Black and White

[Wolseley]

Combining two of my interests, model railways and vintage cameras. A couple of photos taken of my layout with my 1936 Leica IIIa.

[End2end]

Absolutely charming.
The black and white photo's give a real retro feel.
Thanks
End2end

[Wolseley]

Genuine black and white photos too, not digitally doctored ones. For those interested in such things, they were taken with a 1936 Leica IIIa fitted with a 1934 f3.5 5cm Elmar using Ilford XP2 black and white film.

[Chops]

Seeing this, I do miss the soft textures of B & W. Outstanding work.

[Wolseley]

The soft textures are in part due to the age of the equipment I am using. Of course there are special filters and the digital manipulation available to us today to achieve that look, and the "portrait" setting on some digital cameras is designed to produce theses effects, but there are two factors that come into play when using vintage film cameras, which combine to give a soft focus. One is that I am working with available light rather than using a flash, and flash would help produce a sharper image. I prefer just using available light although, in my case, I am doing it out of necessity, as my camera, being a Leica IIIa, does not have a flash synchronisation port - that didn't appear on the scene until the introduction of the IIIf in 1950. The other is that, as the lens I am using was made in 1934, it is uncoated. The coating you see on lenses today (think of the rainbow-like colours you see when you hold a modern lens up to the light) serve to cut down internal reflections, which in turn, produce a sharper image and, if you are using colour film, brighter colours. So an older, uncoated lens will give you softer focus and colours than a coated ones. Coated lenses didn't really start appearing on the market until after WWII.

Here, for comparison, is an example of what the same film/camera/lens combination can produce out of doors - George Street Sydney, on a sunny day:

[captrees]

I'll bet you popped in to Hobbyco while you were there?

[Chops]

Oooooh.