Bali and the Fuji GW690III
Getting some use out of the Fuji GW690 III, forcing myself to use this amazing camera that tends to sit on my shelf while in Bail.
I purchased my Fuji GW690III on the 22nd of June 2019, and since then i would have shot around 18 or so rolls. The rolls i have shot have been great, super impressed with the camera and the lens which is the 90mm f3.5 which is roughly around a 38mm in 35mm format.
I think the cost of the 120mm film and the developing of it has maybe stopped me from shooting it as much as i have 35mm film for example. I want to make more of an effort in 2020 to shoot it more. With that said at the start of 2020 we had a family holiday to Bali, something close and cheap so i decided to take my Fujifilm X-T2 and the Fuji GW690III. On this trip i also decided to try some Fujifilm Pro 400H for the first time and also took some trusty Kodak Tri-X 400, Portra 400 & 800.
Recently been liking the Fuji stock and will probably continue with it for a little longer. Here are some of the photos from the Bali trip earlier in January 2020.
Fuji GW690II + Kodak Tri-X 400
Definitely my favourite black and white film on both 35mm and 120mm film. I like the extra contrast you get from it over Tmax. Will continue to be my black and white film for a while.
Fuji GW690III - Fujifilm Pro 400H
I really like the colours of Fujfilm stocks at the moment, the blue’s and greens are really calling me. Really like this film and will be shooting some more with it to try and get some more consistent results.
Fuji GW690III - Kodak Portra 800
There arent many 800 speed 120mm film stocks to choose from, there is Cinestill but thats super hard to get your hands (yet to try), Portra 800 makes up 5 of the 18 rolls ive shot on the Fuji, and really like the results.
Japan on 35mm Film
I have an awesome wife! She took me to Japan for my 40th birthday and i shot most of it on my 35mm film camera.
So let’s get it out of the way, i turned 40. The only benefit of this is that i have an awesome wife.
Those who know me know that i don’t like parties let alone one that celebrates me, so when my wife asked me months and months ago what i wanted to do for my 40th all i said was “I don’t want a party” and thats where it begins.
On Friday the 7th of February i went to work like any other day, around 4pm that afternoon i come back to my desk and there is my wife with a box. She brought a cake to celebrate my birthday because i “wasn’t going to be around for it”. Hmmmm that got me thinking, so after the embarrassment of singing me happy birthday with my work colleagues and eating some epic South American cake my mum made, my wife then tells me that we need to get going because we are flying out somewhere that evening.
Let me make it very clear, i had no idea what so ever that this was happening, no clue, no inkling.
So we get home and she’s got a half packed bag for me and tells me to add anything else to it and get all my camera gear ready that i wanted to take.
On a side note, sadly i busted my digital camera (Fujifilm X-T2) which needs repairing so i packed my Contax S2b with my Carl Zeiss 35mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.7. I also threw in my Fuji GW690III and my Fujifilm X-T10 with 1 lens the 35mm f1.4 for those evening shots that i wouldn’t be able to get with my film cameras.
So the question had to be asked, what type of weather do i pack for? Do i pack my boardies to go for a swim? My response “its going to be cold”.
That got me thinking for destinations, ruled out the close obvious destinations that are always hot or currently in summer like Bali, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand. The first country that came to mind was Japan or if not Korea.
So we get to the airport and check in and at this point in time there was no hiding where we were going, and yes it was Japan.
This was the 4th time i had been to Japan and ever since getting back into film ive wanted to shoot film there, japan and film just go hand in hand and after getting my film back im even more convinced. One thing i didn’t have a lot of at the time was film, but i knew i was going to a place where id have plenty of different stocks to choose from.
This trip I decided to try some different film stocks, I already had some rolls of Kodak Colorplus 200 and Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400 that I bought and had in the fridge waiting for me to try but not enough to get me through this 8 day trip. Eventually when I got there I bought some Fujifilm Superia Venus 800, Fujifilm Superia Premium 400 and some more Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400. I’ve been shooting with Kodak Portra 400 & 800 for most the year and thought it was time try some other stocks.
While in Japan I also bought myself a Yashica ML 24mm f2.8, wanted something slightly wider than the 35mm. Sadly the Carl Zeiss was a little out of my price range, but the Yashica is in typical Japanese grade.
Japan trips i tend to over plan to make sure we can get the most out of the trip, as i didn’t know it was happening we stuck around the Tokyo area, exploring maybe 1 hour from Tokyo on different days and a day trip out to the Fuji 5 lakes region.
Here are the shots from the trip all shot on the Contax S2b with either the Carl Zeiss 35mm, 50mm or Yashica 24mm. Shots split via film stock.
Contax S2b - Kodak Colorplus 200
I had shot Kodak Colorplus 200 before but was an expired roll, but was keen to give it another try. To be honest another big factor was that they are cheap. Im super happy with how the shots came out with this stock, plenty of detail and colours are nice. Ill be keeping a spare roll of colorplus in fridge i think.
Contax S2b - Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400
First time shooting Superia Xtra 400, and i’m instantly a fan. Ive really been enjoying the greener rather than the warmer which lends itself to the Fujifilm stocks. Also reasonably priced, i think i’ll be switching my Kodak Portra 400 to the Fujifilm Superia Xtra 400 for a while to learn more about this stock. Also got my favourite image of this trip from this stock which is the clothes store with the 2 girls walking past it and the pink neo PIN NAP above them.
Contax S2b - Fujifilm Superia Venus 800
Much like the reasoning behind the Superia Xtra 400, i’m into the green colours at the moment so wanted to try a substitute to Kodak Portra 800. Im not as convinced with the Venus 800 as i was with the Xtra 400, but it’s my first roll. Brought a bunch of these back with me so will have to take it through its paces.
Tempe Photo Walk
While waiting on some repairs to be done to my car, i decided to wonder around Tempe with my 35mm film camera and a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400.
A couple of weeks ago i decided to get some of the gutter rash i did on 2 of my wheels fixed from a repair place in Tempe. I was told that the process can take up to 2 hours to complete.
I could have easily gone back home and come back or wondered through Ikea for 2 hours which is across the road, but instead i decided to take my Contax S2b with my Carl Zeiss Distagon 35mm f2.8 and the Planar 50mm f1.7 with a roll of Kodak Tri-X 400 and do a photo walk around the back streets of Tempe.
I honestly wasn’t expecting much and definitely didn’t think id be able to finish a roll within that 2 hour period (which i didn’t), but pleasantly surprised with the images i got back.
I shot the Kodak Tri-X 400 at ISO 200 instead, film developed and scanned (standard jpg) at Rewind Photo Lab (not sponsored :-P).
Here are all of the shots i took while on the photo walk good and bad, hope you like.
