Film Ferrania P30 [35mm Film Review]

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Favorited by Italian Cinematographers of the mid-20th-century. Film Ferrania P30 came back from the grave to the delight of many film shooters but has sadly gone quiet since the pandemic as their country got hit especially hard during all of this. I wanted to test a roll of this famous film myself, so I loaded my Nikon F2 and headed to Tawas, Michigan to try it out.

‎Federico Fellini‎’s 1963 film “8 1/2” shot on Film Ferrania P30.

The film resurgence is in full force and the return of Film Ferrania is just further proof of this. The new P30 film is not an old repackaged stock. It is freshly made in their rebuilt factory on the original company grounds in Cairo Montenotte, Italy. After seeing the kinds of shots others were getting from this stock I was more than excited to try it for myself.

Tawas Point Lighthouse, Michigan. Nikon F2 | 50mm F1.4

Armed with my Nikon F2 I set off two and half hours north to photograph the lighthouse in Tawas, Michigan. The Tawas Point Lighthouse operated from 1876 until 2016. It is now a popular tourist attraction. However, with all the snowfall, I did not see one other person out on trails.

Before You Shoot

Film Ferrania P30 has deep shadows and strong highlights. It has a high silver content resulting in very high contrast and almost no visible grain. I personally love high contrast in my black and white work so I was overly excited about this especially when I saw my results. Another great point about this film is that even though it is a cinema film it has no remjet. This makes it much easier for the average consumer to process their film without extra steps. To shoot this film to its full potential id recommend sticking to these guidelines.

1. USE A FULLY MANUAL CAMERA - This film lacks DX coding so you will need to use a manual camera to ensure you get proper exposures.

2. SHOOT AT BOX SPEED - Meter for the box speed of 80 iso for best results.

3. HAND DEVELOP - Film Ferrania strongly recommends hand processing this film. You can find their development guide here. Lab developing is okay too, just be sure to let them know about the fragile nature of this film.

4. HAVE FUN - Probably the most important guideline when it comes to shooting film. Have fun and enjoy this amazing cinematic film!

Nikon F2 | 80-200 F4.5

My Thoughts

I developed this film in Ilford Ilfosol-3 and Fixed in Ilford Rapid Fixer. I followed Film Ferrania’s best practices and I can honestly say that I am in love. The tonality of this film is just dreamy, the sharpness and contrast draw you in and leaves you wanting to shoot more of it. I am looking forward to shooting even more with this film and am planning on doing a comparison shoot against another very popular black and white cinema film soon.

Try Film Ferrania P30 for yourself here.

Best shots of 2020

2020 was a year of great change and adapting to a new reality in which we live. Many things were rescheduled and or canceled altogether. I was most disappointed that my college canceled all sports and this year would have been my first year with media credentials for the Detroit Grand Prix. I was also looking forward to Oshkosh and my first time attending a race at Watkins Glen. With social distancing and stay-at-home orders in place, I wasn’t exactly able to shoot my typical genres of Sports and Portraits. So this year wouldn’t be a waste for a creative release I pushed myself into experimenting with some new genres and styles. It was fun taking a year to really push myself in another direction and see exactly what I can do. I traveled all over the great state of Michigan and visited a little over 20 lighthouses along with adventuring through different towns around the state. In this blog, I will share my favorite photos of the year and discuss why I like them so much.

Before The Lockdown

Starting off from January of this year before everything went to S*%T I was still deep in my street photography kick. While walking around Detroit I found myself in the middle of a fundraising event. I cannot remember exactly what they were raising money for but seeing how much things have changed in this short time I found this photo particularly interesting. We have this man front flipping into a pool in the middle of winter and a huge crowd so close to each other. Something that if you’re like me now looks very bizarre.

Fuji x Pro 3 | 23mm F2

This was the only sporting event I got to shoot for my school this year. U of M vs. Lawrence Tech.

Fuji Xpro 3 | Viltrox 85mm 1.8

Lighthouses

One of my biggest projects this year was traveling around the state to capture images of the lighthouses of Michigan. There are 116 in Michigan. Let’s just say I have a long ways to go to capture them all.

