TTV

I have wanted to try a Through The Viewfinder (TTV) shot for a while so when I was finishing off a roll of Kodak Porta 160 in my Olympus OM-2 I took the opportunity to try a shot through the waist level finder (WLF) of my Exakta Varex 11a. The resulting photo has proved very popular in Flickr:

Spurred on by its success I tried a few more, although this time I used my Lumix digital camera. It actually is pretty tricky to get the lighting and the focus just right. The couple of TLR cameras a have (A Rollicord and a Microcord) produce viewfinder images which are really too dark. My Kodak Brownie Reflex 20 was a little better:

Here it is viewing my Varex IIa.

But I still got the best results with the WLF on my Varex. Here is the Varex IIb viewing my Zeiss Ikonta:

I think the lighting needs further work! My 'studio' set up is a little basic!:

I need to by some more powerful lights to replace my ones with home made cardboard reflectors!

I think a lot of people who are into these TTV photos make a tube with black card or something to keep stray light off the viewfinder. Maybe I will try that one day.

Film or digital?

Just back form a holiday in Gran Canaria. Not as photogenic as I had hoped, too dry and hot! I took my Exakta Varex IIa loaded with FP4, my Olympus OM-2 with some expired Kodak Portra 160VC and my Lumix DMC-GF3 for digital snapshots. Having developed the films and looked through the shots I took at home I realized I took some of the same shots on colour film and digital. For me its not about which is the best, I enjoy the film process much more than the digital one, but I thought I would compare the shots to see how they differ.

Colourful cafe in Las Palmas, with the Olympus, Kodak 160VC film 

Same shot with the Lumix

Flowers in the garden where we stayed - with the Olympus film camera

Similar shot with the Lumix digital camera, but with the OM lens

Which one is best? I have no idea! Colours are a bit off on the film photo of the cafe, mostly because I was impatient to process them and used my old Tetenal chemicals which are 10 months old and I think need replacing now. Personally I think I prefer the film photos in both, but I am biased!