Katie - as carstenw said, these are shot on a 35mm panoramic camera (graciously on loan from kidtexas). Basically it's shoot almost two 35mm frames at once, which makes it a quasi-medium format camera. The 30mm is about the same perspective as a 15mm lens on 24x36, so it's incredibly wide. The editing is a similar process of taking two slides with the same composition, overlaying them, using a "layer mask," and then projecting twice the EV. Fortunately this is all done digitally.
Carsten - I thought about renting a Fuji 617 for this trip, but the Xpan was nicer in two ways 1. I am aggressively trying to use up my 35mm film, so this was a good way to do that. 2. The Fuji 617 is in no way hand-holdable, whereas the Xpan is a pleasure to hold and carry. While this trip was somewhat of a renaissance for the tripod for me, I usually shoot quick and move on, so the XPan was a bit more practical.
Sirimiri - that looks a lot like a guy I went to college with - can you send me a larger version? To answer your questions: I used the center filter, since the 30mm is a disaster without it, so that's 1.3EV or so lost already, so I often metered TTL. For tripod work (like the shot above), I just use my iPhone's spot meter, and live with the falloff. I did shoot some similar subjects with the Mamiya+43mm, so I'll post those too someday. Comparing the two is very difficult. First off, a composition that works as a panoramic doesn't necessary work as a 6x7. Next, while Fuji and Mamiya both make great lenses, the look they generate is just very different. Mamiya has that "classic" look, Fuji is a bit less contrasty and at times looks ethereal (like above, again). I didn't really want to end up with a bunch of the "same" shot, so often I was going in different directions, as conditions change very quickly.
Death Valley can feel very cramped at the "typical" locations, and at others it's just a vast palette on which to paint.
corposant wrote:
Unfortunately Samys made me return the 30mm. Facists!
Capitalist pigs.
Awesome shots though, especially the first. Interesting that you're posting these as I've been researching a bit about the xpan. It's now on my list but it's a bit pricey so it may have to wait for a while...
zalmyb wrote:
Awesome shots though, especially the first. Interesting that you're posting these as I've been researching a bit about the xpan. It's now on my list but it's a bit pricey so it may have to wait for a while...
I am sure kidtexas would entertain an offer from you.
Really great stuff corposant. The Astia looks fantastic. I kind of wish they sold it in 8x10. Velvia 50 is sold out every where and 100 may be too . I hope they keep bringing us 8x10 Velvia.
Zaitz wrote:
Really great stuff corposant. The Astia looks fantastic. I kind of wish they sold it in 8x10. Velvia 50 is sold out every where and 100 may be too . I hope they keep bringing us 8x10 Velvia.
Developed with BTZS tube in Rodinal r09 for 4.75 minutes. The highlights in the window held incredibly well.
You can still buy Astia in 4x5 if you still have that system. I believe Astia's competitor was E100G. As that was just discontinued this week by Kodak, I recommend you research and buy out some stock. I believe thrice has shot some of this in the past (and I liked it).
Cool composition you have here - what time of day did you shoot - and where is the light coming from?
More from Death Valley - I tried to avoid other photographers and make more untraditional compositions, but some of the ones below will look familiar.
Except this one - pathway to the salt pan with salt nuggets (the little dots in the distance are photographers who were shooting into the mountain) - the little nuggets were incredible and I liked the makeshift path heading out to the plain:
KatieInTexas wrote:
Well Holy Crap! That's 35mm film? Tell me about this editing that you did ... combined two negs for tone or what? That is gorgeous!!!! And sharp as $hit!
Don't you own a Mamiya 7? You probably know this already, but with the panoramic adapter, the 7 will make 35 mm exposures that are identical to the XPan's in size, and similar in quality.
The adapter is frequently maligned as being clunky. If you already own the camera and consider panoramic to be more than just cropping, consider giving it a spin.
Edit: I should add that the 7 system has no equivalent of the outstanding XPan 30 mm, which corposant has used here.
(The XPan system has no equivalent of the 7's 150 mm.)
corposant wrote:
You can still buy Astia in 4x5 if you still have that system. I believe Astia's competitor was E100G. As that was just discontinued this week by Kodak, I recommend you research and buy out some stock. I believe thrice has shot some of this in the past (and I liked it).
Cool composition you have here - what time of day did you shoot - and where is the light coming from?
Yeah they have some Astia. I am not sure how much longer. I know Rodney Lough JR is apparently moving to MFD because Astia is going away. Not sure if he was only speaking of 8x10. But it wouldn't make much sense for them to cut 8x10 and keep 4x5, the difference then is only cutting it to different size. Whereas with 35mm and MF to LF the difference is in the base material. Maybe they just don't import it.
Thanks. It was dark but I made it darker. The negative has plenty of detail everywhere. Mid-day. That light didn't have direct sunlight through it thankfully. There was also one light above onto the statue.
I don't like that I can't see your images at work. They block that host. ken.vs.ryu wrote:
very nice zaitz.
Nice shots Corposant! Colors and composition are superb.
It seems that slide film is being phased out as Kodak completely discontinued it (except for one emulsion used in movie industry) and Fuji has only a very limited choice with Astia and 64T gone. That is really very sad. I feel that a move back to digital will be unavoidable. The only question is when
. I hope they keep bringing us 8x10 Velvia. 
