Back to the Nikon F4 and C41; Every Day's a School Day #1...


Thanks to the Photo Express people for developing this roll of Kodacolor 200 and getting it back to me almost by return, (posted late on a Friday afternoon, returned on the Wednesday). Much less hassle than doing 35mm colour myself at home or at Streetlevel. Bit of a chore, C41 developing and scanning, leave it to the professionals. Besides, I don't have a neg scanner these days, and Streetlevel is still under lockdown, I think.

That's me back on the F4, which I have quite literally picked up and dusted off again. Frankly I have been somewhat intimidated by it, so I'm working through that, a roll of my stash of odds and ends of 35mm at a time...

This photo, I've misframed it slightly but obviously, slicing off the top of the sitter's head, and leaving her unintentionally off-centre. This was Aperture Priority, f1.4, by the light of a table lamp. The shutter speed selected by the meter must have been quite slow, maybe 1/15, because there's  a slight but noticeable camera shake on the dice. The DoF was probably too narrow, there's no clear focal point. And the light on her hands is blown. So I'm going to go back to this.

This one below is easy to diagnose: I focused on the bloody wall behind the subjects. I had in mind when I took this that one of the F4's jobs back in the 90s would have been sport, so it can be used to take photos with a degree of action. What I learned here, (apart from the elementary focus blunder) was that you can't point the camera at an action scene and hit the shutter button in one of the continuous modes and then hope for the best. You need to do a lot of anticipation, and use the auto focus and exposure buttons, and learn the difference between the Servo and the Continuous Servo functions, (which I haven't learned, yet).


I've got 2 or 3 rolls of colour 35mm left, and ten rolls of Kentmere 400. Photo Express develop and scan C41 for £6 a roll, which is only slightly more than I'd pay for the chemicals at Streetlevel, and I don't have to go in and spend an hour or two doing it myself. AND they've said they'll scan a developed roll of Kentmere for only £3.50, which is remarkable. The plan is to use this dozen or so rolls as a Nikon F4 auto-didact's photography course.

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