Shaky ground – Fuji Acros II 100

I really liked the results I got from my last roll of Fuji Acros II 100.

This time around, not so much.

I shot this on my Pentax K-1000 with 100mm macro lens, but more importantly, I shot this ISO 100 film on mostly overcast days where the ambient light was just not quite enough.

This led to me shooting a lot of frames with a long exposure time (less than 1/60sec).

Without a tripod.

Most of the roll wasn’t salvagable. I was able to use a Sharpen filter to make some of the images look in focus, but I feel like I wasted the roll.

Lesson here?

Don’t shoot low speed films in low light situations unless you’re using a flash or a tripod.

And even a tripod is iffy, because some of these handheld shots were taken in strong breezes, so the subject was moving whether or not the camera was stock still. Which it wasn’t.

So just the one post this time. Not enough images are worth sharing.

(I accidentally typed ‘sharting’ and I can’t help but wonder if that isn’t the better word).

I originally wanted to shoot this in color, but discovered I was at the end of the roll when I attempted to do so. So I ended up using B&W. f5.6, 1/60sec.

I think this would have been more interesting in color. In fact, I can prove it with a cell phone picture.

OK, the depth of focus is terrible, but that red pomogranate pops. I had hoped that the triangular framing of the fruit with the branches in the foreground would make for a more interesting composition, but B&W and color, I’m a bit let down by the result.

Farm equipment from below. This one has been heavily sharpened, to the point I’m wondering if the focus problem is actually me. f4, 1/60 sec.

It’s a rock. A damp rock in a creek bed. f4, 1/30 sec. Handheld, but Sharpen helped.

f5.6, 1/125 sec

f5.6, 1/60 sec

For the fountain shots, I went for texture on the water (left) and smooth blur via longer exposure (right). I’m a bit surprised by how black the water turned out.

I’m surprised at how monochrome this image turned out to be. No gray at all. It’s stark, but not entirely displeasing. f9.5, 1/60 sec.

The final shots are close-ups of water droplets. I leaned heavily on the Sharpen algorithm, as due to lighting conditions, I was shooting handheld at f4 and 1/60 or 1/30 sec for each one. In a breeze.

f4, 1/60 sec

f4, 1/30 sec.

f4, 1/60 sec.

Finally, I finished off the roll with some … abstract … close-up self-portraits shot handheld in a mirror. I’m just sharing the last one, which reveals almost nothing of me but is still, I think, kinda interesting.

In case you thought I was lying about the camera and lens I used… f4, 1/60 sec.

I’ve had enough photos with just slightly out of focus results now that, while I try to blame it on handheld or camera shake or having to go back and forth with and without glasses, I am still forced to consider that it might actually be my eyes. I already use a diopter adjustment on the viewfinder, but maybe that isn’t enough.

So I now have a 2X magnification adjustable viewfinder attachement on the way. We’ll see if that helps.

I would have put these Acros II results closer to the Win column if so many of the photos hadn’t been out of focus. For many of these shots, ISO 100 was pushing it for the amount of light available. Obviously, more light means you can stop down more and increase the depth of focus, giving bad eyes a little more leeway. And if I had been able to avoid it, I would not have shot at f4, as I did in a lot of these pictures.

I was expecting more latitude out of this roll than I got, particularly with the water fountain shots. I’m not sure if that’s down to exposure conditions or just me misremembering my past results. But the almost jarring monochrome nature of those photos really surprised me.

Bottom line, I think that Acros II 100 is probably not a great film to use when you don’t have a lot of control of the conditions you’re shooting in. Probably more of a studio / tripod film.

At least during winter…