And then, there’s Black and White

For a long time, I didn’t get any joy out of black and white shots in the digital Bayer colour sensor era, with LCD screens. I didn’t get the drama that I wanted, the depth of tones in monochrome that I visualised.
Not that I did that well in the film days. I used several films but my favourite turned out to be Agfapan 100 processed in Rodinal. Or was it Neofin Blau?
Seeing the picture was an issue with black and white. I guess I dream in colour and that hampers my recognition of what the panchromatic translations would yield, days after the fact.
With the Olympus PEN E-PL1, I’m on a new adventure. I can see, in Liveview and in different aspect ratios, the gritty black and white that I almost like (well, it’s better than most of the bland monchromatic transformations). It’s not that I can’t get one good monochrome shot, once in a while, it’s just that I don’t get one regularly.
Victory with Kodak V705

Discarded Shoes with the Samsung Galaxy S

Fellini with the Olympus C-750uz

Enchanted with the PEN E-PL1

Taking photos with whatever you have

I’m glad Robin takes time away from his E-5 to “smell the flowers”, see what else he can do. He had a bit of fun with his phone cam, a Nokia.

My Nokia E-71 as a camera was and is, really hopeless. Really hopeless. It may not may not have good image quality but I would never know. It would emit a loud synthesised audio click but then, much later, when my hand moved away, the camera would actually record the image. There was a macro mode but it didn’t get very macro-ey. In short, that phone cam just refused to perform it’s cam duties properly.

My Samsung Galaxy S can still be recalcitrant, but it more often, does perform as instructed. The only thing is, I must always remember to rub the lens port – somehow it has the habit of collecting every bit of finger grease in its idle time.

I still carry my Kodak V-705 for those wide angle moments and when I remember to, but the convenience and availability of the phone-cam, one that works as a cam, is satisfying.

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