Kodak Retinette 1A Photo Safari

 

It was in April that I loaded a roll of Focal 100 35mm Colour Film into the Kodak Retinette 1A!  I can't believe it took me so long to get it to the lab for development and scanning but, a lot of things were going on and there were times that I just didn't feel like making the trip!

So, I've had the Retinette 1A for a few years now and was pretty annoyed that I had only ever put 2 rolls of film through it.  I try not to play favourites with my film cameras but, some cameras are easier to take out on a photo safari because they have a few extra mod cons (e.g. auto focus) and I don't have to calculate the exposure for Sunny 16 or use a light meter.

The roll had 24 exposures (yes, expired film) Things were going well until I got up to the 15th exposure.  I wound on the film to take a shot and noted that the shutter button went down but I did not feel or hear the lovely sound of the shutter doing it's thing.  I wound on the film for the next shot and it happened again; the shutter button just pushed straight down limply without activating the shutter.  My heart missed a couple of beats and all I could think was 'Oh no!  Not the Kodak Retinette!'

Anyway, I figured I had better save the film I had already used and so I wound it on.  

Once at home and, after the film had been dropped into the Lab, I pondered what could have gone wrong.  I put the camera through a few tests.  It was still doing the same thing.  It was then I heard the distinctive sound of a spring being wound off.  It lasted very quickly and stopped.  I then realised what had happened and checked the self timer lever on the bottom of the lens.  The lever was stuck halfway and could not wind back.  This has happened to me once before on a Yashica EE camera.

Once the self timer has been activated and the shutter button pushed, the self timer will wind back and release the shutter once the spring has been wound fully back.  Because the self timer spring was stuck halfway, I was not able to use the camera properly because the shutter was also stuck with the self timer.  I sprayed the self timer lever and inside with some Isopropyl Alcohol to clean up any dirt or grease that had jammed the timer spring.  Once I did this the timer spring wound down and the shutter was released.

I am thinking that the self timer had been accidentally set whilst my camera was in my satchel.

Back to working condition!

As a result I only got 15 exposures off this roll of 24 but they still turned out fine.  

Check them out.

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The more the merrier!

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A nice Tuscany feel in a corner of a Garden Nursery out Cessnock way!

James Fletcher Park just across the road from my work.  I love to go up here in my
breaks.

Looking over the fence and down to the sea wall from James Fletcher Park.

It was a perfect day to just capture the sea and sky!

Markets at The Station in Newcastle.  The old Railway Station has been turned into
a great area for the public with seating and regular markets.

The smells from the food vans was divine.  I could've stopped at each one and 
bought something!

Markets at The Station

Markets at The Station

Calm seas from James Fletcher Park.

Only a few small waves for lunchtime surfers.

The shadows of the new high-rise built in the last 8 years or so is starting to
impact the beach of an afternoon.

Some Photo Restorations with Photoshop Neural Filters

 

So,  I was surfing You Tube the other day.  I like to surf on You Tube because it has some interesting stuff on it.  I especially like to peruse any photography stuff for tips and tricks etc.  Anyway, I came across this video that mentioned Photoshop Beta and a new Neural Filter is has called Photo Restoration.  

To start with, you have to download the Photoshop Beta software.  Click on Filters-Neural Filters.  You will see the list of Neural Filters with a download cloud next to it.  Individual Neural Filters have to be downloaded.

Photo Restoration comes with a Restoration slider which improves on colour, contrast and details, a scratch reduction tick box option with slider and, a tick box option to enhance face.

Adobe describes the Photo Restoration as an AI (I am assuming Artificial Intelligence) trained model to help restore old or damaged photos.  Another review I read about the Enhance Face option is that the software identifies all facial features and basically builds a new face from those features.  Whether it can restore facial features depends on the condition of the original photo.  Some come out looking really good and others come out resembling a really bad botox job.  All in all I think it does a pretty good job.

There is also a Colourise filter (from Black and White) which does a pretty good job but in some of the photos I have put up here, you can see a Dis-Colourisation actually takes place and skin tones come out looking a grey type colour.  I love black and white photos and never thought I would be interested in colourising old photos but.......  The colour really brings them to life.  

Thing is, with all of these filters, it reopens in the main Photoshop window for any further action you desire.

