Konica Hexar RF / Christmas Dinner at 403

Last night, we had a belated Christmas dinner at 403 – and I thought I do something different by shooting film. Once a rare sight, DSLRs seem to be aplenty these days – it’s great to see more and more people get into photography. I always enjoy a discussion on photography and there is definitely no shortage of friends and acquaintances that I can have a chat about my passion with.

I had the chance to borrow this camera you see here. It’s a Konica Hexar RF. The lens is a Leica Summicron 35 f/2. It’s manual focus and the aperture has to be set manually on the lens. I can’t remember the last time I went to buy film… thinking that I’d need film of at least ISO400 since I would be shooting without flash. I had to go to three shops before I could find it, and each time the salesperson gave me a look as if to say “you want to buy film??”… anyway, finally found a place that sold some Fuji 400… Guan Chuan in town.

This first shot here is taken with my 40D + 24-105mm. 1/4 sec, f4, 105mm with ISO800, no flash. Image-stablisation really is a wonder… well, I am just lazy, saves me from having to use a tripod. :p

The rest of the photos are the original film scans that I pulled from the CD that came with the prints. Definitely a steep learning curve, but I think I managed a few decent shots. One of the first pics I took… manual focus is manageable when shooting something that doesn’t move… love the bokeh.

Had a Christmas tree cake from Patisserie – it was yum! Yes already you can see that my composition is kinda sloppy, but I was more worried about getting the thing in-focus more than anything else. :p

Angela & Rena… a little lower and to the right in the frame that I had intended… If I had shot digital, I wouldn’t think twice about cropping this… but this is how it came out in the print so I’ll keep it this way.

Dexter and Alvina:

Dexter again with Maz:

Maz making a funny face…

Maz and Allen checking out the 50D. My thoughts on the 50D? I wish my camera had that LCD! Speaking of LCD… I did notice a couple times after taking a shot on the film camera, out of habit (a bad habit, admittedly) I tried to chimp my shots… haha.

Finally, here’s a group shot of all of us that night. Love it… just a slight pity that some of our feet were chopped off… but oh well.

The prints look much better than what you see here… and I have to say it’s really nice to have the physical prints… something I don’t do often enough when I shoot digital! I must shoot film more often… Merry (belated) Christmas everyone!