Skip to content →

Category: Photography

Snowy Magnolia with the classic combo of Graflex Speed Graphic and Aero-Ektar 178mm F/2.5

Published January 9, 2021 by Vesa Vähälummukka

First snow covering the magnolia in our garden on January 6th 2021.

This is one of my very first shots taken with the 4×5 large format camera – a 1941 Graflex Speed Graphic and 1943 Kodak Aero-Ektar 178mm F/2.5 aerial lens. Both the lens and camera are American and from the era of second world war.

I shot the magnolia tree on our backyard both wide open and slightly stopped down (above) to F/5.6 and due to the shot with larger DOF i chose the above one.

While not having a proper film scanner for large format, this was “scanned” with Nikon Z6 and 55mm micro-nikkor lens using Philips bright light for illumination.

The shot is taken on Kodak TMAX-100 and home developed with Adox Rodinal + Adofix, using SP-445 developing tank.

This was not supposed to be the “final” scan from the negative – please forgive the white blobs from the film holder (aka my fingers) on the top left corner.

Comments closed

From Jena with Love!

Published November 24, 2020 by Vesa Vähälummukka

This is a small post about another new (for me) lens in the camerabag – the East-German exakta mount (exa) Carl Zeiss Jena Biometar 80mm F/2.8. I regard Biometar as sibling of the legendary Biotar 75mm F/1.5.

My copy of the lens is the latest (third) version of the biometar, with six aperture blades and marked as Bm 80mm 1:2.8 “aus Jena” on the front ring.

The lens feels quite light, weighting only 295 g (for example compared to Zeiss Planar 85mm F/1.4 ZF.2, which is 570 g).

Two quick snaps of the local model, lens wide open at F/2.8.

Comments closed

Photographing light from east – Sunrise aligned with Turning Torso

Published November 24, 2020 by Vesa Vähälummukka

The cloud free mornings i Denmark in late November can be scarce, but every now and then it happens.

This time the morning of November 23rd, 2020, was almost free of clouds. I packed the Nikon Z6 and the vintage Canon FD 500mm F/4.5L, my old and heavy Manfrotto tripod and last but not least the Canon FD 2x-A teleconverter.

Here is one of the many shots taken under challenging contrast conditions and some semi-disturbing clouds. The shot is taken over Øresund from Taarbæk, some 31 km from Turning Torso, the tallest building in the Nordics, located on the Swedish side of the sea.

Canon FD 500mm F/4.5L with 2x-a teleconverter, wide open, ISO400, exposure time of 1/1250 seconds.

Comments closed

Shooting Comet Neowise ☄️, harbinger of new wisdom, from our backyard in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

Published July 24, 2020 by Vesa Vähälummukka

These are taken on June 22.7.2020 right after midnight, when it was dark enough to see the comet even with bare eye and binoculars. I used Nikon Z6.

First a wide field photo taken with Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G, ISO 2000, F/2.2, 2 seconds shutter time.

Second shot is with a vintage 1980s Canon FD 500mm F/4.5L manual focus lens. For this shot I used ISO 8000, 3 sec shutter time and wide open aperture (4.5). Two tripods were used: one to support the lens and second to support the camera.

The next night I got a new change even that it seemed to me that the comet was’t that bright any more. Here is the picture with the same 500mm tele lens. This is taken on 23.7. at 00:37.

Thanks for watching 🙂

Comments closed