Little Sable Lighthouse with the Milkyway

Pentax K1 Mkii | Bower 24mm F1.4

Marquette Harbor Light

Fuji Xpro 3 | 16mm 2.8

Tawas Point

Nikon F2 | Nikon 50mm 1.4 | Ferrania P30 film

Tawas Point

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

Livingstone Memorial Lighthouse

Minolta Freedom Escort | Kodak Tri-X 400

Fort Gratiot Lighthouse

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

Point Aux Barques Lighthouse

Pentax K1 | Pentax 43mm F1.9

Big Sable Point Lighthouse

Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Fuji Xpro 3 | 16mm 2.8

Big Sable Point Lighthouse

Pentax K1 | smc-a 70-210 F4

Crisp Point Lighthouse

Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

Pointe Aux Sable

Fuji Xpro 3 | 16mm 2.8

Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Fuji Xpro 3 | 55-200mm

Grand Island Harbor Rear Range Light

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

St.Joseph Lighthouse

Pentax K1 mkii | 70-210 F4

Shooting Lighthouses has been an absolute treat this year and it’s something I plan to push myself to keep doing. I would say my favorite lighthouse I have visited thus far is Crisp Point. It is the most secluded lighthouse in mainland Michigan. It was well worth the nearly 20 mile trip through the woods to get to it.

Street Photography

I still pushed myself to do street photography this year. It has been hard with social distancing and stay-at-home orders but I still feel I captured some telling images this year.

Mackinac Island Ferry

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

Channeling my inner Henri Cartier-Bresson

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

Detroit Firefighter poses after the Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Pentax K1 | Super Takumar 28mm 3.5

Couple sits in Ann arbor

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

Deep in Thought

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

Taking Precautions

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

Social Distanced Hangs

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

Wedding Couple walks on the Pier

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

Man down

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

Motorsports

Many Motorsports events were canceled this year but I was still able to get a few events in though they were mostly in Ohio. I even had the chance to shoot a super 8 video at one event in Ohio.

Fuji Xpro 3 | 55-200

Fuji Xpro 3 | 55-200

Fuji Xpro 3 | 55-200

Fuji Xpro 3 | 16mm 2.8

Pentax K1 mkii | 77mm 1.8

Pentax K1 mkii | 43mm 1.9

Fuji Xpro 3 | 35mm F2

Fuji Xpro 3 | Super Takumar 200 F4

Fuji Xpro 3 | 35mm F2

Portraits

Portraits were few and far between this year but I still got a few in I am personally very proud of.

For a music video

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Fuji Pro 400h

My friend Katie

Canon Rebel 2000 | Canon 50 1.8 | Kodak Double X

Pandemic Haircut

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

My friend Ashley

Fuji Xpro 3 | 35mm F2

My friend Claire

Pentax K1 mkii | 77mm 1.8

My friend Madelyn

Pentax K1 mkii | 77mm 1.8

My friend Katie

Pentax K1 mkii | 43mm 1.9

My friend Andrew

Pentax K1 mkii | 77mm 1.8

My friend Joey

Pentax K1 mkii | 43mm 1.9

First time messing with Large format film

Intrepid 4x5 | Fuji 150mm 5.6

Everything Else

Here are my other favorite shots that don’t exactly fit in a category.

Abandoned Chapel

Fuji Xpro 3 | 16mm 2.8

So simplistic but I really like this one.

Fuji X Pro 3 | 23mm F2 | 12 stop ND

Shoot I did for Bollinger Motor Company.

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Fuji Pro400h

The crossover I wish would happen

Fuji X Pro3 | 60mm 2.8

Lake Superior

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2 | 12 Stop ND

I got to meet the Marquette Police because of this photo. Don’t trespass.

Fuji Xpro 3 | 16mm 2.8 | Promist Black

Cranbrook Art Museum

Rolleiflex 3.5 | Kodak Tri-X 400

From my Zine “Portraits of a Cemetery”

Pentax K1 Mkii | 70-210 F4

Detroit

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

Detroit

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

tahquamenon falls

Fuji Xpro3 | 23mm F2 | 12 stop ND

Barn

Fuji Xpro 3 | 23mm F2

If you’re from Detroit you know how cliche of a spot this has turned in to. I still think it is a cool weird little thing that falls into the category of “Only in Detroit”.

Pentax K1 mkii | 77mm 1.8

Overall I would say this year has been very successful for me and photography. I learned a lot of new skills that I can apply towards other aspects of photography and I also finally got out and explored the state that I have lived in for 7 years now. I am currently done with school as well so get ready for more blogs. you can see my other blogs here. If you liked any of these photos you can order prints of a lot of them here. Thank you for taking the time to look at my work.

