Low budget often means low quality.  If not immediately, then most of the times it will be on long term…  well, not always!

Last saturday, I had the unique opportunity to get a Contax T compact camera for a price, lower than 10 rolls of film… For those of you who don’t know the price of a roll of film… this was cheap with the big “C”.

The Contax T was introduced around 1984, what makes it +/- 28 years old.  This little gem, designed by FA Porsche, performs better than ANY compact (digital or film) I ever owned.

It has only a few buttons and controls, which makes handling really simple…  I like!

• ISO setting
• aperture setting
• self-timer
• shutter-release
• and exposer +1,5 stops for backlit subjects

and that’s it!  No fuss, no extra bells and whistles…  just that.

Now, what makes this tiny little camera so special?

First of all: the glass.  This little beast has a 38mm 2.8 Carl Zeiss Sonnar T*…  yes, the same glass quality you would find on a Leica or a Hasselblad!  And I can assure you, it is a hell of a lens.  Sharpness and rendition is just great.  I had my first “test-walk” with it on saturday and some of the results are included in this post.  No extra sharpening has been added.  Just resize and ready.

Second: the design/  It is very clear that a great mind like FA Porsche had his part in the design of the camera.  He designed the camera to be made completely out of aluminum and titanium, no cheap-ass plastics!  For example the film winder is put away flush with the body when you don’t need it.  Just little things that make a difference.

The most eye-catching part still remains the lens cover “door”.  You really have to lower a “door” to engage the camera…  not alway that handy, but it is really effective to protect the tiny Zeiss.

And last but not least: it is really compact!  this camera, which makes pictures at the quality of an SLR, can easily be put away in the pocket of your coat… no big and bulky cameras any longer for my upcoming trips!

Oh yes…  and for those who need it (not really my cup of tea), it comes with an attachable flash!  Also very stylish designed of-course.

It looks like a toy…  but certainly doesn’t perform like one!

As today’s DSLR’s and lenses are getting bigger, heavier, more expensive and become obsolete quicker and quicker, I decided to make a change for my daily carry-around camera: the good old Nikon FE2 !

The FE2 is one little piece of craftsmanship and has been around since 1983… almost 30 years ago, time flies!  As the FE2 uses batteries, you could think that it needs the batteries for operation but no.  It only uses the batteries for its built-in lightmeter.  So when you run out of power, no worries, just keep on taking pictures using the sunny 16 or your handheld lightmeter!

As you could figure, the FE2 is a fully-manual camera…. well, not really.  It has an “A” stand on the shutterspeed-knob, which can be used as an aperture priority setting.  So first set your aperture on the lens and the FE2 will select the suited shutterspeed.  This only when you didn’t run out of power of course.

As the FE2 is NOT a DX-camera (which means that it will detect your ISO-speed on the film canister), you still have to set the ISO-rating yourself.  This can ben a big advantage for over- or underexposing your film…  YOU have full control!

The FE2 has a nice and bright viewfinder with standard the split-image/microprism focusing.  The is a pretty easy way to focus on a SLR camera, so no hassles with this.

On little nifty trick is the film advance lever, the shutter can only be released when the advance lever is in the backward position.  This, to prevent unwanted shutter releases in your bag…  nice little trick from Nikon!

The standard kit to take on a hike is completed with the small manual focus Nikkor H-C 50mm 2.0.  A nice and sharp lens with very robust focussing ring, which I like!  You immediately get the ring when needed.  It focusses very smoothly and precise.  As an addition to the 50mm, the 28mm 2.8 E-series is also a nice and small manual focus lens.  These 2 lenses perform well and keep size and weight down. And one very important detail…  you can find them really for no money!

Oh yes…  and for those who love looks: it has a brass body… so it will only become more beautiful during the years!

A few images I took with the FE2 on one of my recent trips to Luxembourg.  Film was Kodak TMAX400, bit grainy, but lovely in contrasts!

Many years ago, when I started out at photography school, digital photography was still at very beginning. No huge sensors, incredible amounts of pixels and everything in digital was really expensive!

Nowadays, anyone out there can afford a brilliant camera with enough pixels to print a wall-size poster! Is this bad? No, technology evolves and it goes faster and faster, you can’t stop evolution… just as life… goes faster and faster… time flies by!

Sometimes it’s that part that really annoys me, that everything has to be done at a really high speed. That’s why I decided to go back, and take time again for my pictures… think, frame, focus and push the button. And yes…look at the back of the camera to discover that there is no LCD-screen! Right, I was shooting film!

I decided to get back to the beginning of my education and started getting out with a film-camera again. A few months ago I purchased a Leica M2 and took it with me on holiday to see if it did what I expected it to do! No light meters, no nothing… only the sunny 16.   Also the Hasselblad 500C, it had to be taken on a test-drive to after all those years of digital madness.