Note that the current version of Photoshop does have Neural Filters available (you still have to download the individual filters though).  It does not however, have the Photo Restoration option which is what I was interested in the most.

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Before and After.  The Enhance Face feature came out very harsh

on my Grandfathers face.  Perhaps Adobe could include an effect 

or opacity slider for the Enhance Face filter.  

I softened it as best I could and also

cut back on the shadows that surrounded his eyes.  The 

Colourisation in this photo is pretty good I think.

                                            

I didn't use the Enhance Face filter on this photo because the software didn't pick up the faces.  
The software will indicate if the face is too blurred or damaged to restore the face but, 
in this case I think part of the faces are hidden by baby bonnet and work hat.  Note the colour
of my Grandfathers arms and just below his neck in the coloured photo.  The colourisation
has not done a great job here although,  I recall my grandfathers arms as being brown
and leathery from constant work in the Sun on the farm.  This would be a small change in 
the main Photoshop window after exiting the Neural Filter screen.  Apart from that, the 
colours don't look too bad.  I don't expect the colours to be perfect for an old photo because then
it would not have that 'old photo' look.

My Great Uncle Joe - taken before he embarked to France in 
WW1.  I restored the top photo removing all types of scratches
and a large chunk on the side that was totally missing.  The Photo
below has been restored again using the Enhance Face filter.  Even
though the first photo is not bad at all, you can see the 
sharpening and  tonal difference on the second from the filter.

Original photo on the top.  The original is nice and sharp for an
old 1952 Voigtlander Folding Camera.  The Enhance Face filter has
picked up on elder sisters face but not on the younger sisters face.
Perhaps because the younger sister has her hand in her mouth and
the software did not recognise the face.  The colourisation is 
spot on except for a slight purple colour on the younger sisters left
shoulder and also on the older sisters hair.  I am thinking that
Adobe could also include the option of manually selecting a face 
as well as the automatic recognition. 

The top photo here is one I had restored, removing all of
the scratches and a bend mark across the top.  The photo
below has been restored using the Enhance Face filter.
This photo is my favourite of the Enhance Face filter 
restorations.  It has sharpened up the faces wonderfully
with no harsh shadow or eyes as some of the others have done.

And here is the colourised version.  See how my Great 
Uncles sleeve is not the same colour.  I am not sure why
it would be a different colour.  At first I thought it may
have been something to do with the shading of the
original photo but, on looking at the original, the shade and 
tone is the same.  

The photo above is the original with just a slight restore job.  Below
is the Neural Filter Photo Restoration using the Enhance Face and
then colourised.  The colourisation looks lovely with the hay showing
it's real colour.

Above is the original photo which was in remarkable condition given that it was over 100 years 
old!  The photo below has been restored using Photo Restoration with Enhance Face filter and then colourised.  My Great Uncles face in the restoration had harsh shadows and very dark around the eyes initially but I was able to soften that up once in the main screen of Photoshop after the restoration filters were applied.  The face of the younger male came out very reddish looking but I was able to edit that in
the main screen also to bring it back to an acceptable skin tone. Totally surprised for the
colourisation that the background came out blue but I think it looks great!

I am not sure if I like this photo or not after restoration.  When viewed as a smaller photo it looks very nice but when enlarged, The Enhance Face filter seems to have really 'overworked' my mothers face;
like an influencer from Instagram, it doesn't seem real.  This is where I think that Adobe could have an effect or opacity slider for the Enhance Face filter so that the results are not so harsh perhaps?

Saturday morning on Fuji Colour Superia 100

 

It's been a while since I have posted here.   The last few months have seemed like a blur of activities (none of them planned!) and my zest for sharing my photos had waned somewhat.

I had actually toyed with the idea of not updating the Blog; I have Instagram and Facebook and did I really need to muck around with another social 'thing' on line?  So much seemed to be happening so I let it slide for a few months.

Good news though, I am back putting up photos that may seem inconsequential to most but, they are a record of the things I get up to and the places I go to.  They are a record of my Life.

So, here we were a few months ago on a Saturday morning wandering into Newcastle taking Daisy and Archie out for a long needed 'social' with other members of our society and any other dogs they cared to meet on the way.  They didn't do too badly, often misbehaving and barking on sighting another canine cousin.  We watched them carefully when they saw another dog.  Each would shoot the other a quick look (as if to say 'I'll bark first'  or  'shall we bark and carry on at this one?') and then, in unison, they would erupt in a frenzy of barking at the dog stranger and pulling on the lead to go over and say Gidday.  They seem to egg each other on.  Not to mention the 'pack howl' they seem to have commenced lately!