Shot on Super 8 | Thrash Bash 2020

If you are familiar with the drift scene, you will know the aesthetics of JDM(Japanese Domestic Market)culture that lives on in America in its drift communities across the nation. I started shooting around the Michigan drift community in 2018. These communities are overly welcoming and full of great people, talented drivers, and great media teams. I have been blessed to have made some great friendships in these communities. Among the media groups I found myself amongst a small clique of fellow film shooters. We always have a blast shooting some whacky film stocks and cameras. At this past event for Thrash Bash in New Philadelphia, Ohio I decided to take my “Hipster” to a whole new level. Being that we are in a pandemic currently and I didn’t know how many drift events we’d be able to have this year I decided to go all out on this one. Armed with my never before tested Canon 514XL-S, one 50 foot cartridge of Kodak 500T, and some overly funky Japanese music supplied by my friend Trey I present, “Shot on Super 8 | Thrash Bash”.

Shooting and editing this video was an absolute treat, There’s some magic in shooting something when you have no idea how it will turn out. In my opinion this turned out amazing I have already shot another drift event on super 8 film wit hthe help of my friend joey we shot a combined total of 200’ of film which translates to roughly 13 minutes of footage. I am very excited to be putting this next video together. You can see more of my blog posts here and you can see my work here.

The Dollar Store Leica [Fed 2 Review]

Rangefinder cameras are the go-to camera for street photographers alike. The Leica M series being the holy grail of rangefinders used by all the best street photographers. Obtaining a Leica for yourself isn’t impossible, you just have to be willing to pay. If you are like me the Leica system is something only to be admired from afar. But what if I told you there’s a camera out there that can offer you roughly 1/10th the experience of shooting a Leica for 1/50th the price? Allow me to introduce the FED 2.

The FED 2 was produced in the USSR from 1955 to 1970 with over 1,600,000 units produced. The FED 2 was a clone of the Leica M series camera of the time. It features a LTM system and this camera was most commonly paired with the Industrar 26m, a 52mm F2.8. I scored my copy of this camera/lens combo for exactly $30 with shipping included from Kiev. It’s shutter features Bulb, 1/30-1/500th has a manual film counter. To test my FED 2 I took it out a grass roots drift event near Flint, Michigan. The event was hosted by MI-DRIFT, who provided me with media credentials to shoot from on track and in the pit areas of the speedway. At the speedway I exclusively shot Kodak Pro Image 100 metered for iso 64 and dev’d normal.

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

These photo’s were all taken in the pits before the event started. You can notice in the bottom of the frames that there is a light leak. Now I have noticed this is not apparent on the negative itself so I believe it was from the scanning process. These photos were all shot at F8 and 1/250 and you can see the Industrar 26m is not the sharpest lens and produces very soft results. Once the event began I took the camera to the track to really put it to the test in some action scenarios.

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

FED 2 + Industrar 26m | Kodak Pro Image 100

Normally when shooting drifting on my DSLR I keep my shutter speed between 1/40-1/60. If I were to try and copy that onto the soviet rangefinder I would have a very small hit ratio. I shot the majority of these at 1/125 with the exception of the 2nd photo which was 1/60. The results were not as bad as I was expecting. I got many more keepers than I would have guessed. with a different lens I feel I would have had some very good sharp shots.

Handling the FED 2

Overall handling of the camera is nice. It is very sturdy as its of mostly metal construction, It feels very solid in the hands. It doesn’t feel as cheaply made as some other soviet era cameras even though it 100% is. My biggest gripe with this camera is the viewfinder. The viewfinder window is very small and dimly lit making it harder to nail focus when shooting wide open. Though with a camera like this you wouldn’t want to be shooting wide open anyways.

Trying the Canon 50mm 1.8 LTM

I tested the FED 2 now with a different lens to see if id get better results. I chose the canon 50mm 1.8 LTM lens which can be found for roughly $100 on ebay if you look hard enough. I ran a quick roll of TMAX 400 through it on a afternoon walk through Plymouth, Michigan and was actually very surprised by the results. I shot all of these photos at F11 1/250.

FED 2 + Canon 50mm 1.8 LTM | Kodak TMAX 400

Slightly missed focus on this one trying to shoot wide open.

