film Tests. Here a comparison of Rollei Retro 400S and Ilford SFX-200 (My Standard). We again applied the IR 695 filter to both rolls. We know from our previous experience that this filter adds contrast to the Retro-films. So let’s jump in………

Images on the left are from SFX-200 and on the right from Retro 400S:

We ca see the obvious difference in Contrast. But it this first image it works.

Above, the contrast in the clouds for the Retro 400S makes it more interesting to me.

In the four images below,the lighter contrast (SFX-200) allows iu to see more detail.

Agai, here I think you choice my depend on personal aesthetics. There are qualities I like in both images.

S, we have determined in both cases that perhaps the Retro Films don;t really need IR-filter enhancement. So for our next test we are going bare. I’ll be comparing the Retro 80S with no filter to the SFX-200 with the IR 695.

IR Sensitive Films: Retro 80S

Why not start the Year 2021 with some film tests………..

I had casually tried some Retro 80S on the drive home from Phoenix in 2019. But I wasn’t really planning on a comparative study and my image were not in pairs. So I decide to set-up a real study comparing Retro 80S AND Retro 400.S This is Part I where I will discuss Retro 80S.

The tests were conducted using 120 film and my Mamiya-7 cameras both with IR 695 filters. Ilford SFX-200 was my standard for comparison.

All of the SFX-200 imafes are on the left, and the Retro80S on the right.

In my first images from 2019, I had used a Dark Red filter for the Retro 80S. applying the IR 695 to the Retro 80S made it more contrasty than preferred. So I thin for an future use I would recommend using just a Dark Red Filter, instead of the IR 695 for the Retro 80S film.

Next up to start the year: Retro 400s……

The Light and Dark of It: Exploring IR Sensitive Films

We will spend some significant time at the beginning of 2021 exploring the Infrared: IR Sensitive Films, IR Films and some digital IR from a converted camera.

And so the Light, from Ilford SFX-200

And the Dark from Rollei Retro 400S

From My Living Room Window…….

Como Doors

We made our annual trip over Boreas Pass. At the south end of the Pass is the town of Como. There are inhabited and restored buildings, such a the Train Station:

But I think many of the abandoned buildings are more interesting:

And them there are the somewhat restored and used buildings:

See More Pictures of Como and the Boreas Pass RailRoad here. Also a lot more doors!