Kodak to re-release EKTACHROME

I am excited to pass on this announcement from Kodak Alaris regarding the re-release of EKTACHROME, color reversal film. While there is no mention it will be made available in medium and large format cuts as of yet, it is very positive and exciting news!!! It would appear that notice has been taken, film is still very much a viable medium!

Kodak Brings Back a Classic with EKTACHROME Film

Las Vegas, NV, Thursday, January 05, 2017 --

To the delight of film enthusiasts across the globe, Eastman Kodak Company today announced plans to bring back one of its most iconic film stocks.  Over the next 12 months, Kodak will be working to reformulate and manufacture KODAK EKTACHROME Film for both motion picture and still photography applications.  Initial availability is expected in the fourth quarter of 2017.

KODAK EKTACHROME Film has a distinctive look that was the choice for generations of cinematographers before it was discontinued in 2012. The film is known for its extremely fine grain, clean colors, great tones and contrasts.

“It is such a privilege to reintroduce KODAK EKTRACHROME Film to the cinematography community,” said Steven Overman, Kodak’s chief marketing officer and president of the Consumer and Film Division. “We are seeing a broad resurgence of excitement about capturing images on film. Kodak is committed to continuing to manufacture film as an irreplaceable medium for image creators to capture their artistic vision. We are proud to help bring back this classic.”

Kodak will produce EKTACHROME at its film factory in Rochester, N.Y., and will market and distribute the Super 8 motion picture film version of EKTACHROME Film directly.

Kodak Alaris, an independent company since 2013, also plans to offer a still format KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film for photographers in 135-36x format.  KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film is a color positive film, also known as “reversal,” “slide,” or “transparency” film. Unlike all of the other KODAK PROFESSIONAL Films available today, which are color negative films, EKTACHROME generates a positive image that can be viewed or projected once it is exposed and processed. This makes it ideal for high-resolution projection or presentations. It is also well suited for scanning and printing onto a range of professional-grade photographic media.  Availability is expected in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Central Highlands, Iceland

I am continually captivated by the raw beauty of the Icelandic landscape. In anticipation of a 2018 trip I have been gravitating toward all things Iceland. I found this well produced video on You Tube of the central highlands and Vatnajökull National Park. I am enthralled by the almost alien like landscape, the closest thing I have seen with my own eyes is the Vermillion Cliffs region of northern Arizona and southern Utah. I thought I would share is amazing footage for some inspiration. Hope you enjoy!

The Art Of Natural Beauty

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about the elements which come together to create compelling images . Certainly visual components of color, form, line, shape, space, texture, and value all come into play, however I think its the emotion felt at the time of capture that really makes great art. Although an image will most likely evolve past original capture in the editing process I feel its the original emotion carried through, that shapes and molds an image into its final stage. This process is often referred to as visualization but that's not exactly how it works for me. The moment I can step out of everyday and enter the loving embrace of the forests, coastlines, rocky outcroppings, waterfalls and lakes, I feel free and at home. For me the art process begins at the moment I find a connection to the subject in front of my eyes and am compelled to interpret the emotion it evokes in me into visual imagery. Its as if the soul of the natural world enters and joins mine through my eye. Once I set forth to make an image based on emotional relation, I begin to distill what I see and feel into one frame, employing the relationships of the elements and principals of art. These elements are here to aid me compose the emotional connection into imagery however without the emotional connection there would be no artistic interpretation.

"Gator Dance" Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore - Empire, Michigan

 The Art of Natural beauty is my way of communicating the amazing energy and emotion of the natural world to others through my escapes into nature with my camera. It is a conduit to our true nature and the relationship all things share in the universal energy that ties all creation together.

Inspiration

I find inspiration in not only the work of other photographers but in many other art forms as well, including music. Very much like photography music is an emotionally felt experience that connects millions of people. As artists we take raw emotion and mold it into an expressive medium. By sharing this expression with others we find a seance of gratification, however we also open ourselves up for criticism. We must be open to, and ready to accept both flattery as well asassessment from others. Sigur Ros is a band I find very refreshing. Heima or "At Home" is afilm put together to document the bands return home from extensive touring to preform several free concerts during the summer of 2006. It's a piece that gets my juices flowing and longing to visit Iceland in search of emotional experiences and connections. Its interesting to listen to them speak about the criticism of the Icelandic people as being heavier than the rest of the world fan base. This beautiful look into the life and minds of one of Iceland's most recognized bands is full of raw emotion. Coupled with their fantastic music and views of the amazing Icelandic landscape, Heima is an inspiration.

