July 8, 2011

Sprocket Rocket Superpops

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Lomography's Candy-Colored Cameras

Following the launch of the four-edition La Sardina wide angle tin can cameras, the Lomographic Society has just released its Sprocket Rocket Superpop editions. Available in lemon yellow, cornflower blue, day-glo orange and gang green, the Superpops join the basic black and the special edition white Sprocket Rockets.

While I prefer my cameras not to scream “Steal me!” or “I’m a fuckin’ hipster,” I can understand the appeal, as these are marketed to younger kids who want to try their hand at experimenting with film. The Sprocket Rocket, as you might know, is a wide angle 35mm film camera which is designed for multiple exposure, its two spools capable of forward or reverse winding. As the name implies, it exposes the entire area of your frame, including the sprocket holes.

It is also known as the Bane of One-Hour Photo Labs Everywhere.

 

June 16, 2011

Konica C35 Still Alive and Kicking

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Remember my Konica C35 EF from a few posts back? I had the camera cleaned and its flash capacitor replaced last week and am quite satisfied with the results. Seems this old boy still has some legs. Here are a few test shots, but one of these days I’ll get around to using it for a project. One of these days, yeah right.

Friendly Neighborhood Gulag

Friendly Neighborhood Gulag

Friendly Neighborhood Gulag

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May 20, 2011

The LC-Wide is Launched

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Well, hello there.

After a series of hints and teasers, Lomography has finally unveiled their latest star performer, the LC-Wide, sending Lomo fans into epileptic shocks of lust.

I’m not sure who broke the news first, whether it was Gizmodo or Lomo UK, but Lomo’s US official launch event is still a few hours away, poor saps.

I won’t get into detail here, just follow the links above to get the skinny, but in short, the LC-Wide is a wide angle and multi aspect ratio (full frame, half frame, square frame) film camera that makes me rethink my camera budger for the year. Much as I don’t really buy this whole Lomography lifestyle hype (despite my blog’s name), I do feel that this is one product of theirs that I’d spend a premium on.

 

December 27, 2010

A Closer Look at the Olympus PEN D2

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Look at the time. 2010 is almost over, and it’s been a good year for me, not just in my personal and professional life but also in this photography hobby of mine. I was able to travel to the United States and stay there for a month, shooting as we went crisscrossing the country. I was able to shoot the Great Wall of China and Beijing’s Forbidden City.  For Christmas, I gave out framed prints, which were very well-received by my immediate family. And, I was able to acquire some very choice pieces of vintage gear.

The first one I mentioned last post: an Olympus PEN D2. I’ve been shooting with it for some time now and I can say that it is one really sweet shooter. It took a while to get used to focusing with the lever but after a few days, I could guesstimate focus fast like the best of them. Still haven’t taken it to my technician so I don’t know if the meter can still be revived, but that’s a minor niggle – I’m seldom without a handheld meter anyway.

This morning I was able to take some digital shots of the camera, just to give readers a closeup look at this cool piece of kit. Here they are, with more after the jump.

The CdS meter may be dead but at least I can go ahead and shoot manually.

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November 26, 2010

Travelomo Goes to Beijing Part III: Beijing in Black & White

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Walk On

No trip to Beijing is complete without a visit to the Forbidden City, which truly deserves a day or two (more even) in your itinerary. Unfortunately we only had a couple of hours to walk through the site’s vast grounds. Better than nothing, of course, and I took the opportunity to practice street photography, which candidly frames human subjects within their environmental context.  It’s quite the challenge for me, a natural introvert, to take photos of strangers in public but I manned up and just did it.

The best advice from experienced street photographers I’ve put to practice is to smile while you’re taking photos. A natural smile, mind you, never creepy. Meter for ambient light and set your camera’s aperture and shutter speed well in advance, so you don’t waste time fiddling with your dials just when you see a shot coming together. When you find a backdrop you really like, compose the shot in advance, pre-focus on a sweet spot and just wait for a subject to walk into the frame. You can also keep your aperture as narrow as possible for maximum depth of field to keep things in sharp focus.

For these shots I used my vintage Olympus PEN S.  It’s small and discreet, and hardly makes a sound.  Its 30mm lens is wide enough to capture huge chunks of scenery and gives great depth of field. Perfect for street photography.

Fashion Rampage

(Okay, for this shot above I cheated: these aren’t strangers.)

Forbidden Walk

Open Window

Courtyard

I’ve yet to figure out if WordPress has a Readmore function, so I’ll cap this at five shots. If you want to see more from this set, feel free to view the collection at my Flickr account. Add me as a contact and I’ll add you back. Good night!

