Month: September 2006

Kodak Portra films enhanced

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Kodak UK Press Release:

Kodak Introduces Enhanced PORTRA Colour Negative Films with Finer Grain, Spectacular Skin Tones, Vivid Colour and Ideal Scanning Performance – Continued Innovation Gives Pro Photographers High Quality Films to Achieve Impactful Images

London, September 11 – In a move that underscores its ongoing support of the professional photography market, Eastman Kodak Company today introduced enhanced versions of its iconic KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA colour negative film family, comprising 160 VC, 160 NC, 400 VC and 400 NC film. These films help professional photographers create stunning images with finer grain, spectacular skin tones, and improved scanning performance for greater enlargement capability. Plus, PORTRA 160VC and PORTRA 400VC films now provide a more ideal combination of higher colour saturation and lower contrast for optimal performance in high-colour applications.

"More than two-thirds of professional photographers today mix film and digital when shooting, depending on the job at hand and the desired end result they want to achieve," said Julian Baust UK Country Manager "Our commitment is to make sure they have the best tools for the job. The innovations we are introducing in our new PORTRA films help ensure that photographers, whether shooting at a wedding, in the studio, on a fashion shoot, or for nature and landscapes, achieve the most truthful, impactful result."

Features of the new PORTRA Film include:

  • Finer Grain: New Micro-Structure Optimized T-GRAIN® Emulsions now enable PORTRA Films to deliver finer grain than ever before.
  • Outstanding Scanning Results: With finer grain and an emulsion overcoat specially designed for scanners, PORTRA Films reproduce beautifully, be it optical or digital output.
  • Spectacular Skin Tones: Reengineered PORTRA Films deliver smooth, natural reproduction of skin tones, with a choice of Natural or Vivid colour saturation.
  • Superb Colour in Mixed Light: PORTRA films deliver beautiful, natural colour regardless of the lighting conditions, even under fluorescent light.
  • Best In Class Underexposure Latitude: PORTRA films provide the greatest latitude among professional colour films (-2 to+3 stops), enabling photographers to shoot with confidence even under challenging lighting conditions.
  • True-To-Speed ISO Ratings: There‘s no need to test or compensate. Set the meter to the box speed and start shooting.
  • Matched Prints: Single Channel Printing Technology delivers beautifully matched prints across all speeds and formats.

To ensure that this new film would meet the needs of professionals, Kodak had a number of photographers and professional labs test the product during its final stages of development.

"I am thrilled with this new film," said Jock McDonald, an internationally acclaimed professional photographer, based in San Francisco, California. "It brings so much to the dance – the way it handles contrast, keeping shadow detail is incredible. And its fine grain detail and colour palate are wonderful. It’s magical."

"Due to the superior grain and latitude of the new PORTRA films, I am able to use available light in more extreme situations without compromising the quality my clients and I demand," said Chris Usher, a renowned internationally published photojournalist whose documentation of behind the scenes moments at the White House, "Behind the Velvet Rope," is currently touring as an exhibition. "Whether shooting at a small county fair in the middle of the day, a rodeo at night, the majestic splendor of Niagara Falls through the mist or everyday people going about their lives, I can rely on PORTRA Film with confidence. The images, in detail and colour, are the next best thing to being there."

McDonald and Usher will join professional photographers Renate Forster and Frederic Lagrange at a panel at Photokina, to discuss their experiences with PORTRA Film, as well as how film fits into their work and photography. Photokina is the largest imaging exposition and trade show in Europe, which opens September 26 in Cologne, Germany. Visitors to Photokina can join these panels, to be held:

  • Wednesday, September 27: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.; Kristallsaal room, section 3: Entrance West, 3rd floor
  • Thursday, September 28: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.; Salon Barcarole: Entrance West, 3rd floor

In addition to the discussion, Kodak will showcase images that these photographers have captured using the PORTRA films at its booth, 5.2 – Stand A002 / C031 and during the panel presentations.

The new KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA films will be available worldwide on a stock-turnover basis beginning in the fourth quarter of 2006.

About Eastman Kodak Company
Kodak is the world’s foremost imaging innovator, providing leading products and services to the photographic, graphic communications and healthcare markets. With sales of $14.3 billion in 2005, the company is committed to a digitally oriented growth strategy focused on helping people better use meaningful images and information in their life and work. Consumers use Kodak’s system of digital and traditional image capture products and services to take, print and share their pictures anytime, anywhere; businesses effectively communicate with customers worldwide using Kodak solutions for prepress, conventional and digital printing and document imaging; creative professionals rely on Kodak technology to uniquely tell their story through moving or still images; and leading healthcare organizations rely on Kodak’s innovative products, services and customized workflow solutions to help improve patient care and maximize efficiency and information sharing within and across their enterprise. More information about Kodak (NYSE: EK) is available at www.kodak.co.uk.

Kodak, Kodak Professional and Portra are trademarks of Eastman Kodak Company.

Call for entries: The Holga Show at Photomedia Center

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

The Call for Entries category has been mighty thin due to my refusal to post any that require entry fees, but this one looks decent: Holga, no entry fee, electronic submission. It’s an electronic show that reqires a print donation if your work is accepted.

ATTENTION fine art photographers working with HOLGA cameras!

In December 2006, the Photomedia Center will be featuring artists who have been invited through an open submissions process to exhibit their photography which was created with the assistance of the Holga toy camera. This plastic miracle has produced a track record unexpectedly beatuiful results in the hands of skilled image-makers.