My Gear Bag Ebony 4x5

Large format systems tent to be on the heavier side when it comes to current technology trends in photographic equipment. This means you need a serious pack when it comes to carrying all of your gear into the field. Wile there are a few companies making packs designed for this type of load, more options now than when I purchased the Whitney, there still isn't really a pack designed specifically for a large format system on the market. I wanted the comfort and design of a backpacking system and the Gregory Whitney 95 was the largest pack I could find. As the name suggests this is a 95 liter pack designed to carry loads up to 70lbs. What makes this pack great is the custom fit suspension (CFS) comprised of dual aluminum stays bolstered by a supportive cross stay. Three sizes S,M,L with adjustments made to fit your torso and waist sizes. Weighing in at 6lbs the Whitney 95 is a versatile pack with an expandable spin-drift collar, giving you a lot of extra volume. There are three access points to the main compartment and plenty of extra pockets for essentials. This pack is also hydration bladder compatible and it has an integrated sleeve and tube ports that connect to you solder straps. All in all its been a great pack and fits my needs when carrying my 4x5 system. For my actual camera system I use a F-Stop Gear large ICU that fits safely inside the main compartment. 

Gregory Whitney 95

Inside the Whitney are all the components you see pictured below. My camera body an Ebony SV45TE and 3 lenses,  Schneider 90mm f/8 Super Angulon,  Schneider 120mm f/5.6 Super Symmar, and Rodenstock Apo-Sironar-S 210mm f/5.6. All great lenses however the f/8 aperture on the Super Angulon can prove difficult to use when lighting conditions are not adequate. I carry two sets of bellows, one is a standard and the other is a wide angle, both shipped with the camera body. Four 4x6 100mm neutral density grad filters and LEE100mm filter adapter kit. ND filters are the LEE 2 stop hard, LEE 2 stop soft, LEE 3 stop hard and the Daryl Benson Reverse ND Grad from Singh Ray.  I also have a LEE Filters VH-95 Bellowed Video Hood, which comes in handy as a lens hood with 2 slots for ND filters and a 95mm filter thread I use for attaching my Heliopan 95mm Circular Polarizer. This helps when it comes to different size filter threads as the LEE adapter is much less expensive than buying several polarizers. I carry two view finders, one for each format I shoot, my 4x5 and my 6x17 roll film back. If I could recommend a tool for visualizing and composing it would be one of these view finders. They are small and can be taken along when scouting a location and they force you to close one eye and see in 2d which is extremely helpful as a photograph is a 2d representation of the subject photographed.  I also carry a Rodenstock 4x Lupe,  stop watch, compass, led headlamp and puck light, lens cleaning kit,  Giottos rocket blower,  2 cable release,  journal and pencil, rain cover, dark cloth and a Pentax digital spot meter. Lastly is my tripod a Gitzo Systematic with a Really Right Stuff bh-55. 

Ebony 4x5 system

All in all its a heavy kit but all items are essential for large format photography. If you have any questions relating to this post please drop me a line under the contact page located in the menu bar above. Also check out my posts related to loading large format film holders and an introduction to the view camera here on my blog.

pCAM FILM + DIGITAL PRO

In may last post titled "Ebony 4x5 view camera", I mentioned an app I use to calculate depth of field called pCAM. Originally created in 1998 for the Palm Pilot by a working Camera Assistant, pCAM is an app for iOS devices "sorry android users" that helps quickly obtain calculations for a multitude of functions related to still photography and cinematography. I highly recommend this app and as I stated I use it all the time for depth of field and hyperfocal distance calculation. The focal length matching function is another handy calculation for determining focal length over several different formats such as 35mm to 4x5.  other functions include...

1. Depth of Field, Hyperfocal Distance & Image Circle

2. Splits-Aperture Finder

3. Field of View (Image size) with 8 Preview Illustrations & Angle of View.  Works in both Portrait and Landscape camera positions.

