Monk’s Wood Visit 1
I hatched a plan to get some relief from my depression and lack of motivation that seems due to the this whole lockdown with COVID-19. We had a short break in North Wales just before the restrictions came into force. Now with limits to travel to necessary travel and daily exercise my mood has not been very good. I have gotten out to exercise on bike rides over the past couple of weeks though the weather was very cold and windy. I am very slowly getting back into shape since I started retirement.
My plan was to combine the bike ride with some walking in local woodlands. I packed boots and a bike lock along with a camera. My first trip was meant to be a dry-run just to see how crowded the location mights be and to see how the ride went. I did pack my camera as part of the dry run though I did not plan to use it. The day was glorious and I rode in bright sunshine to Monk’s Wood. I made my way down the track and found an unused gate to lock my bike to that was out of sight from traffic on the main road.
Once I arrived I did not want to go back home as I had planned and thought the day was too nice to not walk. I changed shoes and got my camera out. For this trip I chose to dust off my Mamiya 645 Pro.
A couple of things motivated me to bring this camera out of the closet. First my Fuji 690 GSW is broken as I related in a previous post. Second I had run across a video from Nick Carver where he reviewed his Mamiya 645 Pro TL. It reminded me of how nice the camera is and the benefits of the metered prism finder. I also needed something relatively compact.
This camera was my second medium format film camera (my first was a Mamiya 645 100) and I have run a lot of film through it. I have a number of lenses and film backs for it. It tends to be my holiday camera with 15 images to a roll I can take snapshots relatively cheaply but still have great medium format quality. Ir really is a well made camera system.
For this trip I took my 80mm f1.9 lens and a film back loaded with Fuji Velvia 100 which was probably about 2-3 years old and had 2 images which I have no idea what they are on the roll. This was a debug run so I thought I would run through this old film. Though a great day for a walk not necessarily good for photographs. Anyway should be a good day out.
The day was nice with hardly anyone around. I basically wandered the woods rather aimlessly. It was the visible start of spring with the temperature verging on hot. The hawthorne was leafing out and blossoming, as was the apple and some bluebells made and appearance. For the most part the canopy was still barren most of the oak, sycamore, and ash still just budding out. This made it a bright contrasty day, perhaps not the best for the film I took.
I had not used the prism finder probably since I first got the camera. I prefer a waist level finder. This preference was borne out in this experience. It is very ‘squinty’ and not very relaxed. The sense of viewing through a tunnel was still present. I did find the meter useful and well thought out. I did start to question the accuracy as it seemed about a stop brighter than the sunny sixteen rule would dictate. Hard to say however as the woods are quite thick in most places. Some images I bracketed with a faster shutter speed. The film will tell.
When I got back home with the roll exposed I went to the Peak Imaging website to get it processed. They however are closed for the time being due to COVID-19. I looked at Ag Photographic and they are open. I have not used them for film processing before but it was going to be £8.50 for one roll and I am being more careful with money during the crisis. I have decided to hold my color film and send it all in once Peak opens and duration of the crisis is clearer.
As a result I do not have any photos to accompany this post at this time. I will update the post when I do get them back.
My plan was to combine the bike ride with some walking in local woodlands. I packed boots and a bike lock along with a camera. My first trip was meant to be a dry-run just to see how crowded the location mights be and to see how the ride went. I did pack my camera as part of the dry run though I did not plan to use it. The day was glorious and I rode in bright sunshine to Monk’s Wood. I made my way down the track and found an unused gate to lock my bike to that was out of sight from traffic on the main road.
Once I arrived I did not want to go back home as I had planned and thought the day was too nice to not walk. I changed shoes and got my camera out. For this trip I chose to dust off my Mamiya 645 Pro.
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| Mamiya 645 Pro TL |
This camera was my second medium format film camera (my first was a Mamiya 645 100) and I have run a lot of film through it. I have a number of lenses and film backs for it. It tends to be my holiday camera with 15 images to a roll I can take snapshots relatively cheaply but still have great medium format quality. Ir really is a well made camera system.
For this trip I took my 80mm f1.9 lens and a film back loaded with Fuji Velvia 100 which was probably about 2-3 years old and had 2 images which I have no idea what they are on the roll. This was a debug run so I thought I would run through this old film. Though a great day for a walk not necessarily good for photographs. Anyway should be a good day out.
The day was nice with hardly anyone around. I basically wandered the woods rather aimlessly. It was the visible start of spring with the temperature verging on hot. The hawthorne was leafing out and blossoming, as was the apple and some bluebells made and appearance. For the most part the canopy was still barren most of the oak, sycamore, and ash still just budding out. This made it a bright contrasty day, perhaps not the best for the film I took.
I had not used the prism finder probably since I first got the camera. I prefer a waist level finder. This preference was borne out in this experience. It is very ‘squinty’ and not very relaxed. The sense of viewing through a tunnel was still present. I did find the meter useful and well thought out. I did start to question the accuracy as it seemed about a stop brighter than the sunny sixteen rule would dictate. Hard to say however as the woods are quite thick in most places. Some images I bracketed with a faster shutter speed. The film will tell.
When I got back home with the roll exposed I went to the Peak Imaging website to get it processed. They however are closed for the time being due to COVID-19. I looked at Ag Photographic and they are open. I have not used them for film processing before but it was going to be £8.50 for one roll and I am being more careful with money during the crisis. I have decided to hold my color film and send it all in once Peak opens and duration of the crisis is clearer.
As a result I do not have any photos to accompany this post at this time. I will update the post when I do get them back.
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