Portraits of dad

Following on from my last post, where I share some black and white images taken on my Nikon FM3a, I thought I would post two more photographs, this time, portraits of my dad. They were taken at roughly the same time, in similar conditions, across two evenings. I wasn't really trying to do anything overly technical, just show the difference between a digital image, and a film image. The settings weren't the same on both cameras, a Nikon Fm3A and Fuji X-T1, but were close enough, I think, to be able to compare the results.

The X-T1 used a Fujinon 35mm F1.4, shot wide open at F1.4, ISO 200, (although ISO 400 would have produced an image pretty much as noise free). The Nikon used a Nikkor 50MM F1.8, shot at about F2.0, with Ilford HP5 Plus 400.

As you can see, and no real surprise really, the Fuji portrait is a great deal cleaner. The image was converted to black and white using Silver Efex pro, and levels adjusted to taste. What is rather astonishing about the Fujinon 35mm, is that it's razor sharp wide open, I think more so than any other lens I've shot with. Paired with the X-T1, it really is a powerful combination.

The Nikon film image, naturally, with a 400 ISO speed Ilford film, isn't quite as sharp, and is far more grainy than the Fuji. But that would be to miss the point as to why you would be shooting with film in the first place. The negative was scanned using my Plustek Opticfilm 8100 with Ilford HP5 Plus setting selected. It is interesting to note that the film image looks quite warm on default scanner settings. Of course, this can be altered to taste during scanner setup if preferred . What you soon come to realise when using film, is that it has a certain feel, it can evoke memory, allow the mind to wander, in a way that digital rarely does. It can create mood, elicit emotion, and used in the right situation, is still hard to beat.

Which do I prefer? Well, both really. As far as I'm concerned each has a place in my camera bag. 

Fuji X-T1 with Fujinon 35mm F1.4

Nikon FM3a with Nikkor 50mm F1.8