As I wanted to do test on color negative I tried the new Kodak Portra 400 with my Leica and the Fuji Pro 400h with the Hasselblad. Why this choice? Well, I think the Portra is better suited for scenery, landscapes and vacation shots as the Pro 400h is better at portraits. The Hasselblad has his test-drive at a fashion-shoot, so portraits it would be!

As I can only develop B&W film myself, I relied on the services of Richard Photo Lab (California) to give me the best they could. And they did a good job! I certainly will have to get used to work with film again, but I think this was a quite good start for the first 2 rolls.

The hasselblad will be used more often again, the Leica needs a CLA. Some of the shots (at slower shutter speeds) lagged, resulting in a dark left side of the frame. But hey, the camera is already over 60 so a few minor mistakes are allowed. Only 4 of 36 frames suffered from the lag.

To give you an impression of the try-out, a few of the shots….  I can assure you one thing.  More of this will follow!

No editing aftwards had been done, only resize for web.

A series from my holiday in Rota, Spain, shot with the Leica M2 on Kodak Portra 400

One of the frames suffering from the shutter-lag, resulting in the dark part at the left-side (bottom in portrait stand)

And some of the Hassy shots, shot on Fuji Pro 400 H…  the sun was very strong in back-light so I took a risk, but it ended out quite good I think.

Last sunday we had a great day shooting some new fashion stuff for Bjorn Verlinden in the fabulous Rentaloft location in Antwerp.

With the great services of make-up artist Peggy Timmermans, the models Nathalie, Lucie and Tosca really were the stars of that day!   This time we decided to make it possible for you to have a look behind the scenes of this hectic, hot, but especially FUN day.  Therefor our super-assistant Frank van Durme made some video-footage which I converted into a small backstage video.

I hope you enjoy the summary of this day full of jokes and leg-pulling by this great team!  Really hope to be able to get back together soon!!!

After buying the old Leica a few weeks ago, I ran into a “big” problem…  Being able to work with the better DSLR’s for years, my “thinking” of photography rules went down, way down!  As all DSLR’s are all equipped with great light meters, in studio there is my Minolta meter and now with my Leica there is… nothing!  Ok, there was the Leica Meter MC supplied with the camera, but I took it off and forced myself to go “thinking” again… Life can be easy, but when it becomes too easy, no good!

So I had to go out and check the possibilities of light metering without any help of meters.  And yes, there is one fantastic rule: Sunny 16!

It’s quite easy to work with and the best of all: it works!  That is, in the given circumstances…  you won’t be able to use it in all light-conditions possible…

A small explanation:

I made myself a small card with all the necessary info on it, just 5 cm by 2 cm!  Ain’t that something

The basic principle of the sunny 16 is: On a sunny day, set you aperture (f-value) to 16 and your shutter speed to same number as your ISO film speed…  that’s it!

For example:

• sunny day:  f/16     –     ISO = 200     –     shutter speed has to be 1/200 (or 250 if your camera doesn’t know 200)
• sunny day:  f/16     –     ISO = 400     –     shutter speed has to be 1/400 (or 500 if your camera doesn’t know 400)

From there on, you can go playing around with your f-values and shutter speeds, to become the image you like!  When there’s no sun, just have a look at the other values on the small card I made. In the early days of photography, this worked.  And as today’s modern digital photography is based on the same techniques…  it will work to!

I suggest you try it out…and you’ll see, it does the trick!!

Good luck and let me know your experiences!

After finding the fantastic Leica M2 a few weeks ago, i went searching the net to find a nice strap to match it.  Now, I have to admit… it was a bit frightening to see what some companies dare to ask for a simple leather strap…  up to 80 dollars and above!  It was something like “hmz… should I spend that much on it???”  Well, no!  When I start looking for something, I want to find it.  And I want to find it affordable to!

Don’t ask me how, but at one moment a page on the net appeared with Cam-In leather straps.  The really looked nice, hand-crafted and made from Italian cow-skin leather (or that’s what they say).  AND at 1/3 to 1/4 of the price of the competition… Now that made me think again

After finding a nice color that would suit the M2, I sent my order, made the payment and got the confirmation that everything was OK.  Let’s hope so!

Two days later… yes…TWO days, I received a note from Fedex that they tried to deliver a parcel…  what would that be?  Ok, as I was passing by in Antwerp, I dropped by at their depot in Wilrijk to pick it up.

It was a huge parcel… for only a camerastrap!  When unpacking, I had to remove really a lot of protecting material to make the nice Cam-In box appear.  That was pleasing me that there was no possibility left for damaging the goods.

Opening the box the smell of genuine leather came to me…  it looked really nice!

The Cam-In logo nicely embossed in the belt…  at the inside!  So if you don’t want to show-off with the brand… no problem!

