... Journal Entry
Late last year I became a Nikon owner having acquired a lovely old F80 film camera and a small set of fast AF primes to go with it. Having done some initial testing with it I have not had much chance to use it since then. I decided that the time was now ripe to deploy it as my main walkabout camera for a while to really test its mettle.
Along with some of my favourite film stock, CineStill 400D, cometh the hour cometh the Nikon and the film and of course the photographer.
For example in low level light conditions I like to use three of my very high quality fast primes; typically my Nikon AF 20mm f2.8 D, Nikon AF 50mm f1.4 D and my Nikon AF 85mm f1.8 D for their light gathering properties.
I also like to use a very high quality colour negative film with a very wide exposure latitude. To quote CineStill, "400Dynamic is a fine grain daylight balanced color negative film that delivers a soft color palette with natural saturation and rich, warm skin tones. The film has a wide dynamic range with a base sensitivity of ISO 400, but can be rated from 200 to 800 and pushed up to 3200. This makes the film highly versatile, usable both indoors or in the studio, under virtually any lighting conditions".
This allows me to push it to 1600 ISO (2 stop push) or even 3200 ISO (3 stop push) and still get fine grained, well colour balanced photographs in adverse lighting conditions.
The amalgamation of quality fast primes, the F80's advanced metering and this wonderful 400D cinematic film emulsion repurposed for us still photographers, makes the ultimate combination for walkabout photographers like me with my snapshot style providing me with fantastic versatility. Film photography like this is just so real. It brings a smile to my face when I am out and about practicing it in a way digital simply just can't. It makes me feel alive.