FED 2 + Canon 50mm 1.8 LTM | Kodak TMAX 400

FED 2 + Canon 50mm 1.8 LTM | Kodak TMAX 400

The Verdict

The FED 2 is in my personal opinion a great camera for what it is. Being that you can find these cameras for $20-$40 with a lens very easily on ebay you can’t expect the world out of these. Being that I only paid $30 for this camera I am beyond impressed with its performance. Matching this camera with a higher quality LTM lens if you have one would be highly recommended as you’ll get much better results. My only gripes with this camera are the focusing screen being very dim making it hard to focus when you need to nail focus shooting at a lower F stop. Also winding the film back up using the knob rather than a wind up lever is very time consuming when you need to get another roll in the cameras fast. Id recommend this camera for a slow stroll through town, I’d recommend shooting using the sunny 16 rule along with zone focusing so you can take your time composing nice street scenes. In this scenario this camera will surely perform to your expectations.

A New Found Love For Photography [Pentax K1 MK ii Review]

I know what you’re thinking “Here we go again, another pentaxian here to tell us about their weird little niche club”… And yes that’s exactly what this is, The Pentax K MK 1ii is not a camera for everyone. For the the right quirky photographer however, this is the end all be all camera. This review is going to cover why I switched, The perks of the camera, the quirks of the camera, and my thoughts after owning the K1 MK ii for roughly 6 months now.

Why I made the switch

I started my photo journey on the Sony A7rii and as you can imagine I shot everything wide open, I fell into every trend, and somehow Brandon Woelfel was goals? it was dark times. After learning how to actually take a properly exposed photo (Ya I’m calling you out underexpose everything and fix in post gang) I had started taking some photos I was proud of, I got some cool opportunities with companies including Sony trying out their new at the time A9 and 400mm GM. At the end of the day though I just wasn’t fully satisfied with Sony. It had a “too perfect” feel in its images. I found I really had to edit photos to get the feeling in an image I was trying to convey which is something I do not like doing. I want to capture as close to final product as I can in camera and do as little in post as possible. So I looked to other brands.

I found myself at first trying Canon with the EOS R and was nothing but disappointed with it. I was not a fan of the feel, the controls, or any of my images I captured with it in the short time I used it. I then grabbed a Fuji XPro 3, This camera I did and do love. Fuji has secured their own corner in the photography world and dominate the APSC field. The X Pro 3 was nearly a perfect camera and is a camera I would still own to this day if I had the money to support two camera systems. I however, missed full frame and wanted something better suited for landscape work. The Pentax system had always been on my radar from the very beginning. Its features seemed well ahead of their time and others quite quirky. I decided to finally take the leap and ordered the Pentax K1 MK ii.

Why Pentax?

While the big 3 are constantly battling each other for the most advanced camera on the market, us Pentaxians enjoy life out of the limelight. We enjoy a system with a flagship camera that isn’t constantly being one-upped every 6 months. We enjoy our tightknit community on the old school Pentax forums that will instantly bring you back to a mid 2000’s nostalgia when we all used forums to learn niche things. We enjoy the almost unbelievable durability of our cameras that can withstand just about anything you can throw at it. Most importantly however is the Pentax K mount. The K mount has been the mount of choice for all Pentax SLR and DSLR cameras since 1975. If you shoot film you more than likely have some K mount lenses, you can use these on your new Pentax camera with no adapters. This was huge for me as I have a huge collection of vintage glass. What was a bigger deal for me was the sleek m42 adapter to use all of my old Asahi Pentax screw mount lenses on my K1 MK ii flawlessly. This gave me access to nearly 20 lenses in my collection before even buying a newer auto focus lens. As a poor college student this was a huge plus.

Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse

Pentax K1 MK ii + Pentax 43mm F1.9

K1 MK ii Features and quirks

Let’s first look at some of the positive features of the camera and then we’ll look at limitations and quirks.

Features

• 36 Megapixel sensor (Great for landscapes)

• 14 bit raw capture and .DNG RAW files (Great for post production editing)

• 5 Axis Sensor shift Stabilization (Works incredibly well)

• 33 point AF system ( It’s laughable compared to some other cameras but this AF system works very well for what it is.)

• Hand held pixel shift mode for HDR capture (Really cool feature if you don’t have a tripod handy)

• other worldly weather sealing

• 100% viewfinder with 0.70X magnification (Perfection In my opinion)

• K mount (45 years of lenses at your disposal)

• Grip (Feels just right in your hands, you’ll never feel like you’ll lose grip)

  Quirks and Cons

• 5 Axis Sensor Shift Stabilization (When you pick this camera up for the first time you’ll think it’s broken when you hear the sensor rattling around)

• 4.4fps shooting (Not the most ideal for sports)

• Astro-tracer (You’ll feel like and idiot waving your camera around trying to calibrate it, and increasingly grow angry when you have to do it a 2nd and then a 3rd time. Once it is set up though it works quite well)

• Heavy (2.23lbs) She’s dummy thicc

• Video recording ( at its best it does 1080p/30fps. Not a video camera. Want to shoot video? buy a video camera.)