 

June 10, 2010

Lomography Announces the Spinner 360°

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Whoa! Fresh, Fresher, Freshershest news from the folks over at the Lomographic Society International.

They’ve just announced the Lomography Spinner 360° , a crazy 35mm cam that spins on its axis to produce – you guessed it – 360° panoramic shots. How awesome is that? Check out how nuttily fun it looks:

To shoot, hold the handle steady and pull the ripcord. This spins the camera on its vertical axis, allowing it to capture a continuous 360° image of your environment. The results? Look and click to embiggen:

This being an LSI product, it comes bundled with extras in a premium package that will set you back – gasp – € 125.00! Pricey for a toy camera, but not wholly unexpected. Still, I imagine droves of toy camera enthusiasts going for it, myself included (If I can convince my wife to let me). No telling how much this’ll cost locally, but you can buy one online now here.  For more info, samples and techniques, check out the Lomography Spinner 360° microsite.

 

July 17, 2009

Vincent Price Teaches 3D Photography

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In the week or so since I posted an entry about my new old camera, the Nishika N8000 3D lenticular camera, I’ve been scouring the web, looking for whatever material I can find about this strange piece of kit. I struck paydirt on Youtube.

The celebrity endorser for the Nishika N8000 was none other than Vincent Price, horror icon and star of many a 3D horror flick (He was also the narrator in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, MJ RIP). Here is perhaps one of the strangest photography video instructionals ever to be released. Enjoy.

By the way, tomorrow I am having my test rolls processed. Crossing my fingers.

 

July 5, 2009

A 3D Photo for Vintage Pop

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L-R: Bong Salaveria, Mrs Travelomo and Mr Travelomo

L-R: Bong Salaveria, Mrs Travelomo and Mr Travelomo

After five great years of helping revive the art, music and culture scene in the urban enclave of Cubao, my favorite antique-retro-curio store Vintage Pop closed shop permanently last night. The owner, Bong Salaveria, is moving to Canada with his family in a few months and setting up shop there. Vintage Pop closed not with a whimper, as many shops do, but with a bang, going out in a party flowing with beer and nachos, full of friends and well-wishers. Most of the store’s stock of clocks, tin robots, old cameras and record players had been packed away, for shipping to Vancouver. Only their ghosts remained, on the walls outlined in colored chalk and permanent marker.

Still, there were a lot of odds and ends for sale piled up in bins and on the floor, and one of those odd bits was a Nishika N8000 lenticular camera. The latch to the door was broken and black electrical tape was used to keep the door shut, but otherwise it looked like it would work. A quick test revealed that the mechanicals still worked. Bong saw me fiddling with it and came over. “You know, Karlo, I have no more use for that. Keep it. It’s yours. “

I gladly accepted, promising Bong I’d send him a 3D photo if I got the camera to work. Which is a promise I intend to keep.

Here’s a few shots of this strange oversized camera. More info in the days to come.

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

Nishika N8000 Lenticular Camera

 

February 5, 2009

Visiting Vasypher’s Flickr

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Barrel Meet Tire
 Originally uploaded by vasypher

Alex Vazquez is a freelance photographer who lives in LA. He shoots with a Nikon D300, a Holga, a Mamiya and a Seagull. His black and whites are amazing and this photo of a barrel and a tire somewhere out in the desert is one of my favorite Holga shots ever. He’s also apparently an avowed strobist, creatively wielding his flash to produce distinct results.

Alex says he first creates concepts in his head, then goes out and shoots them. A simple philosophy that works.

Check out his flickr gallery here. It’s a bit sparse, but well worth a look. (The gunslinger shots may have been shot on digital, but they’re really nice work) We hope to see more of his work online.

If you want to book his services, just drop him a message on flickr.

 

January 20, 2009

New Addition to My Camera Family

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Say hello to my brand spanking new Demekin camera from those Japanese folks over at Superheadz.  Found this baby in my recent trip to Hong Kong, at a small boutique-slash-gallery along Gough Street called Gallery de Vie.

One of the more exotic toy cameras around, the Demekin is the first ever fisheye camera that uses the 110 format, a film standard popular in the seventies and early eighties and is quite hard to find today.  It has a plastic fisheye lens that gives you 146 degrees of coverage, an aperture of f/8.9, and a shutter speed of 1/100sec.

I managed to buy ten rolls of 110 film from my new favorite camera store Oh Shoot! (see previous post)  at 80 pesos a pop (that’s about a dollar seventy in US$) .  Since the film format is hard to come by, I plan on using this camera sparingly. With its diminutive size and light weight, the Demekin is the perfect camera for a pet project that’s long been gestating in my head. Will post sample shots soon.

 

Superheadz Demekin Finds a Home

Superheadz Demekin Finds a Home

 

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