It was a mild morning just before the onset of Winter and a beautiful sunny day.  Given that prior to this we had been inundated with the biggest rainy period ever seen resulting in massive flooding along the east coast, it was a treat to be out in the sunshine.

The Markets at The Station were set up and so we browsed for a while before crossing over to the foreshore on Port Hunter Harbour.  There were people everywhere all with the same idea as us; to get out and enjoy the first sunny day for ages.  It was good for my street photography!

I chose a Fuji Super Colour 100 to shoot with.  An expired film that has been frozen, it has minimal grain and still has great colour.  I took along the Minolta Dynax 40.  A great little camera that is not so intrusive for the street photography.

It was great to get out and just wander around with nothing particular in mind to achieve.

Hope you're all well!

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The Mall was pretty busy too.

I've often thought about buying a scooter.  It would be a neat way
of getting around.  I'd have to get some panniers for the 
camera gear though.

As I said it was a mild day and these kids made the most of the water feature!

I thought this was a great photo; dogs need to have a social life too!

Just a little before lunch and the crowds starting to gather at the Queens Wharf
Brewery for a spot of lunch.  This is such a great spot to sit and watch the massive
ships coming into port.

A lot of people were buying food from the Markets across the road and 
going over to the grassed area to eat and take in the views from the Harbour.

Luckily Newcastle is a very dog friendly city.  These are not our dogs by the way but, our
dogs let their presence be known!

See?  What a cool spot for lunch.  I love watching the shipping on the Harbour.

Kodak Portra 160 - Medium Format

 

I've been shooting a lot of expired film.  Mostly because it had been kindly gifted to me and was still in good condition.  I decided to grab a fresh, cold one out of the fridge to go with my Bronica ETRSi 645.  Considering the last roll of film that I used in this camera was Black and White, I decided to go colour and  loaded a Kodak Portra 160.  I can't remember the last time I used a Kodak film!

I got 15 exposures from the roll.  

Some appear to have a brighter colour range than others and I think that may be due to a little overexposure; the sky is not blue and the colours have turned out to be different range of sepia tones.  I was using the Sunny 16 method of calculating exposure.  Looking at those that have been a little overexposed, I believe it may be from where I was positioned whilst taking the photo, either facing away from the Sun (blue sky and truer colour) o,r having the Sun in front or to the side of me; blown out sky and duller colours.

For the photos taken at Carrington, the river is a dirty brown colour thanks to flooding rainfall inland that has washed tonnes of topsoil down the river to the sea.  You certainly would not want to swim in it!

I love taking photos at Carrington.  The fishing boats with their nets and ropes make for good photos.  There is quite a bit more at Carrington I could photograph but much of our harbour is for coal and is secured against unauthorised entry.

From Carrington on this particular day, we walked along Throsby Creek for a while and had lunch at local Cafe - Cafe Inu, which is a lovely dog friendly cafe with a great menu and coffee!

The rest of the roll was taken as I wandered about during my lunch break and also from a day trip up to Merriwa.  During the day, it is difficult to capture that small town feeling that I was looking for in a couple of places we visited.  I want to revisit places after shops close and just before Sunset so there aren't cars parked all over the Main Street which will ruins the theme I am looking for.

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This bloke seemed to be trying to untangle his lines but the windy day kept
 lifting the wing making it difficult for him

This is one of the photos I mentioned where the sky appeared to be blown
out a bit exposure wise and the colour appeared to be very Sepia.  
I am thinking now that perhaps it is the muddy colour of the water
reflecting off the boats that has given the photos that Sepia look?

Newcastle Public School for Infants - 1892

The Pelicans and Seagulls looking for a feed along Throsby Creek.

Carrington boat moorings from the Cowper Street Bridge.  Note the colour of the water.

Saint Anthony of Padua Church in the small rural locality of Gungal.

Silo Art at Merriwa.  Many rural communities are introducing art onto
 their grain silos.  It makes a lot of difference to the ugly, but essential,
buildings.  This is going to be a new project for me; oversize art work
on buildings!