• Stabilized footage (Looks very poor, But if you’re looking to do video please refer above.)

• Built in Noise reduction (This feature has been known to reduce detail at higher iso)

K Mount Lenses

With 45 years worth of lenses to choose from you have tons of options to choose from to match any budget. I myself have two autofocus limited lenses, the 43mm 1.9 and the 77mm 1.8. I also have 3 old manual focus lenses that perform excellently on my K1 MK ii and barely cost me more than a burger and beer. Below are some sample images from these cheaper lenses.

Pentax K1 MK ii + Pentax SMC-A 70-210mm F4

Pentax K1 MK ii + Pentax SMC A 35-105mm F3.5

I love the horrible coating on this lens

Pentax K1 MK ii + Sears 135mm F2.8

Goes to show even with much older manual focus only glass you can still get incredibly sharp images. As a mainly manual focus shooter myself, auto focus isn’t the biggest selling point to me. With the older Pentax line from their film era cameras that were only manual focus, I find myself at home. I highly recommend the SMC-A line. they allow for automatic aperture but are a fully manual focus lens. Another lens I was pleasantly surprised with was the Bower 24mm F1.4, I gave this lens a try when shooting Little Sable Point Lighthouse with the Milky Way this past September. I was really impressed with its performance.

Little Sable Point Lighthouse

Pentax K1 MK ii + Bower 24mm F1.4

This was shot at iso6400, you can see especially in the bottom left, the noise issue. As a big film shooter though this hasn’t bothered me in the slightest. Bring on the grain!

After 6 Months

After owning this camera for 6 months I can say that I regret absolutely nothing. This camera constantly exceeds my expectations and performs incredibly well in a variety of different scenarios. The only situation I find myself not wanting to bring my Pentax is when I am out street shooting. But that’s what my Rolleiflex and rangefinders are for. I would go as far to say that this is the best camera I have ever personally owned. It may not be as fast, as sharp, and definitely not as popular as other cameras on the market. But for the small group of people who march to the beat of their own drum, this is the perfect DSLR for you.

Mystery of the PA-23 [Abandoned Airplane in Detroit]

Piper PA-23 (N4339P) sits in what appears to be a makeshift skatepark. Detroit, Sept. 1, 2020, Detroit has gained a reputation as dumping grounds for automobiles and other trash in recent years. (Photo/Alex Brisbey)

Take a drive through any Detroit suburb and you will be sure to see your fair share of trash that has been dumped, an automobile that has been abandoned, but a plane? This is truly something even by Detroit standards, that you won’t see every day. Located just blocks away from the Wayne State University and College For Creative Studies Campuses, this plane now sits in what appears to be a makeshift skatepark. I originally found out about this plane through reddit, the plane used to sit roughly 800 feet up the road at the corner of the intersection. With its location in correlation to the nearby art parks and campuses, I wondered if this plane was purposely placed as an art installation or was just dumped by its owner.

Cockpit of the Piper PA-23 “Apache” (Photo/Alex Brisbey)

Piper PA-23 (N4339P)

Produced from 1952 to 1981, the Piper PA-23 was the first twin-engine piper aircraft. It was originally designed by The Stinson Aircraft Company in the 1950’s but was manufactured by Piper as the Apache and later as the more powerful Aztec. The aircraft was aimed at the general aviation market but was also used by the United States navy and other countries militaries in small numbers. This abandoned PA-23 found in Detroit is the Apache 160 model, which in its prime had 180hp and could reach speeds of 150mph. According to its FAA registration it was made airworthy on May 27th 1964.

Investigating further I found the “N” number (registration number in the United States) N4339P. This plane was owned by Carson William L of Saint Claire Shores, Michigan. This plane was registered with the FAA on November 25th 2019, and not even a year later it sits rotting on a side street in Detroit.

This abandoned plane was registered with the FAA on November 25th 2019, and not even a year later it sits rotting on a side street in Detroit. (Photo/Alex Brisbey)

Whether it was dumped or purposely placed as an art installation this plane has become yet another thing that is uniquely, Detroit. I plan to continue to adventure around the suburbs of Detroit, looking for interesting buildings, abandoned vehicles and what not. I however, do not think an abandoned plane on a side street will be an easy find to top.