The belt had 2 protecting flaps, to put behind the fasteners.  If those 2 flaps weren’t there, the small rings would definitely damage the camera.

Now… honest…  doesn’t it look sweet?

A while ago, when surfing the internet, I stumbled upon a small ad which told me “for sale: Leica camera” A small, unclear picture was added…  nothing more nothing less.

The picture told me that it had to be a Leica M2 or M3 with light meter on it…  So, the add caught my attention and I sent  a mail to the seller.  Some time later I received a mail telling me that the seller would like to have +/- 150 euro for it…  “huh???” A Leica M2 or M3 for 150 euro???  Strange…  so I wrote a new mail to the seller with the question if the camera was still working…  never know!

Yes, everything was ok…  it was the camera of the seller’s dad and he had been there for +/- 20 years without moving…  Might be interesting, and as it was only a 20 minute drive… no problem on an Easter-monday!

So when I came there, a very kind man explained me he was loving photography very much and had gone through the complete process… from the Leica to a Pentax SLR to a Nikkormat… and now he was into digital.  So, finally he decided to let go of his dad’s old Leica…  and yes…  it was a real bargain!  The camera looked as new!  Only a few marks on top of the body showed that the camera had a history… A quick search learned that the camera was born on 24 august 1959.

To make the story complete, the small beauty came with a nice series of extra’s…  a genuine leather Leica case, an external light meter (Leica Meter MC) and even an original UV-filter to protect the lovely Elmar 5cm 2.8 lens!

After testing the shutter, having a close look at the lens, holding the beauty…  my decision was made!  I had never dared to dream that I was able to be the owner of a Leica…  these things tend to cost a bit more than this one…  so yes, it was like a small dream came true!

I will have to get the sunny 16 back into my head, because of the lack of an internal light meter.  The pop-on light meter is still working, but why not do it all the way manual?

I think… quite sure…. that I will be spending some time (if the weather allows me to!) in my darkroom this summer…  And the film in my fridge WILL be finally used

I hope to be able to share some results of it pretty soon!

Thank you Ernst!

Photoshop (or other image editors) is often seen as a way to make a “bad” picture “good”.   For myself, I tend to keep pictures as natural as possible, with small improvements to the general image.

Though, sometimes it is necessary to use an image editor to improve a picture more drastic for a certain assignment.  And at that stage, it is good that we have the possibilities to make those changes.

In this case, I will discuss a beauty-shot.

First allow me to point out a few things that can be done before the editing, to make your life easier afterwards:

1. make sure you choose a model with nice smooth skin.  This is not always possible, but when you got the possibility to choose the model for your assignment it always comes in handy
2. get yourself a good make-up artist. A professional MUA knows what you expect and they will be able to deliver a solid base for your beauty-shot.
3. get your lighting-setup right!  Often mistakes are made in lighting-setups, which can hardly or not be corrected afterwards.  So the basics of studio lighting are important!

When you got these 3 points figured out right, it should be possible to get yourself a nice beauty-shot.

In the picture discussed, we used a very light and basic make-up, which still shows a lot of the “natural beauty” of the model (picture left).

For the final result, all the blemishes, unwanted hair falling down, small wrinkles in the neck area have been removed.  To get a slightly “fresh” look, the curves have been pulled up a bit and the color-balance has been slightly changed.

To get a nice and soft skin, a slight blur has been applied, but I’ve made sure that the tiny hairs on the cheek an the majority of the pores still remained visible.  This is to prevent the “plastic” looks.

Finally a slight sharpening of the picture has been applied.

So bottom line for me is: drastic photo-editing can be useful, but only when the assignment asks for it.  Otherwise… keep it all nice & natural!

As I was already into my Polaroid Passion for a while with the lovely Polaroid SX-70 vintage camera, the system really got me.  As the cameras are getting rare (Polaroid stopped production) they are also getting more expensive and cameras in good condition and 100% functioning are often hard to find!

A few weeks ago, I dropped by at the local recycling store (WEB), and what did I see?  A Polaroid Image System camera in a very mint condition for 50 eurocents!  Yes, 50 eurocents!!!  I think I had to think about the purchase for about half a second…  and this lovely camera found its new owner.

Offcourse, there was no film in it, so I couldn’t try the functionning.  But hey, the “loss” wouldn’t be that big when it wasn’t functioning!

Back home, I went to the webshop of The Impossible Project to find me some film for my new camera.  At that moment, the Sofftone Edge Cut was still in stock and available for the very interesting price of 11,00 euro.  So I bought 3 packs of it to give it a try!  A few days later, the film arrived and I couldn’t wait to slip the cassette into the camera… and yes…. it worked!!!

A fully functioning Image Sytem, with all whistles and bells like flash, autofocus, timer,… for just 50 cents!  My day couldn’t be better.