Any colour/"real-life" pictures from Zeiss Planar?

[stephen_jones4]

I wondered if anyone had any (new) pictures to show, taken with the ZM

planar? Colour would be nice. Cheers.

[keirst]

I shot these with the 50mm/2 Planar ZM:<br><br>

<a href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston13.html">http://

www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston13.html</a>. Fuji NPC 160 rated at

about 40 ISO, Tripod Mounted M7, f/5.6, 15 sec.<br><br>

 

<a href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston16.html">http://

www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston16.html</a>. Fuji NPC 160 rated at

125 ISO, Handheld M7, f/5.6.<br><br>

 

<a href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston17.html">http://

www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston17.html</a>. Kodak Portra 800, rated

at 500 ISO, Handheld Hexar RF, f/5.6.<br><br>

 

<a href="http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston21.html">http://

www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~keirst/boston/boston21.html</a>. Fuji NPC 160 rated at

125 ISO, Handheld Hexar RF, f/2.8, 1/4000s.

[jeremy_tok]

<a href="http://www.pbase.com/richardchoi/planar&page=all" target="_blank">With the RD-1</a>

[bill_marshall1]

Wow! Nice photos, guys. There's something special about the colors in all of these pictures.

[anders_sjogren1]

Steven, nice photos!

 

I also like that film, Fuji NPC160.

 

Can I ask an OT question?: What is the gain from rating this 160 ISO film at 40 and 125 ISO?

 

Also, is it just my eyes, or did something pass the street and left a trace right over the man hole, during this succesfull 15 sec exposure? :-)

 

Anders

[anders_sjogren1]

Over the man hole in the "Tremont Street Scene"

[stephen_jones4]

MUCH Appreciated! Keep them coming!

[stephen_jones4]

Planar-15.jpg (from Jeremy Tok's pictures) is extraordinary for it's lack of any harshness in background etc (is that a function partly of the RD1?). It might just be a really great lens in the summicron DR style...

[jeremy_tok]

No, no, those are not my pics. But yes, it does look like a very impressive lens.

[keirst]

Hi Anders et al,<br><br>

For daylight pictures I usually rate color negative films 1/3 to 1 stop below their

designated ISO speed because I like to have more detail in the shadows and lower

midtones. C41 films have tremendous exposure lattitude (unlike slide films) and slight

overexposure decreases apparent film grain because the dye clouds begin to overlap a bit,

with a tradeoff being a slight loss of detail in highlights.<br><br>

For my night photography, I like to expose 2 stops over the ISO film speed, rating ISO 160

film at 40 Exposure Index, for instance. Since night cityscapes have tremendous dynamic

range of 10 stops or more, overexposure compresses the dynamic range of the scene as

recorded to C41 film. If you expose the film at the manufacturer's rated speed, you will

lose a tremendous amount of shadow detail. The highlights get saturated to near the

maximum that the film can record, while the midtones and shadows get pushed up toward

them, resulting in an image that is closer to what the human eye sees. Your eyes and brain

do a tremendous amount of contrast processing, to reduce the dynamic between bright

lights and shadow, better than any film yet made. For example, the round sign in my

Tremont Street scene did not appear as washed out when I was standing there taking

pictures, and when I print it again on 11X14" paper, I'll probably make a mask to butn it in

more.<br><br>

PS. I think the light on the manhole cover was just reflecting off the streetlight that was

out of frame on the right side. This one had no car drive through it, unlike some before

and after it. Unfortunately the City of Boston has been putting in ultra-bright street lamps

on all the side streets in our neighborhood, creating a huge increase in light pollution so

that Bostonians can hardly see the stars anymore. It does make it easier to photograph the

buildings though!

[anders_sjogren1]

Thanks for your very informative answer about the film pushing Stephen!

 

I will print your answer out and study it some more. It's seams very usefull knowledge and I guess is it needs to be understood fully to benefit from it.

 

Anders

[david_kieltyka1]

>> Planar-15.jpg (from Jeremy Tok's pictures) is extraordinary for its lack of any harshness in background etc (is that a function partly of the RD1?). It might just be a really great lens in the summicron DR style... <<

 

I've used the new Zeiss 50mm with the R-D1 and with color neg film, and the smooth out-of-focus rendition is evident with both. It's a very eye-friendly lens. The new 35mm has much the same character. I can see carrying both the Planar and the DR, the former for color and the latter, with its lower contrast, for b&w.

 

-Dave-

[simonpg]

Thanks Steven. Very interesting to see some of this lens' characteristics. It reminds me of my 80mm Planar (Hassy) in its lovely smoothness of out-of-focus area.

 

By the way, nice to see someone include film and exposure info with shots - just wish more would. And thanks for explaining the film ratings you selected.