Artists are welcome to submit up to 8 images for consideration for inclusion in the show. Final decisions will be made by the Photomedia Center staff and board of directors. Accepted images will be shown online at www.photomediacenter.org as the featured exhibit of the month and archived online in our "previous exhibitions" section of the site thereafter. There is no cost to enter your work, but if your work is selected, we ask that you donate a print of your image to the Photomedia Center for its permanent collection.

I contacted them to clarify the camera hacking situation, and they replied:

The requirements are pretty open… any image is acceptable as long as it was made in some part and process with a Holga toy camera. Using modified versions of the camera, including lenses, is fine.

More info at the Photomedia Center’s Web site.

Via Randy Smith at holgamods (get your modified Holga from him!)

New Mike Ware alt process books: Gold in Photography and The Chrysotype Manual

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From the AlternativePhotography.com newsletter:

For all those of you who wants to know the ins and outs of the chrysotype process, here are two invaluable books from Dr. Mike Ware. As usual, thoroughly researched, they offer the first published monographs detailing the use of pure gold in photographic imaging. Gold in Photography and The Chrysotype Manual are the culmination of years of meticulous and methodical experimentation by Dr. Mike Ware, the leading researcher in the fields of iron-based photographic printing and conservation. And, don’t miss the interview!

How to flip the lens on a Lex35/Vivitar T100 crapcam

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

Addled dog chasing ball by Eben Ostby

The Lex35/Vivitar T100 is a crappy, hackable, cheap, plastic camera. Above is Eben Ostby‘s result from flipping and spacing the lens. He writes:

I don’t have pictures to show what I did, but if you look at my photostream, you’ll see a few "addled" photos that were done with a Lex 35 with a flipped lens. Here’s what I did:

Took apart the Lex35 [Eben’s instructions, with photos, are here].

Took the lens "board" off by removing its two screws. On the back of the lensboard, there’s a plastic ring that holds the lens in place, and which can be popped off by prying it gently with a screwdriver or such.

The lens comes out and can be reversed and placed in the front part of the lens-holder – in the stepped rings that are visible from the front. I used a thick washer to hold it in place, but you can improvise something else… tinfoil, glue, putty… I dunno. With the lens pushed as far back as I could get it to go, it the camera "focuses" (if that’s really the word) from about 2 feet to 30 feet. Sort of.

I also tried flipping the lens around but putting it back in the back part of the lensboard. If you do this, you’ll need to shim the lensboard away from the body of the camera, and use longer screws (such as the ones that hold the body of the camera together). And the focus is worse.

I’ve gotta say, I’m thrilled at having a screwed up Lex35 like this. It just made my week.

You can pick up a Vivitar 100 (same as the Lex35 except it has a tripod mount) for US $1.95 from American Science & Surplus.

Related: Lex 35/Vivitar T100 bulb shutter/multiple exposure mod how-to here on Photon Detector

Edward Levinson’s "Heartgraphy" pinhole photography show, Tokyo, JP

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

The show will include some first time showings of Edward‘s "Fears and Hopes" series of dioramas, masks, and figures, as well as images from the series in his new book "Timescapes Japan" [blogged previously].

There will be a one day workshop on September 23 [2006] concentrating on doing pinhole portraits.

Signed copies of the new book will be on sale as well as original prints!

The show runs 19 September–1 October, 2006, at Roonee 247 Photography, Misuzu Bldg 1F, Yotsuya 4-11, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Gallery hours are 12–7pm (closed on Mondays).

Opening reception on Tuesday, 19 September, 2006 at 6:00pm.

Via Pinhole Visions

Harman Professional photo inkjet paper

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HARMAN Technology Limited Press Release:

Harman, the leading professional imaging specialist has provided the first ever glimpse of its new professional photo inkjet paper, just days before officially unveiling the products to the industry at the Photokina exhibition in Cologne, Germany. This exclusive shot of the product and its packaging has only been distributed to selected online media and is the only picture to be made available before the Photokina show. The picture shows the first two products in the range, which incorporate a real photo Baryta layer within their coating – the only photographic inkjet media to do so. The matt finish product pictured, will incorporate instant-dry silica technology. Created primarily for the fine art and professional photography market, HARMAN wanted the real users to see the innovative products first.

Howard Hopwood, Marketing Director at HARMAN technology commented: "At HARMAN technology, we believe ourselves to be very much a part of the photographic community. We are very enthusiastic about the launch of our first professional photo inkjet products, and we wanted the people who will benefit most from using them to see the products first."

The black boxes will provide a strong presence on shelf, and colour coding has been used within the artwork to easily identify each individual product in the range. Product test packs will be distributed to the photographic media over the coming weeks, and detailed launch plans are due to be announced in the very near future.

Via PhotographyBLOG

How to modify a Polaroid SX-70 for 600 film

Nicolai Grossman 1 Comment

Adrian Hanft (of Lego pinhole camera fame) wrote a nice, step-by-step tutorial on converting a Polaroid SX-70 camera—whose Time Zero film has been discontinued—to take the still-available 600 film. He writes:

Polaroid 600 film actually fits in an SX-70 camera pretty easily. The problem with using 600 film in the SX-70 is that it is four times more sensitive than SX-70 film. Without modification, all your photos taken with 600 film would be overexposed. To correct this problem, we are going to adjust the camera by two stops. We will use a one stop neutral density filter to cover the lens, and we will remove the neutral density filter that covers the photocell. If you are wondering why we are adjusting by two stops when the film is four times faster, here is a quick math lesson. One stop is equivalent to doubling (or halving depending on which direction you are going) the amount of light. So, 2×2=4. Alright, lets get started.

Read tutorial at Found Photography