4. Focal Length Matching

5. Relative Size (compares digital sensors or film apertures)

6. Triangulate

7. Exposure (compensating changes in Shutter Angle, FPS Speed, Filters, Film Speeds, Exposure Time & Light foot-candles or lux)

8. Running Time to Length

9. Shooting to Screen Time

10. HMI Flicker-free

11. Color Correction (filters and mireds)

12. Diopter

13. Macro

14. Time Lapse

15. Underwater Distance (flat ports)

16. Scene Illumination

17. Light Coverage

18. Mired Shift (with Suggested Color Correction gels)

19. Light (eye-light, catch-light, miniature softbox, or for tabletop photography.

20. Light Effects (Animated light effects such as fire, strobe, lightning, police lights, blinking neon, flashbulbs, etc.)  Can be used on HDTV screens via AppleTV and AirPlay.  Playback Light Effects on HDTV screens!

21. Conversion Calculator(Length, Distance, Kelvin/Mired/Decamired, Footcandles/Lux)

22. Siemens focus Star

23. Insert Slate

24. Reference (Technical charts, lists and tables: Cine Film Stocks, Cine Lens Manufacturers, False Color/Exposure Change Miniature Shooting, Safe Panning Speeds, Zone System).

25. Includes all common professional Still Camera, Film & HD Camera Formats

26. User-definable custom Camera Formats, CoC & Filters

Ebony 4x5 view camera

I wanted to share an overview of a large format camera system and how it is assembled. In this video I cover my Ebony 4x5 system as well as my Shen Hao 6x17 panoramic 120 roll film back.

The View Camera

The view camera. Quite possibly the simplest design in camera systems, yet one of the most difficult to work with. The 4x5 format was my first step back into the world of film following a nine year hiatus in the digital world . I have a deep appreciation for the large format medium and the utmost respect for the masters of this craft. Now four years into my journey with large format film, I finally feel that I am coming into my own as a large format shooter. Large format more than any other, really requires the photographer to slow down the process of making images. it requires a great deal of visualization to take place before the shutter can be clicked and initiates a very selective process when it comes to deciding whether or not to make an exposure. Challenging though it may be, I find it extremely gratifying and rewarding to work with this system. its heavy, time consuming to set up, challenging to compose an image with, and difficult to re-position once set up. However when it all comes together there is hardly a camera system or image sensor that can beat the results. My decision to go back to film and to work with a 4x5 view camera system was really the beginning of my transformation toward becoming a better photographer. it required me to really be present with what I was doing rather than just point and shoot. It helped me to develop the ability to visualize the final image and wait for the right moment to make my exposure. Most importantly it saved my relationship with the art which I love so dearly. I have made a commitment to work with film and camera systems that require me to put a great deal of thought into the process of image making and though I have begun to move more into a medium format system, I will continue my romance with the view camera as long as I can still purchase sheet film for it.

Coming Into My own

Its begining to feel that I am coming into my own now with Large Format and film photography. It has been about 4 years now since I made the commitment to head down the road toward Large and medium format film capture and like all new ventures it takes time to develop your skills and really relearn the ropes. I made the switch because I didn't feel that the digital process was rewarding and it left me feeling flat and unenthusiastic about my work. Digital capture seemed to lack soul and was an enabler of quick, thoughtless shutter clicking resulting in hundreds of images, few of which really moved me. Getting used to the large format system was not a quick and easy process however and the learning curve took some time to develop. I found myself frustrated as I was not getting the results I had hoped for andbegan to really question if this was the right process for me. Summer of 2016 would prove to be a turning point toward the type of images I want to make, using the capture methods and media I committed to 4 years ago. Getting to know the strengths and limitations of my films and camera system. Honing my compositionand visualizations skills. Controlling tonal relationships, line and texture within my compositions.  I feel that its all coming togetherin 2016 and will further develop as I move forward. "Gator Dance" named for the dancing light on AlligatorHill in Glen Arbor MI, is really the first image I feel takes me further down the rabbit hole toward my goal. To create compelling, award winning images of our natural world and to nurture the natural born connection humans have with nature through my images.

Loading 4x5 Film Holders

When I first started to shoot 4×5 one of the questions I had was how to load my newly purchased film holders with my film. I wanted to put together a short tutorial on this subject as it really is the first important step in shooting large format. Some of the tools I use in the process are the Harrison original changing tent by Camera Essentials, The Rocket Blower by Giottos  and my preference in sheet film holders the Fidelity Elite or the Lisco Regal II. As always if you have any questions shoot my an email on the contact page.