Interesting. Really love the mood of his photos. Processed look doesn’t have to be boring.
https://www.facebook.com/jeffliuphotography
Interview with Mike Gesgregen
Nikomat EL
I was making some prints in Photo Kanon today and I found interesting camera on the shelf. They had Nikomat (Nikkormat) EL and Nikkor 50mm 1.4. It looked brand new, like it had just came from Nikon factory. So I asked how much it was, and I was surprised, only 18,000 yen. The meter works, and it even came with new battery.
I’m not very interested about cameras. Especially digital cameras. They release new ones every year and new cameras take cleaner and cleaner images and pack new features. They are like miniature computers. The whole race for convenience turns me off.
But Nikomat! This camera was made before I was made! They produced these in Japan from 1972 to 1976. There is something that genuinely attracts me with really nice objects like this. It feels like a real tool which has a story.
I shot a roll of Lomography 400 with my Nikomat this afternoon and I really love to shoot with this camera. My Bessa R3m feels like a plastic toy after I hold this brick on my hands. It’s obvious that this camera is made to last.
Metering is nicely implemented, and is really easy to get used to. I didn’t try to shoot with aperture priority mode yet since I’m really used to shoot full manual. Downside with this camera is that if battery dies, you can only shoot with 1/90 (unmarked shutter speed), since the shutter speed js controlled electronically. That would mean ND filters if shooting outside. Battery is, by the way located under the mirror! At least you won’t lose battery door..
This is SLR all right and focusing is very different than with rangefinder. There’s no autofocus. But also it feels kind of refreshing to see exactly the image I’m going to capture, through the lens. I’m so used to shoot with my rangefinder. And this can focus closer than Leica.
Shutter is kinda loud that is to be expected from SLR.
The Nikkor 50mm lens is a big question mark for me. I have never shot with Nikon lens but this is as wide as 1.4 so it should be really nice lens for indoor photos. My Nokton 1.4 lens is very contrasty one, so I do hope Nikkor would offer a bit more gentleness what comes to contrast. I will develop my first roll tomorrow, so we’ll see.
I will write a complete review of this camera after I get acquainted with her more.
Computer Trouble
Some months ago my Macbook Pro started freezing. Pretty annoying really, and it happened after I had just installed Mavericks. Using the Apple Hardware Test I was able to pinpoint the fault to the SSD that I had installed by myself, Crucial M4 256gb in fact.
I thought the disk had just died. It was out of warranty so I thought there is not much to do except discard the drive. So I restored from backup and put the old HD back in. And then Mavericks was so slow that I found it impossible to use. Since I didn’t feel like shelling another 300dollars for brand new SSD, I just thought I’ll bear the situation.
Just today, my friend told me that he had exactly same situation with his M4, and that he had found a fix. In fact there is a firmware upgrade for the SSD drive, a neat bootable disc which automatically upgrades the firmware. I did it, and everything is working fine again! And really really fast.
I really love Mavericks, this is really speedy OS and feels in many ways snappier than earlier versions. Apple is really making big improvements for the operating system of Macintosh. After Snow Leopard, Mavericks is definably my favourite one.
We won't close our eyes
We postpone death by living. Here we cannot take a photo without noticing it.
Fujifilm EF-20 flash for sale
I’m selling my Fujifilm EF-20 flash. I’m asking 6000円 plus shipping. I can send it to you. This flash has seen a little use and is in good condition.
The flash should work with these cameras:
FinePix X100 / SL300 / SL305 / SL280 / SL260 / SL240 / HS30EXR / HS33EXR / HS25EXR / HS28EXR / HS20EXR / HS22EXR / FUJIFILM X10, FUJIFILM X-S1, FUJIFILM X-Pro1
Series of Unfortunate Events
Portrait Works
I had pleasure to shoot bariton Masato Inoue some years back. This photo is one of my favorites from that session.
People by Jaakko
My second photo book “People by Jaakko” will be available soon. These are my recent portraits, almost all are shot this year. Although the book is only a narrow selection of the portraits I’ve shot recently, I feel a kind of nice coherence in this selection. I think I have reached a kind of special turning point in my voyage as photographer, so to celebrate that, I decided to make this book.
Portrait photo books are often large and impractical to carry. But this book is only about A5 size, so it’s pretty portable. I like the form factor as a photographer. It’s not large, but large enough to carry the message.
This book will cost 2000円 (about 20USD) and will ship worldwide. This will be available from next week.
Healing Island Book
I am glad to announce that my photo book “Healing Island” will be ready next week! It’s been almost two years since I took these photos in this very special sacred island, Jeju. I guess now I finally got the distance necessary to edit and finally finish this work.
This book is pocket sized, and there’s about 72 pages (if you calculate pages as if in a book) and the book contains both monochrome and color photos. Color images are both digital and film (Ektar 100), all monochrome images are shot on film (TMAX400).
I will ship the book worldwide and price is modest 1500円, or about 15 eur/usd plust postage. Please contact me if you want this book.
New items will appear in “Shop” section of Hiyayaakko. Please check it out.